The Personal is Political....

It's one of of those sticky lines I picked up from a seminar course on Gender, Culture and Ideology while doing my Masters in Community Development at my home university.

I've always thought that my writings were personal hidden in the language of 'scholarly' research to be acceptable enough. My papers stemmed basically from that--interest in subject matter which mattered most to me: the small school I'm currently in, the previous schools I've worked with, and my classroom experiments anchored on my interests in education.

While undertaking my doctoral studies, I wrote a paper in the first person for a class under my research adviser. She cautioned against the use of 'I'. I find that troubling as most of the articles I connected with were written in first person. I wondered: howcome they can and I can't?

Towards the tailend of my doctoral coursework, I took a Quali-R methodology course with Ma'am Jean Gray, a colleague at my university of employment.  I chanced upon this article which captured what I really meant. It came from a group of women doing a collaborative auto-ethnography.....yes, there is such a thing!

Ngunjiri, F. W., Hernandez, K. C., & Chang, H. (2010). Living autoethnography: Connecting life and research [Editorial]. Journal of Research Practice, 6(1), Article E1. Retrieved [date of access], from http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/241/186

"Research is an extension of researchers’ lives. Although most social scientists have been trained to guard against subjectivity (self-driven perspectives) and to separate self from research activities, it is an impossible task. Scholarship is inextricably connected to self--personal interest, experience, and familiarity. Working together on this special issue provided an opportunity for us to candidly reflect on and dialogue about the motivations behind our scholarship. Not surprisingly, at the very onset our dissertation studies were anchored in our personal interests. Ngunjiri (2007, 2010), a Kenyan woman, studied African women leaders; Hernandez (2005, 2006 ), a Trinidadian who lived and taught in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) prior to coming to the US, studied high school students in the BVI and the US; Chang (1992), a secondary educator, explored the culture of adolescents in a US high school. In spite of this intimate connection with our work, we followed traditional scientific paradigms in conducting and reporting our work." (p.2)

To Pune or not to Pune?

I've been reading mostly about Auto ethno and I wonder if I can do justice to it.
Of course, I know, this is experimental to me...meaning my first time to give it a go. But I'd like to come up with something decent.

If only they can extend the deadline, then it should not be a problem.
What then predisposes me to success?
-I do make sense when it comes to writing from the 'heart' but I have to be in the proper state to do it
-I have not backed out from a paper I'm determined to do
-I can bring myself to accomplish something if I want to
-I would not want to miss out on this opportunity of course.

To do otherwise means:
-less stress
-brain space to do other things
-underachieve and so what?
-more time to read
-use my extra money for other things instead of spending on accommodation

Letting the Mud Settle

I'm still in this pool of self doubt but at least now, I am managing.
Last year was the ulimate pressure to give my theses a go. But a part of me is holding back for the simple reason that I want more experiments with doing quali research. The thing is I'm learning this on my own with help from Doctor X and Jean Gray, 2 people I look up to when it comes to doing research and maybe the most immediate ones I know I can rely on for help. My curiosities now are with the types of quali research methodologies which I'd like to experiment on for the sake of experimenting and not particularly to come up with a decent output. I'd like to just undergo the process of doing things and make the essential mistakes I have to in order to learn.

This gets in conflict with external pressure to acquire a PhD because this is what is acceptable to the academic world. A PhD is a necessity in a higher ed career. Academics and scholars are supposed to generate knowledge. This I question of course. There's just too much knowledge to go around with, right? The greater need for me is to write what I want to write. I thought I could pull it with my first topic presentation but I was not able to in my panel members' view.

So it's still an ongoing battle of wills: a part of me says "Wisen up!", a part of me says "Give it up!" and yet one says "Give it a rest...let things be".

What I Need

Here's what I'm getting so far:
-what it is
-where/how it started
-arguments for it

What I need:
- a good sample of it: like how is it written structurally; what are the parts/portions
- a good sample of how it's used in research in education


A few readings here for me:

Holt, N. L. (2001). Beyond technical reflection: Demonstrating the
modification of teaching behaviors using three levels of reflection.
Avante, 7(2), 66-76.

Holt, N. L. (2003). Representation, legitimation, and
autoethnography: An autoethnographic writing story. International
Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2(1), Article 2. Retrieved
June 20, 2005, from http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/
2_1/html/holt.html

Muncey, T. (2005). Doing autoethnography. International Journal
of Qualitative Methods, 4(3), Article 5. Retrieved April 7, 2006,
from
http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/4_1/pdf/muncey.pdf

Pelias, R. J. (2003). The academic tourist: An autoethnography.
Qualitative Inquiry, 9(3), 369-373.

Pillow, W. S. (2003). Confession, catharsis, or cure? Rethinking
the uses of reflexivity as methodological power in qualitative research.
Qualitative Studies in Education, 16(2), 175-196.


Delamont, S., A. Coffey, and P. A. Atkinson. 2000. The twilight years? Educational ethnography and the five moments model. Qualitative Studies in Education 13:223-38.

Ellis, C., and A. P. Bochner. 2000. Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher
as subject. In Handbook of qualitative research, 2nd ed., edited by N. K. Denzin and Y. S.
Lincoln, 733-68. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Gergen, K., and M. M. Gergen. 1991. Toward reflexive methodologies. In Research and reflexivity,
edited by F. Steier, 76-95. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.


Hayano, D. 1979. Auto-ethnography: Paradigms, problems, and prospects. Human Organization
38:99-104.

Mitchell, R. G., Jr., and K. Charmaz. 1996. Telling tales, writing stories: Postmodernist visions
and realist images in ethnographic writing. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 25:144-66.

