Professional Learning Networks in Design-based Research Interventions

Professional learning networks (PLNs) have been promoted as one way of improving practice in research methodologies and frameworks aimed at the improvement of practice. However, such networks are not yet the norm and there is a growing need for books that provide a theoretical and practical account of how to develop and utilise networks effectively. Mei Kuin Lai and Stuart McNaughton address this need by providing a theoretical and practical account of how PLNs focused on collaborative analysis of data can be integrated into design-based research interventions to improve practice and student learning outcomes.

Drawing primarily on examples from a design-based research intervention, the Learning Schools Model, topics covered include theoretical approaches to understanding networks, network purposes and features, constraints and enablers and future directions in utilising networks within design-based research. This intervention is one of the few demonstrations of a consistent and replicable effect of analysing and discussing data in networks on student outcomes within a wider design-based intervention design. The authors discuss the constraints and enablers of the context that influence how PLNs might be implemented across different contexts. Examples of how PLNs can demonstrate fidelity to the general structure of effective networks while adapting to local variations are also provided, enabling readers to conceptualise and design similar networks appropriate to their context.

Mei Kuin Lai is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education and Social Work and an Associate Director at the Woolf Fisher Research Centre, The University of Auckland. Her research focuses on research-practice partnerships to improve valued student outcomes, in particular, how collaborative analysis of data in professional learning communities and networks contribute to these improvements. She was the joint-recipient of the University of Auckland’s Research Excellence Award (2015), awarded for research of demonstrable quality and impact, for her work in co-designing and co-testing the Learning Schools Model. She has published in journals like Teaching and Teacher Education and Reading Research Quarterly, where her first authored article was selected for inclusion in the International Literacy Association’s edited book, Theoretical models and processes of reading (6^th Edition).

Stuart McNaughton (ONZM) is a Professor of Education at the University of Auckland and the former Director of the Woolf Fisher Research Centre. He is also New Zealand’s Chief Education Scientific Advisor. He has published extensively on children’s literacy and language development, the design of effective educational programmes for culturally and linguistically diverse populations, and cultural processes in development. He is a recipient of research prizes, consults on curricula and educational interventions nationally and internationally. He is a member of the International Reading Hall of Fame for sustained contribution to literacy research, literacy leadership and the preparation of leaders in the literacy field through teaching. He was the joint-recipient of the University of Auckland’s Research Excellence Award (2015) for his work in co-designing and co-testing the Learning Schools Model.