Academic Co-creative Inquiryand my work as an Academic support to students at Unitec

1. Academic Co-creative Inquiry
and my work as an Academic support to students at Unitec
---A snapshot of my inquiry into
Higher Education
Hua Dai
23May, 2013

2. Academic Co-Creative Inquiry
• Developed by Ksenija Napan, a recipient of the Ako Aotearoa
Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award in 2011 and Associate
Professor of the Department of Social Practice at Unitec.
• In ACCI, students and lecturers co-create the context and the
content of the course by using individual learning contracts
between the teacher and the student. It uses peer and self
reflection tools to find answers to their personalised inquiry
questions

3. Main qualities of ACCI Underpins its
effectiveness
• Responsiveness to Context
(culture, personal, learning styles…enjoy , fun)
• Flow (discussion, conversations, activities etc)
• Trust (built between the teacher and the student)
• Choice (students having choices in the learning)
• Integration and Integrity (both in the teacher and
student as well as in the process)

4. Qualities ACCI tends to engender
• Competence
• Love for learning
(Curiosity, engaged, stimulated..)
• Self Confidence

5. How ACCI become relevant to what I
do at work
• I was drawn to it when I first heard Ks’ presentation at the
Unitec T & L Symposium in 2011.
• As I began looking at my work as a learning and
development lecturer using an ACCI concept, I realize that
this co-creative concept supports my belief that education
has a transformational potential:
Through co-creating the learning context, learning outcome as
well as defining the resource and obstacles on their learning
journey, students develop confidence and skills to take
responsibility and charge in their life, students stay in the
centre place of this teaching and learning forum during my
appointments with them, I am there as an experienced
learner who facilitate their learning and provide guidance
when needed.

6. I liken the journey of learning to a
river: at its origin, it’s a curiosity, and
it runs through different terrains:
through forest, rocky bed, and
gathers momentum along the way
toward its destiny.

7. this journey is a question that I have
been experimenting and searching for
an answer.

8. Learning and Development Lecturer
• Learning: (evolutionary pull? Baby crawling? A need to meet?)
• Development (developmental stages? Evolutionary truce? evolving self as learner?)
• When student become more confident in themselves
and taking charge in their life while taking
responsibility in their own learning process, my role as
a learning and development lecturer is fulfilled as
students achieving their learning and developmental
goal on this platform of higher education.

9. My reflection as an Academic support
A story of Joanna ---Pseudonym (presented at NTL&T Conference in Oct, 2012)
At the end of the semester, she decided to quit for a year working to get her finance back on
track before returning to a full-time study for a Bachelor's degree in 2013. She had my full
support. ---retention?
When I saw her the first term, 2013, enrolled as a student in BSoP, I was delighted and
humbled at the same time. I was humbled at being given the chance to witness the continuing
process of a student growing and developing on her learning journey at my workplace.
To me that is what education could offer to our students, and the society.

10. To Grow a tree and to grow a person
• 10-tree, 100-people: “Not teach a ripe person,
waste of person; teach not a ripe person, waste of
word”---Confusius
Teacher present when students ready
all the action for an anticipated situation, our students ready?
One-one, on-line, choice for students? ---story of a friend studying extrmurally
• 100-year Strategic Educational Plan (Pyramid,
tent?) --- a contrast between two cultures, any
insight can we get from it as educators?

11. A Phenomenon in Maths
• Ratio
• Equivalent Ratio
• Common factor
2:5 …
4:10 8:20
6:15 6:15
8:20 4:10
… 2:5

12. Common factors in the equation of
Education
• Learning
• Teaching

14. The work continues
• This year, I have one student who was away from formal study for
over 30 years and enrolled in a course with little confidence in how
to go about it. After the first appointment, she shared with me her
dream about studying for a degree and really shows to her siblings
who all hold at least a Bachelor’s degree, that she herself can do it
as well as they have.
• She is feeling more confident in her study so she does not need my
support as much as when she first started.
• At the same time, I am working with one student on her Maths and
really proved to her Maths is fun. She enjoyed the learning and
practicing with me in a relaxing and fun environment, She now has
taken her three other classmates to our appointments and my
drop-in time for support. One day she told me that all of them had
passed their maths exam after working with me the day before.
They understood the concept and done sufficient practice with me,
therefore they found it easy to proceed in their exam.