Re: Questioning the Institution of Learning.

Peter Smagorinsky (psmagorinsky who-is-at ou.edu)
Wed, 05 Nov 1997 14:15:11

Vera, have you considered studying the creation and development of research
centers? I'm currently involved in a cross-campus center funded by OERI
(Center for English Learning and Achievement). It's a fascinating
situation to be in, especially in light of Sarason's work on the creation
of settings. The work is contextualized because it's got the economic
structure of the funding agency and its audits, and also has an internal
social and political life that affect the success of the research. Within
these contexts, intellectual collaborations take place. I've got a small
group at Oklahoma, and we're doing a coordinated study with colleagues from
the U. of Washington, who are also affiliated with a Policy center which
affects their work with us. We constitute a satellite group of the main
research that comes from SUNY-Albany and U. of Wisconsin.

Fascinating stuff! I really think that if I ever tried to put together a
proposal for a Center, one of the lines of inquiry I'd include would be a
study of the development of the Center itself.

Peter

>I would welcome some more comments from you Steve on the role of
>collaboration among architects as I am engaged in writing a book on
>intellectually productive collaborations, thanks, Vera John-Steiner

Peter Smagorinsky
Co-Editor, Research in the Teaching of English
University of Oklahoma
820 Van Vleet Oval
Norman, OK 73019-0260
office phone: (405)325-3533 fax: (405)325-4061 psmagorinsky who-is-at ou.edu

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