02/03/2010 by lizit.

I seem to be keeping a lot of different balls in the air at the moment.

I have begun to recruit research participants and that is proving almost too easy. Both the schools are very happy to co-operate and one has around 7 staff happy to talk to me and the other is approaching parents on my behalf as well as giving access to a number of staff. I am amazed how generous people are with their time and knowledge. I now need to start setting up some interviews and beginning that part of the data gathering process.

I am also doing a fair bit of reading around qualitative research and the use of narrative as a research methodology. That is proving useful in understanding better what I am trying to do, but is also highlighting the complexities of the methodology. One thing I have been struggling with is the extent to which my own experience will simply inform my work and how far I can use it as a source of data. Looking at methodology has clarified that autoethnography is a legitimate approach and that there is a strong link between this and narratology (my story and the stories of others). Patton (2002) identifies around 15 different categories/theoretical stances for qualitative research and several are immediately relevant - autoethnography, phenomenology, social construction and constructivism, phenomenology, narratology and systems theory. He offers very useful guidance on choice of methods, research design, sampling and interviewing.

My immediate next tasks seem to be to tweak the documentation I have prepared for participants, to put together outlines for the interviews - I will be using a mixture of standardised questions and probes, interview guide and informal conversational techniques and the outline will vary according to the category of participant.

This is starting to get scary…

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (Third ed.): Sage Publications.

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25/01/2010 by lizit.

Thought it was about time I posted a catch up on what I am actually doing!

The focus of my DPhil is now the learning journeys of the various participants involved in the support and care of children and young people on the autistic spectrum. There are many different people involved from parents and carers to support staff in schools and residential establishments to education, health and social service professionals - and probably a few others as well. Although there is a notion of partnership in the provision of care and support, this partnership can be uneven because of the different levels and types of expertise different partners bring to the table, the way this expertise is or is not valued by other partners and the relative power of the different partners in providing access to resources.

I am planning to focus specifically on learning - which in practice means how people develop knowledge and expertise about autistic spectrum conditions/disorders (the terminology is currently in flux).

I have written an outline of what I hope to cover in my study and am in the process of re-drafting and getting this into a format appropriate for applying for the appropriate ethical clearances.

Another strand I am working on at the moment is trying to clarify what I understand by learning and which learning theories and ideas inform my understanding. This exploration has taken me through formal and informal learning, situated learning, communities of practice and currently metaphors of learning, as well as along a number of interesting side turnings.  I have read lots of interesting stuff and am slowly learning to sift out the things that have less relevance to my proposed study, however interesting they may be. Other posts in this blog summarise some of those explorations.

The other area I am beginning to explore is that of how disability is seen by society and the effect of disability on a family. This is not a major focus for me, but there is a fair bit of evidence showing that families with a disabled member are disadvantaged in lots of different ways and there is other evidence pointing to people with disabilities forming an underclass. If it can be shown that parents caring for children and young people on the spectrum have a great deal of knowledge and expertise in a number of different areas, this might challenge the power structure and also empower parents.

At the moment it feels as though there are a lot of different threads in something of a disarray and my task is to try to identify them and put them in some sort of order so that I can progress. A bit like sorting out lace bobbins and threads after the cat has knocked the lace pillow on the floor yet again. I’ll be more than happy if I can get these threads organised and begin to make something of them.

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15/10/2009 by lizit.

This feels like a good time to do a bit of taking stock and forward planning.

I’ve been looking at some of the DR2 modules and what comes through most clearly is the need for focus. This  came across particularly clearly in the lit review module which emphasised not getting sidetracked by interesting ideas, but was also very clear in the research methods module. This made sense to me as one of my main concerns is scoping my work so that it is actually both meaningful and doable in the allotted time.

