Computer Conferencing, Critical Reflection, and Teacher Development

The development of critical reflection in teachers is an issue of concern to teacher educators. Finding ways to foster that development becomes increasingly important as the schools continue to change with unprecedented rapidity. This paper reports the results of study that looked at whether computer conferencing could be used to help students of teaching become more aware of taken-for-granted assumptions ~ a crucial aspect of critical reflection. The following two questions guided our study. First, do conferencing activities generate opportunities for the identification and discussion of taken-for-granted assumptions and, if so, what types of assumptions? Second, do conferencing activities provide insight into the relationship between student development and the ability to identify and clarify taken-for-granted assumptions?

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