Redesigning Teacher Education in a Research-Intensive University: An Organizational Learning Perspective

• In Event: Redesigning and Theorizing Teacher Preparation Programs Using a Democratic Approach

Abstract

This paper discusses what it takes to redesign teacher education at a research university through a lens of organizational learning. Our institution is five years into a ten-year, four million dollar redesign effort of its teacher preparation programs. The paper draws on the results of a mid-course assessment of how our redesign efforts have progressed and the results we are seeing in our institutional practices. The paper explores the fundamental assumptions of higher education structures that support and limit program re-design. Specifically, knowledge communities, organizational sustainability, conceptualizing partnerships, and the development and use of a shared research framework are discussed. This institutional level analysis has implications for a broader rethinking of how we organize for teacher education reform within higher education.

Author

• Mistilina D. Sato, University of Minnesota