Auto-ethno

One feedback Mam Jean of my EDDE 206 is this: that I could have made an autoethnographic research out the Comm site paper. How could she have known what I was trying to do which I didn't know I was doing? In other words, I knew that I can do that paper on my own but I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing. For one, it bothered me ab it to have to write something about a VC which I didn't start out nor authored in the first place so I wanted to give credit to that. So I felt that the right thing to do was to get the site author as my co writer. Then in the midst of writing the paper, I was torn between writing about my experiences (or should I say using my own voice to speak up) and instead went for the voices of other members of the community site. I also wanted to find out how the site author viewed my usage of the site hence I went for his perspective of looking at the VC when what I could have done is to go with my instincts to critically analyze my lived experiences as an active site member with an online identity and shared connection equally evolving alongside others' members and it just so happened that I was the one in the position to look at our experiences in that way.

Hence the purposes of autoethnography. I think it does not deny the presence of the self as it is too important to deny in the first place. The researcher cannot be faulted at that. In the case of an autoethnographic researcher, it acknowledges the researcher as community member=CMR=community/complete member researcher (Anderson, 2006)

Did I give birth to a Donkey? or hwhaat?

Around the same time last month, we had our LOTR rerun. This time you were paying attention. Ate Da, Tatay and I totally get the movie since we've seen this for the nth time. So we just watch in silence. But you, Mauro boy, now at 6.9 yrs old, have all these questions for every scene. You throw a question then end it consistently this way: "....ha? ha? ha Tatay? ha?" At first, it's kinda amusing, but it's getting quite irritating cuz now I'm wondering whether I gave birth to a mouse or to a donkey cuz I'm feeling like a Shrek with all your questions.

Then again, you never cease to amuse me. Even with your mood swings, I still feel like the luckiest nanay alive cuz I get to hug you anytime, tease you anytime, smell you anytime, make gigil you anytime. I see how you make Annika smile with your jokes in class. I see how you get excited over school. I see how you can be driven to make things and how you seek Ate Da's help when frustrated. I see you get your way with this and that. I witness how you instantly call the attention of older children, teachers and parents over at Tatay's reading clinic. You do engage them in good conversation. Your latest fan is a 6'4 hunk of a Teacher Andrew. You got him to give you his basketball jersey and he's been saving your pics in his cellphone. You've been entertaining each other by playing 'monsters' on a sheet of paper. You've charmed him enough to make him stay fulltime with us. He's a good teacher find, as good as Teacher Chella and I really am hoping they stick around. Because if so, this tells me that I can give a fews things a GO, no more excuses. It's either I take things slow or I'm in for a major decision next year.

I can let go of other stuff I simply do not have the energy for so I can get to do what I've been postponing to do for the nth time--decluttering, letting go, cleaning up. There's a pile of stuff in one room I need to fix. Bags of toys and clothes to be sorted out, etc etc etc. I need to get back to stuff-ies I've postponed for 2 years since I broke a plate. I thought I'd throw it all away just like that. But then I found the pieces and glued it all up.

I can now live with myself again..... only because you, Ate Da and Tatay are the way you are. In case you'd turn out to be a donkey and not a mouse, or become an illustrator-dentist-diver-soccer player (that's according to your proclamations since the age of 4), I sure hope you can live with yourself as well. If not, I'll try to return the favor.

From a Dear Colleague :)

A good advise from a dear colleague....

On a personal note, I feel that you need to take a breather from your PhD. Para yang puddle, pag umulan ng umulan, nagkakaron ng tubig sa daan. You've been reading and reading ang writing and writing for the past five years, andami nang tubig na nakolekta ng container mo, pero sa lakas ng ulan, naging masyadong maputik. you might need to let the waters sit still so that the muck will go down and the clear water will remain. Masyadong murky ang tubig mo ngayon, mahirapan ka mag-synthesize. First let the waters still, the wait for it to clear, and then take a good look at yourself in it. :) Sapul ka pag nakita mo yan.

Take care,

Sol

Abstract Draft 2

Making Sense of Student Support at a Distance: A Program Chair's Explorations and Self Analysis
Are my thoughts and actions facilitative of student support or spoonfeeding? Are my explorations genuinely addressing student concerns or not? How am I making sense of providing student support at a distance? In my first year as a fulltime faculty member of pioneer distance institution in the Philippines, I was given the task to manage the Associate in Arts Degree, an undergraduate program with the biggest and most diverse student population of the UP Open University. Three years after, I see the need to reflect on my practices in fulfillment of my responsibilities. This study narrates my journey into understanding my role as program chair alongside exploring varied ICT platforms in order to address student concerns. Using an autoethnographic research methodology, I shall attempt to analyze and examine my actions through a careful analysis of student queries, email correspondence, bloglike narratives, virtual community forum posts, and letters to staff and direct supervisors. In doing so, I hope to critically examine my experiences and evolving disposition in program management and contribution to student support initiatives. This qualitative study constitutes my ongoing struggles and journey as a junior faculty member in an academic organization equally determined to address student concerns at all levels. It hopes to contribute to the university's community of practice by giving voice to a program chair's struggles, evolving identity and understanding of what it truly means to support students.

Left of Center

Finally, I've heard honest feedback from Mam Jean re my EDDE 206 work.
But I wasn't even expecting to get words of advice for my theses.
Just when I was about to give up on my cause (Progressive Schools+Social Studies+ Curriculum Design/Dev't)and get into a different topic....

It seems like all the support systems are in place for me to be able to do this--
I have collegeaues who believe that this is worth it and I know I can count on them anytime for research advice. I have children who are self supporting alongside a free range mother hen such as I who seems to be up and about. I have a Teacher Vic who does more than his share of parenting and has tolerated me all this time and given me the space to be caught up in all these. I am lucky enough to afford a UP education. I have students and co teachers who are self propelling. I have a job that can allow me to do all these. There is no standing obstacle except I, MYSELF, ME=JULIET! Self doubt has been my mortal sin-mortal enemy all this time.

It took an EDDE 206+ Jean + Primo to do make me see that.

