Digital literacies as a Postgraduate Attribute? Project methodology

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Digital literacies as a Postgraduate
Attribute?Project methodology

• Lesley Gourlay Martin Oliver
• Institute of Education, University of London
• http//diglitpga.jiscinvolve.org

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Digital Literacies as a Postgraduate Attribute?

• JISC Developing Digital Literacies Programme
• http//diglitpga.jiscinvolve.org/
• Institute of Education, University of London
• Baseline work iGraduate survey / Focus groups /
  multimodal journalling in year 1
• Intervention studies in year 2
• Academic Writing Centre
• Learning Technologies Unit
• Library

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Ethical considerations

• The project was passed by the institutional
  ethical approval committee this involved
• Adoption of BERA principles
• Informed consent, with assurances of anonymity,
  confidentiality and the right to withdraw
• Incentives
• Tokens vouchers for focus groups
• iPod for completion of journalling
• Specific considerations with visual methodologies
• Images / videos should not include identifiable
  individuals, minors, or scenes which may invade
  privacy
• They should in any way compromise anonymity,
  confidentiality and the principle of informed
  consent

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Focus groups

• A focus group for each course format
• In our work, PGCE, MA students, PhD students,
  Online masters students
• 8-10 students, invited by Students Union
• Open with a mapping exercise, leading to
  discussion of what, where and when people study
• Choose a small number of open-ended questions
• 3-4 questions should be plenty for an hours
  discussion
• Consider videoing the focus group
• Useful if you need to identify individual
  speakers
• Two people running the focus group, one taking
  notes and monitoring equipment

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Examples of maps
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(No Transcript)
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Going deeper

• Maps as a stimulus for initial one-to-one
  interviews
• Questions to elaborate themes and issues
• Where and when do you undertake your study?
• What resources do you use in each place?
• Are spaces used at particular times, or in
  regular patterns?
• Which spaces do you feel in control of? Where do
  you feel supported?
• Are there spaces where you avoid undertaking
  certain kinds of work, and why?

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Longitudinal, multimodal journalling

• 12 students recruited from the focus groups
• 3 from each of the four groups (distance students
  via Skype)
• A structured series of interviews, over 9-12
  months
• Opening with a digital autobiography,
  exploration of current practice, guidance on data
  generation
• Between interviews, students capture images,
  video and other forms of documentation to explore
  engagement with technologies for study
• Guidance needed for students in terms of ethics
  and themes
• Over the series of interviews, students take
  greater responsibility for analysis of data, e.g.
  by producing presentations that curate, structure
  and theme the images they have created

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Example images
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Student presentation example
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Image and interview excerpt

• In my school, I we had our staff room was
  equipped one, two, three, four, five, six,
  seven seven computers now we can use and only
  one of them attached with a printer. So, actually
  weve got six students over there, so its,
  kind of, everybody wants to get to that computer
  where you can use the printer. Yes, so in the end
  I found actually I can also use the printer from
  the library in the school.
• So, six student teachers tried to use other
  computer. So, it, kind of, sometimes feels a bit
  crowded. And when the school staff want to use
  it, well, okay, it seems like we are the
  invaders, intruders?

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Our interview series overview

• Series of interviews, focusing in on issues of
  interest
• Interview 1
• Discussion of maps, personal histories of
  technology use for learning
• Interview 2
• Discussion of initial images about places of
  study
• Interview 3
• Discussion of images about use of specific
  resources, areas or technologies identified as
  important in earlier interviews
• Interview 4
• Discussion of images and artefacts about the
  processes of producing a specific text (e.g.
  assessed work)

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Interpretation and analysis

• Initial close reading of data to identify
  specific themes
• Initial vignettes to illustrate important issues
• Subsequently, orientations named that describe
  patterns of practice (not types of student, since
  students show multiple orientations)
• Thematic analysis of interview transcripts,
  supplemented by images and videos
• Recurrent topics and issues identified and named
• Evidence gathered in relation to each theme
  (coded in NVivo)
• Themes related out to wider theory and practice
• Analysis documented and presented in talks,
  reports and papers

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Example themes

• Findings are specific each institution will need
  to identify issues that reflect its immediate
  situation
• In our data set, the following themes were
  important
• Engagement with texts
• Multimodality, accessing resources, managing
  resources, creating resources (particularly for
  assessment)
• Spaces of study
• Increased student mobility, distributed sites of
  study (classes, libraries, homes, workplaces,
  public transport), provision of infrastructures
  that support this
• Identity
• Managing boundaries between private, professional
  and study activities

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Implementing this in your context

• Visual methodologies can be used on a smaller
  scale to enhance small-scale research with staff
  or students
• Maps, drawings, photos and videos can also be
  used as part of staff development
• Provide the advantage of being more connected to
  practice, but can also be metaphorical
• Can be memorable and lighthearted, can also
  elicit emotional reactions and so should be used
  carefully

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• Project blog http//diglitpga.jiscinvolve.org/wp
  /
• Project webpage http//www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/p
  rogrammes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies/Di
  gLitPGAttribute.aspx
• Project contactsLesley Gourlay
  (l.gourlay_at_ioe.ac.uk)Martin Oliver
  (m.oliver_at_ioe.ac.uk)