(dis)engaging students: the role of digital literacy in he learning communities

1
Introduction My thesis is about writing. I am particularly interested in how students, staff and others outside the university write in virtual spaces. Methodology Foucault wrote; To write is thus to “show oneself,” to project oneself into view, to make one’s face appear in the other’s presence. And by this it should be understood that the letter is both a gaze that one focuses on the addressee (through the missive he receives, he feels looked at) and a way of offering oneself to his gaze by what one tells him about oneself. In a sense the letter sets up a face-to- face meeting (Foucault,1994: 214) I adopt an ethnographic approach which takes up Denzin’s (1997) claim that theory, writing and ethnography are inseparable material practices. Moreover, as MacLure (2003) observes, there is no ‘pure’ qualitative research text. This case study of a level 5 module studied by students at London Metropolitan University. Students used forums provided in WebLearn and Facebook groups to facilitate their group work. Students, staff and others interacted to discuss issues relating to their coursework and academic staff provided feedback using the forums in WebLearn. Method I use tools taken from Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2010) to analyse the texts created by students, staff and others. I have also woven ‘scripts’ using texts from virtual conversations to combine ethnography and performance (Denzin, 1997). Results and analysis Juan emailed Jane with some amendments to her presentation. She responds using Facebook. Jane March 12 at 3:38pm um Jaun u completly changed the slide of the products which am not happy with u didnt discuss it u jus changed it, and am changing it bk, Jaun March 12 at 4:09pm [liked by Jane] change whatever you want. I did it in the most professional way. I always get A's for the presentations… up to you to do whatever you are more confortable with…. In this fragment of a script I see la police and la politque at play (Rancière 1995). Jaun’s ‘improvements’ are political but he justifies his action using the police order. I ask myself, how would I discipline this text? I ask you, What would it mean to put this text (poster) ’sous rature’ ? What traces of other genres can be found in this exchange? Post it here:) References Foucault, M., 1994. Ethics Subjectivity and Truth. The Essential works of Michel Foucault 1954 -1984. Alen Lane The Penguin Press, London. Fairclough, N., 2010. Critical discourse analysis: the critical study of language. Denzin, N., 1997. Interpretive Ethnography: Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century. Sage Publications, London. Maclure, M., 2003. Discourse in Educational and Social Research. OUP, Maidenhead. Rancière, J., 1999. Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN/London. (Dis)engaging students: the role of digital literacy in Higher Education learning communities Tom Lunt EdD: Sussex University [email protected] @Tom_Lunt A woven structure… This is a willow sculpture of Banksia Serratta by Tom Hare. After a bush fire the beaked structures open to disperse winged seeds.

Upload: toml

Post on 16-Apr-2017

774 views

Category:

Education


4 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: (Dis)engaging Students: the role of digital literacy in HE learning Communities

Introduction!!My thesis is about writing. I am particularly interested in how students, staff and others outside the university write in virtual spaces.!!

Methodology!!Foucault wrote;!! To write is thus to “show oneself,” to project ! !! oneself into view, to make one’s face appear in !! the other’s presence. And by this it should be !!! understood that the letter is both a gaze !that one ! focuses on the addressee (through the missive he ! receives, he feels looked at) and a way of offering ! oneself to his gaze by what one tells him about !! oneself. In a sense the letter sets up a face-to-!! face meeting!(Foucault,1994: 214)!!I adopt an ethnographic approach which takes up Denzin’s (1997) claim that theory, writing and ethnography are inseparable material practices. Moreover, as MacLure (2003) observes, there is no ‘pure’ qualitative research text. !!This case study of a level 5 module studied by students at London Metropolitan University. Students used forums provided in WebLearn and Facebook groups to facilitate their group work. Students, staff and others interacted to discuss issues relating to their coursework and academic staff provided feedback using the forums in WebLearn.!!

Method!!I use tools taken from Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2010) to analyse the texts created by !

!!!!

!students, staff and others. I have also woven ‘scripts’ using texts from virtual conversations to combine ethnography and performance (Denzin, 1997).!

Results and analysis !!Juan emailed Jane with some amendments to her presentation. She responds using Facebook.!!Jane March 12 at 3:38pm um Jaun u completly changed the slide of the products which am not happy with u didnt discuss it u jus changed it, and am changing it bk, !

!!!!!Jaun March 12 at 4:09pm [liked by Jane] change whatever you want. I did it in the most professional way. I always get A's for the presentations… up to you to do whatever you are more confortable with….!

In this fragment of a script I see la police and la politque at play (Rancière 1995). Jaun’s ‘improvements’ are political but he justifies his action using the police order. I ask myself, how would I discipline this text? !!I ask you,!What would it mean to put this text (poster) ’sous rature’ ?!What traces of other genres can be found in this exchange?!!

Post it here:)!!!!

References!!Foucault, M., 1994. Ethics Subjectivity and Truth. The Essential works of Michel Foucault 1954 -1984. Alen Lane The Penguin Press, London.!Fairclough, N., 2010. Critical discourse analysis: the critical study of language.!Denzin, N., 1997. Interpretive Ethnography: Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century. Sage Publications, London.!Maclure, M., 2003. Discourse in Educational and Social Research. OUP, Maidenhead.!Rancière, J., 1999. Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN/London.

(Dis)engaging students: the role of digital literacy in Higher Education learning communities

Tom Lunt!EdD: Sussex [email protected]!@Tom_Lunt!

A woven structure…!This is a willow sculpture of Banksia Serratta by Tom Hare. After a bush fire the beaked structures open to disperse winged seeds.