Advancing knowledge creation in education through tripartite partnerships

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the work of one tripartite partnership with stakeholders to improve and strengthen novice teachers’ pedagogical designs using design-based professional learning guided by the principles of knowledge building/knowledge creation. The tripartite partnership involved 450 novice teachers from an urban school division, a practitioner-research university team, and the provincial government. Using a design-based approach during and in between five professional learning sessions, this study analyzed the ways in which teachers worked in collaborative, collective, and connected ways to progressively improve pedagogical designs for collective knowledge building. The community used a digital audit trail and video cases to engage in knowledge building discourse, and to keep track of and continually reflect on progressive improvements and refinements to their pedagogical designs. Design-based professional learning, informed by the 12 principles of knowledge building/ knowledge creation, provided novice teachers with a process to: understand teaching practice as the site for progressively improving and refining pedagogical designs; accept all participants as legitimate contributors and support each other in idea improvement; make use of authoritative sources; contribute to collective knowledge advancement using artefacts and evidence from practice; and understand that teacher knowledge building/creation requires a supportive community.