In this chapter, I offer a critique of linguistic field methodology, exploring the contribution that a participant-driven approach to data collection can make to language…
Abstract
In this chapter, I offer a critique of linguistic field methodology, exploring the contribution that a participant-driven approach to data collection can make to language documentation and description. Bringing together material from linguistic field manuals, project documentation, hand-written field notes, and reflexive accounts of my field experiences, I trace my journey into the field, and through the process of collecting language data for the eventual production of a grammatical description. I establish that the basic field methodology advocated by linguists has traditionally involved tightly structured interviewing (known as “elicitation”). At the same time, I point to a literature in which this methodology is critiqued. While experienced fieldworkers no doubt employ multiple methodologies in the field, novice fieldworkers are encouraged to focus on their research goals. This can mean that elicitation sessions typically become the only way in which fieldwork is carried out.Drawing on my own experiences in the field, I demonstrate that linguistic fieldwork can combine ethnographic participation/observation methodology with community-driven text collection, and context-rich techniques of elicitation. This layered methodology prioritises people and social participation over the goals of academic research. It allows the research record to be shaped by the community, thus permitting the researcher to experience and seek understandings of the symbolic system of language from the perspective of the community. In my experience, such a methodology enhances the sustainability of the field project from both community and researcher perspectives. Crucially, it creates a context in which it is more likely that the linguist will be invited to return to the field and contribute in an ongoing way to a community, on their terms.
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This chapter explores the challenges and opportunities that teaching and learning in a synchronous online environment pose by examining information literacy (IL) provision at the…
Abstract
This chapter explores the challenges and opportunities that teaching and learning in a synchronous online environment pose by examining information literacy (IL) provision at the Open University (OU), which will serve as a case study.
The OU provides distance education. While its flexibility offers more individuals an opportunity to start a course, it can be more challenging to ensure students develop their skills and knowledge and calls for innovative and engaging teaching methods.
The OU Library’s Live Engagement Team runs a program of digital information literacy (DIL) sessions. The team’s online pedagogy is built on retention and success and involves the careful planning, designing and delivering of DIL sessions, creating numerous interactive moments to increase teaching effectiveness.
The virtual enquiry desk allows students to consult library staff synchronously via the library helpdesk’s webchat service, which is delivered 24 hours a day. One of the advantages of this service is that students interact directly by having a dialogue with library staff in which they can ask further questions.
Both services carry out continuous reviews of the ways they operate, innovate and intervene. The chapter provides first-hand experiences of what has worked well in information literacy teaching in synchronous online spaces.
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Keywords
- Digital spaces
- virtual spaces
- information literacy
- digital information literacy
- digital and information literacy framework (DIL)
- teaching
- training sessions
- learning
- distance education
- higher education
- synchronous online teaching
- The Open University
- pedagogy
- technology
- interactivity
- transactional distance
- assessment
- learning outcomes
- feedback
- webchat
Social networking platforms such as Facebook have infiltrated the lives of many students, and as such it is natural to consider how they can be effectively used to enhance…
Abstract
Social networking platforms such as Facebook have infiltrated the lives of many students, and as such it is natural to consider how they can be effectively used to enhance learning. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of social networking in education from a design perspective. Social networking is defined based on Boyd & Ellison’s seminal definition of connected profiles, and is distinguished from social media for the purposes of investigation. Facebook, Edmodo, and other social networking platforms are briefly described, before summarizing the wide variety of social networking usage reported in the research literature. The various benefits of social networking in education are distilled from the literature, including their capacity to facilitate community building, collaboration, reflection, and expedient access to learning. Issues surrounding the educational use of social networking are also organized into themes, for instance privacy concerns, distraction, cyber-safety, and technical constraints. The implications of findings from the social networking literature are synthesized into learning design and implementation recommendations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of open questions and areas for further investigation.
The purpose of this chapter is to overview what extant research says about parental involvement in online learning environments.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to overview what extant research says about parental involvement in online learning environments.
Methodology/approach
The approach in this chapter is a systematic review of literature focusing on engagement frameworks.
Findings
Parents have the potential to be the key to overcoming key concerns about attrition and achievement in online settings. However, research has been silent as to how to engage parents more fully as learning coaches for their children.
Research implications
Research about parental involvement in online learning should consider the roles of both teacher and parent as they coordinate their efforts to improve student engagement. Research also needs to look at what parents need to know about helping their students be successful and how to provide the training and expertise to parents that will help them learn critical support skills.
Originality/value
This chapter is particularly timely in light of the dramatic growth in online learning and the resulting concerns about achievement and attrition that are particularly acute among at-risk populations.
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Wei Xu, Nan Zhang and Mingming Wang
As online learning is the embryonic form of education in the metaverse, it is extremely important to explore the behavioral preferences of users. The aim is to explore the impact…
Abstract
Purpose
As online learning is the embryonic form of education in the metaverse, it is extremely important to explore the behavioral preferences of users. The aim is to explore the impact of interactive features on continuous use in online learning and to further explore what kind of interaction mode should be constructed for different types of students to obtain the best educational experience.
