The myth of meeting needs revisited: the case of educational research

Lawy, Robert; Armstrong, Paul

doi:10.1080/02601370802568366

Cited by 8 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Though students discussed at length the value they found in the developmental and interpersonal nature of the courses, when queried directly about the purpose of the course, students responded in ways that were a reflection of what the instructor or syllabus stated. This points to the question of what values, expectations, and perspectives are imparted as part of the official and unspoken curriculum (Lawy & Armstrong, 2009). The implication here is that the developmental experience of students, instead of being considered a consequence of a course, may well be one of its fundamental purposes or features.…”

Section: Inherent Tensions Provide Opportunities To Understand and Immentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This points to the question of what values, expectations, and perspectives are imparted as part of the official and unspoken curriculum (Lawy & Armstrong, 2009). The implication here is that the developmental experience of students, instead of being considered a consequence of a course, may well be one of its fundamental purposes or features.…”

Section: Success Courses Reveal College-going As An Emergent Social Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Without a close articulation of student needs and course activities, there is increased potential for goals to be frustrated. For instance, it is important to distinguish whether students need to rehearse an activity or master the content, or perhaps both, so that it is clear how it will be evaluated (Lawy & Armstrong, 2009). Indeed, Jessup-Anger (2011) found that misalignment between performance and mastery objectives was one of the main contributing factors to unintended negative experiences among first-year seminar participants.…”

Section: Inherent Tensions Provide Opportunities To Understand and Immentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Best Laid Plans: How Community College Student Success Courses Work

Hatch

Mardock-Uman

Garcia

et al. 2018

Community College Review

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Beyond understanding whether first-year student success interventions in community colleges are effective-for which there is mixed evidence in the literature-this study's purpose was to uncover how they work to realize observed outcomes, including at times unanticipated undesirable outcomes. Method: This qualitative multiple case study used cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to unpack interactions and tensions among programmatic-level features and individual-level experiences and actions. We conducted classroom observation, document analysis, and interviews with instructors and students in four student success courses across diverse contexts. Results: Regardless of particular designs and course emphases, we found in all cases a blurring of activity elements, wherein learning tools and learning goals were often coterminous, or instructors effectively took on the role of learning tools themselves, in the form of object lessons and mediators, for instance. Courses had a distinctive character as rehearsal for college that simultaneously created a welcoming peer environment but an uncertain learning and assessment environment. Contributions: Because of their nature as metacourses-college courses about college-going-success courses' means and ends ultimately may be functionally inseparable, thus helping to explain their continual evolution and contested roles. Whereas such courses are typically justified as means to teach college skills, we found this utilitarian rationale to be insufficient to describe the experiential dimensions of social learning that participants reported. Instead, we found these courses reveal how college-going is an emergent social literacy, one that a single course is insufficient to fully realize.

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Section: Inherent Tensions Provide Opportunities To Understand and Immentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Success Courses Reveal College-going As An Emergent Social Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inherent Tensions Provide Opportunities To Understand and Immentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Best Laid Plans: How Community College Student Success Courses Work

Hatch

Mardock-Uman

Garcia

et al. 2018

Community College Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Lawy and Armstrong (2009) refer this ascription of needs as “discourse.” The term appears 20 times in their article, in fact. They recognize Foucauldian approaches to understanding the nexus of power, discourse, and knowledge and associate the discourse of needs with disciplinary action and professional practice.…”

Section: A Brief Orientation To the Literature On Learner Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Postmodern, poststructural, and constructionist elaborations of Kantian epistemology introduce the effects of power relations, which color our perceptions and thus our knowledge (Armstrong, 1982; Lawy & Armstrong, 2009). In terms of needs, the constructionist view illuminates the potential for needs and the technologies through which they are assessed to be colored by power relations and ideological constructs.…”

Section: A Brief Orientation To the Literature On Learner Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Realist Orientation to Learner Needs

Ayers

2010

Adult Education Quarterly

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The objective of this essay is to propose critical realism as a philosophical middle way between two sets of ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions regarding learner needs. Key concepts of critical realism, a tradition in the philosophy of science, are introduced and applied toward an analysis of learner needs, resulting in novel ontological and epistemological assertions about learner needs. Retroduction is offered as a methodology for interrogating needs as a function of broad and complex social processes.

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The structures and processes governing education research in the UK from 1990–2020: A systematic scoping review

Stentiford

Koutsouris

Boyle

et al. 2021

Review of Education

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This paper presents the findings of a systematic scoping review spanning 30 years (1990–2020) that sought to understand the structures and processes influencing education research activities in UK higher education (HE). Review work of this scale has not previously been undertaken on the topic. The purpose of the review was to ‘take stock’ of research in the field, identify continuing and emerging areas of concern regarding education research as a profession, and point to directions for future research. Seven databases were searched and additional strategies included citation chasing and hand‐searching. We located 114 peer‐reviewed journal articles and one doctoral thesis. Six themes emerged relating to formal structures/processes: culture of performativity and accountability; funding regime; impact agenda; ‘what works’ agenda; heated debates; and professional bodies. A further six themes related to informal structures/processes: academic pressures; affective issues; non‐traditional academics; second‐career researchers; career stages; and departmental cultures. The themes were complex and appeared to interact with each other. Evidence of the negative influence of neoliberal regimes on working conditions and well‐being emerged more strongly in the past decade. The review indicates that further research is required into the experiences and academic identities of education researchers from under‐represented or non‐traditional groups (i.e., women, ethnic minority, working‐class, disabled, LGBTQ+ academics). There is also a need for more studies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to understand their unique political‐economic‐educational contexts. The findings have relevance to education researchers and policy‐makers in countries across the globe, particularly in comparable HE systems (e.g., North America, Australia).

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The myth of meeting needs revisited: the case of educational research

Cited by 8 publications

References 17 publications

Best Laid Plans: How Community College Student Success Courses Work

Best Laid Plans: How Community College Student Success Courses Work

A Critical Realist Orientation to Learner Needs

The structures and processes governing education research in the UK from 1990–2020: A systematic scoping review

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