Studying knowledge dynamics and learning in higher education

The research stay is devoted to the further development of a larger project I am preparing together with colleagues in the research group 'Higher Education: Institutional dynamics and knowledge cultures' at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Education. Th is project aims to conceptualize and empirically investigate current change dynamics in higher education by bridging two research areas and traditions: - Research on societal and political processes that influence the organization and institutional dynam ics of higher education, and - Research on changes in the epistemic cultures and processes that constitute academic communities, their logics of participation and mechanisms for enrolment. A key idea is to examine the interplay between social, political and epistemic components in higher education institutions and practices, with a specific focus on dynamics of change. The project thus addresses topics at the intersection of political regulations of knowledge and education, the development of knowledge c ultures and practices in academic communities, and the educational processes through which students become skillful practitioners in expert domains. CSHE conducts several projects within the thematic areas of 'Science and Technology Policy and Higher Ed ucation' and 'The Research University', which have shared interests with our project. In particular I will be collaborating with Dr. John A. Douglass and his team in developing the project further. Core activities in the spring 2012 will be to develop an extended literature review, to develop a more sophisticated analytical framework which integrates perspectives from science studies and educational research, and to concretize a research design for empirical studies which span organizational levels. I wi ll also present and discuss the project in a public CSHE seminar, and prepare a working paper to be considered for their Research and Occasional Paper Series.