Design/methodology/approach
The study developed an empirical model and used a real-world dataset to test hypotheses. Specifically, the interaction in online learning is analyzed from different dimensions, including the interaction intensity of multiple subjects, the immersion of interactive technology, the timeliness of interactive feedback, and the fun in interaction.
Findings
The authors found that the intensity of interaction, immersion, timeliness of feedback and fun in the interaction all had significant positive effects on continuous use. Among them, the most important is the interaction between teachers and students. With the growth of user grades, the role of parents in the interaction is getting smaller and smaller, and the fun in the interaction is gradually becoming unnecessary. For high school students, gamified interactions can even have a negative impact. In addition, from the perspective of gender, males prefer immersive interaction, while females pay more attention to themselves and have negative feedback on fees.
Originality/value
The authors deepened the interaction and summarized the impact of different interactive features on continuous use in online learning platforms. The authors focused on the impact of the immersive experience brought by the application of interactive technology, which can confirm the user behavior preferences of online learning in the context of the metaverse. The research also provides a reference for online learning institutions to set up course interaction modes and targeted marketing programs.
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This chapter attends to the fact that research has revealed much about the importance of parents in this process, especially their increased instructional roles when their…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter attends to the fact that research has revealed much about the importance of parents in this process, especially their increased instructional roles when their children undertake online courses. However, little is known about how online curriculum vendors construct the parents of their potential enrollees in order to make online learning an appealing option.
Approach
This research examined what these testimonials revealed about how such companies conceptualize the beliefs parents of potential students. Inductive narrative theme analysis was used to analyze the testimonials.
Findings
The findings of this research revealed a characterization of parents as providers of access to online learning, organizers of schedules around online learning, and leveraging time working online as space to nurture and support their children’s academic development. The major plotline of these testimonials is one where parents solve problems for their children, who are not being successful in school, which resolves anxiety about a child’s previous school performance and their future as students. For the parents, the benefit to this enrollment is increased feelings of efficacy.
Research implications
This research comments on the role of narrative in educational decision-making in general and has additional potential to inform online teacher work with parents.
Value
The value in this chapter lies in the author’s unique approach to inquiry. Very little research on online learning has looked critically at what vendors promise in online learning.
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Colin C Williams and Ioana Alexandra Horodnic
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate which groups of the self-employed engage in the informal economy. Until now, self-employed people participating in the informal economy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate which groups of the self-employed engage in the informal economy. Until now, self-employed people participating in the informal economy have been predominantly viewed as marginalised populations such as those on a lower income and living in deprived regions (i.e. the “marginalisation thesis”). However, an alternative emergent “reinforcement thesis” conversely views the marginalised self-employed as less likely to do so. Until now, no known studies have evaluated these competing perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
To do this, the author report a 2013 survey conducted across 28 countries involving 1,969 face-to-face interviews with the self-employed about their participation in the informal economy.
Findings
Using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis, the finding is that the marginalisation thesis applies when examining characteristics such as the age, marital status, tax morality, occupation and household financial circumstances of the self-employed engaged in the informal economy. However, when gender and regional variations are analysed, the reinforcement thesis is valid. When characteristics such as the urban-rural divide and educational level are analysed, no evidence is found to support either the marginalisation or reinforcement thesis.
Research limitations/implications
The outcome is a call for a more nuanced understanding of the marginalisation thesis that the self-employed participating in the informal economy are largely marginalised populations.
Originality/value
This is the first extensive evaluation of which self-employed groups participate in the informal economy.
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Somer Lewis, Aimee L. Whiteside and Amy Garrett Dikkers
This chapter presents data from research studies specifically aimed at gathering the perspectives of K-12 students who are taking online courses for credit recovery, their virtual…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter presents data from research studies specifically aimed at gathering the perspectives of K-12 students who are taking online courses for credit recovery, their virtual school teachers, and face-to-face school support professionals.
Approach
This research employed ethnographic techniques to explore the benefits and challenges of online learning as a strategy for credit recovery.
Findings
Our research explores several key findings. The data suggest that the benefits and challenges of online learning for students are one in the same. With proper orientation, individualized support, and purposeful structuring of online programs, online and blended learning as a potential solution for credit recovery students, potentially decreasing the number of future high school dropouts.
Implications
This chapter suggests a need to look more carefully at orientation, support, and structuring procedures for online credit recovery.
Value
This chapter is very valuable as a tool for thinking about credit recovery online. It also provides valuable insight into credit recovery from the perspectives of students who are doing the online courses.
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Saad Zafir Alshehri, Jenny Byrne and Marcus Grace
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why Saudi Arabian students engage in specific health risk behaviours (HRBs), and if there are gender differences.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why Saudi Arabian students engage in specific health risk behaviours (HRBs), and if there are gender differences.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to find out the situation regarding university students in Saudi Arabia, quantitative data were collected by administering questionnaires to 722 respondents, and qualitative data were collected using a series of interviews with 17 students.
Findings
The findings of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study suggest that lifestyle and personal factors, as well as economic, social, policy and other aspects of the environment played a significant role in influencing students’ HRBs. Recommendations for mitigating HRBs among these students and other youth in the Saudi Arabian context are provided.
Originality/value
This paper addresses an important gap in the research on HRBs among university students from the perspectives of students.