Media and digital literacies in Canadian teacher educators’ open educational practices: A post-intentional phenomenology

Pragmatism

While not a primary focus of this research, the theoretical and ontological approaches found within pragmatism hold some sway over my worldview and thus need to be explicated within this research dissertation. First, as a pragmatist I understand that past patterns of action may not suit future problems, which suits the uncertainty and rapid change that occurs within MDL and OEPr spaces (Belshaw, 2011). Second, the allowance for error and chance makes pragmatism a practical philosophy and removes the need for perfection and the all-knowing-eye of the researcher (Belshaw, 2011). Third, since pragmatism rejects the notion of an objective stance through which truth or belief are established, “reasoning is allied to experience rather than replacing it” (Belshaw, 2011, p. 131). Fourth, pragmatists understand that experiences are more than the sum of the compilation of all the parts. In this way, pragmatic projects are not bound by explicit frameworks, but are reflections in action as a way to ‘unthink’ the experiences (Belshaw, 2011). For these reasons, the shadows of pragmatism may be evident in the practical applications and decisions within this research work.
 

This page has paths: