Self‐Reflexivity and the Creative Voice: Issues of Transgression Identified with Participant Ethnographic Research in Art and Design Education

This article shares my experience as a doctoral student researching within the domain of art and design education. This is a professional doctorate bringing together my experience as an educator and that of researcher where boundaries between education and social science research disciplines cross. My research paradigm is situated within critical theory. It is an interpretive hermeneutic study where I am cast as a participant ethnographer. At the time of writing I wanted to make known the issues and tensions that I encountered with research protocols, such as permissions mechanisms and ethical gatekeepers. These tensions I still perceive as confining, but more significantly, I realise that knowing and understanding research methodology is key to achieving creative and unpredictable research practice. This article is, therefore, focused on my journey to discover a research methodology that enables me to use a creative voice. By this I mean a method by which I can develop a writing style that articulates my practice that enables me in the construction and reporting of my research analysis to fully capitalise on my reflexive self. I have referenced papers produced by others at the time of writing their doctoral thesis and have found this enlightening. This is my contribution.     

Task-Specific Self-Evaluation as a Measure of Achievement Motivation

The validity of an internalized self-reinforcement paradigm as a model of achievement motivation was investigated with a sample of 230 ninth grade black pupils of an inner-city public school located in a midwestern metropolitan area. If achievement behavior is controlled and sustained by covert internal evaluations of performance, then students who more frequently report positive self-evaluations during some specific school-like task may be predicted to: a.) have higher grade point averages than students who less frequently report self-evaluations of task performance; b.) have lower rates of absence from school than students who less frequently report positive self-evaluations of task performance; c.) have greater levels of expected task performance than students who less frequently report positive self-evaluations of performance; d.) have greater expectations that they will be able to positively evaluate themselves for task performance than students who less frequently report positive self-evaluations; e.) have greater congruence between self-established standards and actual performance. Analyzed by 2-way analysis of variance (self-evaluation x sex), the data supported each of the predictions. The results were interpreted to support the conception of self-evaluations of task performance as a model of achievement motivation. In the absence of external rewards, the student sustains his academic behavior by the quality of the covert self-evaluations of his own performance. The positive or negative value of these evaluations depends on self-established standards. Students who tend to evaluate themselves negatively may do so as a function of arbitrarily high standards. Their performance on academic tasks will be less well sustained and their functioning at consequently lowered levels of achievement. The paper-and-pencil self-reports used in the study yielded results comparable to the elaborate laboratory instrumentation of previous studies.     

PEER GROUP COUNSELING FOR OLDER PEOPLE

>For a variety of reasons, psychological services are largely unavailable for older people who want help in coping with their interpersonal problems. Group counseling, when it is used, proves to be an effective and efficient method for meeting their needs. It also addresses the reality of the limited numbers of gerontologically trained professionals currently available in the field. A readily attainable, and largely untapped, resource for working with this population is older people themselves. The Continuum Center of Oakland University selects, trains, and supervises older men and women, who serve as paraprofessional group leaders in a self‐exploration program offered in a variety of community centers in the Detroit metropolitan area. The service and training programs, and some of the outcomes for clients and group leaders, are briefly described.     

Prevention rather than cure

Storysack projects (in which sacks including books and artefacts to help children learn through play are made and distributed), are proliferating in the UK and beyond, often involving work with parents. However, little of this work has been reported. One way to find out about new storysack project ideas is to talk with those directly involved. This article documents a conversation between a university researcher and a practitioner. The focus is on the use of a grid to discuss the educational content of storyacks with parents. The work is located within a Sure Start programme in the north of England.     

Group Process and Emotional Education: Can the group process as described by Louis R. Ormont be effective in modifying the behavior of young children? (A retrospective study)

Several years ago I began to see children in my classroom who did not respond to the techniques I had used for many years to develop behavioural adjustment.

While searching for a new method that would be more effective, I was introduced to Louis Ormont's theories regarding the Group Experience involving adults.

Immediately I began to see the possibility of adjusting the adult Group Process to address the needs of the 5‐6‐year‐olds in my kindergarten class.

In my presentation I will discuss Dr Ormont's theory as I see it relating to my classroom and describe how I implement the Group Process and the results that were achieved over three years’ time with several classes of children.

My presentation will give new meaning to the terms ‘Group Meeting’ and ‘Behavioural Modification’ in the kindergarten classroom. In my mind the results are enormously positive. Children learn to take charge of their own behaviour and are strengthened by the feelings of group membership and personal empowerment.     

Four year old children’s acquisition of print knowledge during electronic storybook reading

The experiment reported here explored the importance of engaging 4-year-old children’s interest in the print itself during storybook reading. We explored the effect of computer animation of the print in order to draw the child’s attention to each word as it was read. We also investigated the influence of illustrating that not all visual displays are readable print on the child’s print knowledge. The measures of interest were print concept knowledge and early reading skill. Results indicated that simply drawing children’s attention to the print during shared reading was insufficient to facilitate children’s learning of print conventions, but this attention to print while hearing stories read did improve children’s letter reading. The child’s active engagement with the print during shared story reading led to further improvements in written language skills, as illustrated by gains in knowledge about print concepts.     

The alienation response of children abused in out-of-home placement

THIS BRIEF COMMUNICATION addresses program abuse in out-of-home placement which deepens what we identify as the alienation response in the already alienated child. Alienation is defined as a state of feeling separate, apart, not being able to relate effectively with another, not belonging, and with impaired ability to connect the inside world of feelings with the outside environment. Program abuse is seen as any act or condition permitted in a program that further alienates a child. In evaluating a child's degree of alienation and developing creative methods to reach the most severely “child alone,” the use of the Alienation Chart in Figure 1, has been helpful to our staff.     

Using Workflow for Projects in Higher Education

The WWW is increasingly used as a medium to support education and training. A course at the University of Twente in which groups of students collaborate in the design and production of multimedia instructional materials has now been supported by a website since 1995. Workflow was integrated with other components in the website to investigate whether workflow can help instructors and students to have a better overview of group progress. Our evaluation shows that the introduction of workflow does provide added value. Another outcome of the experiment is that the transfer of a business application (workflow) into the educational domain has highlighted some differences and similarities between educational and business processes. This article explores some of these issues as highlighted by the application of workflow in education.     

Emotional eavesdropping: infants selectively respond to indirect emotional signals

Two experiments examined whether 18-month-olds learn from emotions directed to a third party. Infants watched an adult perform actions on objects, and an Emoter expressed Anger or Neutral affect toward the adult in response to her actions. The Emoter then became neutral and infants were given access to the objects. Infants' actions were influenced by their memory of the Emoter's affect. Moreover, infants' actions varied as a function of whether they were currently in the Emoter's visual field. If the previously angry Emoter was absent (Experiment 1) or turned her back (Experiment 2), infants did not use the prior emotion to regulate their behavior. Infants learn from emotional eavesdropping, and their subsequent behavior depends on the Emoter's orientation toward them.