I have cast my net wide, and have spoken with a number of colleagues about the options for investigating this liveblogging research from last week’s AERC2007. I have had people mention auto ethnography, grounded theory, methods involved in the New Learning Initiative and in computer-mediated communication (CMC), Add a little bit about power and poisitonality within a conference, and there are some  juicy and appealing options.

While I am still processing what happened at the conference, there is another one (the last conference I am planning to attend this year) next week where I will be presenting. More about that one later.

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Robin Grenier

Theoretical FOundations for adult learning. Is often anecdotal, and not with a theoretical base

idea for a roudtable is to have a discussion of what people see as possibilities

Create a triad — share with them an experience we have had as an adult at a museum or national park. Speak about this as a learning experience, what may have been learned

now, put on an adult facilitator / educator hat, and discuss what we have heard based on adult learning theiry, and how can you explain them from the adult ed persepctive

we then discussed this in triads

Robin then wrote some of these themes on the board, and then asked us how we could translate those into adult ed speak / lingo

Learning in Museums themese Robin heard from our groups

1. trnasformative
2. social-constructivism
3. spirituality
4. meaning making
5. perspectives
6. analogies
7. experiential learning
8. knowledge creation
9. tactile learning
10. emotionally laden
11. reflexive
12. critical consumption — who is controlling the learning and the context

then she asked us to discuss this

she has found her place in Canada

having a home place, where we can go back to again and again

emotionally-laden experiences

i began this project without knowing the methodoloy, as I had a limited area and time for data. Not sure what will learn from this, but that will be determined.

While working in our small groups / triads, I did not write here, as I thought that would not be conducive to a conversation we are having. Thus, I am blogging while I am a particpant who is not actively engaged in dialogue.

a participant in the room - knowledge in museums has been consturtced from / in various frameworks , and we have to be aware of that framework and how it was constructed.

Another person became a reflexive visitor

some museums are bevoin more critical, having multiple avenues of experiences and lenses

as a critical educator, can i take a crtitical lens to whatever museum / experience

I also need to find a better way to code the tags for these blogs. Futue resaerch elemtns

if we know we can have a converswation about this and what museums can do and their purpose, the next question is why don’t we.

somebody mentioned she is passionate about the British Museum, it is busier than ever especially since they removed the price.

It seems there is lifelong learning that is more established in Europe.

The question, is why aren’t we studying this any longer

one person specuulated that with the advent of technology, is it removing the social element of going to the museum

i am feeling like a researcher during this conversaiton

are museums still high-brow? They seem to have changed,  but if we are interested in seeing how an emotional and transformational experiences (eg in a Holocaust Museum). There are missed opportunites for authentic learning within museums. So, why are we missing out on this learning.

what can we do with a colleague or our own research agenda–how can i engage in scholarship to look at adult capacity to learn. We have a responsibility with adult educators to partner with musems. The museum educators have content expertise, but that does not necessarily meet the needs of adult visitors. How can we help adult visitors of multiple persoectvives and bring them in and help them to

Technorati Tags: AERC2007, liveblogging

Jeffrey Keefer & Robin Yap

I cannot livebog my own conference, so I will discuss it before I present and then recap what I learn during and after it.

This is really a delayed liveblog, as the Internet access is still not present in the building.

At the end in discussing the reesults, Julie Storburg-Walker suggested looking at the new learning work from learning at a conference. She suggested speaking with Colleen Weissner

we had abut 12 people, and there were a few pictures

Technorati Tags: AERC2007, liveblogging, Adult Education, aerc, Critical HRD, Critical Management Studies, live blogging, live-blogging, Critters

Nice lunch spread.

St. Louis , Missouri next year — here we come! The presentation they made makes St. Louis seem nicer than I remember when I was there many years ago,

The proposal for having the next conference in England sounds like a great idea, but the airfare costs may be prohibitive for many, especially as next year will be the 50th Anniversary.

I left the luncheon mid-way, since I wanted to tweak our presentation one last time.

Just met Patricia Cranton, who I studied with in an online class and who has been one of the people I have been looking to meet during the conference. She is most gracious and nice.

I then just met Rosemary Cafferella. Nice to meet her as well after using so many of her materials over the years.

Elizabeth E. Bennett

intereested in how the designed look and feek t web pages may provide an experience for learning

little is know about how culture shapes technology

Intranet - definition - Intranet defined here as a private organiaational  enwetwork baase dprimarily on Web technology and is comprised of shared documents and software application that help members fulfill their organizational mission

Research questions–

1. How does the Intranet  provide an opportunity for learning about organizational culture?

To support the purpose, the culture of the case organization was examined

First wanted to understand the culture

Organizational culture is the shared beliefs, values, and assumptions that determine how members interpret events and act in an organizational environment

knowledge management - tacit and explicit knowledge, she sees a connection between knwoeldge management and organizational learning

she was given open access to the organization–Beacon Communityu Hospital in the Southeast USA with 3000 employees. she was given as much of the same openness as any emplitee, especially as IT staff. HIPAA and other confidential information was of course offlimits, That would have been beyond the focus of her work anyway. She searched for organizations, and while searching, a colleague of hers gave her contact to the CIO at the hospital.

