Lemmens The Virtual Challenge to International Cooperation in Higher Education Bernd Wächter (ed.) Aca papers on International Cooperation in Education The V irtual Challenge to International Cooperation in Higher Education

participating in this project, and the network was subsequently structured in
a way that should make it possible to learn from each other.
Productive Learning Cultures is primarily a research cooperation, based on
an established network between the participating researchers. There have
been several exchange visits in the course of the project. Staff and students
from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique made research
visits to the University of Bergen, and researchers from the University of Ber-
gen have on several occasions visited the cooperating institutions. There is
ongoing work on publications. Three books are planned: one on educational
reform, the second on school leadership and a third on qualitative methods.
The project also includes a PhD programme. One PhD student already grad-
uated (Lethoko 2001) and two others are in their final phase.
This presentation of the project consists of four parts. I will first outline the
project’s structure and give a brief presentation of its four main parts: African
knowledge systems, leadership in education, qualitative methods and web-
based learning. Next, I will discuss the project idea itself, encapsulated in the
concept of a “productive” learning culture, as distinct from a reproductive cul-
ture of teaching and learning. In the last section of the presentation, I will ela-
borate on the web-based part of the project and show possible connections
between interactive learning and productive learning cultures. I will also
touch on what we expect to gain from focusing on interactive learning.
The structure of the project
The project could be perceived as an umbrella, uniting various sub-projects
at the participating universities. They all have – as a common denominator –
a constructive and relational approach to education and leadership.
74
Productive Learning Cultures
ICT as medium for communication and learning
African Knowledge
Systems
(U Zul, U Zim and
U.Pedagógica)
Leadership in
Education
(U Bergen and 
U Pretoria)
Qualitative 
methods
(U Nam and 
U Botswana)
Figure 1.0: The structure of the project Productive Learning Cultures

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The project itself consists of the four elements shown in figure 1.0 and the
overarching project idea (described below). Its focal point is the change in
the culture of teaching and learning brought about by the educational
reforms. In the reform documents this is described as a shift from a teacher-
centred to a learner-centred approach. In the project this shift is being stu-
died from various angles: how does a learner-centred approach challenge
educational leadership? How is knowledge being constructed in traditional
African cultures, and how does this influence what the learners bring to
school? How could qualitative methods be used and further elaborated in the
study of these processes? I will give a very brief presentation of the four ele-
ments of the project.
African knowledge systems: This part of the project aims at giving substance
to the idea of an African renaissance. The marginalisation of African values
in formal education systems has resulted in a general “westernisation” of
education and research. A challenge for African researchers is to develop
research based on African cultures, values and experiences and to engage
the local communities in the developmental processes. African universities
and research institutions could take an active part in promoting heritage, cul-
ture and knowledge systems by redirecting the focus of research into nation
and community building. The project’s aims are, first, to initiate community-
based research that actively builds on and further develops community
knowledge, and second, to give African research a social and cultural basis
by linking research to communities.
Leadership in education: A contemporary challenge for leaders is the emerg-
ing knowledge society and how to manage knowledge construction (Wilson
1996). Resent research indicates that knowledge should not only be ma-
naged, but should be created and recreated in organisations (Von Krogh,
Ichijo & Nonaka 2000). As a consequence of such insights, also established
institutions like schools should make a move towards becoming learning
organisations and focus on the specific requirements on new skills and styles
in leadership (Senge 1990, Nonaka & Takeuchi 1996). In this process, estab-
lished power structures are being challenged (Tabulawa 1995, Hirschhorn
1998). In a developmental perspective, organisations are being studied as
units that are evolving (Aldrich 1999), and a relational perspective on educa-
tional processes proves fruitful in contemporary studies of leadership pro-
cesses (Fuglestad & Lillejord 1997).
Qualitative methods: Qualitative methods are well suited for the study of edu-
cational processes because education is action-oriented and involves human
beings. Qualitative research takes into consideration that our knowledge
about the man-made world is constructed. Man is, as Max Weber once point-
ed out, “suspended in the webs of significance he himself has spun” (Geertz
1973:5). According to Geertz, the webs are culture and the analysis of cul-
ture is not experimental science in search of laws, but an interpretative,
75

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semiotic one in search of understanding. When qualitative research is used
interpretatively, it is thus essentially hermeneutic. Our knowledge of the
world is also contextually based – and always somewhat local – as we are
being reminded by pragmatics like Dewey, who insists that method is “never
something outside of the material” (Dewey 1916:165). In this project, qualita-
tive methods are used to support the understanding and interpretation of
African knowledge systems and to investigate and interpret characteristics of
leadership issues and relations in a productive learning culture.
Web-based learning: Interactive, web-based learning is a project bridging the
other project elements (see figure 1.0). An intention in this part of the project
is to promote and support the communication within the project, but also to
learn more about the characteristics of interactive ICT-mediated teaching and
learning. The development of ICT has without doubt a profound impact upon
teaching and learning. There is a change from a model based on transmission
of knowledge, from teacher to learner, to the construction of knowledge within
a context. Electronic networking facilitates communication across boundaries,
cultures and on a global scale. Successful online learning depends on
teachers acquiring new competencies, and in this part of the project the focus
will be on the construction of knowledge in interactive learning.