618 research outputs found
Pedagogy and learning with ICT: researching the art of innovation
No full textBridget Somekh draws on her experience of researching the introduction of ICT into education to look at ICT development over the last twenty years. The book provides a fascinating, in-depth analysis of the nature of learning, ICT pedagogies and the processes of change for teachers, schools and education systems. It covers the key issues relating to the innovation of ICT that have arisen over this period
Somekh, Bridget, Action Research: A Methodology for Change and Development. Maidenhead, Berks, UK: Open University Press, 2006.
No full textDescribes the author\u27s involvement as an action researcher in a series of projects over 25 years; discusses the way the projects were conceived and carried out; comments on problems and what was learned about doing action research
Action research: a methodology for change and development
No full textThis book presents a fresh view of action research as a methodology uniquely suited to researching the processes of innovation and change. Drawing on twenty-five years? experience of leading or facilitating action research projects, Bridget Somekh argues that action research can be a powerful systematic intervention, which goes beyond describing, analyzing and theorizing practices to reconstruct and transform those practices.
The book examines action research into change in a range of educational settings, such as schools and classrooms, university departments, and a national evaluation of technology in schools. The opening chapter presents eight methodological principles and discusses key methodological issues. The focus then turns to action research in broader contexts such as `southern? countries, health, business and management, and community development. Each chapter thereafter takes a specific research project as its starting point and critically reviews its design, relationships, knowledge outcomes, political engagement and impact
Designing software to maximize learning1
No full textThis paper starts from the assumption that any evaluation of educational software should focus on whether or not, and the extent to which, it maximizes learning. It is particularly concerned with the impact of software on the quality of learning. The paper reviews key texts in the literature on learning, including some which relate directly to software development, and suggests ways in which a range of learning theories can inform the process of software design. The paper sets out to make a contribution to both the design and the evaluation of educational software
Research methods in the social sciences / editors, Bridget Somekh and Cathy Lewin.
No full textIncludes bibliographical references and index.xiv, 368 pages
What is the ‘good’ of Bridget Somekh? A celebration of and critical reflection on a career as an action researcher
No full textOver the years, Bridget Somekh has made a substantial contribution to the development of action research. Her concern has been to make real change in the quality of everyday practices in education and to influence policy. In particular, this article explores the significance of her work for methodology, professional practice and for what may be called the ‘project’ of action research as the development of ‘communities of research‐practitioners’ who in some way seek to ‘improve’ the quality of their action within their workplace. In action research there is a presumed personal and social ‘good’ for the individuals concerned, the community and society more generally, to be achieved through the research process. This then implies a concern for social justice in terms of the promotion, the recognition and the allocation of such ‘goods’. This is particularly so if action research has a participative, inclusive, essentially democratic core of values. To what extent has her work thus contributed not just to developments in workplace practice, professional development and policy‐making, but also to the necessary conditions for democratic practice and social justice more generally through educational action research? In many ways her ‘project’ has been, and still is, the project of embedding action research into professional practice at all levels, from day‐to‐day interactions in schools and communities to policy‐making. The ‘good’ of Bridget Somekh that emerges from this discussion is precisely the project of getting people’s voices heard as they combine in action to make a real difference in their workplaces, communities or at policy level
Reviews: edited by Philip Barker
No full textThis composite review is intended to give readers a number of different perspectives on an important book. The technique, which was used in an earlier ALT-J review (in Volume 4 Number 2, 1996, pages 61-72), is a development of what Spiro et al (1988) call 'traversing the terrain'. Each reader will bring to a book bis or her own perspective, each of which may be a legitimate way of making sense of the ideas and arguments it contains. In order to give ALT-J readers a sense of others' views, we asked three different reviewers to consider the book, each from a different standpoint. Betty Collis, who has written extensively on educational innovation and new media has taken a pedagogical point of view. Gabriel Jacobs, Editor of ALT-J and a prolific writer on educational media, has taken a technical view. Bridget Somekh, recently appointed as Dean of Education at Huddersfield University and an internationally known educational researcher and writer on evaluation methodology, has taken a general philosophical view. Each of these views - pedagogical, technical and philosophical - represents one way of reading Managing Change in Higher Education: there are of course other ways, and readers will have their own points of view. To complete the multiple perspective, the Editor of the book, Tom King from the Interactive Learning group at ICL, was asked to respond to the reviewers' comments. His role was not to be so much to rebut others' remarks but to give a fresh impetus to the initial arguments in the book
Developing knowledge through intervention: meaning and definition of 'quality' in research into change
No full textThis contribution takes as its starting point the principle, drawn from cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) that, since social activity is mediated by tools, we gain fine-grained understanding of its processes by intervening in them. Knowledge of sociocultural practices is generated by engaging actively in those practices and co-constructing meanings with participants. The attempt to disengage from, in order to establish 'objectivity' about, social activity and social change—of which learning is a prime example—is highly problematic for educational researchers, and this contribution argues that, when the focus of the research is the process of social change, adopting such a 'disembodied' approach would undermine the trustworthiness of the knowledge created. The authors illustrate and elaborate this theoretical position in their discussion of the activities involved in the Pedagogies with E-Learning Resources (PELRS) research and development project. The first phase of this project was carried out in 2003-2005 by a team of university-based researchers, led by Somekh, from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) working with teacher-researchers and pupil-researchers in four schools in the primary and secondary sectors. The focus of the work was on the question: Can we organize teaching and learning in radically different ways now we have the Internet, Internet-look-alike CD/DVD materials, digital imaging, video and other new technologies? A set of inter-related intervention strategies, informed by CHAT, was used by the co-researchers to set up prototype 'learning events' to explore this question. The General Teaching Council for England (GTC) supported this work with funding and advisory input because of the project's potential to enable teachers to work with their pupils and with academic researchers to harness the power of technologies in changing the way the curriculum is experienced, to challenge narrowly transmissive models of pedagogy, and to foster a greater sense of authentic and creative engagement with teaching and learning. The contribution ends by presenting the knowledge about the process of transforming learning with ICT generated by this project and arguing for its epistemic robustness
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