An ontological turn for higher education

By Gloria Dall’Alba, R. Barnacle. 2007

373 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this article, the implications of foregrounding ontology for teaching and learning in higher education are explored. In conventional approaches to higher education programmes, ontology has tended to be subordinated to epistemological concerns. This has meant the flourishing of notions such as the transfer and acquisition of knowledge and skills, either generic or discipline‐specific. The authors challenge this emphasis on what students acquire through education by foregrounding instead the question of who they become. They do this through a theoretical/conceptual exploration of an approach to learning that undermines a narrow focus on the intellect by promoting the integration of knowing, acting and being.

Subfields: Education, Philosophy

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/531c56a4d7f59fdb2391acdcb4716da7335de1c6

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Education

1. Thuy Vu
2. E. Kahu
3. Susan Mowbray
4. Gloria Dall’Alba
5. C. Halse
6. Karen Nelson

In Philosophy

1. E. Kahu
2. Gloria Dall’Alba

Citations in the corpus

• Framing student engagement in higher education (2013, background): “A related constructivist approach argues that higher education needs to take an ontological turn and institutions need to ‘engage the whole person: what they know, how they act, and who they are’ (Dall'Alba and Barnacle 2007 , 689).”
• The purpose of the PhD: theorising the skills acquired by students (2010, background): “…is a disregard for the multidimensionality of the doctorate (Pearson, Evans, & Macauley, 2008) that overlooks the development of capacities such as engagement, motivation, perseverance, resilience, innovation and creative thinking (Barnett, 2007; Dall’Alba & Barnacle, 2007; Lovitts, 2005, 2008).”
• Authentic Assessment for Student Learning: An ontological conceptualisation (2014, background): “Instead, authentic assessment processes can challenge students to take up and respond to the question of who they are becoming (Dall’Alba & Barnacle, 2007; Dall’Alba & Sandberg, 2006).”