Mindlab by Unitec: My Professional Context

01 February 2016 (APC Week 27, Task 5)

My Professional Context 

As part of the process of becoming a “self-aware” teaching professional, it is important to be fully cognizant of the broader contexts in which we learn and lead in the 21st century. 

   By defining our own roles, pedagogical approaches, inter-relationships and the way these are all interwoven, we begin to develop the understanding we need to effectively move within our own community of learning. 
    As we develop our a sense of ako or 'reciprocity', we begin to understand our own context within the educational framework in which we operate as leaders of learning, and this allows us to better develop the relationships, skills and content knowledge we will need within an increasingly global learning environment.
     As part of this change process, the increased use of online sources to facilitate new, innovative learning processes compels educators to increasingly develop an interdisciplinary approach to leading and learning. 
    "Interdisciplinary programs may be founded in order to facilitate the study of subjects which have some coherence, but which cannot be adequately understood from a single disciplinary perspective." (Wikipedia, 2016)

 TEDx Talks (2001, April 6). TEDxBYU - David Wiley - 

An Interdisciplinary Path to Innovation. [video file].

No longer are the school teacher and their physical school sites the proverbial font from which "all necessary academic content" (i.e.: curriculum) pours forth. 

    The exponential growth of information sharing via the internet allows learners to discover their own understanding from a digitised, globalised and publicised network of knowledge available to them.  

    Professional educators now need to venture into the same open access context, and the same freedom to venture forth into innovative approaches to the questions we all may have.

   With a sense of stewardship and global citizenship both, teachers can indeed be the leaders who guide our young people to asking the questions that will lead to the break throughs previously limited by environmental boundaries...

My Professional Connections

For this blog post, I have created a 'professional connection map' to help me to begin to visualise the extent of the connections have made (and could potentially develop further on in future) to help me to begin to visualise the wider context in which I learn and teach. 

     For this 'mind mapping' activity, I have used a digital tool via Coggle. I chose this tool because it allowed me to sign via my Google+ account, which made it very user friendly - thanks Michelle for the inspiration!

"My Professional Connections Map" (click on image to enlarge)

An interesting observation I made when creating this 'professional connection map': the process initially started out in a rather linear or "hierarchical" manner at the outset, much as one might expect at the start of one's career. Yet as I visually mapped the links between the different elements or "stakeholders" in my professional connections in the current day, the more interwoven and web-like the illustration became...

I think this activity was an important reminder professionally of how the advent of digital collaboration and devices are increasingly changing our world view and pedagogical approaches - at the micro as well at the meta level - in the same way... Welcome to "Global Citizenship" in action!

NB: My previous entry for RCIP already covers my professional reflection around several of the various connections noted in my mindmap: which I offer again as my evaluation in regards to how these "stakeholders" can and do impact on my practise and Community of Learning. The Manaiakalani Outreach and the Papakura Kootuitui initiatives as discussed in this previous blog entry particularly relate to our school's move into Digital Learning and Collaboration contexts. 

Further Reading 
(around the concept of interdisciplinarity i.e.: in educational settings.)
Mathison,S. & Freeman, M. (1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997. [PDF file].