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Educational Researcher / PhD Student (Lancaster University, UK) in E-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning / Adjunct Instructor (NYU & Pace U) / Project Manager (Clinical Education) in New York City. Interests in educational research influenced by interdisciplinarity, focused on digital identity, doctorateness and the postgraduate experience, threshold concepts and transformative learning in higher education, Internet research, networked learning, technology enhanced learning, distance education, adult and organizational learning, narrative inquiry, and actor-network theory. My professional work is at JeffreyKeefer.com 
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Continuing on my way to London for BERA2011 after my visit to Montreal, I was finally able to make it to Stonehenge, one of the cultural and historical World Heritage sites I have been longing to visit for some time. The sheer size of these stones, their placement, and the questions about the builders and their intentions at this site remain a mystery to use even today. Glad to have visited. All my pictures from this part of my trip are on Flickr.
The Hot Seats, an informal and free series of online discussions by international researchers in the area of networked learning, are about to begin in the Hot Seats Ning page. This is a lead-in to the 8th International Conference on Networked Learning, scheduled for Maastricht in April 2012. What is networked learning? According the call for papers (which are due in about two weeks), networked learning is:
Participation in these online discussions, based around the research of a number of very interesting scholars and led by the authors themselves, is open to anybody; conference registration is not required. While this is more focused than the #change11 MOOC that is stretching over the same period, there may be an interesting overlap between participants in both online learning events. I have been thinking more about the question “What exactly is a MOOC, anyway?” related to the #change11 course that started last week and which I am engaging in (in my spare time, ha!!). While I spent some time considering some of the ethical and privacy issues involved in this research, I have conveniently side-stepped the question about what this thing is, anyway. This may not be a big issue, but when I mentioned this to a F2F colleague this week and was asked what this thing is, I just stood there, speechless. I have participated in a rather interesting discussion about some of these issue on Frances Bell’s blog, though even there we skirted the issue of what this thing is. So, searching for the response from the facilitators themselves, I came across The MOOC Model for Digital Practice as I reviewed the Week 1 course Orientation page, and came across the following useful definition which I will quote here at length due to its comprehensive form and complexity (pp. 10-11):
With this stated, it seems to me that, in a nutshell, a MOOC is:
While I do not want to be locked into a definition, as a MOOC is a moving target, I do want to have a clearer ideas of whaty this thing is that stretches out for months and months ahead. How does this seem to others participating in this? I am participating in the #change11 MOOC (massive open online class) as I mentioned last week, and while I am still not sure what sort of time or resource commitment this will mean for me in practice, I think it may have some potential usefulness for my doctoral research. With this stated, I am very interested in how the facilitators of the course will use the information provided, so was happy to read the posting of privacy information that was shared with participants. Good for them to discuss this all so openly at the beginning of the course. If I am reading this correctly, the researchers who are facilitating this course state that anything publicly shared that is related with the course (most readily identifiable by the #change11 tag), can be used for research purposes. This seems consistent with the current (though somewhat dated and in the process of revision) Association of Internet Researchers guideline for ethical researcher and participant consent - Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the aoir ethics working committee document. I am wondering what sorts of ethical issues around consent or identification may surface in this, especially given the enormous data set that is being created related to this course? For example, I published this posting (anybody can see it), it is tagged with the course (#change11), and is identifiable (my name and picture are on this site). Does that mean the researchers can quote me or otherwise identify my if they want to in their research around the MOOC? Do they need my permission to quote me, given I am saying this publicly? Will I know this even happens? If I am stating all this publicly, is that my default consent? Is anything online really ever private? These are not easily answered, and having engaged in Internet research myself I know that various ethical boards will interpret these questions in different ways, I do think it is valuable to ask them, especially as (I suspect) many participating in this course will not even consider them . . . until they get quoted or referred to, of course! I visited Montreal for the first time two weeks ago, while on my way to the British Education Research Association Conference. I stayed with my friends Robin and Edward, and had two beautiful days of weather with which to explore Old Montreal and St. Joseph’s Oratory (among other sites). While I uploaded the pictures of my time in Montreal to Flickr, here are a few of my favorites.