Although I haven’t got a neat and tidy lit review, I do feel I have a good understanding of the informal learning area and some of the problematics of working in that area. I am also clear about the problems of language, especially the use of ‘informal learning’ in corporate training contexts and the changing use of ’social learning’. Looking at the informal learning literature has clarified the connections with adult education, lifelong learning, etc, and has also shown the paucity of material on children and informal learning - just one futurelab report as far as I can see. I am keeping up-to-date with Second Life and virtual worlds more generally through both literature and involvement in a number of mailing lists and attendance at various workshops and conferences. I have also explored the literature around virtual communities, including that focusing on 2D communities. Although I have revisited community development material, I have not done so as thoroughly as I originally intended to and there may be a need to look at more of this.

Other blogs and entries in my wiki focus on the reading I have been doing on motivation - Csikszentmihalyi and Deci and Ryan - and on social learning theory as propounded by Bandura. These are potentially useful theories for analysing data in the studies I am proposing.

So what am I actually proposing to do and why? I am increasingly coming to the view that my work needs to be located in relation to the recent government white paper on informal learning. The white paper makes a number of assumptions about informal learning, including about its potential role in adult education and about the need for it to be recognised in some way or other. Apart from the potential elements of cost-cutting or of formalising the informal, I feel the white paper raises a number of issues which are not properly addressed.

So where do I go from here?

Firstly, I think I need to re-read the white paper and the earlier consultative document and responses. I will be looking particularly at how informal learning is understood in those documents and how it is seen to relate to the lifelong learning and widening participation agendas.

Secondly, I need to frame my research question(s) in the context of the white paper. (Given the forthcoming general election, it would be useful to check what the position of other major political parties is on informal learning, but given there is also an EU dimension, I suspect the changes are more likely to be in relation to priorities rather than direction.)

Thirdly, I need to revisit the work I have been doing in outlining potential studies and ensuring these actually address my research question.

That sounds like enough for the moment.

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25/07/2009 by lizit.

This is the first of 2 blog posts I have it in mind to write - the other will be looking at structuring and planning my study with ethical considerations and methodology in mind.

I’ve just read a number of articles (see below) that are connected with online research ethics and I want to capture some of the main points that seem of most relevance to me and to the research I am planning.  This is very much a first take, but I hope the process will help me focus on the ethics permissions I will need, the arguments that need to be constructed, and the nature of the contexts I will be working in.

One of the main things that comes across in all the articles is that it isn’t possible to easily transfer physical world practices into the virtual world. Some things which are important in the physical world may have less relevance in the virtual world and vice versa. Similarly, it isn’t possible to lay down hard and fast guidelines for all virtual world and online communities research both because virtual worlds and online  communities differ from each other and ethical considerations have to be thought about alongside the planning of the study and its methodology.

A second, and equally important consideration is that informed consent may mean something different to participants in an online setting from what it means in a physical world setting. The very honest account (Reid, 1996) of how research can impact an online community is worth consideration, and although I do not anticipate handling the kind of sensitive data Reid did, nevertheless possible unintended consequences for participants do need to be considered.

A third point made in several places is the need for familiarity with the online environment being studied - the dangers of simply using a virtual environment for data gathering without understanding the dynamics of the community are described. It is essential to take time to become an accepted participant. In general, the online communities I am focussing on are ones in which I have had a lengthy engagement - I have been a member of some of the 2-D email lists for around 10 years and I have been active in the Second Life community for nearly 3 years. On the other hand, I have not participated directly in Club Penguin and my knowledge of the environment is restricted to a single demonstration and 2 presentations; this may have implications for whether or not to include CP in my studies and needs to be thought about and discussed.

I found the diagrams (McKee & Porter, 2009) very useful in focusing my mind, especially when combined with the application of ethical considerations to all parts of the research process (Knobel, 2003).  Both articles recognise that the principle concern focus or IRB is on potential risk to human subjects by way of loss of privacy, harm of exposure, ridicule and embarrassment. In the online world, effects on the community are equally important and possible reactions of the community leading suspicion of researchers and unwillingness to participate in other projects or to continue involvement in current one.

