Indra's Net: Further Perturbing Possibilities in Non-western, Non-Colonial Research Perspectives

Hello everyone,

Here is a presentation in Rise I created as a reaction and exploration for Qualitative Studies II class. It's entitled "Indra's Net: Further Perturbing Possibilities in Non-western, Non-Colonial Research Perspectives." Enjoy!

Amber

Computer-Mediated Small Group Discussion Discourse Analysis (presentation)

Hello everyone,
Below are the slides for my presentation to the USF Society for Qualitative Research Symposium held on March 23rd. The full presentation is available here - I am the third presenter.

Multi-Level Factors Influencing Learner Participation (USF Graduate Research Symposium poster)

My poster presentation to the USF Graduate Research Symposium on March 22nd on "Multi-Level Factors Influencing Learner Participation":

And me:

Adult Learners: Common Barriers to Participation and Strategies to Support

Hello again everyone!

This Rise project was part of a research module for my graduate Adult Learner class:
"Adult Learners: Common Barriers to Participation and Strategies to Support"

Enjoy,
Amber

Adobe Rise Presentations for Fall 19 Digital Media & Learning

Hello everyone,
Below are a few presentations I created for my Fall 19 "Digital Media and Learning" graduate course:

• "Understanding Digital Information = Digital Literacy? Nah."
• "A Framework for Moving Forward"

"Strategies for Cognitive Accessibility" at USF Bay-to-Bay Symposium on Diversity and Inclusion

Hello!

Below is a poster presentation entitled “Strategies for Cognitive Accessibility” that I recently created for the USF Bay to Bay Symposium on Diversity and Inclusion. I connect UDL, ARCS+V motivation theory, and our online course assessment rubric standards (Quality Matters); to share strategies to support learners with varying cognitive ability differences. Cognitive ability differences could be memory loss, trauma or brain injury, aging related changes, dyslexia, learning disabilities, adhd, and autism, just to name a few that you can see in the average classroom these days.

Fostering a "Care Ethic" through Universal Design for Learning and Accessibility (Teaching Online Preparation Toolkit)

My expertise was featured in the #TOPkit Digest. #FacultyDevelopment #DigitalLearning : "Fostering a "Care Ethic" through Universal Design for Learning and Accessibility"

 

An Un-Complicated Review of It's Complicated by dana boyd

The following is a book review and analysis completed for my graduate Qualitative Methods class... enjoy!

An Un-complicated Review of “It’s Complicated” by dana boyd

This book review could literally take on a hundred different directions of analysis in light of the methods, theories, and self-exploration of ourselves that we have learned this semester. “It’s Complicated” by researcher dana boyd is a novel approach to explain the new digital frontier that our young people are navigating on a daily basis, exploring the meanings of privacy and how young people establish their identities online, and the conflict that this causes with parental anxiety in networked public spaces. This book review will first review dana’s methods to the ethnography, provide brief summary of her main points of the book, and then will explore several qualitative elements including discourse analysis of referring terms and tone.




This book of 213 pages plus extensive notes, bibliography, and appendix; was a relatively easy read and was definitely written for a non-academic audience: for teachers, for parents, and for people working with the youth of today. Her main points are introduced in the preface and introduction content; and then the following eight chapters describe the main points of her research. dana’s main thesis is to “describe and explain the networked lives of teens to the people that worry about them…” (boyd, preface). She defines these new digital spaces as “networked publics” which “are publics both in the spatial sense and in the sense of an imagined community” (boyd, p.9). “Networked publics are publics that are restructured by network technologies” (p.8) giving them the characteristics of being both “(1) the space constructed through networked technologies and (2) the imagined community that emerges as a result of the intersection of people, technology, and practice” (boyd, p.8). This book argues that as real public spaces disappear (like movie theaters or malls or parks) and as young people have busier and geographically-challenged lives that make getting together in person hard, they are seeking these accessible public places in this new digital environment to negotiate identity, find friends, or simply to hang out with others. She readily admits that the tools and apps used will continue to change, but that the needs these youth are meeting in these public spaces will not change and are the same that youth sought to fulfill in non-networked physical publics of the past.

