Critical Reflection for Transformative Learning: Understanding e-Portfolios in Teacher Education

by Katrina Liu

Overview

This book provides a research-based guide to using ePortfolios to develop critically reflective teachers capable of transformative learning for educational equity. It begins with a conceptualization of critical reflection in teacher education, then analyzes the social discourse of prospective teachers' teaching practice through their ePortfolio reflections, triangulated by classroom teaching observations and interviews. The results of the research show that prospective teachers’ reflections are performative and do not typically trigger transformative learning, in large part because of discrepancies in the structures of the ePortfolio, the goals of the teacher education program, and the mentoring and supervisory practices. With this analysis in hand, the book turns to practical questions, providing a transformative framework along with examples and tips for teacher educators to use the author’s methods to understand and analyze prospective teachers’ reflection and support their transformative learning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319019543
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	10/20/2020
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Katrina Liu is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with specializations in teacher education and educational leadership and policy analysis. Focusing on theory, practice, and innovation in preparing teachers to teach in diverse classrooms, Katrina’s current research focuses on critical reflection for transformative learning, social capital and resilience among teachers of color and researchers of color, critical counter-narrative in teacher education, and self-sustaining communities of practice for teacher professional development. Her interdisciplinary work appears in journals such as Review of Research in Education, Educational Review, Journal of Teacher Education and Technology, and Reflective Practice.​

Table of Contents

Introduction.- Four prospective teachers and their programs.- Critical reflections struggle to emerge.- Performative but not transformative.- Problematizing the performance.- Prospective teachers' understanding of critical reflection.- Prospective teachers attitudes towards the e-portfolio.- Performing to the audience.- Disjuncture between performance and action.- Missed opportunities for transformative learning.- Supporting prospective teachers' critical reflections for transformative learning: data based frameworks, e-portfolio design and processes, creative activities and assignments, classroom observation and supervision, toward a community of critically reflective practitioners.- Coding and analyzing narratives to encourage transformative learning: open, axial and selective coding; hand coding; computer-assisted coding; multi-rater coding; data triangulation.- Putting it all together: creating a teacher preparation program utilizing e-portfolios for critical reflection and transformative learning.- To the future.- Appendix 1: Methodological Strategies.- Appendix 2: Codes and coding samples. ​