Noting down here points to remember and perhaps to live by:
-start from where you are
-get the side of my advisers
-consider their view
-let my contribution to the field be the research methodology
and theoretical frame through which I can achieve this research


In the midst of my exchanges with Jean, and overhearing Primo saying this and that, I go (trying to recall my exact words...) "bakit sa tingin mo magagawa ko yan"?
Primo goes "kase left of center ka e". How can he have captured that side of me I've taken for granted. All this time, I've never exactly did what most usually do.
I've always been a step away from the path or shall I say veered away from the common path to explore a trail that's nowhere to be found.

I am meant to be here, at this time for a reason and I've simply failed to see that God's hand has been there. And maybe if Dave were here, he would say "causes and conditions". My attachment=self doubt=self at the center of the self doubt!!!

So Aleta, just keep at it...carry on.

Streamlining my Research Work

In my quest for a sense of equilibrium amidst multi-tasking and finally getting started with de-cluttering my closet, I finally got it. From this month onwards, this how my quests will take place:

-target paper presentations: for mini research as product of my self study and experiments with quali research and distance learning

-target submissions for publication: as by product of my experiments in Builders' School and a means to push forth my agenda for social studies and teacher education--for now it's the PUNE PEPPER


-target data gathering (FGD, school observations, questionnaire): as means to achieve a small study on Progressive School practices and Social Studies Education--
for now it's questionnaire status

-2010 targets: Inquiry SS for publication; paper presentation which is distance learning related; 6-month data gathering for Progressive Practice--portions 1-3 are done--to follow, findings, discussion and analysis, conclusion

Any which way will sustain my brain's curiosities and level of functioning in doing research.

Agreed?

Maximum Work Required:
Quarter 1: Pune Paper (now - Feb)
Quarter 2: Soc Studies Paper (summer)
Quarter 3: Inquiry Paper for Publication (PECERA)

Minimum to keep me self assured w/ my goal:
-Pune Paper
-Inquiry based learning: Sample Social Studies and Science Projects

Ano ba talaga, iha?!

Kaya mo bang panindigan ang isang Autoethnographic Study? Ano ba yun?

Student Support or Spoonfeeding? A Program Chair's Self AnalysisAre my thoughts and actions genuinely addressing student needs, or spoonfeeding? Are my actions part of my job as program chair or not? This autoethnographic research is an attempt to analyze and examine my actions as program chair of the Associate in Arts Degree of the University of the Philippines Open University. In my first year as a fulltime faculty member of pioneer distance institution in the Philippines, I was given the task to manage an undergraduate program. Three years after, I see the need to reflect on my actions in fulfillment of my responsibilities. Through a careful analysis of student queries and corresponding email responses, narratives, exchanges over a virtual community, blogs, letters to staff and direct supervisors as well as year end portfolio, I hope to critically examine the meanings I attach to my job in lieu of student support , describe the nature of student support I am providing and if in fact these actions are facilitative of student support delivery or merely spoonfeeding to the detriment of undergraduate students. This qualitative study constitutes my ongoing explorations to carry out my responsibilities as program chair and reflect on my existing practices under an academic organization which has yet to develop a better means to measure fulfillment of our responsibilities in the area of program monitoring and improvement which includes establishing work systems to address student academic needs and concerns. This research hopes to contribute to the university's ongoing initiatives to explore better measures of work assessment of program chairs alongside efficient and improved delivery of student support services.

Pepper Acceptance

Abstract

hide details 7:36 PM (14 hours ago)


Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you very much for sending the abstract of your paper for the SIC - ODL 2011. I am glad to inform you that the Abstract Evaluation Committee has accepted your abstract. Kindly therefore go ahead with the preparation of your full paper and submit it within the prescribed deadline i.e. December 31, 2010.
The Committee desires that you should take note of the following two points in your full paper:
1. Relevance of substance of the paper to the theme and the sub-theme
2. Contribution to the theory and practice of Open & Distance Learning

Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
Dr. S.K Gandhe
Chair, Program Organization Committee,
Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning,
Pune, India. Te. +91-20-66211171
Mobile +91-9370315621
E – mail : skgandhe@scdl.net

Where were WE?

So now, I'm coding...finding themes/ categories and realizing these:
-what if I make a matrix of codes to sort of 'count' or keep track of 'hits' to the each code
-why? cuz some themes have double codes to mean that one code seem to answer 2 questions?! is this okie at all?!!


MORE RE DATA ANALYSISI am now recalling the time when I was thinking of a way to 'organize' findings for this study on SOC=Sense of Community. Reading more about SOC, has led me to decide that perhaps the 4 elements can be a means to classify our data. My plan was to discuss the findings through these four elements--influence, membership,fulfillment of needs and shared connection or as later on surfaced by my co-writer, the stages of community building. Then later on, in the midst of look into our available data, other matters arose which led me to decide to do it differently. While we did maintain discussion of our findings through these elements, the data presented and analyzed turned out to be different. This was realized due to our 2nd research question which relates to the meanings adult learners attach to virtual community.

I'll explain later on.

But here's what I found to verify this:
p 183-185 of Sharan Merriam's Qualitative Research A Guide to Design and Implementation

"Names of your categories can come from at least three sources ( or a mix of these): yourself, the researcher, the participants or sources outside the study such as the literature....Applying someone else's scheme requires that the categories be compatible with the purpose and theoretical framework of the study. The database is scanned to determine the fit of a priori categories and then the data are sorted into the borrowed categories.....As Glaser and Strauss (1967) point out "Merely selecting data for a category that has been established by another theory tends to hinder the generation of new categories, because the major effort is not generation but deata selection. ALSO EMERGENT CATEGORIES USUALLY PROVE TO BE TH EMOST RLEVANT AND BEST FITTED TO THE DATA...."