I did not find that dana explicitly outlaid her research strategy nor the exact amount of interviews or interactions she had with youth: this would probably be impossible to account for in the face paced communication that happens online today. She did detail that she “crisscrossed the United States from 2005 to 2012, talking with and observing teems from eighteen states and a wide array of socioeconomic and ethnic communities” (boyd, preface). She goes on to report “166 formal, semi-structured interviews with teens during the period of 2007-2010” in various physical locations (homes, libraries, schools, etc.). It would be interesting to read some of the questions that she provided to the youth and to learn if the anonymity of the internet influenced her answers to be more truthful or less truthful. Were these interviews conducted over a recorded video chat or where they simply snippets of online text chat sessions: we don’t know this through her text and as a qualitative researcher, I would be interested to read some of these raw items. I am also interested in how she located these youth for interviews - did she randomly contact students? Did she contact them through schools? Did she find friends of friends? It’s not completely clear from my reading of the text.

I was surprised by several things as I read the book: topics of addiction and privacy that I had not considered before with regards to youth online. My views were especially challenged by boyd’s assertion that youth are not digital natives: something that I had assumed and used several times over the years when thinking about young people growing up in this technological world. She explores this topic of are youth digital natives in chapter 7. Being that I graduated from high school in 2002, I remember my family getting our first computer in the early 1990s, going from AOL dial up and then learning the new internet technologies of MySpace and Facebook. Thankfully, data was not collected on the scale it is being collected at now, and we did not have to worry about privacy as much in those very early days: we could make mistakes and then delete our posts or our accounts, and it wouldn’t have been recorded anywhere. Everything that we learned was from the same base that our parents were learning from; and our only computer was located in the living room because it was a shared resource - not a device for being constantly publicly connected like the youth of today feel the need to be. Researcher boyd makes references to several of these issues of privacy and identity seeking and cites that young people see privacy differently than we as adults do - and that trying on identities happens for several reasons in the online networked public that can have meaning - or not!

In analyzing the book in a more structural way and less content focus, dana’s tone remains professional yet entirely non-academic. Everything is explained in a way that the average parent or teacher should be able to understand (which can really be a wide range of understandings and literacy ranges). dana is advocating for these youth’s natural and safe exploration of this new digital world, and she wants everyone to be able to read and understand the points she is making. She is upfront with the main point of her book in the preface and in the introduction; she concisely and descriptively builds her points in the eight chapters following, using brief academic findings to support her thinking, but not straying from the simplistic way of describing the situations and youth perspectives regarding identity, privacy, addiction, danger, bullying, inequality, literacy, and how youth are simply searching for a “public of their own” where parents are not constantly looking over their shoulders at every conversation. Her tone is mostly third person as the narrator, separate and largely non-involved in the storyline past the role of the researcher. She maintains an etic perspective, perhaps because she is speaking to the adults of the world in her text.

dana is respectful when quoting the youth and names them all (or pseudonyms them) in her appendix “teen demographics” (boyd, p.215). In her book, she refers to the youth and others with respect and by name (or by pseudonym). I found it interesting to read through the youth characteristics and especially the services that they were active on: facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and others that don’t even exist anymore. When I interact with youth, I am amazed at the new apps they are communicating through and it is always changing: “even though many of the tools and services that I reference throughout this book are now passe, the core activities I discuss… are here to stay” (boyd, p.8). There will always be some new, more visual or more interactive app that the young people will be willing to explore to meet these needs of a “place to hang out and connect with friends” (boyd, p.5) that is “utterly essential to her social life” (boyd, p.5). As I also remember life pre-AOL dial up days, dana recounts that she too “spent my own teen years online, and I was among the first generation of teens who did so” (boyd, p.4), so while her tone remains from an etic perspective, she has definitely experienced for herself firsthand the beginnings of many of the new teen phenomena she tries to explain through her book.

In regards to Marilyn Lichtman’s definition of ethnography in our textbook, dana’s text addresses many of the ‘issues’ of ethnography as she describes her findings:

Issue (Lichtman p.74-75)	Example from boyd
Doing fieldwork and taking field notes	While boyd does not explicitly state that she took field notes nor does she provide any in the appendix, I am making the assumption that she kept some kind of researcher’s notes along her multiple year study.
Participant observation	Observation is where boyd’s study appears to begin and it is a tool that she continues to use throughout her study to guide her practice, find her interviews, and make generalizations. boyd conducts observations in person and online for her study.
Interviewing individuals	boyd conducts 166 formal, semi-structured interviews with youth. This implies that she also conducted many informal interviews with youth, but also with adults and perhaps adults within the networked publics space.
Gaining access	boyd did not detail much about how she gained access to interviews with the youth, nor how she chose the youth that she spoke to.
Informed consent	boyd would have most certainly had formal consent granted to speak to all the 166 formal interviews conducted. She did not detail how this unfolded in her study, but perhaps there is a more formal academic paper that details her methods.
Understanding cultures	boyd has done an excellent job understanding the culture of youth in the networked publics despite the anxieties and negative perceptions that an adult would approach this with.
Thick descriptions	Throughout this book, boyd is connecting concepts in a logical way and providing descriptions of a larger happening that she divides into the main chapter titles.
Underlying meanings	This aspect did not seem to be addressed openly in the text. It is assumed that the researcher reported honestly and that the youth had no motivations to lie, but this is not verifiable.
Reflexive behaviors	This issue is also not addressed openly by boyd. She does share her background and her interest in this subject, but does not connect it to her broader analysis.
Ethics	boyd actively works to protect the youth’s identities while still accurately representing their accounts. While not stated directly in this book, it is assumed that she utilized consent for her interactions. As an advocate for youth rights, it is also assumed that she was respectful and ethical in all her interactions.
Writing or producing an ethnography	boyd has produced an organized, comprehensive description in an ethnographic format that is intended for a general audience.

In conclusion, dana boyd’s ethnographic book “It’s Complicated” is an enjoyable read that will inform the average person about what today’s youth are experiencing online in these new “networked publics.” It advocates for the often misunderstood youth’s perspective and it challenges adults to put their anxieties aside about digital communities and misconceptions about how youth are using these new communication tools. There will always be new mediums, faster ways to communicate from a distance, and new shiny apps with catchy features; but today’s youth need spaces to negotiate their adult identities and safely navigate to adulthood. Through dana’s presented perspectives, we can help support the youth pioneering these new forms of communications while combating the ever present inequalities and negative personalities that are present whether offline or online.


References

boyd, dana (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Lichtman, Marilyn (2013). Qualitative research in education: A user’s guide (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Qualitative-Land (A final reflection game board)

Below is my final reflection project for Qualitative Methods graduate level class. Each slide links to the main "game board" and audio was recorded and set on auto-play. The audio is provided in text below each slide (in lieu of hosting the full presentation somewhere).

Hope you like it!

Main Game Board

Welcome to Qualitative-Land! The game where you explore the main points that Amber learned in Dr. V’s Qualitative Research class this past Fall semester. Click on the game tiles numbers 1 through 10 to move through each learning point, and have fun!

1
 

Qualitative Research inquiry involves utilizing several methods that are organic and malleable; these methods allow for data capture from several rich and sometimes unexpected sources.

“anything can be data” –Dr. V

Many of the research studies that we explored utilized unexpected sources, such as the college dorm door art in Nathan’s text; the sound files in the Wailing Women text; and observation of people and characteristics, as found in many of our texts this semester.

 
2

Conversation and human interactions are ripe with data, including conversation (what is said, and what is not said), body language, positioning, eye contact, breaths, and other gestures.

Data can be found in big discourse analysis and little discourse analysis, in word choice, in referring terms used, and in how speech is reported whether as direct or indirect re-telling.

3

Ethnographic research is an often used and powerful tool for collecting data and telling the story of an interaction or phenomenon.

The Princeton Department of Anthropology defines ethnography as “a research method central to knowing the world from the standpoint of social relations”… and that it “involves hands-on, on-the-scene learning.” Researcher Hruska states that her ethnographic procedures “included prolonged engagement, persistent observation, and triangulation.”

Using ethnography, we also can analyze and present our own background biases as the researcher, in addition to exploring all elements of a situation or phenomenon both critically and holistically.

4

Critical Discourse Analysis involves both the microanalysis and macroanalysis of conversations; conversation collected by observation, or by reviewing an interview transcript or recording. Several frameworks exist to guide discourse analysis, including Toon Van Dyke’s and Gee’s frameworks. Conversations can be analyzed through narrative analysis, coding through counting, and thematic coding. Conversation elements such as multimodals or semiotics can also be analyzed with the text. Very little is spontaneous in speech and typically people want to look good by how they present themselves.

5

Reflective Journaling can be a key tool for any researcher, especially in qualitative methods where we are making connections, noting differences, and writing down thoughtfully our activities and ideas about a subject.

Through my journal this semester, I have been able to build my thoughts from class and apply them to projects or theories I am cultivating, and fully clarify the perspectives and methods that I have been learning in class.

6

Coding is analysis (even before the analysis begins).

Many times while working on my own thematic coding project and also the two group coding projects, we made several key decisions of analysis during our coding process that ultimately affected the data received and then formally analyzed. Choosing a deductive or inductive structure for your coding is an analysis decision; receiving the coding themes in project 2 may have limited our themes applied; and sometimes our limited knowledge of a topic develops as we code, so we then need to go back and revise our previous coding applications. Many decisions are made during coding!

