Academia – Page 21 – Silence and Voice

Qualitative Research Links and References

I recently stumbled across Ron Chenail’s The Qualitative Report website at Nova Southeastern University while I was doing some research for a proposal I am working on for the 6th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI2010). Ron has a wonderful weekly newsletter, as well as one of the more current lists of references for Teaching Qualitative Research: Updated November 9, 2009 (with this document being exactly what I needed to assist with my research). If I were not currently engaged in my doctoral studies at Lancaster University, I would have been interested in Nova’s new Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research–this looks rather comprehensive and very timely indeed.

Nice to know there are so many useful references out there that are being shared. One of the things I have learned about my increased focus on qualitative research in the last few years, is the more that I share, the more I receive back. From this framework, there seems to be a lot of collaborative possibilities for the future!

Networked Learning Conference 2010 Paper Submissions Due in 1 Week

If you are planning to submit a paper for the 2010 Networked Learning Conference, you better hurray–the date for submissions is only a week away. Key dates and submission specs are listed here.

I am busily revising a paper that I am co-authoring, and hope to submit it by Thursday. Planning for the best!

A as in ADDIE

I asked my students in my a PPOCCID class to do some searching for online references / discussions about the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) instructional design model. I find this model very useful in many applications (especially in project management of learning initiatives), though have recently been more intrigued with the A as in Addie.

What does it mean to Analyze the needs of the audience? Well, I have to make sure this is a need the training or learning or education or development can address. Who needs to learn what? Why do they need to learn this? What are the obstacles? Who are the proponents of this (often these are not the learners)? What do they want (and why)? Are the goals the learners have (if they even have any, and if they can be articulated) and the goals of the proponents of the learning the same (or at least close enough that they are not opposed)?

What roles does this power play, especially within organizational dynamics? Can what works for one be transferable to others? Have you ever found it is easier to analyze the needs of others rather than ourselves? Always more questions than answers; while this can be frustrating at times, I find this endless interest quite enlivening and engaging!

I suppose I am considering these issues right now as I am beginning a Module 3 in my doctoral program at Lancaster University. Nice how various parts of my professional, academic, and personal elements of my life tend to fit together from time to time!

APA 6 REVISED (and Replaced)!

No sooner am I starting to get used to the new version of the APA Style Manual (APA 6), but there are now so many errors and corrections that the American Psychological Association is offering TO REPLACE the first versions of APA 6! Not sure how many errors there were (sickenly ironic, being a style guide we are talking about) in this recently revised edition? Check out the Corrections to the First Printing of the Publication Manual (July 2009) of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition.

The Chronicle of Higher Education (sorry, subscription is required) and Inside Higher Education both reported extensively on these issues, in turn helping the APA to recognize that the extent of these problems really required the previously sold editions of APA 6 to be replaced.

Now, to re-learn the styles that were just relearned.

Networked Learning 2010 – Hot Seats Discussions

I am hoping to attend the Networked Learning 2010 conference in Denmark in May of 2010 (as long as my paper gets accepted, of course!!), and this conference is doing something different from most other conferences — it is actively engaging potential participants, presenters, and those who are just interested in pre-conference conversations about networked learning.

Very smart.

These Hot Seats are described here, and are free and open to the public. What better way to prepare for a conference on networked learning, than by engaging in this learning medium itself? Right now I find myself engaged in a great conversation with George Siemens ( this week’s facilitator, Athabasca University member, and Connectivism advocate) and the other distant colleagues about how technology changes the possibilities and dynamics in teaching online.