Merriam proceeds to specify criteria for construction of categories:
these should " be RESPONSIVE to the purpose of the research...should be EXHAUSTIVE...MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE....be CONCEPTUALLY CONGRUENT" (from exhibit 8.2 p 186)


..."In summary, dat analysis is a process of making sense out of data. TI can be limited to determining how best to arrange the materials into a anrrative account of the findings. More commonly researchers extend analysis to developing categories, themes or other taxoomic classes that interpret the meaning of the data. The categories become findings of the study..." (p193)

Then I chanced upon this: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS p 202

Now isn't that one of my earlier concerns...what sets it apart from other types of analysis.

Case Study: What's it About?

BEFORE READING:
My experiences tell me that the case study design helps look at data as if I have a microscope. There's a phenomena that makes me want to look at it closely--describe it for what it is; conditions surrounding it in the hope of understanding it from a certain perspective. It allows me to see the data for what it is then discuss/explain it through layers of existing theory.

What's appealing about this design is this: it fits what I want to describe about programs, models of instruction, methods of teaching---all these within the realm of my experience as a teacher. The findings allow me to reflect on what is happening

So I've done a few ones but what I need to understand is how do you analyze data once you have all these. Yes, I tried looking at patterns. Yes, sometimes I try to generalize or come up with big ideas. Yes, I try to see the theory that supports what is happening right in front of me.

What are the varied forms of case study? Its uses and applications across fields/ disciplines? and when it is best used as a design?

How do the results become valid?

But how data analysis can be done more systematically?


WHILE READING:
Now I have a few readings/ notes to guide:

Application of Case Study Methodology by Winston Tellis, 1997 (The Qualitative Report, Volume 3, Number 3, September, 1997 Retrieved from: www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-3/tellis2.html

Yin (1993) has identified some specific types of case studies: Exploratory, Explanatory, and Descriptive. Stake (1995) included three others: Intrinsic - when the researcher has an interest in the case; Instrumental - when the case is used to understand more than what is obvious to the observer; Collective - when a group of cases is studied. Exploratory cases are sometimes considered as a prelude to social research. Explanatory case studies may be used for doing causal investigations. Descriptive cases require a descriptive theory to be developed before starting the project.

Case study research is not sampling research; that is a fact asserted by all the major researchers in the field, including Yin, Stake, Feagin and others. However, selecting cases must be done so as to maximize what can be learned in the period of time available for the study.

The unit of analysis is a critical factor in the case study. It is typically a system of action rather than an individual or group of individuals. Case studies tend to be selective, focusing on one or two issues that are fundamental to understanding the system being examined.

Case studies are multi-perspectival analyses. This means that the researcher considers not just the voice and perspective of the actors, but also of the relevant groups of actors and the interaction between them. This one aspect is a salient point in the characteristic that case studies possess. They give a voice to the powerless and voiceless. When sociological investigations present many studies of the homeless and powerless, they do so from the viewpoint of the "elite" (Feagin, Orum, & Sjoberg, 1991).

Case study is known as a triangulated research strategy. Snow and Anderson (cited in Feagin, Orum, & Sjoberg, 1991) asserted that triangulation can occur with data, investigators, theories, and even methodologies. Stake (1995) stated that the protocols that are used to ensure accuracy and alternative explanations are called triangulation. The need for triangulation arises from the ethical need to confirm the validity of the processes. In case studies, this could be done by using multiple sources of data (Yin, 1984). The problem in case studies is to establish meaning rather than location

Yin (1994) presented at least four applications for a case study model:

To explain complex causal links in real-life interventions

To describe the real-life context in which the intervention has occurred

To describe the intervention itself

To explore those situations in which the intervention being evaluated has no clear set of outcomes.


PREPARING A CASE STUDY: A Guide for Designing and Conducting a Case Study for
Evaluation Input By Palena Neale, PhD, Senior Evaluation Associate
Shyam Thapa, PhD, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation AdvisorCarolyn Boyce, MA, Evaluation Associate, May 2006. Retrieved from: http://www.pathfind.org/site/DocServer/m_e_tool_series_case_studypdf?docID=6302

What is a Case Study?
A case study is a story about something unique, special, or interesting—stories can be about individuals, organizations, processes, programs, neighborhoods, institutions, and even events.1 The case study gives the story behind the result by capturing what happened to bring it about, and can be a good opportunity to highlight a project’s success, or to bring attention to a particular challenge or difficulty in a project. Cases2 might be selected because they are highly effective, not effective, representative, typical, or of special interest. A few examples of case study topics are provided below—the case studies would describe
what happened when, to whom, and with what consequences in each case.

What are the Advantages and Limitations of a Case Study?
The primary advantage of a case study is that it provides much more detailed information than what is available through other methods, such as surveys. Case studies also allow one to present data collected from multiple methods (i.e., surveys, interviews, document review, and observation) to provide the complete story. There are a few limitations and pitfalls however, each of which is described below.

Can be lengthy: Because they provide detailed information about the case in narrative form, it may be difficult to hold a reader’s interest if too lengthy. In writing the case study, care should be taken to provide the rich information in a digestible manner.

Concern that case studies lack rigor: Case studies have been viewed in the evaluation and research fields as less rigorous than surveys or other methods. Reasons for this include the fact that qualitative research in general is still considered unscientific by some and in many cases, case study researchers have not been systematic in their data collection or have allowed bias in their findings. In conducting and writing case studies, all involved should use care in being systematic in their data collection and take steps to ensure validity3 and
reliability4 in the study.