MY QUEESTION — How did you get access to this organization? I work in healthcare, and know how difficult that can be.

Used a book - Quick ethnographies - for studies with small time frames

Edgar Schines book on typical subcultures - operatives, engineering group, clinical people

Strategic use of the INternet.

Range of ages and positions for variation

As she was in a cubivcle embedded within the organization, she staretd to do participant observation. She moved from a non-participant to a participant role,.

The hospital won custimer service awards, and used to be known as a high tech hospital for clinincal work, but that had changed with them being more internally technical savvy. The current administration  helped to make the transition to being more high-tech, and they then started to win customer service awards.

The Intranet was 6 years old, and the CIO inititiated this, and it was not forced on the organization. It started to get more widely used because departments started to get more interested for their own and their department uses. They named their Intranet a name — IAN — Information As Needed — they treat the INtranet as a colleague, with a personalized component

The culture at the Hospital -

1. People-centered
2. Highly congruent with values
3. strategically decentralized
4. date driven
5. organic in nature

Tremendous emphsia on values and th culture– the information is listed on the back of their nameetage

Findings-

1. Experiencing the wider organization, since people feel isoltaed, IAN helps them to feel more connected. Fostered a sense of being colleagues (even in with their internal classifieds and daprtment pages
2. Recognizing aand reqrding performance. There is the belief that recognition builds relationsips . Even performance reviews and evaluations are managed and tracked via the Intranet. 20% of notes were notes of thanks
3. Reinforcing organizational expectations — ingrains procedures and ensures response. OSHA counter is cultural symbol that holds meaning for employees. They also track who digitally signs articles that they have read things, so all that can be tracked. At first when she saw the OSHA counter on the homepage, but she found that evey interview mentioned the OSHA counter. She initially did not code this, but then through the interviews, that it was very important
4. Modeling corporate communication style. Graphics convey imporatntace of information

Conlsuions - CUltural knowledge is conveyed and renewed through the intranet

Discussion - shows culture and communication style

reflects and integrative culture that is aligned along shard values (sheridan et al. 1993)

communication through the INternet not statis

shapes culture

culture could changes over time in positive and negative ways

change could occur “under the rader”

95% of the employees have access to the Intranet. Every new emlpoyee has acces to the INtranet  They believed that access to the Intrant is  a xopr right, so all people had access, even in the nursing stations, there were PCs i the breakroom and the and nursing stations. Every new employee is oriented to the INternet

I am now thinking about some other issues, such as to what exent should I add something I missed from yesterday’s Brookfield / Peterson discussion. ELizabeth mentioend how the room was so full to see Broeekfuield, not necessarily their subject of their research. This now seems familiar, so I am not sure if I ewrote this yesterday. This issue needs to be explored– how much more complete should the data be if I missed something from the previous day but then recall it? In more traditional resaerch, I would adjust the reaults of the unterview notes if member checking shows me I missed something.

A question about how people can update the Internet, such as chatrooms (which they tried and did not work), nor do people tend to use blogs. Somebody in the audience was pushing the issue about how dissent and critique are handled, in relation to the intranet. They have a culture where people, without their managers, meet with the senior leadership to air issues. There are avenues outside the intranet to address and handle problems. They have anonymous suggestion box in the intrant as well as offline as well.

MY QUESTION - what technology platform so they use for the internat. They do not use Sharepoint. They use Oracle databases, have an internal email, and people connect in a variety of ways.

Kris Wells & Ray Johnson

Policy and Practice - Positive Space

Ray began by reading a poem

He works in a rural area. Policy #795

Race Relations Cross Cultural understanding and Human Rights - RCH liaison

People would call that they wanted to discuss these issues, but the area is so homophobic and rural and fundamentalist, that people would not do this

he wrote a Preamble that did not have the term tolerance, since that term has negative connotations

he has found that this new policy has released the pent up demand, people do not know how to put this into place.

the problem with education is it is hierarchical, paternalistic, and isolationistic, so he stated this is dangerous work for him. Education is very behind the times in Canada, so he is trying to play catch-up. Teacher and parents and students have these rights and have to be trained to use them.

he teaches in an inclusive manner

the

www.egale.ca - the entire policy is there in PDF format and is downloadable.

policy is one thing, and implementation is another. 

it is about moving out of the community, not only working within the community. This wat peeople, such as the divas, can be part of the community and give back to it by working in it and performing for it, since this is about getting out to the larger audience.

once the policy was approved, and the surface barriers were removed. Then comes the real work of addressing the deeper-seated issues that still tend to counter the issues the policy is established to address

the policy is wonderful, but the systemic backlash within those systems shows how it can be very challenging to implement the policy

“You should offer the legitimate voices of equity their own power” 

“He has a place to give voice to who he is.”

