Grounded Theory

The above video clip provides a quick overview about Grounded Theory.

Ethnography and its application

As part of the doctoral seminar programme on ‘Advanced Qualitative Research Methodologies’, I’m exploring more about ethnography. Learnt more about the background information on ethnography through the Wikipedia site on ethnography. I appreciate the basic information provided there. For example, the definition of ethnography:

Ethnography (Greek ἔθνος ethnos = folk/people and γράφειν graphein = writing) is a branch of anthropology.[1] It is a methodological strategy used to provide descriptions of human societies, which as a methodology does not prescribe any particular method (e.g. observation, interview, questionnaire), but instead prescribes the nature of the study (i.e. to describe people through writing) [2].

One of the key readings which I appreciated on how ethnography has been applied in psychology is by McDermott (1996):
McDermott, R. P. (1996). The acquisition of a child by a learning disability. In S. Chaiklin & J. Lave (Eds.), Understanding practice (pp. 269-305). New York: Cambridge University.

You can access a copy of the chapter here. I find that the paper provides a different paradigm in describing what a Learning Disabled (LD) child is. According to McDermott (1996), p.271:

‘By the normal line of reasoning, the child is the unit of analysis, and the disability is a mishap that scars a child’s road to competence. This chapter suggests an alternative way of thinking about the problem. LD exists as a category in our culture, and it will acquire a certain proportion of our children as long as it is given life in the organization of tasks, skills, and evaluations in our schools.’

Tobbell and Lawthom (2005) adopted a similar paradigm to investigate, through critical view, using ethnography methodology, the label of emotional and behavioural difficulties and its utility in child and professional relationships. The paper suggested to view emotional and behavioural difficulties(EBD), moving from viewing ‘EBD as an individual problem’ to ‘EBD as a distributed concept across concept’. The paper explores the use of community of practice (CoP) to suggest practices which would serve to liberate the child and the professional from the ‘difficult; relationship/identity label. The authors suggested the following practices in looking at EBD:

• Question from ‘what is wrong with the child?’ to ‘what is happening in this context which results in this child being marginalised?’
• Education should be viewed as a process of enabling children to construct identities as effective learners and equip them with practices which allow them to participate in society as able and valuable members, instead of passive recipients and reporters of prescribed knowledge sets.
• Educational psychologists’ (EPs) role should move from being an assessor to an auditor, i.e. becomes the conduit between child and teacher, and child and society in facilitating participation.

I find that the new paradigm provides a refreshing point of view in looking at LD and EBD. Perhaps similar paradigms could be adopted in other aspects of psychology.

References

McDermott, R. P. (1996). The acquisition of a child by a learning disability. In S. Chaiklin & J. Lave (Eds.), Understanding practice (pp. 269-305). New York: Cambridge University.
Tobbell, J. and Lawthom, R. (2005). Dispensing with labels: Enabling children and professionals to share a community of practice. Educational Child Psychology, 22(3), 89-97.

From TPCK to TPACK

Yes, it's now called TPACK, instead of TPCK. Why? Click here to find out more.

Here are three sites that regularly provides up-to-date information related to TPACK:

Punya Mishra's Web Home

Matthew J Koehler's Website

Wikipedia on TPACK

I've bookmarked these sites on my blog list.

Introduction

My area of research is very much based on my area of interest – which is on professional development in introducing ICT into curriculum. My current work portfolio is on development of professional development programmes for faculty and staff in higher education.

Being a trainer in the area of ICT for teaching & learning and personal effectiveness for more than 10 years, I always feel greatly satisfied when participants ‘see light at the end of the tunnel’. For example, they are excited about learning the new concepts/strategies/skills and ready to try out in their teaching/curriculum. At times, I walked through the journey with them in re-designing the curriculum by incorporating new pedagogies and it is fulfilling to know that I have shared something useful to them, like a set of life skills. And I know that that is one of the forte. I enjoy being with my participants.

However, I feel that some of the strategies that have been adopted are quite limited. I feel that it would be great if some new findings could be learnt and applied into these programmes so that faculty members could be better equipped in using ICT for their teaching. This, in return, would definitely enhance students’ learning in the university.

Having recently learnt about the TPCK model, I’m excited to explore how the model could be piloted and tested within the professional development programmes which I have influenced on. My experience in working on my master’s dissertation on the impact of a particular professional development model on faculty’s adoption of a particular ICT tool has spurred me to take on this study as well.

I have been exploring the use of authentic learning environments for the past 1 ½ years in the various professional development programmes, including in blended learning environments.
The TPCK model can be used is in-line with my believe in authentic learning environment, that learning is ‘best supported when the content is part of a context that the students can perceive as meaningful, assign value to the subject matter, and develop and understanding of the relation of it with lives’ (Lave, 1997).

It is hoped that the findings which I learnt from the study could benefit the various communities (both practitioners and academic) in the University and beyond.

This blog is intended for anyone who is interested in TPCK, particularly at tertiarly level.