Not generalizable: A common complaint about case studies is that it is difficult to generalize from one case to another. But case studies have also been prone to overgeneralization, which comes from selecting a few examples and assuming without evidence that they are typical or representative of the population. Yin, a prominent researcher, advises case study analysts to generalize findings to theories, as a scientist generalizes from experimental results to theories.5


3 Validity refers to the degree to which a study accurately reflects or assesses the specific concept that the researcher is attempting to measure.
4 Reliability is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure yields the same result on repeated trials.
5 Yin, Robert K. (2003). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Addt'l Reads: http://ctl.sri.com/publications/downloads/vstaera2001.pdf

Paper Trail

So last week, here's a trail of your paper creations...Wolverine claws, Spiderman figures, penguin patterns, a supercool dinosaur drawing, your handprints just the way we did it in school. One night you worked till about 10.30PM on these tiny drawings and you seriously wanted to do your handwriting exercises in your efforts to prove that you deserve to be at Grade 1. You're just too young, anak! Hmmmm, let's see?
Prove your worth, perhaps or if you can do something about your milk teeth, by all means join the class picture of Grade 1 Bungi's. Now isn't that a neat class name, like the rest of these: Grade 2 Bungal Pa Rin, Grade 3 Amoy Araw, Grade 4 Maasim, Grade 5 Malapit na, Grade 6 Anghit, Grade 7 Anghit at Iba Pa...Okie stopping here for your own sake.

What went wrong? and what now?

WHAT HAPPENED?

Well...I guess it's basically a stubborn attitude when it comes to writing.
I was bent on trying out narrative analysis only to find out, this requires something else. I wanted to try it cuz my previous papers were basically case studies.
I wanted to get out of that safe mode and try some other methodology.

In other words, research is not just about MY personal agenda because there is data which have to be considered and viewed beyond that personal agenda to practice!!!

Here's feedback we got about our paper:
Reviewer A:

Relevance: 5

Originality: 3

Significance : 3

Content : 3

Style and Clarity: 4

Soundness: 3

Recommendation The paper is OUTSTANDING and deserves to be shortlisted for a
best paper award.: No

Change of Paper Type: No

Revision: Revision required, see comments

Comments :
I suggest the author considers including reference to Downing et al (2007).
The full reference is Downing, K., Lam, T., Kwong, T., Downing, W.K., &
Chan, S. (2007)
‘Creating interaction in online learning: a case study’ ALT-J. Vol.15,
No.3 201-215, 2007.
This is because this study identifies some key interaction patterns highly
relevant to the authors paper. This could then be used to add weight to the
authors conclusion which is currently a little short/thin.


MORE QUALIFIERS HERE....
Review Criteria

Relevance 5
The paper is relevant to the conference theme and key areas.
The topic has the potential to encourage interactive discussion.
Originality 3
The paper presents a novel or innovative approach to the research in one of the three key areas.
Research and/or best practice that has not been frequently discussed or provides a different perspective.
Significance 3
The paper will make a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge in the field either empirically or practically.
Content 3
The paper will present a case to the reader that is logical and the reasoning is supported by specific facts.
Style and Clarity 4
The paper is presentable and well organized. The paper increases the understanding of the content to experts, practitioners and lay persons.
The paper is clear and there is an appropriate use of style (APA), standard English, correct grammar and spelling usage, free of errors, and ease of reading.
Soundness 3
Full/Brief Paper - Quality of the literature review, statement of purpose and research goals. Appropriate methodology (reliability and validity), analysis, findings, and conclusions are clear and believable.
Best Practice Paper - Quality of literature review, demonstration of use in professional practice, learning points, and conclusions are clear and believable.


WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?

-methodology is again based on your research aims and purposes plus the data gathered and made available.
-questions clearly reflect that it's a case study in the first place
-methodology has to be clearly stated according to the questions raised by Primo:
What type of data did you use?; covered dates and time periods, why did you choose to make use of the above mentioned data?

WHAT DO I NEED TO UNDERSTAND?

-if this is a case study...what is not? what is narrative inquiry or analysis?
-a question by co writer: what is significance vs relevance?

A Cause for this Paper, ergo, Significance of the Study?

UPOU has recently celebrated its 15th year anniversary.
The exhibit boasts of UPOU history--first generation, 2nd and 3rd.

Where am I? Perhaps third generation...and where are the students?

The celebration pretty much shows the UPOU family--I find a bit 'clanish'. But families need those if families are to survive. They need to carve their history to justify existence.

It's a family I can't seem to identify with as it's already rich with traditions and common life story which started way back. But life goes on and new stories have to be woven if UPOU is to survive.

This paper is meant to tell stories of other partakers in this UPOU community--the students and junior faculty members who equally identify with the UP name and continue to evolve towards a common identity as people of UPOU.

This paper is significant as it is meant to give voice to other members of the UPOU community who seek deeper interactions with fellow UPOU students, and a whole new meaning to what UPOU community is all about.

In the bigger scheme of things.....why is this paper significant, I leave Al to make meaning out of that.


I think to some extent, I do equate the community site with the latest Biomodd [C]Piece. Both provided venues for students to interact, and get involved towards a common cause--but for what reasons and towards which direction?

This paper aims to figure out.


And so my little cause for the next generation--I'd like to view a future exhibit where students' narratives get to be included in the big picture. I'd like to see their initiatives documented as part of the UPOU history. Their voices have to be heard one way or another. The community site to some extent documents that.

More Notes + Queries: Q Research_Comm Site

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: A PERSONAL SKILLS APPROACH by Gary D. Shank
Pearson 2006

..."Quali researchis as the systematic empirical inquiry into meaning. Interpretation is the part where we continue to examine meaning that we feel we already have, while we think of about other meanings we might seek. Interpretation is not the whole of qualitative research, but there can be no qualitative research without it."(78)

"Interpretation always involves taking some form of chance, and taking the risk that your interpretation might not be accurate or even correct. You do not guard against these circumstances by making timid descriptions. Instead you make sure your interpretations are upfront as possible. If your interpretation ends up being incorrect, it is best for it to be correct in a public correctable way." (79)

Now here's comes my fave line:

"IT IS BETTER TO BE CLEAR AND WRONG THAN MUDDLED AND CORRECT."


