UWCScholar :: Browsing by Author "McMillan, Wendy"

Browsing by Author "McMillan, Wendy"

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Analysing the professional development of teaching and learning from a political ethics of care perspective
(Routledge, 2014) Bozalek, Vivienne; McMillan, Wendy; Marshall, Delia; November, Melvyn; Daniels, Andre; Sylvester, Toni
This paper uses Tronto’s political ethics of care as a normative framework to evaluate a model of teaching and learning professional development. This framework identifies five integrated moral elements of care – attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness and trust. This paper explicates on each of these elements to evaluate the piloting and implementation of a teaching and learning professional development model at a South African higher education institution. The political ethics of care was found to be a useful normative framework for a group of higher educators to reflect on the process of engaging in teaching and learning professional development in that it revealed the importance of differential power relations, the importance of working collaboratively and being attentive to the needs of both caregivers and care receivers.
Authentic professional development: Key to quality sevice delivery
(Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA), 2014) Lowther, Michael; McMillan, Wendy
The Actuarial Society of South Africa ('Actuarial Society') requires its members to honour their professional promise to deliver specialist and up-to-date actuarial expertise that is ethical and subject to professional oversight. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the Actuarial Society can encourage its members to develop and maintain the capability to deliver this professional promise through continuing professional development ('CPD'). Current concepts of and approaches to professional development were identified from the literature and various professions' CPD requirements. Thereafter, the opinions of South African actuaries on the insights from the literature were sought by means of an online survey. Analysis of the literature indicates that CPD is most effective when it takes place through a development cycle of planning, action, results and reflection. Further, professional development is associated with competently completing tasks that are required in the workplace. Data from the survey supported these insights. It is concluded that the Actuarial Society's CPD requirements should be designed to encourage members to develop and maintain their capabilities, and it is therefore suggested that members be required to engage in work-based development cycles.
Being and becoming a university teacher
(Taylor & Francis group, 2017) McMillan, Wendy; Gordon, Natalie
This study examined how one academic framed the enablements and constraints to her project of being and becoming an academic. Complexity facilitated reflection in that it provided a visual representation of data, which was used to generate a concept map, which represented as equal all the component parts of her landscape. Five spaces with emancipatory potential to assist the academic in her professional development emerged, namely: communities of practice, academic freedom, position statements, development opportunities and a supportive environment. Rather than suggesting any generalisability in the findings, the authors argue that the significance of this study is theoretical and methodological.
Being and becoming a university teacher
(Taylor & Francis, 2016) McMillan, Wendy; Gordon, Natalie
This study examined how one academic framed the enablements and constraints to her project of being and becoming an academic. Complexity facilitated reflection in that it provided a visual representation of data, which was used to generate a concept map, which represented as equal all the component parts of her landscape. Five spaces with emancipatory potential to assist the academic in her professional development emerged, namely: communities of practice, academic freedom, position statements, development opportunities and a supportive environment. Rather than suggesting any generalisability in the findings, the authors argue that the significance of this study is theoretical and methodological. Complexity theory has the potential to help academic development practitioners understand the landscapes in which their academics operate, and guide appropriate development opportunities.
Collaborative research in contexts of inequality: the role of social reflexivity
(Springer Verlag, 2017) Leibowitz, Brenda; Bozalek, Vivienne; Farmer, Jean; Garraway, James; Herman, Nicoline; Jawitz, Jeff; McMillan, Wendy; Mistri, Gita; Ndebele, Clever; Nkonki, Vuyisile; Quinn, Lynn; van Schalkwyk, Susan; Vorster, Jo-Anne; Winberg, Christine
This article reports on the role and value of social reflexivity in collaborative research in contexts of extreme inequality. Social reflexivity mediates the enablements and constraints generated by the internal and external contextual conditions impinging on the research collaboration. It fosters the ability of participants in a collaborative project to align their interests and collectively extend their agency towards a common purpose. It influences the productivity and quality of learning outcomes of the research collaboration. The article is written by fourteen members of a larger research team, which comprised 18 individuals working within the academic development environment in eight South African universities. The overarching research project investigated the participation of academics in professional development activities, and how contextual, i.e. structural and cultural, and agential conditions, influence this participation. For this sub-study on the experience of the collaboration by fourteen of the researchers, we wrote reflective pieces on our own experience of participating in the project towards the end of the third year of its duration. We discuss the structural and cultural conditions external to and internal to the project, and how the social reflexivity of the participants mediated these conditions. We conclude with the observation that policy injunctions and support from funding agencies for collaborative research, as well as support from participants' home institutions are necessary for the flourishing of collaborative research, but that the commitment by individual participants to participate, learn and share, is also necessary.
Collaborative research in contexts of inequality: the role of social reflexivity
(Springer, 2016) Leibowitz, Brenda; Bozalek, Vivienne; Farmer, Jean; Garraway, James; Herman, Nicoline; Jawitz, Jeff; McMillan, Wendy; Mistri, Gita; Ndebele, Clever; Nkonki, Vuyisile; Quinn, Lynn; van Schalkwyk, Susan; Vorster, Jo-Anne; Winberg, Christine
This article reports on the role and value of social reflexivity in collaborative research in contexts of extreme inequality. Social reflexivity mediates the enablements and constraints generated by the internal and external contextual conditions impinging on the research collaboration. It fosters the ability of participants in a collaborative project to align their interests and collectively extend their agency towards a common purpose. It influences the productivity and quality of learning outcomes of the research collaboration. The article is written by fourteen members of a larger research team, which comprised 18 individuals working within the academic development environment in eight South African universities. The overarching research project investigated the participation of academics in professional development activities, and how contextual, i.e. structural and cultural, and agential conditions, influence this participation. For this sub-study on the experience of the collaboration by fourteen of the researchers, we wrote reflective pieces on our own experience of participating in the project towards the end of the third year of its duration. We discuss the structural and cultural conditions external to and internal to the project, and how the social reflexivity of the participants mediated these conditions. We conclude with the observation that policy injunctions and support from funding agencies for collaborative research, as well as support from participants’ home institutions are necessary for the flourishing of collaborative research, but that the commitment by individual participants to participate, learn and share, is also necessary.
Diffracting learning/teaching entanglements: A South African vice-chancellor’s perspective
(Routledge, 2016) Bozalek, Vivienne; McMillan, Wendy
This chapter considers data from interviews conducted with eight vice-chancellors from both historically advantaged and disadvantaged higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa, as part of a larger national project on professional development of teaching and learning. It hones in on one particular interview which was a ‘hot spot’ and which ‘glowed’ (MacLure 2013) during data analysis. The perspective of vice-chancellors on learning to teach is important for providing insights into the broader context in which the process of learning to teach takes place. This is because it is vice-chancellors who are affected by both past and current policies and discourses, while also being pivotal in affecting and being affected by institutional enablements and constraints regarding learning to teach. The material discursive in terms of past and present sociopolitical discourses and policies, as well as access to resources, deeply affect learning to teach at both a systemic and institutional level. Vice-chancellors find themselves at the interface between these national and international discourses, policies, and practices as part of their specific university environments where these discourses and policies are enacted. These entanglements dynamically reconfigure learning to teach in higher education.
Education for actuarial quality
(Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA), 2009) Lowther, Michael; McMillan, Wendy; Venter, Francisca
This paper is located in the field of actuarial professional education. It draws on current literature and empirical evidence to argue the need for developing generic ‘normative’ capabilities and values in the actuarial profession. The paper examines three themes of normative education for actuaries—the intended purpose of an education programme, the range of capabilities and values to be developed and educational ‘best practice’. A literature review of normative education in various professions provided a theoretical framework for data analysis, and for making recommendations. Data were collected from three sources: interviews with stakeholders; documentary evidence regarding current education of actuaries and accountants; and advertisements for employment of nearly or newly qualified actuaries. The paper draws on the literature and the empirical evidence to argue that the purpose of an actuarial education programme is to ensure the delivery of a service of quality. For this delivery to be achieved, attention must be given to technical, normative and organisational learning. The paper then reviews normative capabilities and values for actuaries. Thereafter, educational considerations for the development of normative capabilities and values are discussed. The paper concludes by drawing on the study to outline principles to guide curriculum planning for the normative component of the new South African actuarial qualification.
Finding a method to analyse qualitative data: using a study of conceptual learning
(American Association of Dental Schools, 2009) McMillan, Wendy
There is increasing awareness in the health sciences of the potential of qualitative research to address questions that quantitative research cannot satisfactorily answer. While a growing number of studies in health sciences and health sciences education discuss the value of such research or describe the methodology and data collection processes, few detail how analysis was carried out. Reliability and validity of findings from qualitative research depend on the quality of data management, retrieval, and interpretation or identification of meaning. The robustness of data analysis is therefore an important factor in the rigor of qualitative research. This article uses a study of dental students’ conceptual learning to illustrate strategies that ensure rigor in qualitative analysis. Factors that informed the decisions regarding analysis are discussed in detail. The use of both grounded theory and literature is discussed. The role that deductive and inductive reasoning played in the analysis is outlined. A brief section illustrates the kinds of conclusions that can be made about conceptual learning when qualitative data are rigorously analyzed. Finally, potential shortcomings in the study and alternatives or additional mechanisms for ensuring validity and reliability of analysis are discussed.
Gender and race distribution of dental graduates (1985 - 2004) and first year dental students (2000 - 2005) in South Africa
(South African Dental Association, 2005) McMillan, Wendy; Lalloo, R.; Gugushe, T.S.; Ligthelm, A.J.; Evans, W.G.; Moola, Mohamad H.
This paper, written at the close of a decade of democracy in South Africa, sets out to analyse the demographic profile of dental graduates from 1985-2004 at the five Faculties/Schools of Dentistry in South Africa. A comparison of the profiles for the pre-democracy (1985-1994) and post-apartheid (1995-2004) periods has been made. The demographic profile of first year dental students from 2000-2005 is also presented. From 1985-1994, most dental graduates were male (79%), but this changed substantially from 1995-2004, with females comprising 46% of those graduating. In the pre-democracy period, more than three-quarters of all graduates were White (78%), decreasing to 46% in the post-apartheid period under review. Black graduates increased from 6% to 24% across the two study periods. Amongst the first year dental student intake from 2000- 2005, females comprised 57%. There was an almost equal distribution across the White, Black and Asian groups. Dental faculties/schools have made important strides in transforming the demographic profile of their students. The percentage of Black graduates, however, needs to be significantly increased if it is to reflect the national population. Faculties/schools must further ensure that able students from working class background are identified and considered for acceptance into the undergraduate dental programme, and should then be offered the necessary academic and mentoring support to enable success.
"I could go work in a factory, but this is something I want to achieve": Narratives into social action
(Routledge, 2004) McMillan, Wendy
This paper is conceptually informed by a reading of Peter McLaren's work (1993). Drawing on the relationship that he signals between identity, narrative, and social action, it sets out to examine the ways in which identity shapes narratives of academic performance and consequent action. Speci®cally, I present the narratives of academic performance of a social grouping within a cohort of preprimary teacher education students. These students are all women, historically classi®ed `coloured' and of working class origin. Argument is presented that students interpret and reconstruct their personal histories and particular social locations through the material and discursive contexts to which they have access. The students are presented as active agentsÐ producing themselves within existing, and often potentially contradictory, material and discursive contexts. Evidence is marshalled to frame an argument that students' narratives shape their social action as agents of history, and are implicated in the distribution of privilege within society.
"I feel that I get by with what I do" - Using narrative as a conceptual tool for understanding social identity
(School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2003) McMillan, Wendy
Drawing on a qualitative study of a cohort of final year preprimary teacher college students, this paper motivates for narrative analysis as a suitable tool for accessing ‘insider accounts’ of social reality. Through an analysis of the voices of these young people, I make the argument that narrative analysis allows us to develop an explanation of how people interpret their social locations and personal histories through the discourses and material contexts to which they have access. I commence by presenting the narrative of academic performance of one of the social groupings within the cohort. The material and discursive parameters that framed their narrative account are outlined. Similarities and differences between individual accounts are highlighted, and explanations for these similarities and differences posited. The ways in which multiple social locations nuance identity as nested are explicated. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential contribution of narrative analysis as a conceptual tool for understanding social identity.
"I now see CPD as an integral part of my life": Authorship in continuing professional development
(2015) Lowther, Michael; McMillan, Wendy
The Actuarial Society of South Africa (‘Actuarial Society’) is piloting amended continuing professional development (‘CPD’) requirements. Cycles of work-based personal development are expected to support the delivery of a quality service better than the existing requirement to attend a minimum number of relevant events. Feedback from volunteers on the pilot project indicated that the proposals were effective in this regard. However, it was also observed that the reflective process embedded in the development cycle resulted in professionals authoring on-going positive revisions to their professional identity. Further, that strengthened professional identity might be leading to a ‘virtuous circle’ whereby the professional is in turn motivated to continue engaging in effective CPD. This paper explores this observation and the extent to which professional identity may be inscribed through a CPD programme which facilitates authentic professional development.
Making the most of teaching at the chairside
(Wiley, 2011) McMillan, Wendy
This paper examines the chairside as an opportunity for teaching and learning. It sets out to understand how students learn in the dental clinic so that they can better be supported in their clinical learning. The paper draws on current theories of learning to establish a rationale for effective chairside teaching. Current theories highlight the active role of learners in ‘constructing’ their own knowledge of a field, and emphasize the importance of active learning and reflection in this process. The paper is practical is nature. It weaves evidence from empirical studies of medical and dental clinical teaching, as well as ‘best practice tips’ from the literature, with theory to suggest a strategy for effective teaching in the clinical context. The paper concludes with a caveat, warning that effective clinical teaching requires an investment in time.