7

Observation will make you feel like a secret agent.

My observation assignment really pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it gave me great confidence at the success of data collection that me and my partner had through that project. Observation is a powerful qualitative tool that can produce great amounts of data. Just make sure you conduct your observations in a public place and stealthy like a secret agent!

8

Several perspectives are available for your research outlook and also how you analyze your data, including the research perspectives of: positivist, post-positivist, constructivist, modernist, pos-modernist, feminist, critical theory, and grounded theory.

All theories have their strengths and weaknesses; and may not be applicable to the current phenomenon you are researching. Expect to try on several perspectives and frameworks when analyzing your data and approaching problems of interest.

9

Don’t forget the essential ‘housekeeping’ to research: IRB approval, consent of participants/interviewees, confidentiality, privacy, anonymity, and keeping appropriate relationships.

These important considerations must be addressed up front and any violations of these policies or ethical issues could harm someone, end the project, and possibly end your career.

10
 

Triangulation is the confirmation of your data and coding themes across resources or across researchers. Doing so can strengthen your findings and enhance validity of your study.

Triangulation can be conducted at any stage of coding or analysis; it can be conducted multiple times throughout a project; or you can compare what two or more researchers have found in the same dataset.

Semester end!

Conceptual Analysis: "Authority" and "Marginal Utility"

Greetings all,

As part of my doctoral class "Philosophies of Inquiry" at the University of South Florida, we were asked to write a conceptual analysis of two educational terms [picked from a menu]. The terms analyzed below are "authority" and "marginal utility." I hope this helps your understanding of the terms in an educational context. Enjoy!

pg.1

pg. 2

pg. 3

pg. 4

pg. 5

pg. 6

pg. 7

pg. 8

pg. 9

My Master's Graduation Ceremony May 2017

My name is called right at 42:05 :-)

Google+ Lesson Plan

Collaborative content curation on Google+ for a freshman/sophomore poetry class

Sample Lesson Plan (prior to integrating technology)
Main page - http://faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/first_year_comp_teaching_materials/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Lesson page - http://faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/first_year_comp_teaching_materials/style.htm (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Teaching Materials for First Year Composition at East TN State University:

In-class exercise: Style and Fluency Translate your prose into lines of verse Engl 4057/5057 ETSU, O'Donnell, Weds Feb 1, 2012 (O'Donnell, ETSU, First-year composition course materials (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) 1.  In the essay you plan to turn in today, identify a paragraph, or portion of a paragraph, that you think is particularly fluent/ musical. 2.  Transcribe that passage into your notebook, as lines of verse and stanzas.  Feel free to modify the passage, as you transcribe it, if you feel some changes will make it flow better. 3.  Be prepared to present your verse to the class, using the "doc cam."

“Life Before TIM”
Since the learners are directed to use the doc cam for their in class presentation, this is a simple and effective in-class tool for sharing a paper document and this qualifies the current lesson as a level 2 on the TIM, called “adoption.” “Adoption” is described as when “the teacher directs the students in the conventional and the procedural use of technology.” The doc cam is the only required technology indicated in her lesson, since she indicates the use of a notebook for writing instead of a word processor or online presentation tool. This part of the current lesson would barely be considered level 1 or “entry” level, if you consider a notebook and pen/pencil technology. There are several opportunities to enhance the lesson with technology to better motivate students, encourage the development of 21st century skills, increase efficiency and leave more in time class for discussion, and widen the audience to the student work. From my personal experience, this lesson plan example is often how a first or second year composition class is taught: typically very lecture based, heavy reading outside of class, and sometimes essays are the only “creating” around the material that the students are allowed. What if we used technology to make the lesson more successful and more fun?
The instructional goals are not stated in this lesson plan, but are assumed to be similar to:

1. The learner will be able to identify basic components of poetry (“verse” “stanza” “meter” “rhyme” “rhythm” and other key terms related to poetry).
2. The learner will be able to create an original work of poetry.
3. The learner will be able to present their original work.

