Innovation Showcase (Asynchronous Session)
Unearthing ‘Shared-Support’ Relationships Between Families and Educators: A Post-structural Case Study Underpinned by Foucault’s Power/Knowledge Relationship Theory Utilising Situational Analysis View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Katy Mason
This research utilises a post-structural case study methodology, underpinned by Foucault’s power/knowledge relationship theory to investigate how early childhood professionals engage families in ‘shared support’ relationships. Proposing new directions and broader applications of conceptual frameworks and research methodologies, this research challenges existing methodological paradigms in case study design. The questioning of taken for granted ways of working have culminated in the development of a poststructural case study design, championing a Foucauldian application of Situational Analysis (SA). This unique application of new methodological perspectives extends on existing situational mapping by harnessing cooperative research-participant mapping processes that enhance the trustworthiness of research data while illustrating the multiple truths of those experiencing the phenomenon under investigation. In acknowledging the position of the phenomenon at the meso-level of a social-ecological model, Situational Analysis (SA) is utilised for its consideration of complex social contexts and influences. The Foucauldian lens framing this study supports data analysis that exposes the multiple truths of those living the experience of ‘shared support’. Thorough deconstruction of discourse provides a critical approach through which the power-knowledge nexus in family-educator relationships can be understood. The findings of this study will shed new light on understandings of family engagement both theoretically and in practice. Methodologically, a Foucauldian underpinning provides opportunities to expand poststructural case study design in humanities, social science and educational research, specifically the harnessing of participant involvement in SA mapping processes.
Approaching Poetry with Automated Tools: Potential Benefits of a Digital Learning Environment to Advance Reading Skills View Digital Media
Innovation Showcase Katre Talviste, Inga Sapunjan
We present poetry reading exercises developed for the platform Opiq, a cloud computing environment created by StarCloud and used by a growing number of publishers to provide digital learning content for schools. Various automated exercise models (radio buttons, multiple choice, filling blanks, matching pairs etc.) being an important asset on the platform, we have been exploring methods to use them in content development for literature classes, where such models have traditionally held a relatively marginal role in Estonian literary pedagogy in middle and high school. Considering competences involved in understanding poetic texts in terms of automated feedback has led us to adapt some types of exercises that are widely used in teaching foreign languages and basic reading. Their systematic use in literary pedagogy helps teachers to better assess pupils’ progress and eventual difficulties, as well as provide didactical support in fields known for relatively weak methodological preparation, such as teaching poetry reading skills. For the showcase, we’ve prepared a set of exercises in English based on some poems by widely known authors to represent our methodological approach and technical models. We raise discussion about the potential of automated feedback exercises in teaching poetry, as well as the more general problematics of apparently rigid software structure potentially leading towards greater flexibility in methodological and interdisciplinary thinking.
Featured The Fine Arts as the Missing Puzzle Piece in Interdisciplinary Higher Education: A Qualitative Case Study View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Catie-Reagan King
Universities must equip students with the 21st-century skills necessary to succeed in increasingly interdisciplinary careers. Incorporating arts-based courses into the general education curriculum exposes all undergraduate students to creative cognition and design thinking. A strategic process such as design thinking could reduce a gap between the undergraduate curriculum and the 21st-century skills students need to succeed based on the job market’s changing needs. This research explores the art education landscape and how the transferability of 21st-century skills mastered in art courses could promote student success for all majors in an increasingly visual culture and globalized world. When universities reject interdisciplinarity, creativity becomes confined and limited. Students of all disciplines can gain strategic design skills from studying art as an interdisciplinary elective, meaning how the arts tie into other disciplines.