Now I understand why I insist on this paper...here goes my explanation.

Well, I know for one that the this virtual community site meant a lot to me as PC.
I can really see its potential at both personal and UPOU work level. So I'm really hooked with the idea of it. Now is just that me or what? Is that meaning valid only to me? I 'sense' that it is perhaps for other users...but I only sense this so I'd like to see clearly how others see the site.

It's a constant question--that if perhaps if it means a lot to a few who discovered it, maybe we can make it meaningful to others in the future. So in what way was the site packaged enough for others to sustain engagements in it? what else can we do so others can find meaning in it?

The thing is, I'm the one convinced but why? And howcome I sense that site moderator thinks about the virtual community differently? Maybe he did have other purposes for it or his perspective is entirely different being the creator of the site and someone being used to forums in other contexts.

And so this personal pursuit of mine...if current active members surface these meanings, perhaps we can find something in common. Finding that may lead us to ways we can decide how to take it forward and see if indeed it is worth sustaining.

OR at least it can even mean another thing altogether--that maybe, it isn't that meaningful to others. And so if not, the sooner we know this, then the sooner we can find out why it isn't worth sustaining---then at least I know clearly why I am incorrect--in my face. That I can take and move on.

In the end, I would not see it as a waste of time--it's good while it lasts.

Set A: First Layer Responses from Site Creator

-Tell me about how you put the contents/things together at the site...what factors did you consider with your choice of webhost, the design/theme contents/folders, the gallery. Or did these things come to you naturally having had previous experience with managing or moderating forums?

The site is on its second webhost. The one before, I picked because I felt it offered the best features at that price point. This second one, I picked because I was sold to the "green hosting" hooplah while still having comparative features. In reality, this new host can't be that much more sustainable than the previous one. But still, a little improvement is better than nothing.

I used Joomla simply because it's the content management system I had the most experience with. And it'll be easier to maintain by people with little or no web development or programming experience, in the event of having others administer the site.

The site theme and layout was borne from my personal taste as well as feedback from early users.




-Is there a difference with the work and interaction YOU do (and experience) via the UPOU community site versus previous sites/forums you've been with?

Yes. You don't completely lose the student-teacher dynamic in the UPOU Community Site. There's already an established relationship among many members even before they signed in. In other upstart online communities, you don't have that. Most people don't even know each other, so there's a higher level of anonymity. It hardly matters if you're a teacher, student, doctor, engineer, bum or whatnot, at least up until something out of the ordinary happens.



-Did you expect it to be discovered (by anyone from UPOU)? What were your initial plans for it to be noticed...or launched?

Yes, I did, because I invited students to be beta testers. While the response of my own DCS students was disappointing, I didn't really intend to make a big fuss over its existence. As long as it regularly attracts new members, even in small numbers, I'd consider it a success.




-Have your expectations been met in terms of initial response, site usage, current users?
Or maybe, any frustrations or unmet expectations?

Initial response was, like I said, a bit disappointing. I expected a little bit more enthusiasm, especially on the side of the UPOU faculty and my own DCS students. When that didn't happen, certain things came about that questioned my preconceptions of what a UPOU person really is.

But now with certain realizations in check, I think it's all fine as far as the level of activity is concerned.



-Any surprises...in terms of interaction/ experience you did not foresee nor expect (but happened) from users (old and new), you included?

Well, I did not expect a supposedly intelligent grown man to act like a twelve year old brat in the forum. My expectations of the general demeanor of the UPOU populace was much higher than that. Does that count?

I also didn't really expect for the site to be embraced by a small but dedicated number of people the way they did, which were most apparent during the last two UP Lantern Parades.



-Would you consider this site as one to put in your list of creative work or accomplishment? Why so or...why not if ever?

I really haven't thought about it. I never thought of it as a big deal at the beginning. In some ways, I still don't. But this was before I saw it as a platform for social experiments. So who knows, with a bit more dedication, maybe it can be one.

Set B: Second Layer Responses from Site Creator

Set B Questions:

-What are your initial perceptions of UPOU students based on your observation of their online behavior? Have your perceptions changed as you interacted with students at the comm site?

I started to work on the site with a firm belief that UPOU people were not just more Net-savvy, but also generally more interested in online interaction compared to those from other constituent units. I had never been more wrong about anything else since I started working here.

My own DCS students were a collective disappointment as I had expected them to be more interested than the rest. I mean, computer science right? I didn't expect to have everyone on board, but 3 or so out of about 70? I didn't see that coming.

My perception has not changed since then. There is a small set of active people now, just like before, and later on they move on to other things and will be replaced by others, then in time they will be replaced... One can only hope that it is a cycle that will see more people coming in than going out.



-Do you find the exchanges/ interactions among site users as meaningful compared to other exchanges which happen in sites upou students/facs are engaged in? Why so? (and maybe what specific threads / responses attest to that)

Well, that depends. If by other sites you mean things like Facebook or Friendster, then definitely yes. But when compared to something like MyPortal or, to a certain extent, Multiply, it's hard to say. I think academic discussion is very meaningful and both sides have ample amounts of that. But as far as non-academic related discussions and information are concerned, right now, nothing can top the Community Site.


-What have you learned from these online/offline experiences with site members, in terms of making students feel that they're part of a larger community?

These site members, especially the ones who stick around long enough, are a different breed of UPOU students, in contrast to the ones who can't be bothered to log in to MyPortal for more than a couple of hours in any given week, which sadly comprises the majority. These community site members are determined to find a deeper meaning for being part of UPOU. Those who are not full time students do not see their day jobs as a hindrance they cannot overcome in order to find their meaning. And that is why I believe they will bear more resemblance to the archetypical UP student than the others -- intelligent and with a passion for greater worthwhile causes. Just as students from other CU's have organizations, UPOU students have the Community Site

Abstract; Track Changes

Abstract No. 181

Paper Title
Nurturing a Sense of Community at the UP Open University Community Site  

Abstract
Research into distance education often shows a positive relationship between a sense of community and learning among adults. To some adult learners, there is more to online learning than the fulfillment of academic work. From a socio-cultural perspective, learning in a virtual community is also about the expression of online selves, identity construction and building a sense of community.

Building a sense of community is a constant challenge at the UP Open University (UPOU), the first tertiary level institution in the Philippines to offer distance education programs to adult learners from both graduate and undergraduate levels. Its current student population engage in online academic courses through UPOU's Moodle-based learning management system. Whilst there are small packets of extra-curricular discussion sometimes encouraged by individual faculties-in-charge, UPOU has yet to explore other platforms to harness involvement and participation among its community members, most especially the students. This is where the UPOU Community Site comes in. The UPOU Community Site is one distinct virtual community developed and maintained by a faculty member outside the course domain. This site was created to cater to students, alumni, faculty and staff who feel there is more to being part of UPOU than just the studies, work and research.

But what does the UPOU Community Site truly mean to these adult learners who manage to sustain online and offline engagements through this virtual community? This case study purposely narrated the development of the UPOU Community Site from the perspective of its current users who care enough to maximise it as a tool and platform for programme improvements, community building activities and interaction. Through narrative inquiry, this study was able to surface varied meanings that a select group of adult learners attach to this virtual community. The study examined how faculty members and students express their online selves, construct their identities and engage in community building activities outside their usual academic coursework. The study aimed at making explicit the nature of this virtual community's growing sense of community in order to arrive at possible directions it can pursue for it to thrive.

The study provided evidence as to how a virtual community can become a valuable platform to extend the online world of adult learners in order to contribute to an open university’s evolving community of practice. This qualitative research grounded itself on an interpretive-critical paradigm, so the study was able to draw out possible goals and strategies from adult learners-site members in order to sustain engagements among its current users as they continue to take part in building and nurturing a sense of community with the larger population of UPOU adult learners it hopes to reach.

Abstract Acceptance...woohooo...lagot!

Dear Villanueva Aleta

We are pleased to inform you that your abstract has been accepted by the ICT2010 Conference Review Panel.

Please be informed that the latest date to submit the full / brief / best practice presentation paper is Monday, 15 March 2010. However, as an author, you can enjoy a special registration rate of S$375 for the conference if you submit your full, brief or best practice paper by 1 March 2010.

Please take note of the comments from our review panel:
1. See email attachment with track changes (file: 181_tracking changes.doc).

A full research paper should be between 8 and 10 pages and up to 5,000 words. A brief paper should be between 4 and 6 pages and up to 2,500 words. Please select the type of paper (full or brief paper) you wish to submit. However, the ICT2010 Conference Academic Committee reserves the right to advise you to change the type of paper after it has been reviewed by our review panel.

I attach the author's guideline for the full / brief paper and the best practice presentation to this e-mail.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Best regards
Academic Chair
ICT2010 Singapore Conference
--

Reality Check: What Have I Overlooked

I spent time with the AA's yesterday and boy, we got to cover a lot of things in our exchanges: student council, student org, MMS photography class, Biomodd field trip 1, field trip part 2, sportsfest, photo exhibit, suggestions for the upou lms/website, UPOU FB1, UPOU FB2. And so, out comes a bunch of ideas for the UPOU virtual learning community. And out comes a new set of glasses to see VC's from others' points of view besides mine.

A major wake up call! So now that I'm awake, there's a part I have yet to see in this research: online behavior. Hah--and my co writer has seen that before.

Anyways, movin' on....I need to review the questions, collect/ review current lit I've collected, go back to the abstract. There!


Perhaps it is time to FB, in order to:
-connect more with students through an online presence in the social network they themselves created
-get out of the box and see students from a different light
-observe online behavior and search for meanings

New Questions: Layer 2 ...testing

Set B:

This is like you sort of observing and analyzing the users (active and new)--from the standpoint of a faculty and member of the UPOU community in general.

Do you see that students have gotten more connected through the site?
In what ways?

What exchanges do you think were meaningful to students? Why so?

To what extent is the site achieving its goals?


Set A:
-What are your initial perceptions of UPOU students based on your observation of their online behavior?


-Have your perceptions changed? What else have you discovered about their online behavior as students/members of the virtual community?


-What have you learned from these online/ offline experiences with site members, in terms of making students feel that they're part of a larger community?

Sample Questions: First Layer...testing

What pushed you to create the community site for UPOU? Did it like just dawn upon you like the way you make your music?



-Tell me about how you put the contents/things together at the site...what factors did you consider with your choice of webhost, the design/theme contents/folders, the gallery. Or did these things come to you naturally having had previous experience with managing or moderating forums?


-Is there a difference with the work and interaction YOU do (and experience) via the UPOU community site versus previous sites/forums you've been with?


-Did you expect it to be discovered (by anyone from UPOU)? What were your initial plans for it to be noticed...or launched?

-Have your expectations been met in terms of initial response, site usage, current users?
Or maybe, any frustrations or unmet expectations?


-Any surprises...in terms of interaction/ experience you did not foresee nor expect (but happened) from users (old and new), you included?



-Would you consider this site as one to put in your list of creative work or accomplishment? Why so or...why not if ever?

Questions for Site Users

These questions were given to active users to elicit their narratives:

* What is the UPOU community site to you?
* How did you learn about it?
* What's with this virtual community which sustained your interaction with
fellow community members?
* What have you learned from these experiences in terms of making fellow students
feel that they're part of a larger community?


These questions I crafted from the ff, Primo's initial questions for Chancy's mag-type publication:


* What is the UPOU community.net?
* How has the UPOU community platform helped you and the students in program coordination?
* What have you learned from these experiences in terms of making students feel that they're part of a larger community?


Of course, I'd have to craft a different set of questions to the site moderator-co writer. That would be difficult.