“Life After TIM” - Lesson Plan after Technology Integration
Students will utilize the popular social media tool “Google+” to create a collaborative online community showcasing student work while curating a collection of poetry related digital reference material. To complete the updated lesson on poetry, students will use several additional technologies:

• Optional: A digital word processing tool to create their original works - this can be Word, Google Doc, a blog, etc.
• A internet search tool - Google search, Google scholar, and YouTube will probably be the best resources
• A Google+ account, accessed by app on a mobile device or through a computer browser

 While students are still welcome to create their poetry outside of a digital tool, the text must be inputted into a digital format and can be done so directly into Google+. Students can also input their poetry into a word processor if they so choose and that is why it is listed as optional. Many times I will create my text outside of a social media tool because 1. It is easier to edit for grammar and punctuation in a word processing tool; and 2. I can save a copy independent of the tool for later reference. Learners will also utilize a search tool to find interesting resources related to poetry or an article, video, or image that directly teaches or expresses their specific topic with the class.
By using the technologies suggested, the lesson will increase to at least a level 3 “adaptation,” which is described by the TIM matrix as “the teacher facilitates students in exploring and independently using technology.” Time in class for discussion will increase because the walls of the classroom will disappear. What is meant by that is once you introduce a social media tool such as Google+, Twitter, or other always-on and available on any device tool, you open your learning beyond your course times as learners engage with the technology. Social media as used in this lesson plan employs the Connected Learning principles of:

• Interest powered: since learners are developing their poetry from their own essay content, the topic can be anything of interest to the student that they wish to develop. So the lesson is already very interest powered. What takes this up a notch is the introduction of the internet search and the curation of a digital collection - students can become even more interested searching for informative material about their topic or about the development of poetry. Learners will hopefully become interested when reading their classmates’ resources as the post together on Google+.
• Production centered: although learners were ‘producing’ a poem in the original lesson, now the entire world can be the audience for the products [poems] created by the learners. Learners should be encouraged to share their original works with the world. Experimenting in writing poetry can be a rewarding experience and it also prepares learners to ‘produce’ something for the world one day in a profession.
• Openly networked: by introducing a always-on digital tool like Google+, learning has little boundaries and learners can review their classmates’ work on the go. The learners can interact, comment, and “+1” posts or comments that they like to interact with each other. Google+ is a free tool and is utilized by many professionals and businesses.
• Academically orientated:
• Peer supported: Google+ is a rich social environment where learners can connect, support, and comment on each other’s work and resources. All learners within the community and worldwide visitors will benefit from the learner’s creations.
• Shared purpose: creating an original work of poetry is a beautiful gift to the world and using social media is a great way to share it with others.

Helpful Guides for Learning Google+

Google Plus: An Easy Guide to the 3rd Social Network
How to Earn a Black Belt in Google+


In conclusion, try the lesson with your learners and have fun creating your poetry!




Example Google+ feed:

 

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy & Digital Strategies

Design Process: Rapid Protoyping

Hello everyone! I am super excited to share this graphic I created about the instructional design process "Rapid Prototyping." Rapid Prototyping is a design methodology where you quickly create a basic, functioning product model and then begin testing the model, instead of launching an entire design analysis prior to building your first prototype/model. Below is a gamified version of the model that I hope you will enjoy:

10 DO's for a Successful Semester Online (for learners)

Hello everyone,

I thought you might enjoy this class project I just completed last week. It is entitled "10 DO's for a Successful Semester Online." Get ready to have a great Spring semester by following these simple tips for students - or share these tips with your class!

The design could be improved with more time, which I might come back and do at another time. Enjoy the tips! :-)

Back to the grind... Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences

Welcome back everyone and welcome to 2017! I am excited to be back at work and with classes starting next week, I still have a little breathing room in my schedule. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break and are ready for a refreshed, reinvigorated, and reinvented 2017!

I wanted to share another piece of coursework I created over the past year that I thought might be helpful to others. This was a really fun cartoon project created in the Gardner's Multiple Intelligences unit. Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences states that learners can have one or many of these 8 intelligences displayed as a primary learning mode. You can read more about Gardner's theories here.

This cartoon strip is an imaginary take on the interaction of these 8 intelligences:

Fun and informative!

Happy First Day of Winter! - "Metacognitive Strategies" (Student Study Guide)

Welcome to "winter" everyone! Heat is breaking here (for at least a few days) here in sunny Florida. I wanted to share a job aid I designed entitled "Metacognitive Strategies for Faculty and Students." Using these simple strategies based on Educational research, students can maximize the effectiveness of their studying. Faculty and teachers - pass this on to your students to give them a study boost...

What tools or strategies do you use for studying? Did these suggestions work? I know I will be using these strategies this Spring when I study for my M.Ed. program comprehensive exam!

Amber

Infographic - My plan for Impact and Effectiveness at my current position (USFSM)

A personal infographic I created: