Category: Fun

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The 8th International Online Conference on Sustainable Development and Education

The 8th International Research  Conference on “Sustainable Development and Education”, will take place on the 26th – 27th of August 2021. This annual international conference on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in Education started in 2015, it has on average 6,000 members and brings together thousands of attendees and more than 100 delegates.

In recognition of the exceptional challenges facing researchers during the global pandemic, the Conference Organisers have decided to waive-off the registration fee of this fully online event.

Topic areas we are particularly interested in (but not exclusively committed to) include:

Management, Lifelong Learning, Socio-political policy and its impact on learning opportunities and outcomes, Targeted education for sustainable development, Economic and social impact of education, Planning and provision for ‘the new normal’, Future learning paradigms and implications, Technology impacts in Education settings (e.g. Technology driving education driving technology) and Education research.

As a first step, potential contributors should provide an Abstract (400 words) outlining the research concept, focus, process and any anticipated (or actual) outcomes to the email: Conference.2021@lsme.ac.uk.

All contributions are peer-reviewed and considered on merit for inclusion in the conference programme and an e-Certificate will be issued.

Registration opens on Wednesday 31st March 2021 with a final deadline for submission of Abstracts on 17th May at 23.59.

 The objectives of the conference are:

  • To provide an inclusive platform fostering an active community of researchers collaborating on issues of social significance and societal concern.
  • To advance the principles and practices of Responsible Research and Innovations (RRI) in support of researchers at all stages of their research journey.
  • To provide an open and accessible mechanism for sharing creative contributions to the research agenda across various subject matter and discipline areas.

In the previous conference, six studies explored the value of fun and enjoyment as well the importance of  engagement  for learners to develop confidence, interest,  emotional awareness, deal with fear, increase motivation and prevent misbehaviour.  These studies developed in Brazil, India and Maldives explored Augmented Reality,  Epistemic Views,  Motivation,  Confidence and Misbehaviour Prevention.

Costa(2020) explored augmented reality applied to STEM  with teachers, researchers, and students from nine schools in Brazil. Finding shows that the majority of students enjoyed activities with augmented reality. Students were very motivated, found learning fun and  were willing to use AR in other disciplines. Teaching staff and students considered that AR application supported  learning of abstract concepts through an engaging  visual environment with interactive activities.

Jabeen(2020) discussed  xenoglossophobia, a growing issue in Indian society for Indian students. The main purpose of this  study was to explore the psychological state of the self-esteem of the students with their motivation and attitude towards learning English as a second language. Previous studies show that   emotional and social factors affect students’ learning outcomes. Emotional health and social well-being have been measured in terms of  self-esteem, coping tactics, affective states and optimism including enjoyment.

Khaleel (2020) examined the characteristics of teacher preventing misbehavior of students in classroom in an early secondary grade in male’, maldives. The findings showed there is no significant difference between teachers’ and students’ perception of the importance of ethical disciplining and interpersonal characteristics of the teacher, however, there was a significant difference between the perceptions of pedagogical characteristics in preventing misbehaviour. Various authors highlight that students   lack of interest affects their learning negatively, it is likely that they will misbehave  when they are bored. it appears The lack of fun can have deleterious effects on participation and the meaningfulness of a learning experience.(Beni et al 2017).

Moura (2020) introduced an exploratory study in development, which  examined women’s views on the types of violence during COVID-19 in Brazil. Preliminary findings supported the development of an open education project – Digital Angels – for rural women to access information on domestic violence, to use social networking resources and to enjoy online learning with fun to increase their confidence .

Mishra (2020)  focused on the need to uncover the diversity in emotional intelligence training across varied population groups in India to promote training programs in secondary schools.  According to Rantala, T., & Määttä (2012) traditionally emotions have been kept separate from learning  so when does the fun start? Emotions come forward at the beginning of the learning process.

Okada (2020) presented a mixed-method study about the value of fun in learning with 190 participants from Brazil during the pandemic.  Findings revealed that fun in online learning is essential for most students (99%). Approximately 44% mentioned that fun in learning means well-being, 30% self-improvement, 20% achievement, 6% motivation, 3% fun with friends, and 1% pause for distraction. Nobody considered fun as a waste of time. The principal component analysis revealed 3 groups: (1) socio-constructivist  emancipatory learning with fun; (2) transmissive learning with fun that humpers learning and (3) constructivist learning without fun. This work expanded a previous study developed in the UK(Okada & Sheehy, 2020)

More information about the Conference at:

International Research Conference 2021

References

Bennedsen, J., & Caspersen, M. E. (2008). Optimists have more fun, but do they learn better? On the influence of emotional and social factors on learning introductory computer science. Computer Science Education, 18(1), 1-16.