I mean how do we communicate our narratives and at the same time reflect on these as researchers--there must be a way to do this though--do we distance ourselves when we are both the story bearers and readers and seers?

What's Brewing....

Cutting and pasting an email exchange:

Re Site stats: What good will it do?
(I'm thinking aloud + figuring out something here to get to a certain point)
That article from where I got those site stats actually say that such stats didn't provide enough basis to evaluate site interaction in the VC. And so the article went on to use other means to describe the nature of interaction among members of the VC qualitatively.

I'm thinking along these lines...
to include some kind of data in your narrative in terms of:
-threads which garnered most number of hits/ responses
-threads which YOU as moderator see as indicatives of quality interaction
-threads which provide evidence that there is a growing sense of community

Okie. Now I have Part 2 questions brewing ...

In the end, I guess, to examine the interaction and sense of community at the site, we need to use the ff:
-narratives from a set of guide questions
-contents from specific threads at the site
-questionnaire/ checklist (there's a sense of classroom community survey I got somewhere which I can tweak to use at the site for active users and new users)

Is there any other data you think we should include?

But there's a WOW here cuz finally I stepped out of that OC-ness of looking at review of lit.I am now getting into concerns re data gathering and analysis...yehey.

Light Bulb: On Quali Research

I've reviewed past EDDE 206 readings and browsed through these 2 valuable books: The Foundations of Research by Jonathan Grix and Conceptualizing and Proposing Qualitative Research by Schram. Funny how I'm now seeing and making sense out of these cuz obviously, I have a clearer sense of purpose for this change of topic which is now on virtual communities.

I also think that perhaps with the rise of QUALI research as a viable methodology, it has influenced the way research is being taught and written about. The old books I've read during the earlier part of my Phd classes have a very linear, clear cut step by step manner of presenting the research process. My experience however did not match that at all. All these new readings and perhaps classic ones in the field of QUALI research shows the cyclical and dynamic process-- all because of the word we know to be as RESEARCH Paradigms. It indeed places your research at a certain perspective of looking at data, examining realities and their meanings and what these are for. It situates the research. Trala!

But I still need to get out of this pit: clarifying design, methodology and approach. Different books and readings are interchanging the use of methodology and approach. And so maybe...there is a method of gathering data and approach at looking at your data....a method of analysis and an approach of looking at your analysis of findings.

Case study, ethnography, grounded theory, phenomenology are all part of research approaches which can either be under a quali or quanti type of research.
Data gathering techniques are interviews, document analysis, FGD's, questionnaires, surveys. Where does narrative inquiry fall and what's the diff among these approaches?

Hmmm...

Tasking, Of Course!

Wk 1
Villanueva
-start work on review of lit notes

-organize references

-bug Dave, Iyen and Blaise for their narratives

-create working paper format:

-start working outline of review of lit

-write paper parts: aim of the study, theoretical frame, methodology, research
questions


Librero
-answer interview questions as part of narrative inquiry data gathering

-provide data re: site stats

-start reading stuff re VC's, sense of community and community of practice to get an idea re: theoretical frame


Wk 2-3
Villanueva
-chat-discuss with Al
-Write review of lit
-work on TM A's related to paper—expound on methods of data gathering and analysis

Librero
Scheduled chat with aleta- start discussing re significance of the study: “Why is this paper worth
writing? What does it attempt to contribute in the body of research?”

-write 1 paragraph re significance of the study

-refine review of lit

Wk 4
Villanueva
-Conduct FGD's
-redo the sense of community questionnaire
-distribute to site users

Librero
-start work on paper intro
-review existing data gathered—narratives to look at recurring themes
and what these mean

WK 5
pause to consult with Primo

Of Significance

I remember responding to Al in one community site thread re Beyond the Lantern Parade. I also remember asking him about types or forms of social networking sites.
I just had this idea that maybe there is way to support the UPOU community site depending on what stage of development it is in.


It was a concern because for obvious reasons, I was an active user of the comm site and I was wondering how the site's usage can be sustained and maximized by both faculty members and students. So, let's say it is in an exploratory stage, what can a few users do to make it work.


For example, in community organizing or even when one looks at child development, one is aware that there are such things a stages or phases of development. A child is at a certain developmental stage and given that, a child would need this kind of support or intervention. A community would have a core group and at what depending at what stage the group is in, the organizer would provide some kind of consciousness raising or group mobilization depending on the group's level of participation. So maybe I was thinking perhaps, if we know at what stage the community site is in, we know that this is the level of facilitation it needs for it to thrive.

At least now I know, it isn't social networking sites perse which I was concerned about. The correct label would be 'virtual communities', 'online communities', 'communities in cyberspace' or 'computer mediated communities'.

And so, at a curiosity level, this paper is of significance to me. So far, my readings point to the fact that there are levels of community in virtual communities. There are indicators of a 'sense of community'. These concepts are mostly applied to 'virtual learning communities' not particularly to a community site outside the domain of a specified virtual learning community.

At a program chair level, this paper is of significance as I would like to find out in what ways have I communicated or connected effectively with students through this site and maybe in what ways have I excluded/ limited myself from connecting with other students because of this site. I think though, it has benefited me in a way but has it benefited my students?

At the level of my own research pursuits, this paper is of significance because it is a step away from my comfort zone. My previous research has always been within the practice of basic education using a case study design. It will be the first time for me to explore other methodologoies--such as the use of narrative inquiry. First time for me to do research with knowledge of a research paradigm, a knowledge of a theoretical frame to analyze data.

At the level of faculty relations, this paper is of significance because it will be the first time for me to co write with a UPOU colleague. I have yet to figure out if we are working on this from the same level, though I am aware that I've set minimum expectations or bare essentials as indicators that this co writing is indeed working.

Now, as to what this paper can contribute to existing theory...hmmm, I have no idea!