Yes, I have attended these sorts of massive courses (open to a variety of ideas on one hand while unfocused and hard to navigate as the Web itself on the other) before, though I think now I am in a somewhat different place. Yes, I am working full-time while also writing up my doctoral thesis, though what better way is there to decompress online while also being open to learning something new while in the middle of so many (and soon-to-be) friends? Let the learning begin. Hmm, perhaps it already has?
It has been four weeks filled with countless interviews, discussions, explanation about my research, national and international phone calls, Skype sessions, and more support than I ever dreamed of. Having engaged in research interviews several times during my course of study, I knew a little about what to expect in these interviews. What I did not expect was a consistent sense of well-wishes, encouragement, interest, and positive energy on behalf of my many participants during this period. In many ways I feel like I engaged in conversations, rather than data collection. What better way is there to think about our research, especially research that in one sense involves colleagues, however far and distant and heretofore unknown? Thanks to so many people, I feel I have now passed over this step, and while transcription and sense-making await, I am very thankful that I have turned this corner in my work. I look forward to now trying to make sense of everything I heard, and hope to continue to share and discuss this with my colleagues, old and new, over the next several months. I want to share an update on my doctoral thesis data collection, as a lot has happened since the last one I did a little over a week ago. I have now completed 13 interviews in total (60-90 minutes each), and am hoping to finish the remaining interviews in another week. While I initially planned to have 15-20 people in total (which should be enough for some sense of data saturation, given the qualitative design I am using), it now seems I may be nearer the latter when I finish. While I am not beginning any systematic processing of this data yet (transcription, anyone? My research asks about barriers and liminal (in-between) periods that happen during doctoral study, resulting in some form of an aha! or new sense of one’s identity. This often involves the telling of difficult stories, ones that are personal and oftentimes riveting in nature. Being privelged with listening to these stories is a rich experience, one that requires my full attention in way unlike many of the other tasks I have encountered in research (or practice, for that matter). I feel emotionally humbled when I finish with each one, and find that I struggle to do my ordinary work or other commitments in life during this period. I am thankful for this opportunity to engage in this study, as it is a deeply moving experience. I think I have a lot more to process in its effect in me, much less as part of my research.
I have been absolutely blown away by the support and interest I have felt from so many people who have so kindly offered to assist or otherwise help promote participation in my work. Having already completed 7 interviews lasting between 60 and 90 minutes each, I feel I am indeed learning more about the liminal experiences that occur during doctoral studies related to learning leaps, aha! moments, and passing through conceptual thresholds. I have learned that I really do not know what sorts of initial findings I can draw from this work until I begin transcribing and analyzing the transcripts, but I have already noticed that some of my questions and frames have developed the more I learn about how current and former doctoral researchers experience and make sense of their in-between periods of meaning-making while on the path to their degrees. Each person I speak with is so different from one another, and this opportunity to hear about what at times involves personal experiences en route to the degree often leaves me in awe. I so value how generous many people are with their time, and I look forward to engaging with the other participants I have scheduled to interview through the end of the month (when I now hope to conclude my data collection for my research).
There are 3 criteria for participation:
If you answered yes to these 3 eligibility criteria, I invite you to consider speaking with me about it in a single 60-90 minute interview (phone or Skype, as you wish). For more information, my email and contact information are here. I appreciate any assistance with identifying participants for my study; please share this link or information with anybody who you think may be interested. Thank you. |
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!!), there is one thing that I have learned in this process that I want to share for the benefit of anybody else planning a similar research endeavor. Data collection in the form of long, in-depth interviews takes a lot of energy. Moreover, I am finding that it takes almost everything out of me. Let me explain.