An early consideration is the nature of the place/space in which the research is being undertaken. Perceptions of virtual environments vary, but I would argue that Second Life (and virtual worlds in general) are places rather than just spaces and that the nature of the community in the email list groups I am interested in moves these also from more than just places. The next question is whether the places are public or private.  Some of the email lists are private in that a moderator has to approve membership of the list and a username and password is needed to access the archives, while others are public in that anybody may join and access the archives. Second Life is more complex in that some areas are very definitely open access while others may have some restrictions, either by requiring a group membership in order to enter them, or because they are only used by particular groups while remaining open access. It is also possible that the development of the new adult regions and opening up more of the grid to u-18s (I’m not quite sure how or when this will happen) will affect access.

Linked with the public/private dimension of places is the sensitivity of data and whether it is obtained publicly or privately. Much of what I want to do in Second Life will involve observation in public spaces but the edges become blurred with casual conversation relevant to my research in those spaces.  Clearly any interviews, wherever they are undertaken, cross the boundary to private as do any focus group discussions.

A further element of privacy is avatar identities.  Although these are aliases, there are avatars who are well known within the Second Life community and beyond. Similarly, some avatars are instantly recognisable if shown in images.Thought will need to be given to what has to be anonymised and when it is appropriate to use an avatar name, for example quoting from a formal interview by permission when the informant has been recruited because of their high profile position in the SL community. I would see this paralleling the physical world where anonymity should be the norm, but expertis might be specifically cited.

I also need to think about my own identity.  My SL profile does not hide who I am, but it could be more specific an probably needs re-writing to provide more information and pointers to where more information can be obtained, eg a link to this blog. I may also want to use my profile to invite contact from people interested in being involved in my research. A notecard providing a summary would be useful to be able to give to interested avatars. I also need to pay attention to my role - when am I in SL as researcher, when as resident, when as teacher, etc.

The articles give attention to informed consent but none of them actually suggest how this should be obtained, not dealing with the sticky issue of avatars being seen as persons in their own right, rather than as substitutes for the person operating them. In this respect, Boellstorff (2008) is helpful as he provides a copy of the consent form he used which was signed by avatars using their screen names and he had no link to the human identity behind the avatar.  This also avoids any potential conflict with the Linden Labs Code of Conduct in respect of avatar privacy.

In Second Life, the procedure for getting permission is relatively clear. Apart from needing ethics committee approval, it is individual avatars who are involved. The position is less clear with email groups. Public email lists are public places, but if individuals are being quoted, it is only appropriate to ask their permission.  Does the same apply when a snippet of conversation is used to illustrate a point, or a conversation summarised without reference to the posters? For private email lists, I assume the initial approach should be to the moderator with a clear explanation, and possibly examples of how I might use data, prior to any approach to the list.

The final diagram in McKee and Porter is useful in suggesting that the 3 dimensions of degree of interaction, topic sensitivity and public or private have to be considered in determining whether informed consent is necessary in any given situation.

Knobel focuses more on planning the study and my next posting will be initial thoughts on planning, methodology and the ethical considerations.

Articles and books referred to in preparation of posting:

Boellstorff, T. (2008). Coming of age in second life: an anthropologist explores the virtually human. Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Cavanagh, A. (1999). Behaviour in public? : ethics in online ethnography. Cybersociology, 6. Retrieved from http://www.cybersociology.com/files/6_2_ethicsinonlineethnog.html
Knobel, M. (2003). Rants, Ratings and Representation: ethical issues in researching online social practices. Education, Communication & Information, 3(2), 187.
McKee, H. A. & Porter, J. E. (2009). Playing a good game: ethical issues in researching MMOGs and virtual worlds. International Journal of Internet Research Ethics, 2(1), 5 -37.
Reid, E. (1996). Informed Consent in the Study of On-Line Communities: A Reflection on the Effects of Computer-Mediated Social Research. The Information Society: An International Journal, 12(2), 169 - 174.
Sheehy, K., Ferguson, R. & Clough, G. (2007). Learning and teaching in the panopticon: ethical and social issues in creating a virtual educational environment. International Journal of Social Sciences, 2(2), 89-96.

