Yamaç is currently focusing on this research project, as the data that is collected for the project could be beneficial for her own dissertation as well. Here are answers to questions in which she was asked to reflect on her experiences on the ongoing project and the topic and background of her own dissertation research.
What is the project about?
“Teaching practices are mainly formed through experience and are part of both the professional identity of the university lecturers and the institutional culture of learning and teaching in the university. The professional identity of university lecturers influences the way in which they teach and support student learning. Lecturers need to meet high standards of academic excellence and professionalism to understand how to support student learning, to be able to do this in real teaching practices, and to use novel educational and technological approaches. Research and teaching activities require a greater focus on renewing and developing teaching practices, and thus on self-analysis and professional identity.
The focus of the research project is to analyze the impact of the changes, especially during the pandemic time, taking place at the university on the work, teaching practices, professional identity, well-being, and career paths of university lecturers. The purpose of this study is to critically reflect on the interplay between the identity, teaching-researching practice of university lecturers and the university environment in the context of three European universities: Tallinn University in Estonia, Tampere University in Finland and University of Malta.”
“Anyone I’ve interviewed so far has given feedback that this project seems important, and that the questions made them pause for a moment and think about their role. This is so motivating”, Yamaç commented.
How did you become a part of the project?
“Associate professor Larissa Jõgi, who leads the project and local team at Tallinn University, is my second supervisor for my own dissertation (along with HET research group leader Vesa Korhonen who is the first supervisor, and also participating in the project). I am also researching on teacher education faculties from the academics’ perspective through international collaborative approach in Finland and Estonia. Hence when Larissa offered me this short-term research opportunity, we all thought it could be beneficial for my own dissertation too.”
“I am excited to be a part of this project because I am learning a lot not only about how to collect and analyze the data but also, for example, how to prepare the official documents to get a research permission. It is a challenging and super beneficial process to me”, Yamaç said.
What is your dissertation about and how did you become interested in the topic?
“My dissertation is about investigating the digitalization in teacher education from the Finnish and Estonian teacher educators’ perspectives in the context of community of practice. The community of practice theory is based on social theories of learning and development which are rooted in social interaction in sociocultural practices. Since teacher education is the core of learning and development, how the members of the communities in teacher education interact, share, and participate over time, how they learn within a community, and what they know about their goals in the community can be explored within the CoP theory.
The communities of teacher educators’ preferences within digitalization in TE are still an open question and I wanted to address this during my Ph.D.”
Text: Aytuna Yamaç, Outi Ahola