bringing knowledge back in: student engagement in writing articles for a web journal dr carol taylor...
TRANSCRIPT
BRINGING KNOWLEDGE BACK IN: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN WRITING ARTICLES FOR A
WEB JOURNAL
Dr Carol Taylor and Juliun Ryan
Realising our Potential
Tuesday 22nd May 2012
Today’s presentation
A course and a module Role of technology in supporting learning Students as producers of knowledge Student engagement Taking this forward
The course: some background
BA (Hons) Education Studies and Sociology– A changing HE context– Changing institutional priorities – Lecturers – investment and values – Students – distinct group identity
The module:6892 Knowledge in the Postmodern World
Aims to enhance students sociological skills in analysis and critique of perspectives, theories and knowledge claims.
It considers the heterogeneity of knowledge frameworks and the politics of knowledge
It provides conceptual frameworks for exploring the globalisation of knowledge
It provides a critique of modernity and the modernist educational project.
The aim of this module is to place debates about knowledge within broader perspectives and contemporary debates.
Translating this into practice …Teaching and Learning
Autoethnography
Article and web journal
Education
Sociology
Why autoethnography?
What is autoethnography? ‘an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and
systematically analyze personal experience in order to understand cultural experience’ (Ellis et al, 2011 ).
Spry (2001, p710) autoethnography is ‘a self-narrative that critiques the situatedness of self and others in social context’
Autoethnographic accounts of ourselves are ‘performative, pedagogical and political’ (Denzin, 2006, p422).
Why autoethnography? Into history
Out of history Entanglement
Translating this into practice …Assessment
Task (100%) (4000 words equivalent) (Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
1. Write a first draft of an academic article which critically addresses an educational topic (2000 words). Participate in generating criteria for peer reviewing articles and participate in an anonymous class peer review process by reviewing two articles (250 words each). Evaluate peer feedback and redraft the article in response to feedback. Publish the final version of the article in a web journal (3000 – 4000 words).
2. Participate in one allocated task related to publication of the web journal.
How, where and why technology was used within the module
Mainly to facilitate aspects of assessment but also to try to make the module experience more 'authentic'
Emulate the processes and experience associated with an (online) journal– submission, peer review, online publication etc.
Initial chat with Carol to understand the module context and to discuss her ideas
How, where and why technology was used within the module
Something of a leap of faith on Carol's part!– became clear that a significant amount of staff and
student support would be needed Went away to identify
– a) the various key stages leading ultimately to creation of an online journal
– b) design the best application of technology to facilitate Things to consider:
– trepidation on the part of students– keeping it manageable from the tutor's perspective
How, where and why technology was used within the module
Click here to view the journey See also the Bb site
Students as authors
Students’ autoethnographic texts– Type– Range– ‘Quality’– Examples Ellie’s poem; Glenn’s narrative
Students using theory
Students’ analyses– An example: Ellie brought together her texts (poem, story, image) – identity
theory – feminism and postmodernism
Peer Reviewing Process and the first draft
The Collaborative Peer Review Sheet Bravo, Tango
Developing the Journal & submitting the final draft
http://studentsjournaldeci.wordpress.com/
Carol’s ‘place’ in the module
My poem: History of a Course in 8 ½ Chapters An ‘ethic of answerability’ (Bakhtin) Reflexive research on the module: in-depth biographical narrative
interviews with 3 students
Issues and tensions
Very front-loaded A shock at the start: very different to other modules Some students were thrown by the ‘openness’ Anxieties ran high at times Resistance from some students 3 detailed Assessment Briefs (I did a fair bit of reassuring) Logistics: ‘Meshing’ of different aspects: e-learning support; time;
journal; assessment ‘Kindness’ of peer feedback Brought to the fore the contextual, embodied and emotional
dimension of knowledge production
What worked well?
Student presentations each week on selected readings Peer reviewing: anonymized lists, collaborative criteria,
supportive feedback Consultation and discussion over processes Sense of achievement at producing an article Seeing the final web-journal http://studentsjournaldeci.wordpress.com/ All assessment done through Blackboard
Students-as-Researchers
Agency, context, particularity ‘Real world’ research skills for students Methods and methodology: participation,
creativity Ethics: collaboration Web-journal: democratic production of
knowledge Contesting the NSS version of SE
Student Engagement
Dissolving binaries and boundaries Student engagement (Bryson and Hardy) Knowledge as a way to contest the ‘monetized
logic’ of market discourses (Ashwin) What are universities for? (Collini) CT and JR’s role as ‘academic choreographer’ –
enabling ‘orchestration’ (Kemmis)
Speaking with
‘Arendt’s notions of freedom, the world, the public, the political and plurality all refer to the intersubjective, the shared and the in-between … a democratic politics [that involves …] speaking to and with rather than for one another’. (Amy Allen, 2007).
Will we do it again?
YES! From research-informed teaching to shaping
the curriculum through research Students’ critical thinking Plans underway for ‘Educational Spaces’
module
