Following the welcome to David Loe at Kent State University here is an introductory
statement:
David writes:
"My topic is transformative learning in teacher action-researchers in shared online
learning environments. I am studying several groups of teachers who worked in "critical
colleague" groups, doing action research and using online dialogue and chat sessions as
their primary means of communication in a professional development course.
I'm finding much of your recent discussion very worthwhile, in particular Alan Rayner's
thoughts on inclusionality and its implications for collaborative work. The topic of
kindness in educational practices was particularly interesting. I have seen thus far in my
own research that the idea of critical collegiality may well be something that is just
beginning to be understood. Flow is very important in this regard, I think, in that it does
allow us to see how deeper collaboration may function in the AR reflective cycle. For
several years I have seen the AR reflective cycle expressed by many as either circular
(allowing for reversal of direction when needed) or as spiral ( Elliott, 1991). Alan
Rayner's video on youtube regarding "natural inclusion" mentioned that we can see
"linearity developing out of nonlinearity", as well as the "local being at the heart of
inclusional understanding". So where might kindness fit in here? We often think of
kindness as a somewhat linear activity, I believe, in that a common view is doing some
act of kindness towards another, without considering the life-flow involved in the act, or
the local interconnectedness of kindness and similar acts with a view to transformation.
While I agree that we do need to avoid noninclusional "word-bytes and metaphors that
imply stasis", etc., I think we can also include kindness as a form of communicative
action (Habermas) that may help to bring about the "simplification by integration" that
Alan is talking about. In my view, kindness and other dispositions or aspects of the
affective domain may also be thought of as social process. And I believe that this is
where we may begin to develop an enhanced understanding of critical collegiality and its
transformative potential. Jean McNiff, in her article "Every Which Way", concludes by
suggesting that the "stickiness in the threads is kindness". In my research I have begun
to see that this is taking on a far deeper potential for transformative learning than
following a superficial code of conduct that may only be procedural for the purposes of a
class setting, rather than life-affirming and developing collaborative energy flow."
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