Hi all
I’d like to join Marie in thanking Jack for drawing attention to this very interesting article, which I have already passed on to a group of university-based teacher support staff whose programme, which includes e-learning, I am currently evaluating. I think they’ll find it fascinating. I’ll also flick it on to ‘old friends’ at the local polytechnic where I used to be a staff developer, because of the wide range of work accessible from this paper (for example, in the e-portfolios). Thanks for the sharing, Maggie! Sorry we never caught up with you when we were in Dublin earlier this year, but it WAS short notice.
What I’m reflecting on as I read Jack’s email (below) is perhaps working on a further paper for Research International, along the lines of the increasing inclusion one I wrote that was published at the start of the year. This one, however, is more an account of potentially putting my foot in it cross-culturally while doing research in schools recently, so I will have to reflect on the ethics of this as the work is not yet completed. But the danger is that if there’s a ‘hole in the ground’ and I don’t report on it, might others fall down that hole? It’s part of that conundrum of accounting for my own educational practice, even when I don’t show up so well, that I find challenging and provocative in the discussions on this list. Fortunately there’s still an opportunity to fix the problem…but I wasn’t aware until recently that there was such a problem.
Others may be interested in a quote paraphrased from Basil Bernstein (1970) in a recent “Education Review” publication here (New Zealand). The article is by Stuart Middleton, and the wording was along the lines of “The culture of the child cannot enter the classroom unless it has first entered the consciousness of the teacher.” Given that one of the schools I have been researching in has 57 different cultures, that’s quite an ask for our teachers! No wonder we put our feet in it from time to time, and thank God for the forgiveness of those from other cultures who recognize intention even if offended by the actions.
Warm regards to all
Pip Bruce Ferguson
Dear Penny, Pip, Joan and all,
I've just read Margaret's paper on 'e-Learning and Action research as Transformative Practice' Volume 5 (1) of Innovate: Journal of online education - published today:
I think you'll enjoy Margaret's ideas and her use of multi-media. If you click on Exhibit 5 and then on Supplement 5-1 it plays a clip of a nurse educator reflecting on her learning. I think that Margaret's use of visual narrative shows that visual data is not as restrictive as words on pages of text in communicating meanings of flows of energy with values in explanations of educational influence in learning.
Joan, at the beginning of the paper Margaret acknowledges the importance of spirituality in her educational practices (Margaret is open to the relational dynamic of celtic spirituality). It might be that we could explore together the implications of your original standard of judgment:
"Through telling my personal story, I offer an emergent methodology that includes both narrative inquiry and action research. I generate a living theory which offers ‘spiritual resilience gained through connection with a loving dynamic energy’ as an original standard of judgment." with the help of Margaret's insights into the use of multi-media representations?
Penny, I think Margaret's text and the video-clip of the nurse educator may be useful in the evolution of your own enquiries in showing some of embodied expressions of care and compassion in nursing practice. I'm thinking that Margaret's use of e-learning closely relates closely to Marian's multi-media representations of a passion for compassion (
http://www.actionresearch.net/naidoo.shtml) and to Je Kan's recent conference presentations developed from his research programme (
http://www.actionresearch.net/jekan.shtml). Je Kan is leading workshops on action research in health care in Thailand for the next three weeks and I'm hoping that he will share some of his experiences on the list. I know he is rather hesitant about doing this because of some of the difficult issues he encounters whilst tending to the needs of the dying. I'm hoping to research with Je Kan the implications of living his standard of judgment of 'a
n energy-flowing, living standard of inclusionality as a space creator for engaged listening and informed learning'.Pip, I'm hoping that the dialogue you began in Research Intelligence No. 102 on Increasing Inclusion in Educational Research: Reflections from New Zealand (
http://www.jackwhitehead.com/bera/24&25RI102.pdf), will continue. I'm wondering if Margaret's paper in Innovate offers some ideas for the use of multi-media representations for communicating meanings of indigenous knowledges?
A big thankyou to Margaret for starting my day with such exciting ideas. It's also a thrill to see the ideas being spread more widely through Innovate.
