Paper presented at Ethics in Practice, Otago University, May 22-24, 2015 Nell Smith (AUT) and Samuel Mann (Otago Polytechnic)

1. Nell Smith and Samuel Mann
Understanding ethical surprises and
dilemmas in contemporary
pedagogical research: What is
happening in our learning spaces?
Ethics in Practice Conference
May 2015

2. Nell Smith and Samuel Mann
Understanding ethical surprises and
dilemmas in contemporary
pedagogical research: What is
happening in our learning spaces?

3. Those of you who have undertaken research into teaching and learning:
Think of a word to describe your
experience of pedagogical ethics.

8. Everyday ethics

9. Everyday ethics

10. Professional ethics

11. Teaching

12. Teaching

13. Teaching Research

14. Teaching Research

15. Teaching Research

17. Teaching

18. Teaching

19. Teaching

20. Teaching

21. Teaching

22. Teaching Research

23. FEATURE REFERENCE
(example)
EXPLANATION ETHICALIMPACT
(example)
Students as co-creators of learning and knowledge Mann and
McKewan
(2013)
Students are becoming accustomed to co-
creating knowledge often in spaces that
are “like a good home”, a place of
learning, sharing, trust, nurturing, peace
and personal growth (Pittella and Rostein,
2015)
Student-student relationship, and
the student voice are prominent
Teachers as facilitators and partners in learning Marvell et al.
2013
Teachers are increasingly taking the role of
facilitator, guide and mentor in the
learning space
The teacher-student power-
imbalance may have altered
Learning spaces with open or ‘fuzzy’ boundaries Increased
use of
technology
(Chang and
Gray, 2013)
Community
partnerships
(Wright and
Ratsdorf,
2014)
Increasingly learning is occurring outside
of the traditional classroom walls,
including through technology use and
community partnerships
Relationships are less contained
and controllable than within the
four walls of a traditional classroom
A growing openness to indigenous worldview and pedagogies Diamond
2013;
Hamilton-
Pearce 2009;
McKay 2014
In New Zealand (and elsewhere)
indigenous pedagogies and perspectives
are increasingly incorporated into the
learning experience
Different cultural relationships can
exist rather than one dominant
culture
An increased focus on producing graduates with certain affective and
transferable attributes
Mann, 2011;
Boyd, B.,
2008
Graduate outcomes (including in the
tertiary sector) are increasingly including
affective attributes such as the ability to
think and act like sustainable practitioners
Focus on raising student ethical
awareness and critical thinking they
can be active, thinking members of
a classroom
Negotiated outcomes (incl work based learning, project based,
individualised special topics)
Boud et al
1999
assessment,
With empowering rather than prescriptive
curriculum documents learning is
increasingly tailored at a fine scale, and
often both contexts, content and the
mechanics of the learning process are the
result of a negotiation.
Unpredictability of context and
complexity of relationships.
The pedagogic researcher as a part of the learning community Frielick,
Smith,
Whitehead
and Wyse
(2015)
Pedagogic research is increasingly co-
created “in” the learning space, and
teaching and research can be combined.
The research is not an ‘outsider’
looking in.

24. Teaching/Research

25. Process 1. add missing actors
2. add relationships
3. add ethical challenges
posed by those
relationships.
4. add processes to
manage those
challenges. (note: not
formal ethics).
5. how could we
formalise this thinking?

26. Teaching/Research

27. Process 1. add missing actors
2. add relationships
between actors
3. add ethical challenges
posed by those
relationships
4. add processes to
manage those
challenges (note: not
necessarily formal
ethics).
co-creation/openness of the space through the use of new technologies
(including learning analytics and social media) and community
partnerships/inclusivity of indigenous perspectives/cultural
awareness/changing contexts - graduate outcomes (sustainability
etc.)/assessment/...

29. Future focus
– What is actually happening in contemporary learning spaces and in
pedagogical research?
– Can a pattern language be developed, or rules of engagement?
– Is this model a useful tool for exploring the ethical systems at play in
these spaces?
– What are the implications for pedagogical research(ers) and formal
ethical review bodies?

30. Nell.Smith@aut.ac.nz
http://cflat.aut.ac.nz
Samuel.Mann@op.ac.nz @samuelmann
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