Browsing by Author "Bruzas, Clive Anthony."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

"The hand is the cutting edge of the mind" : the role of the service partner in service learning.
(2004) Bruzas, Clive Anthony.; Hardman, Stanley George.
This study explores the role of the service partner in service learning. The reason for choosing this topic is its relevance to one emerging model of service learning in South Africa (that of a three-fold partnership approach), as well as its relevance to my own life and work in the "service sector". Given my own passionate engagement with service learning since 1999, and my participation in the CHESP programme as a service partner, I chose to use a process of modified heuristic inquiry for my research. This approach acknowledges the experience of the researcher as an integral (if not central) part of the research, and allows the voice of the researcher to be heard clearly throughout the unfolding research process. It also allows the voices of others who have an intimate involvement with the research topic to be heard, hence my engagement with others through both individual and focus group interviews. Heuristic inquiry also encourages the presentation of findings in the form of a "creative synthesis", which may take different (usually artistic) forms. For the synthesis of my findings, I created a palimpsest, a painting in mixed media which incorporates the dimensions of both space and time, thus allowing me to express visually my emerging understandings of the role of the service partner over the course of my engagement in the CHESP programme. The creation of the palimpsest also allowed me to engage with an aesthetic way of knowing. Central to the presentation of my findings (in both visual and narrative form), has been the idea of "new ways of knowing", initially brought to my attention by Richard Bawden during the CHESP Leadership Capacity Building Programme (LCBP). I have drawn extensively on the four types of knowing presented during the LCBP: propositional; practical; experiential; and inspirational, and have related these to my deepening understanding of the role of the service partner and associated questions. In the final chapter I suggest ways in which service partners may better prepare themselves to play a more meaningful role in both service learning and in the facilitation of services, and briefly consider my own future role in service learning.
"The road is made by walking ..." : a case study of learning, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing at The Valley Trust, a South African NGO.
(2010) Bruzas, Clive Anthony.; Lawrence, Ralph Bruce.; Stilwell, Christine.; Morris, Craig Duncan.
This thesis explores, from a very personal perspective, the engagement of one South African non-government organization, The Valley Trust, with knowledge work as an integral dimension of its practice. The thesis is written as an autoethnographic case study, drawing on the complementary methodologies of writing inquiry and arts-based inquiry, including the use of metaphor as an aid to understanding learning and knowledge creation as ongoing flow and movement. It is also strongly influenced by narrative theory, and it incorporates participatory action research, with a cooperative inquiry group made up of 12 colleagues playing a key role. Although the inquiry set out to address the question: How can The Valley Trust integrate its learning processes and its knowledge creation and sharing so as to improve its effectiveness and contribute to the broader discourse around health and development?, what emerged during the inquiry process was that there are no simple answers to this question, and confirmed that within the context of the organization‟s work and the author‟s lived experience, knowledge is indeed a “…process, a temporary state…scary to many” (Eisner, 1997:7). For this reason, and to honour the importance of the co-creation of meaning which was a key theme in the inquiry, the thesis avoids conclusions and relies rather on the reader‟s engagement with the process as represented in the text and the images to allow meaning to emerge. The thesis also creates spaces for multiple voices to be heard, although not to the extent originally intended. The thesis foregrounds those dimensions of knowledge work which are neglected in many other writings on the subject: the practical difficulties of finding organizational time for conversation, reflection, and the co-creation of meaning; the challenges introduced by organizational change processes; the tensions which inevitably occur between colleagues; and the challenges of promoting a shared understanding of knowledge work and its significance in an organization where multiple paradigms help to determine priorities. Other key themes which emerged during the inquiry were the importance of seeing knowledge work within the context of the whole organizational landscape rather than as an isolated component of the organization‟s practice, and the critical importance of locating knowledge creation and sharing in relationship. The thesis closes with a reflection on the process of writing, emphasizing the primacy of process in knowledge work, and recognizes the challenges confronting the representation and sharing of knowledge work as process in the complex context of an organization working in the fields of health and development.