Steven A. Schapiro

Issues of what it means to be a man, masculinity, issues with his wife. Around race and gender and interconnected areas while he was doing his doctoral work. He now teaches in Fielding Graduate University with other middle-age men.

He is working on a model that cuts across various issues, such as Freire’s notion that people’s vocations is to become more fully human.

The slides were a bit difficult to read, as they has white text on a light background.

How can we connect personal limitations to larger issues.

Michael Kaufman, who wrote about finding a link between our power and our powerlessness. A reproduction of patriarchy is continued through this. If we can understand the pain through these issues,

An integrated model of an anti-sexist pedagogy for men

T group, Freire’s education for critical consciousness, and anti-oppressive education

Anti-oppressive is social justice education, which

Also used Kegan with defending, surrendering, and reintegrating - with holding environments needed to support those functions. 

This work is about phases and different learning environments from a course he developed and  teaches over a semester or through short-term intensives.

He causes disequilibrium first, rather than just tell people that they have to be fixed or have to change. After this experience and the freezing / unfreezing happens, he then works with support and action groups to help maintain the the changes and to prevent reverting once they get back to the initial settings.

National Association of Men against Oppression of Woman

There was a question about taking this model outside the classroom

All kinds of masculinities, and he looks at the intersection of gender and race and class. Homophobia and heterosexism. He spoke about homophobia as holding the glue of sexism together.

Breaking through and experiencing our own pain, then allows for the ability to then do something with this.

MY QUESTION -  can you clarify some of the assumptions you make about the men you work with?

• he never knows who he will get and what their issues may be when they begin. One assumption he makes is that all men are raised in a society that is sexist, and that is in the air we breathe and is everywhere. People do not want to be told they are bad and should be changed. It is important for people to get in touch with gender roles and how they keep them from the relationships they want and how those toles are linked to structures of sexism.

Another question was about how he does not undertsnad what he would learn in the course and to be more the life of the person he wants to be when he is done. How or what would be learned? Have to give people the tools for how to change.

SOmebody asked if he uses appreciative inquiry in this issue. Once people think about what it means to be a man and some positive experiences of this, then that is part of the creatring part to be a model or vision.

Thoughts include:

1. Blog project - need to clarify the methodology
2. GLBT and gender issues in HRD within the AHRD Proceddings and Journals (from the work of how feminism is within HRD literature).

Ursula T. Wright  Tonette S. Rocco

Ursula was the principle author of the paper, and she is not here since her vacation was canceled.

Dorothy Smith started the work with institutional ethnography. Tonette will speak about Ursula’s work with institutional ethnography. Derrick Well - Faces at the Bottom of the Well. She talked about Derrick Bell, a critical race theorist. She spoke this story that space people came and would relieve all American debt policy, etc., if all African Americans in the US were given to them. Typical research is a few sides of an issue. Institutional Ethnography instead look at this within a larger system. Race and how race relations are are different in different contexts. IE tries to address some of this.

I need to look for a research method / framework for this liveblogging research.

Tonette spoke about the way that researchers

social practice is embedded in particular social context.

Eberything around white people is around whiteness as being the norm. Likewise, outside the US the US seems to see itself as the norm.

IE looks at the micro and the macro. It is a critical ethnography. The institution in IE is not always an organization. Rather, it is about institutional systems that cross many sites, such as systemic racism. Ethnography is a method that helps us look at culture. It is a way to look at local settings and administration.

This method helps us to surface voices that often do not get problemetized.

individual experiences are organized by larger power relations.

Thus, when we look at an issue, there are many factors that feed into an issue.

The goal is to uncover and actively combat the power relations asking  “How does this happen as it does?” Ruling relations, and an analysis of power.

Using IE, there are many latyers and issues involeved with how th problem is identified and then used. This method is not about the topic or object, but raryyhter the entry point into undertsanding the ruling relations. She discussed the various ways of observing and then colecting data. She gave lots of examples from the book she mentioend, and then she spoke about hw to train to be a good observer. This also includes document analysis and formal policies in a workplace. then, look at the poliicies in place within the local community that feeds into the power relationships. The training is more about how to observe and be a good observer.

Data findings in IE. Create a map or diagram or flowchart of the way the power moves. Then uncover the texts and the stories and how they are in the power relations that come out in new ways. One of the findings is to have new policies put into place and then make a difference back in the organizational structures. It should not just stay within an academic context.

Uncovers limitations.

The same baggage we take within us in relationships is the same as when we are learning.

This is based on the work of Dorothy Smith, where the work is based on feminism. A question from the audience discussing how things are institutionalized because they repeat regularly until they are institutionalized as lived and embodied senses of power within our organizations and how we are actually.

Some good quesitons about this methodology.

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