2022 Award winner:
The International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) and the Journal of Professional Capital and Community (JPCC) have announced the winner of the 2022 Innovation Award.
Winner: Leanne Ma
The winning research explores how social and intellectual capital in a professional learning network can be redistributed so that educators are positioned not just as designers, but as creators of knowledge, advancing theory, pedagogy, and technology with researchers. Toward that end, design-based implementation methodology was used to engage a multi-level, multi-district network of educators in continual improvement of practices over the course of two years. Social network analyses reveal that the dynamics of this network are more akin to innovation networks than sharing networks, with different teachers and school leaders rotating leadership over time. Whereas in the first year, teachers collaborated primarily with other educators in Ontario, by the second year, they intentionally sought out educators and experts from around the world to deepen their professional learning and collective knowledge advancement. This research points to the promise of fostering global innovation networks to catalyze school improvement and system-wide change while simultaneously aligning education with the needs of knowledge societies.
Leanne is a PhD candidate in the department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her research explores how research-practice partnerships can build capacity for innovation in K-12 schools. Using the Knowledge Building approach, she works closely with teachers, principals, superintendents, and education officers in collaborative design of practices to enhance student achievement, well-being, and equity outcomes.
About the award:
This award recognizes an outstanding contribution to the ICSEI 2022 conference that makes an innovative contribution in educational research, policy, and/or practice within the field of professional capital and community.
Previous winners:
2021 – Paul Campbell
2020 – Rania Sawalhi