Beni, S., Fletcher, T., & Ní Chróinín, D. (2017). Meaningful experiences in physical education and youth sport: A review of the literature. Quest, 69(3), 291-312.

Costa (2020) Augmented Reality to Enhance High School Learning Proceedings of the 7th LSME International Conference 19th – 20th of August 2020

Jabeen(2020) Analysing xenoglossophobia among the indian students. Proceedings of the 7th LSME International Conference 19th – 20th of August 2020

Khaleel (2020) The characteristics of teacher preventing misbehavior of students in classroom in an early secondary grade in male’, maldives. Proceedings of the 7th LSME International Conference 19th – 20th of August 2020

Mishra(2020) Emotional intelligence in adolescents – present scenario and future prospects. Proceedings of the 7th LSME International Conference 19th – 20th of August 2020

Moura (2020) Empowering Women Through Information and Communication Technologies to Combat Violence. Proceedings of the 7th LSME International Conference 19th – 20th of August 2020

Okada (2020) OLAF – Online learning and fun to increase enjoyment and retention in higher education. Proceedings of the 7th LSME International Conference 19th – 20th of August 2020

Okada, A., & Sheehy, K. (2020, December). Factors and Recommendations to Support Students’ Enjoyment of Online Learning With Fun: A Mixed Method Study During COVID-19. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 5, No. 1).

Rantala, T., & Määttä, K. (2012). Ten theses of the joy of learning at primary schools. Early Child Development and Care, 182(1), 87-105

 

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‘Just’ fun – or fundamental?

Dr Mimi Tatlow-Golden Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology and Childhood examines constructions and assumptions of childhoods and development in a range of domains including education, food, and digital media.  She advocates for interdisciplinary accounts of childhood spanning psychology and Childhood Studies.

On Wed, 19 May 2021  13:00 – 13:50 BST

She will be talking about The role of fun in children and young people’s activities and relationships.

‘Just’ fun – or fundamental? A lunchtime talk with Dr Mimi Tatlow-Golden image

More details about Mimi’s work CLICK HERE (article and videoclip).

You are invited to REGISTER and join PEDAL for a free online lunchtime talk with Dr Mimi Tatlow-Golden from the Open University.

“Fun is frequently invoked as a requirement for a good childhood and a necessary (if not sufficient) condition of play – yet fun is rarely taken seriously by the adult world. In this presentation, Dr Mimi Tatlow-Golden shares a key finding in a mixed methods study with 526 children aged 10-13 years in the greater Dublin region: the centrality of fun. In an exploration of early adolescent self-concept, participants drew, wrote, talked and created Identity Pies about their most salient activities and relationships and the meanings they associated with these. Analyses conclude that, from ‘fooling around’ to flow, fun is a kaleidoscopic construct through which young people refract key experiences – and that far from being ’just’ fun, it often indicates deep significance in activities and relationships.”

Dr Tatlow-Golden will also introduce interdisciplinary, international work currently underway at The Open University’s RUMPUS group for research into fun, with a focus on defining fun and fun in formal, informal and non-formal learning.

The Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development & Learning (PEDAL) is located in the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education, and was launched with funding from the LEGO Foundation. Their mission is to conduct academic research into the role of play in young children’s education, development and learning to inform wider practice and policy. Find out more here.

To sign up to PEDAL’s mailing list, click here.

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Engaging EdD/PhD induction for women in WELS-ECYS

‘My PhD journey’: Exploring the doctoral process with Body Mapping  and  fun

Alexandra Okada
& Mimi Tatlow-Golden

Body mapping can be a way of telling stories, much like totems that are constructed with symbols that have different meanings, but whose significance can only be understood in relation to the creator’s overall story and experience  

Gastaldo et. al.,( 2012) p.5

 

Introduction

At RUMPUS, we research fun, in childhood and in learning.
But academic meetings? Even when interesting, meetings are rarely fun.

