robert fitzgerald, phd

The beginning of 2008 will see a noteworthy event held in Australia for the first time. The Imaginative Education Research Group (IERG) at Simon Fraser University, Canada, and IERG associates at the University of Canberra are hosting the 6th International Conference on Imagination and Education. The conference aims to stimulate discussion of imaginative education and its applications in all sites of learning, and to ensure that educational experiences are imaginatively engaging for both teachers and learners. The work of the IERG (and others) can be seen as part of a growing swell of interest in imagination and the way in which it influences creative and emotionally engaging education. In the last fifteen years brain research has confirmed the importance of engaging affective domains in learners (e.g. Damasio 2003; LeDoux 1996), showing that to do so increases levels of attention, retention and enjoyment in the act of learning. Research into how our brain works has also shown that emotional engagement is closely related to images and the imagination (see LeDoux 1996). When we imagine, the part of the brain associated with emotions, the amygdala, is activated together with the cortex of the brain (where logical processes mainly take place). In other words, if we engage students’ imagination, we engage their affective domains, resulting in a more enjoyable and memorable learning journey.

One of the keynote-speakers at the 6th International Conference on Imagination and Education, the Canadian Professor of Education, Kieran Egan, also sees imaginative education as a means of engaging children emotionally in learning. Egan’s work, perhaps best exemplified in The Educated Mind (1997), has become a noticeable contender in effecting a paradigm shift in education that supports the recent developments in brain research. Rationality is not simply a set of computing skills; the mind works as a whole, and its whole includes our bodies and our emotions and imaginations. (Egan 2005, p.100) Egan builds on the philosophical premise that children learn more deeply and more profoundly through interacting with what they can imagine. He grounds his theoretical approach with practical ‘cognitive tools’ such as the use of story-telling, metaphor, binary opposites, jokes and humour, and association with heroes, etc. – mental and culturally inherited tools which become progressively more sophisticated as the child develops. As such, Egan provides a conceptual framework for understanding imaginative education as both a philosophically and methodologically very different approach to education than has been seen so far.

Note: if you want to know more about the upcoming 6th International Conference on Imagination and Education: “Imaginative Theory, Imaginative Practice”, to be held in Australia for the first time from Tuesday 29th January to Thursday 31th January, at the Rydges Hotel by the Lake, Canberra, please visit http://imaginativeeducation.org/conferences

REFERENCES

Damasio, A. R. (2003). Looking for Spinoza : Joy, sorrow, and the feeling brain. London: Harcourt.

Egan, K (1997). The Educated Mind: How cognitive tools shape our understanding Chicago; University of Chicago Press.

Egan, K. (2005). An Imaginative Approach to Teaching. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass A Wiley Company.

LeDoux, J.E. (1996). The Emotional Brain. New York, Simon and Schuster.

Our social software survey is now available. We are asking academics and students from UC, QUT and RMIT to help us find out more about the ways they are using social software and web2.0 technologies. The link to the survey is: http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=697518

DEST CATEGORY 1 (Australian Competitive Grants Register)

• Fitzgerald, R.N. & Spriggs, J. (2007-8). Electronic Marketing Communication Systems: Using SMS technologies to improve the marketing system for maize and soybeans in Cambodia. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. Funding $100 000 AUD. RFCD Code (280104; 330107; 309902). In progress.
• Fitzgerald, D & Fitzgerald, R.N. (2001). The use of Integrated Learning Systems in developing number and language concepts in primary school children: A longitudinal study of individual differences. National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and Projects Programme. Funding $170 000 AUD.RFCD Code (330201; 330202; 330107; 280100).

DEST CATEGORY 2 (Competitive)

• Fitzgerald, R.N., Barass, S., Campbell, J., Hinton, S., Whitelaw, M. & Ryan, Y. (2006-08). Digital Learning Communities (DLC): Investigating the application of social software to support networked peer learning. Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Competitive Grants Program. Funding $100 000 AUD. RFCD Code (330107; 330305; 280100). In progress.
• Fitzgerald, R.N (2005). Advancing professional learning pedagogies with collaborative knowledge creation technologies. Partnerships In ICT Learning Project (PICTL). Australian Government Quality Teacher Program Project. Funding $21 000 AUD. RFCD Code (330107; 330305; 280100).
• Robson, J, Fitzgerald, R.N. & Routcliffe, P (1991). Remote schooling and information technology. Commonwealth Staff Development Grant. Funding $12 000 AUD.
• Fitzgerald, D. King, M., Pegg, J., Fraser, C. & Fitzgerald, R.N. (1990). Intelligent computer systems to support learning in problem areas within mathematics, science and language in kindergarten to grade eight. Toshiba Australia. Funding $65 000 AUD.

GRANTS (Tendered & Internal)

• Vandermensbrugghe, J., Fitzgerald, R.N., Donnan, P. & Li, L. (2007). Research Education Program Online. University of Canberra Teaching Grant, Funded $20000. In progess.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. (2004). Engagement and design: Cognitive effects of computer-based educational games and the implications for the design of productive ICT-supported learning environments. Hong Kong Institute of Education. Funding $110 000 HKD.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. (2004). Learning with IT: A study tour of exemplary and innovative approaches to the integration of IT in teaching & learning in selected Australian educational institutions. Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau, HKSAR Government, CHINA. Funding $100 000 HKD.
• Richards, C. & Fitzgerald, R.N. (2003). Effective design principles for ICT-supported learned environments: Towards an exemplary working model. (ITSC Project No.1530), Hong Kong Institute of Education. Funding $200 000 HKD.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. (1996). Evaluation of the Tuggeranong Valley schools internet project. National Professional Development Project. Funding $2200 AUD.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. & Waywood, A. (1996). Internet and teaching and learning: A literature review. Computers Across the Secondary Curriculum, National Professional Development Project. Funding $3000 AUD.
• Fitzgerald, D. & Hughes, P. & Fitzgerald, R.N. (1995). Evaluation of the Victorian schools computer assisted learning project. Victorian Directorate of School Education. Funding $82 500 AUD.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. (1993) Developing computer based research tools to study probabilistic reasoning. Australian Catholic University. Funding $2950 AUD.
• Robson, J., Routcliffe, P. & Fitzgerald, R.N. (1992). Remote schooling and information technology research project. Australian Catholic University. Funding $2500 AUD.

Areas of Interest:

• Elearning and the application of Web2.0 and social technologies such as blogs, wikis and folksonomies (tagging) to learning and problem solving.
• ICT integration and the application of collaborative technologies to learning and teaching; the development of online communities of practice; and the use of team meeting systems such as Zing.
• Application of ICT for development (ICT4D) with recent successful experience working on a rural information and capacity building project in Cambodia.
• Activity Theory (cf Engestrom); Communities of Practice (cf Lave; Wenger) and Social Psychology (cf Vygotsky, Luria and Leontiev).
• Active builder-user currently working with Drupal, Moodle, Wordpress, Mediawiki, Elgg, OpenAcademic and other systems built on the LAMP platform.

Currently working on:

• Organising the 6th International Conference on Imagination and Education to be held in Canberra from 29-31 January 2008.
• Digital Learning Communities (Carrick Institute for learning and teaching in Higher Education)
• Electronic Marketing Communication Systems in Cambodia (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research)

Writing:

• Fitzgerald, R.N., Spriggs, J. & Nou Keosothea (In progress). Using short messaging services to promote communication and exchange between maize and soybean producers and traders in western Cambodia. Australian Institute of Sustainable Communities, University of Canberra. September, 2007.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. & Spriggs, J. (2007). Improving the marketing system for maize and soybeans in Cambodia (ASEM2003/012). Technical Report, Australian Institute of Sustainable Communities, University of Canberra, Available from http://www.aisc.org.au/.
• Haralmabous, B., Fitzgerald, R.N. & Nielsen, T.W. (2007). Imagination and Education. Education Review, 17, 6, pg11.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. (2007). A longitudinal study of the use of Integrated Learning Systems (ILS) in the areas of mathematics and reading in selected Australian primary schools.Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
• Fitzgerald, R.N., Barass, S.,Bruns, A.,Campbell, J.,Miles, A.,Hinton, S.,Whitelaw, M. & Ryan, Y. (2007). Digital Learning Communities (DLC): Investigating the application of social software to support networked learning. Poster to be presented at ED-MEDIA 2007--World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, Vancouver, Canada.