Moving beyond description: research that helps improve teaching and learning
(Health and Medical Publishing Group, 2010) McMillan, Wendy
This paper is premised on the assumption that education research, in order to be relevant, needs to generate explanations that have educational significance and applicability. It argues that much of the health sciences education research showcased at conferences falls short of generating explanations that have practical applicability because the reported studies do not move beyond description. The paper suggests ways in which health professions educators might move beyond description in order to generate explanations of teaching and learning that can be used to inform ‘best practice’ in education. The paper commences with a discussion of the role of theory in education research. Three forms of theory are identified – personal theoretical assumptions, theory from literature, and generation of theory from research. The paper highlights the limitations of research without theory and the role that theory might play in generating understandings of teaching and learning. Practical ways to ensure theoretical rigor in education research are suggested.
Planning lifelong professionalisation learning for actuaries
(Actuarial Society of South Africa, 2006) Lowther, Michael; McMillan, Wendy
This paper presents a model for what is termed Lifelong Professionalisation Learning for actuaries. The model is grounded on the proposition that professions are dynamic, offering the public varying quantities and qualities of professional aspects over time. The overall curriculum for the model is derived by ordering these aspects into cognitive, normative and organisational strands. Different aspects of the curriculum need to be addressed at the different stages of an actuary’s career. Delivery of the curriculum may take many forms, and should be planned by national actuarial associations under the guidance of an education expert.
"Quality is bound up with our values" - Evaluating the quality of mentoring programmes
(Routledge, 2005) McMillan, Wendy; Parker, M.E.
This paper discusses quality evaluation of health sciences mentoring programmes. The discussion highlights the way in which perceptions of what constitutes quality shape evaluative purposes. Potential tensions between the evaluative purposes of various stakeholders are brought to the fore. To this end, the discussion explores the ways in which accountability shapes the evaluative purposes of funders and how the desire for programme knowledge and development frames the evaluative purposes of academics. Various approaches to programme evaluation are examined. The potential of reflective practice as a tool for examining quality for knowledge and development of programmes is considered. The paper concludes by presenting a framework for evaluating various aspects of quality in mentoring programmes.
Recruiting and retaining rural students: evidence from a Faculty of Dentistry in South Africa
(Deakin University, 2012) McMillan, Wendy; Barrie, Robert
There is a shortage internationally of adequately trained health professionals to service rural areas. Health professionals are more likely to practice in communities that are like the one in which they grew up. The WHO therefore suggests targeted university admission policies to facilitate the enrolment of students from rural areas. In South Africa, rural students have special needs with regard to university access and throughput because they come from the most economically disadvantaged communities and often are the first in their families to attend university. This descriptive study, the first in South Africa with a cohort of dentistry students, draws on data from undergraduates at a single faculty of dentistry in South Africa. It investigates the factors affecting rural students’ access to university, their academic success, as well as their employment intentions.
Supporting reading literacy: A grade 6 pilot study
(University of Venda, 2012) Cornelissen, Raymond; McMillan, Wendy
This paper discusses a pilot reading-literacy development initiative in a class of Grade 6 township learners. The purpose of the study was to pilot a model of literacy development that could be implemented across a wider platform of schools. The pilot study, using classroom observation and focus group interviews, was designed within a psycholinguistic perspective. Criteria for effective reading-literacy development - access to text and the desire to engage, knowing what to do with text, and opportunities to understand and reflect on text - were used to design the study, and as a lens for analysis. The paper focuses on case studies as illustrative examples of the ways in which the initiative supported access to texts, reading-literacy confidence, and the development of interpretive and reflective reading skills. The study suggests that a conducive literacy environment, including access to texts, knowing what to do with texts, and opportunities to understand and reflect on text - as well as the support of teachers who know how to facilitate literacy - has the potential to achieve literacy gains for even seriously compromised learners.
Teaching for clinical reasoning – helping students make the conceptual links
(Informa Healthcare, 2010) McMillan, Wendy
INTRODUCTION: The paper provides a theoretical framework for understanding how conceptual learning is achieved, and the way in which conceptual understanding influences clinical reasoning and the ability to transfer theoretical understandings to the clinical contact. From this point of departure, the paper describes teaching strategies that facilitate the kinds of learning that students need in order to develop conceptual understanding and to be able to transfer knowledge from the theoretical to the clinical context. The value of concept mapping as a strategy for assisting the development of conceptual understanding, and for facilitating later transfer, is highlighted. The paper makes a specific contribution to dental education in that it extrapolates understandings about conceptual learning, concept mapping and clinical reasoning from the medical and higher education contexts and facilitates application of these concepts in dental education. However, insights from the paper will have general applicability to other fields of health sciences education since the paper highlights the role that conceptual understanding plays in the transfer of preclinical knowledge to the clinical application context.

Browsing by Author "McMillan, Wendy"

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