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Foregrounding Pacific Epistemologies in Curriculum Review: Exercising Educator Agency in a Process of Institutional Change

Kanemasu, Yoko and Rakuita, Tuinawi and Kopf, Andreas (2021) Foregrounding Pacific Epistemologies in Curriculum Review: Exercising Educator Agency in a Process of Institutional Change. Directions: Journal of Educational Studies, 35 (1). pp. 18-28. ISSN 1011-5846

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Abstract

In this paper, we will reflect on our experiences relating to two major processes of transformation in the Sociology programme: 1) curriculum alignment and 2) online course conversion. Our curriculum review journey began in 2011 with the Strategic Total Academic Review (STAR) project. Three years later, as we continued to develop and review our curriculum, we were directed by the University to begin converting our courses to an online delivery format. The two coinciding processes not only resulted in an overhaul of our curriculum but also entailed a re-structuring and re-imagining of our learning and teaching practices. While curriculum alignment required us to be more explicit and strategic about designing student learning outcomes and activities, online conversion challenged us to do this in a completely new format, using new technologies. This was a demanding process, but we also gained valuable experience. In particular, while the effectiveness of peer learning and interaction on an online learning platform has been argued by educational researchers worldwide, in the Pacific context, the positioning of learning as a dialogic process of collective knowledge construction takes on added significance. As we attempted to align learning outcomes with online learning activities, our major goal was to weld the interactive potentials of online educational technologies with a culturally relevant learning process informed by Pacific epistemologies. The paper will focus on this particular aspect of our curriculum transformation process: our search for Pacific-style online learning through weaving together of curriculum alignment, online pedagogy and Pacific epistemologies.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
L Education > L Education (General)
Divisions: School of Law and Social Sciences (SoLaSS)
Depositing User: Yoko Kanemasu
Date Deposited: 08 Sep 2021 00:42
Last Modified: 28 Mar 2022 00:23
URI: http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/12957
UNSPECIFIED

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