title: Coaching teachers: Professional Learning Leaders exploration of practice and identity through collaborative inquiry.

authors: Bewley, Sue

subjects: Distributed leadership

abstract: This research is a study of the development of coaching practice and sense of identity of three middle leaders in a primary school who are responsible for leading professional learning.   It is of interest because significant responsibility for leading teacher professional learning has been handed to middle leaders since the devolution of management to schools.   However little is known about how this leadership of learning is implemented and how leaders might develop for this responsibility.   Collaborative inquiry is explored as an approach where middle leaders have space to learn theoretical frameworks, practise coaching skills in an authentic situation and examine the impact.   The purpose is to stimulate reflection and guide systematic inquiry into coaching practice for action and change.
        The ethnographic methodology was deliberately used to allow the research participants to make sense of their world in which they act as coaches.  Through linking action and research, ideas about coaching teachers to be skilled critical inquirers were tried as a means of knowledge creation (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2003).   The use of participatory action research ensured that the Professional Learning Leaders (PLLs) could work collaboratively to understand the situation supported by myself as a participant researcher.  Within five convergent group interviews the PLLs engaged in dialogue and reflection about their practice and the observed impacts of coaching three teachers in a group to be skilled critical inquirers of their classroom practice.  Professional literature was used to support their inquiry.  
         The findings confirm that facilitation of reflective dialogue is difficult            because it involves challenging the beliefs of others while maintaining an environment of trust.  The view that the most effective professional development is collaborative, situated and participatory is also confirmed.  Although confirmations are not new information, the learning and involvement in the process through a supported collaborative inquiry approach was a new and transformational experience for the participants where knowledge was created and people changed.   
        The findings reveal that improved coaching practice and identity learning occurred interdependently.  Being a coach in the dual position of middle leader and teacher was discovered to cause conflicts.  Collaborative inquiry into the causes and impacts of these conflicts helped to clarify the role and responsibility of coaching.  
        The findings suggest that the roles and practice of senior and middle leaders in relation to enhancing teaching and learning in the school must be examined closely.  School leaders need to consider how they can structure and support collaborative inquiry for professional learning and building leadership capacity.  Drawing on the discoveries and understandings of coaching practice and collaborative inquiry, this research presents a diagram that illustrates the significance of collaboration in the process of improving coaching practice and identity learning.

text: Coaching teachers: Professional Learning Leaders exploration of practice and identity through collaborative inquiry. This research is a study of the development of coaching practice and sense of identity of three middle leaders in a primary school who are responsible for leading professional learning.   It is of interest because significant responsibility for leading teacher professional learning has been handed to middle leaders since the devolution of management to schools.   However little is known about how this leadership of learning is implemented and how leaders might develop for this responsibility.   Collaborative inquiry is explored as an approach where middle leaders have space to learn theoretical frameworks, practise coaching skills in an authentic situation and examine the impact.   The purpose is to stimulate reflection and guide systematic inquiry into coaching practice for action and change.
        The ethnographic methodology was deliberately used to allow the research participants to make sense of their world in which they act as coaches.  Through linking action and research, ideas about coaching teachers to be skilled critical inquirers were tried as a means of knowledge creation (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2003).   The use of participatory action research ensured that the Professional Learning Leaders (PLLs) could work collaboratively to understand the situation supported by myself as a participant researcher.  Within five convergent group interviews the PLLs engaged in dialogue and reflection about their practice and the observed impacts of coaching three teachers in a group to be skilled critical inquirers of their classroom practice.  Professional literature was used to support their inquiry.  
         The findings confirm that facilitation of reflective dialogue is difficult            because it involves challenging the beliefs of others while maintaining an environment of trust.  The view that the most effective professional development is collaborative, situated and participatory is also confirmed.  Although confirmations are not new information, the learning and involvement in the process through a supported collaborative inquiry approach was a new and transformational experience for the participants where knowledge was created and people changed.   
        The findings reveal that improved coaching practice and identity learning occurred interdependently.  Being a coach in the dual position of middle leader and teacher was discovered to cause conflicts.  Collaborative inquiry into the causes and impacts of these conflicts helped to clarify the role and responsibility of coaching.  
        The findings suggest that the roles and practice of senior and middle leaders in relation to enhancing teaching and learning in the school must be examined closely.  School leaders need to consider how they can structure and support collaborative inquiry for professional learning and building leadership capacity.  Drawing on the discoveries and understandings of coaching practice and collaborative inquiry, this research presents a diagram that illustrates the significance of collaboration in the process of improving coaching practice and identity learning.

