Portfolios as Boundary Object: Learning and Change in Teacher Education

Abstract

Transformation in teacher education is seen as crucial for creating change within the educational system. In this article, we explore how members in a teacher education program interpret new ideas and tools such as portfolio assessment, case-based methods, and ICT. These ideas and tools are important conditions for the collective change of the institution, where portfolio assessment emerges as a new object between the subjectoriented communities. In activity theoretical terms, we suggest that learning is a matter of acting on and talking about the object within and between communities. These sideways movements lead to transformations on the object. This conception also gives us an alternative perspective on the classical theory/practice problem.

Learning to teach at the boundaries between university courses and internships [VISIONS 2011: Teacher Education]

“…In the reform program, several tools were implemented to create a coherent teacher education program. These tools, such as portfolio assessment, and case assignments involved changes in institutional norms and division of labor between students and teachers and, in this way, created conditions for more coherent trajectories for the students (Jahreie & Ludvigsen, 2007;Rasmussen & Ludvigsen, 2009). However, these structural conditions do not in and of themselves ensure that participants are deriving meaning from concepts and ideas in a manner intended by the project.…”

“…Both the student and the teacher produce appropriate accounts of what is expected in an exam situation, thus reproducing the traditional exam script. Within the DTE, objects often seem to arise from negotiations saturated with opposition and clashes of interest (Jahreie & Ludvigsen, 2007).…”

Creating shared spaces: developing teaching through peer supervision groups

“…Mediating artifacts such as concepts, tools, norms, plans, techniques, and strategies represent knowledge resources that, through their use, create a common ground for actions and interactions in communities of practice (Vygotsky, 1987). In activity theory, the notion of object also adds a dimension of meanings and motivations in the use of artifacts toward the outcomes of the social activity (Jahreie & Ludvigsen, 2007). The notion of object accentuates the interrelation between artifact use and collective meaning-making (de Lange, 2011; Engeström & Sannino, 2010).…”

Behov for å utvikle «det tredje rom» i relasjonenmellom universitet og praksisskoler

“…Denne typen arbeid med laererpraksis i skolene er allerede omfattende. Det er et stort potensiale i videre utvikling av partnerskapsmodeller for samarbeid om slike prosesser i «det tredje rom», ved at både ansatte ved skolene og ved universitetene deltar på relevante samlinger ved universitetene, i arbeid på skolene og ved deltakelse i felles digitale rom (Hauge, 2008;Howard, 2002;Jahreie & Ludvigsen, 2007;Rasmussen & Ludvigsen, 2009). I samarbeid med universitetsskolene arbeider ILS jevnlig på denne måten gjennom felles utviklingsprosjekt, eksempelvis relatert til kompetanseheving i matematikk (Hunskaar og Borge, 2015).…”