So when RUMPUS group members come together for research and planning, we try and honour the spirit of our interest in fun, using various means to lighten the atmosphere. Sometimes it’s as simple as ‘wear a hat’. It is surprising how easily the formal atmosphere of work can be punctured by looking at a work colleague in an incongruous piece of headwear.  (It has to be said that this approach requires trust in a group. We can imagine colleagues with whom this wouldn’t feel comfortable or particularly fun at all, but it does work for us).

In 2019 we welcomed our first two Ph.D. students to RUMPUS. Both came with expertise in previous careers and after an extended application process including collaborative proposal development and competitive interviews for Faculty research funding. We had therefore already had multiple meetings, ideas development and exchanges and knew one another reasonably well. Still, we wanted to introduce them to the inevitable peaks and troughs of the Ph.D. journey ahead, and although we can’t dispense with dynamics of power in a supervisor-PhD student relationship, we wanted to set a more egalitarian tone, and to set the tone for an exploratory, playful feel to the path we were about to step into together.

So this session, a work/funshop for eight researchers, aimed for lecturers, professors and researchers to share their own Ph.D. experiences, the joys and challenges, together with our new group members.

Rather than working our way through yet another set of slides, Mimi chose body mapping for this. Ale supported the session by taking photos, notes, generating data and integrating previous studies about body mapping from the literature to initiate this article.

Body mapping - what is it?

Body mapping is a simple visual drawing approach that requires no skill or previous experience. First, a rough, life-size outline of each group participant’s body is drawn on paper. This can be done in pairs, as each person lies on the ground on large sheets of paper and the other draws around it – but equally a free-hand life-size body outline can simply be drawn (see below for variations on this approach).

Next, each participant writes, draws or colours, in their body outline and around it – filling areas in or leaving them blank, responding to the theme of the session. The idea is to express experiences, thoughts and emotions that relate to the experience under discussion. Participants can use keywords, sentences or symbols; graphs, maps, icons, texture or collage.

Body mapping can represent a specific context or personal moment, or a longer journey, and It is limited only by time, imagination, materials and engagement. It reiterates that as humans, all our experiences are embodied. As with hat-wearing, it does also require an atmosphere of trust, and it is important that a genuine opt-in approach is taken so that participants feel free to choose another route or to sit this out altogether.

Body mapping can be used in reflective workshops. It can also be used to collect qualitative research data about subjective experiences associated with one’s embodied self (Coetzee et. al, 2019) through a life-size human body figure (McCorquodale and DeLuca (2020) or a smaller one drawn on a standard sheet of paper.

Location and materials

A special location suggested by Prof. Fergurson was selected for this workshop/funshop, the Creative Room in the Jennie Lee Building of the Open University. At RUMPUS, we often try and meet off campus, again to step away from the formal constraints of much of our academic lives. This location was a next-best to capture that atmosphere of stepping away: unlike a standard meeting room, the Creative Room is a large and cosy space with brightly coloured walls and a carpeted floor. that lends itself to drawing, interaction and dialogue.

The materials we used were basic: flipchart paper sheets, handfuls of colourful marker pens, sticky tapes and staplers.

Process

Our induction meeting started with an open conversation with the whole group so those who had not yet met could start to get to know each other. We chatted about each others’ current research ideas and the key ideas and concepts the students had drawn on in their proposals and interviews. As is so often the case, discussion about fun – what it is, how it’s experienced and how to research it – quickly became quite animated.

This was followed by a brief presentation of images associated with current research underway at the RUMPUS research group.

Mimi then explained the body mapping activity.

The objective was to learn from each other about doctoral journeys. The four supervisors and another research group member illustrated their experiences of completing their Ph.D. research studies. The two Ph.D.  students – women – described their journey of preparing their successful doctoral proposal.

Mimi highlighted the ethical protocol of keeping the conversation private to the group, and that no one was obligated to share if they preferred not to. Individual approval to report on this event has been obtained by email from each participant.

For this blog article, the participants provided their consent for photos and comments about the body mapping session that occurred before the pandemic – a year ago.  Since the induction, our meetings have been implemented only online.