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24/05/2009 by lizit.

Things can change as I get more into the literature, but the plan for my DPhil at the moment is to do something about informal learning in communities within a virtual world context.

The next task is to put together a proper literature review.  This will be accompanied by making a plan for the next 12 months including what I am actually doing as opposed to just defining areas of interest and reading a lot of stuff.

The areas to be addressed in the literature review will be:

• What makes a community - what is meant by the term community?
  • community development models and literature (looking at the literature from the 60’s and 70’s and possibly earlier as well as more recent stuff)
  • online communities, both 2D and 3D and the sense of place and presence found in these communities - are online communities really communities (thinking of argument we had in my OU tutor group).
  • communities of interest - people bound together out of common interests/hobbies/challenges/disabilities/etc rather than people who live in proximity to each other
  • learning communities - both Wenger’s communities of practice and the community of inquiry model from Athabasca
• What is informal learning? (Might be useful to also look for a working definition of learning per se)
  • Recent government white paper and the preceding consultation process
  • Various older NIACE documents, including the McGivney stuff if I can get hold of it
  • Colley’s work on formality and informality as aspects of all learning
  • Peer group learning
  • possibly child development in some way - could tie into Self Determination Theory and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (which I was thinking about in the Ecolab presentation around competence and achievement focus/drivers)
• What constitutes a virtual world?
  • should be possible to draw on work I’ve done for DELVE and other things I’ve been reading, including the various ethnographic studies in Second Life
  • To include or not to include 2D virtual worlds (interesting thoughts around SLED as a community of peer group learners)

I do need to give some thought to why this matters rather than just being something that interests me.  Initial thoughts include:

• The diatribes on virtual worlds and social networking from Susan Greenfield - are kids brains being fried and kids being turned into anti-social zombies or are they participating in learning experiences.  If the latter, what?
• Government white paper talks about informal learning, but context seems to be as pathway to formal learning or to employment or both, with no real value on informal learning for its own sake.
• There is a lot of formal learning in 3D worlds, but there seems to be an element of informal learning underpinning this some of the time, SLED for example.  that informal learning may be in a variety of places.  If the forms informal learning takes can be identified, it might be possible to use it more formally in scaffolding learning experiences. (This sounds a bit counter to what I think I am interested in if I am saying informal learning should be valued for itself.)
• Informal learning seems to have links to Self Determination theory - competence, autonomy - and community is to do with relatedness. Would be neat to be able to tie this together and say something about the importance of intrinsic motivation.

In the meantime, a couple of possible representations of what I want to look at.  I suspect the second is nearer the mark, but another area for more work.

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08/03/2009 by lizit.

It’s hard to believe the presentations will be next Wednesday!

During this past week, there has been evidence of a fair bit of student activity in Second Life.  Some have been fine tuning work that has already been done and some have been starting to work out how to film their machinimas ready for Wednesday.  I suspect that most, if not all the projects, will have something to show off and to be proud of.

My personal focus this week has been on thinking about the end of course survey. I still have to discuss it with Judith, but my inclination is to keep it fairly short with multip-choice questions and keep the questions about experiences of being stuck, etc, for follow-up interviews.  I need to make sure I have a means of contacting all the active students after ILE before they disappear!

The other thing I need to make sure I do is catch the clients who may be able to use the learning experiences in their classes, and arrange to see them and discuss the options. That way I - and they - can do some planning. Having found the 5 Sussex avatars again, they could be perhaps be used by students under supervision rather than requiring everybody to register an individual avatar initially.  It will also be necessary to ensure Second Life access is possible on whatever computers are being used.  That has not been a major problem as far as I know for Informatics, but I’m not sure how easy it will be elsewhere on the campus.

