2018 SSHRC Research Proposal
Background: I am an experienced K-12 educator, currently teaching Media and Digital Literacies in the Faculty of Education. I am in the first year of the Joint PhD in Educational Studies program at Lakehead University, supervised by Dr. Michael Hoechsmann.
Research Context and Rationale: How are Canadian faculties of education preparing teacher candidates to participate in global educational contexts through engagement in open educational practices while applying digital and media literacies? My doctoral research explores this question by analyzing the convergence between teacher education, critical digital and media literacies, and open educational practices (OEPr). It will examine how faculties of education in Canada prepare preservice teachers to enter the field of education as digitally and media literate, open education practitioners, and how this positions Canadian faculty and teachers within global contexts. OEPr are individual, complex, contextual and negotiated (Cronin, 2016) ways of selecting, designing, planning and assessing teaching and learning events that “contribute to the development of valuable literacies for working in the information age” (Paskevicius , 2017 p. 134).
In the first stage of the research, I will conduct an audit of Faculty of Education programs across Canada, in order to map the current landscape of open educational practices (OEPr), and critical digital and media literacy instruction, for preservice teacher education. This review follows up on a previous study on the landscape and terrain of digital literacy in the Canadian curriculum (Hoechsmann & DeWaard, 2015) and is modelled on a recent audit conducted in Australia (Stagg, Nguyen, Bossu, Partidge, Funk, & Judith, 2018). In the second stage, I will identify five “spotlight” faculty of education sites where OEPr are evident (Hegarty, 2015; Cronin, 2017), to conduct interviews and social network analysis with faculty and preservice teachers, to examine individual and networked OEPr, as informed and shaped by critical digital and media literacies, in faculties of education in Canada. The third and final stage of the project will apply a framework (Bates, 2014) to examine how Canadian faculties of education compare to three globally-situated faculties of education contexts.
My research questions are:
- Where in Canada are Faculty of Education programs teaching critical digital and media literacies, as a cognitive ability and a social practice, in response to the global demand for digitally literate teachers?
- How are OEPr in Faculties of Education in Canada being supported by direct and indirect instruction in critical digital and media literacies? How are OEPr, and digital and media literacies, shaped and informed by social network practices?
- Using a researcher developed framework for 21st century education, how do open educational practices and digital and media literacy instruction in Canadian Faculties of Education compare to selected Faculties of Education in international locations?
There are many conceptions and definitions for open education, primarily focusing on open education resources (OER), defined as “no-cost, openly licensed materials that may be adapted and used by anyone for learning” (UNESCO, n.d.). OEPr shift the focus from content centered applications, to teacher and learner knowledge creation and mobilization within collaborative networks (Cronin, 2017; Cronin & MacLaren, 2018). This shift is informed by digital and media literacies and fluencies (Cronin, 2017), but where this occurs in Canadian Faculties of Education is not well known.
Objectives and Methodology: The objective is to capture how the current conceptions and teaching of digital and media literacies are developed within OEPr, from the lived experiences of educators in faculties of education. This research is situated within a socio-cultural theoretical framework (Archer, 2003). I intend to apply a qualitative phenomenographic methodology (Akerlind, 2008; Green & Bowden, 2009; Marton, 1981; Nerantzi, 2017), that uncovers variations in application and understanding of digital and media literacies and OEPr with and within digital networks (Groenewald, 2014; Hine, 2015; Markham, 2016). This phenomenographic study will focus on the lived experiences and descriptions of OEPr and digital and media literacies. This will provide insights into collective experiences, conceptions, meanings, and categories (Brown, Shephard, Warren, Hesson, & Fleming, 2016; Forster, 2016; Nerantzi, 2017). This insight has the potential to influence future directions for OEPr and digital and media literacies in faculties of education in Canadian and global contexts.
Methods: Qualitative research methods in online contexts, such as online interviews, content analysis, web usage mining and social network analysis, will be employed to collect data on fluencies, collaborations, patterns and networks. The audit will analyze Faculty of Education web site information, course offering listings, Faculty member teaching foci, and surveys sent to selected faculty of education instructors across Canada. Following this audit, in-depth, unstructured online interviews, using Zoom or similar video chat software, will be conducted and recorded with 10-15 teacher educators and preservice teachers, to explore the intersection between OEPr and digital and media literacies. Faculty and teacher candidates’ blog sites will be analyzed for key words, patterns, and application of digital literacies, following current research ethics practices for internet research (Seko & Lewis, 2017). Social network analysis (SNA) of connections on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will be conducted, using software such as Gephi or NodeXL. Once coded and analyzed, results will be returned to participants for member checking and verification. Similar audits, interviews, and SNA will be conducted with selected international sites, with teacher educators, to provide comparisons with Canadian contextual data.
Qualifications and Significance: My research proposal benefits from seven years of teaching digital and media literacy courses both online and face to face, as well as a background as an elementary school educator. Speaking at national and international conferences, such as OEGlobal, Creative Commons Global Summit, ISTE, and the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE), has focused my experience as an open educator. I have constructed collaborative networks, resulting in a variety of publications and peer reviewed scholarly works, as well as a commissioned report for Media Smarts Canada. My research is situated with openly connected networks such as GO-GN, OEFellows, Creative Commons, and Mozilla Open Leaders.
Dissemination of results will be pursued through peer reviewed Canadian and international journals, open access publications, and conference presentations, such as the CNIE; the OpenEd Conference; the Canadian Journal of Education (CJE), as well as through social media and web publications (blog posts, Faculty newsletters).
By examining where and how Canadian faculties of education apply critical digital and media literacies, this research will provide insight into how and to what effect Canadian faculties of education respond to the growing demand for digitally and media literate educators, and global calls for OEPr (UNESCO, 2018).