Reconceiving with action research: working within and across communities of practice in a university/community college collaborative venture

Abstract

Three teacher educators worked at a US community college with two adult education staff on a grant-supported project bridging high school dropouts from adult education to employment. The teacher educators’ apparently simple task of facilitating grant participants’ engagement with action research became confusingly challenging. The consultants engaged in ‘second-order’ action research to frame their process of reflective practice, thus deepening their understanding of the project’s complexity, the marginalization of adult education, and their adult education colleagues’ and other grant participants’ reflective practice. This shift in understanding, powered by their continuing reflective practice, precipitated a transformation of their theoretical framework. They moved from questioning the nature of their roles to a more complex understanding of their experience and identity as movement among and within overlapping communities of practice.

Keywords:

• action research
• professional development
• collaboration
• reflective practice
• community college

Notes

1. In the United States, there are different types of high school graduation certificates including the standard graduation certificate, which means the student met the minimum requirements for that state, and the GED, among others. Graduation from a high school program in the United States does not mean the same standard of academic performance in every state, and high school graduation certificates are not generally used by colleges and universities as a ticket to admission. Although the GED is sufficient for some types of employment, students obtaining a GED are generally less prepared than students gaining a regular high school diploma (Garvey 2011). Community colleges admit most applicants but administer a battery of college readiness tests, and students unprepared for college work are required to take ‘developmental’ classes before enrolling in regular college classes.