The other thing I need to do before the students disappear is get some of the builds moved to other parts of the island in order to free space up for ILE10 - really too far away to start thinking about that yet!

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16/10/2008 by lizit.

It’s strange how most of my working life I’ve been involved in project management of one sort or another and I am only just beginning to see the parallels with what I am embarking on here.  I guess most of the work I’ve done in the past has had fairly clear goals and timeframes (often determined by others), whereas I have a period of time ahead with several different mini-projects and tasks.  One of the things I need to do for myself is draw some kind of timeline to enable me to relax about things which don’t need doing now - or doing yet - and be clear about the things which do need to be done sooner.

One of the traps is feeling I should be keeping up with everything going on in SL at the moment - there is a lot of energy there - but in reality I need to target what I keep up with (and make sure I get stuff in the diary rather than getting side-tracked).

Yes, I do need at some point to familiarise myself with other virtual worlds, but that can wait and in the meantime I can collect stuff I come across in SLED and other sources for future reference.

Guess it’s into planning and reviewing and being clear about changing priorities and not letting the urgent displace the important unless it is appropriate!  Also beware of displacement activity!

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13/10/2008 by lizit.

Just a quick attempt to capture some of the stuff in my mind at the moment.

First, don’t accept invitations to do stuff unless they are really relevant - I wish I wasn’t committed to half a day in Eastbourne tomorrow!

I’ve had a discussion with Diane and others about possible projects for ILE 09 - I am now drafting a possible email to send to the different schools (I am still a bit confused about the organisation of this place and need to get clarified what is a school, a department, etc, etc - wonder if there is a diagram anywhere…)

In drafting email, I realise timing is going to be of the essence if the intention is to test the learning experiences of ILE09 students on students of ‘clients’ - if the comparison is year against year, it is almost too late already for Autumn courses… And if looking at a spring course, there will be a lot of work next Spring with both ILE students and current cohorts…

I need to ensure I find the time to prepare for Coventry - only a week away now…

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05/10/2008 by lizit.

Just typing up some notes from speaking to Judith to help me remember what I’m meant (or maybe not meant to be doing).

Team stuff

Suggestion that I give Katy some support on building the Lab website (have since had a brief word with Katy and we have agreed to get together and talk about stuff some time in the coming week)

DPhil stuff

Judith is my main supervisor.  A second supervisor will be appointed (breakdown of how much I have to do with each to be determined, but 2nd supervisor is a back up and failsafe).  I will also need a thesis committee - JG plus 2 others.  They are responsible for an annual review of my progress, normally in May.  First stage will be to present thesis proposal including research question(s), literature review and project plan.  Because I already have a project, this may end up being a bit back-to-front.

Need to talk to Diane about possible clients - people who use the InQbate space and have a potential or actual interest in using Second Life and using it with their students. Then set up meetings with them (sort out in advance what I am asking them for).

ILE 09 likely to be on Wednesday mornings of Spring term.  Looking for 8-9 projects.  Student numbers to be capped at 43.  Ideally projects should be spread across the university. Need a project with an owner who is prepared to offer some input to students (eg commenting on specifications); the projects will present a problem and explain the problematic, but not offer specific solutions - may have a range of suggested approaches or comments on what is done in real life teaching.  The project owner will also be asked to be prepared to test the SL learning experience with their students in either Summer 09 or Autumn 09. Focus is on education/learning experience rather than on building an artefact.

Need to explore further what can be done on the Sussex SL site.  Potential for more land to act as a sandbox/development area - perhaps second island appended to existing site.  Possibility of exploring creating projects within Creativity Zone.  Talk to Tom Hamilton about his links with Linden Labs and any possible special deals on land.Maggie Clune is press office link.

Blog

Suggestion from Judith that I keep a blog with links to the various documents, resources, etc, that I collect and collate.

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