year: 2012

title: Web crippling design of cold-formed stainless steel channels under interior-two-flange loading condition using deep belief network

authors: Fang, Zhiyuan (Arthur)

subjects: stainless steel

abstract: This research presents a deep-learning framework, namely a deep belief network (DBN), for analyzing the interior-two-flange web crippling performance of cold-formed stainless steel channels with centered and offset web holes. An elastoplastic finite element (FE) model, validated using 101 experimental results which were previously reported in the literature, generates a total of 43,200 data points for training the DBN. When compared to a total of 54 experimental results published in the literature, the DBN predictions were shown to be approximately 10% more conservative. Using the same large training data, the developed DBN model outperformed the Backpropagation Neural Network (a typical shallow artificial neural network) and the PaddlePaddle-based linear regression model. A parametric analysis was then performed using the DBN predictions to explore the effect of section size, web holes and bearing length. Design equations for (reduced) web crippling strength are proposed for the cold-formed stainless steel perforated channels, and the feasibility of the proposed equations was assessed by the conducted reliability analysis.

text: Web crippling design of cold-formed stainless steel channels under interior-two-flange loading condition using deep belief network This research presents a deep-learning framework, namely a deep belief network (DBN), for analyzing the interior-two-flange web crippling performance of cold-formed stainless steel channels with centered and offset web holes. An elastoplastic finite element (FE) model, validated using 101 experimental results which were previously reported in the literature, generates a total of 43,200 data points for training the DBN. When compared to a total of 54 experimental results published in the literature, the DBN predictions were shown to be approximately 10% more conservative. Using the same large training data, the developed DBN model outperformed the Backpropagation Neural Network (a typical shallow artificial neural network) and the PaddlePaddle-based linear regression model. A parametric analysis was then performed using the DBN predictions to explore the effect of section size, web holes and bearing length. Design equations for (reduced) web crippling strength are proposed for the cold-formed stainless steel perforated channels, and the feasibility of the proposed equations was assessed by the conducted reliability analysis.

year: 2023-01

title: Reimagining community resilience through a Te Ao Maori worldview

authors: Boston, Megan

abstract: Efforts to improve community resilience have seen universal efforts to grow capabilities in disaster management for the built environment. Although comprehensive frameworks exist, the perspective used to derive these frameworks fails to address marginalised communities' vulnerabilities, including Indigenous Māori people. Colonization and socio-economic deprivation on Māori mean community response frameworks fail to reflect their values and specific needs when preparing and responding to natural disasters. The nature of Māori culture and values presents an opportunity to reimagine the scope of community resilience for an inclusive framework. The Māori history has resilient practices weaved into the very fabric of their culture, which knowledge has survived through the oral transmission of waiata, whakataukī, whakairo, and pūrakau. The practice of community resilience amongst ancient Māori was not consigned to singular events but instead is a holistic perspective to the manner of living. Sourcing and qualifying this information from people aligned and immersed in nature is the knowledge required to improve the frameworks to respond to natural disasters while expanding the literature on community resilience. A comprehensive analysis of traditional Māori resilience is conducted by evaluating a variety of Mātauranga Māori that relate to the resilient nature of Māori. This information is compared to modern Māori perceptions of community resilience using a derived earthquake scenario for the local Iwi Ngati Toa, located in the city of Porirua within the Wellington region. This information will enable a comprehensive definition of community resilience and improve disaster response frameworks to be more inclusive, safe, sustainable, and resilient.

text: Reimagining community resilience through a Te Ao Maori worldview Efforts to improve community resilience have seen universal efforts to grow capabilities in disaster management for the built environment. Although comprehensive frameworks exist, the perspective used to derive these frameworks fails to address marginalised communities' vulnerabilities, including Indigenous Māori people. Colonization and socio-economic deprivation on Māori mean community response frameworks fail to reflect their values and specific needs when preparing and responding to natural disasters. The nature of Māori culture and values presents an opportunity to reimagine the scope of community resilience for an inclusive framework. The Māori history has resilient practices weaved into the very fabric of their culture, which knowledge has survived through the oral transmission of waiata, whakataukī, whakairo, and pūrakau. The practice of community resilience amongst ancient Māori was not consigned to singular events but instead is a holistic perspective to the manner of living. Sourcing and qualifying this information from people aligned and immersed in nature is the knowledge required to improve the frameworks to respond to natural disasters while expanding the literature on community resilience. A comprehensive analysis of traditional Māori resilience is conducted by evaluating a variety of Mātauranga Māori that relate to the resilient nature of Māori. This information is compared to modern Māori perceptions of community resilience using a derived earthquake scenario for the local Iwi Ngati Toa, located in the city of Porirua within the Wellington region. This information will enable a comprehensive definition of community resilience and improve disaster response frameworks to be more inclusive, safe, sustainable, and resilient.

year: 2023