The body mapping portion of the workshop took about an hour in total: 10 minutes to prepare the real-size body outline in pairs, 15-20 minutes to illustrate the research journey in the body outline. Finally, each of the seven participants took the rest of the group on a tour of their body maps, for a few minutes each, sharing and explaining as much as they preferred.

Working in pairs and threes, seven of the eight participants supported each other to attach paper sheets and outline their bodies.

Findings and Discussion

According to Gastaldo et. al.  (2012, p.5). “Body mapping can be a way of telling stories, much like totems that are constructed with symbols that have different meanings, but whose significance can only be understood in relation to the creator’s overall story and experience”.

Therefore, dialogue about the body mapping contributes to capturing the full nature of the experience.

It’s important to recognise that – like many aspects of the doctoral relationship – and indeed like fun itself, body mapping can be experienced in various ways. As McCorquodale and DeLuca (2020, p.1) highlight,

“Body mapping can be a fun and expressive experience for participants of social research [but] It can also be a confusing and overwhelming experience for researchers and participants new to the method.”

Building relationships before body mapping is important so participants know each other. This also creates the flexibility to make choices about how to participate, and conversation – and allowing silence – is important so that everyone feels as comfortable as possible.

For reflective educational researchers and practitioners, the following extracts selected from participants’ comments about their experience were very meaningful to explore the nuances of fun that emerged, for example,   get to know each other; incorporate and keep fun up during supervision meetings; face uncertainty or silliness as well as activate imagination and anticipation. Last but not least, being aware of any awkwardness related to the activities and environment and finding ways to sort out any discomfort with the facilitators as well as being open to exciting emerging pathways … led participants to find precious joy in the process of learning.

‘Non-work focus elements’  became pearls for meaning-making, bonding and identity with body mapping.

Data: participants'views

Final Remarks

Body maps can be completed by individual research participants or collectively in groups (CORNWALL, 1992). The body maps become springboards for discussion to fully understand the lived experiences depicted. These discussions can take place while the maps are being drawn. They can also take place afterwards either as one-to-one interviews or in larger groups.

The body mapping enabled participants to identify thoughts, relationships, feelings and emotions associated with their research journey . Drawing events using our real size body activated memories, feelings, emotions and senses that triggered a rush of past events or even seemingly forgotten em”body”ied experiences.

Listening to each other’s body mapping was very meaningful as well as brought the participants close together strengthening group identity.

References

Gastaldo, D., Rivas-Quarneti, N., & Magalhães, L. (2018, March). Body-map storytelling as a health research methodology: Blurred lines creating clear pictures. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research (Vol. 19, No. 2).

Coetzee, B., Roomaney, R., Willis, N., & Kagee, A. (2019). Body mapping in research. In Pranee Liamputtong (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences. Springer Singapore. pp. 1237-1254 (2019)

McCorquodale, L., & DeLuca, S. (2020). You Want Me to Draw What? Body Mapping in Qualitative Research as Canadian Socio-Political Commentary. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research (Vol. 21, No. 2).

Cornwall, A. (1992). Body mapping in health RRA/PRA. RRA Notes, 16(July), 69-76.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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RUMPUS BLOG celebrates 1 year with a new project: fromBLOG2book!

 

By Alexandra Okada

The Rumpus Blog  launched in April 2020  was designed as an interactive dialogical space to engage many communities, networks, and institutions to discuss fun and learning.

Underpinned by the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), our aim is to establish communication with a diversity of participants across the globe including professionals, researchers, students, teaching staff, consultants/entrepreneurs, and individuals interested in exploring, understanding, and discussing fun in education.

This multimedia blog in WordPress linked to Google Analytics includes a variety of interactive components such as videoclips, 360 images, audio/podcast, SlideShare, images, graphs, drawings and posters.

The design of this blog is supported by eight RRI principles.

Principles Features
Diversity and Inclusion Through our national and international projects, our blog posts are elaborated to interact with people from all levels of education; valuing diversity in terms of age, gender  and culture.
Anticipation and reflexivity Our posts are written before, during and after events to keep our participants informed and to establish a continuous dialogue space.
Adaptation and responsiveness Our work is designed to respond to societal needs. It centres on co-creating scientifically new frameworks, methods, and tools for constructing and extending socially knowledge-in-context
Transparency and Openness Our ongoing open research is based on RRI and open Science, linked to ORO (Open Research Online) and ORDO (Open Research Data Online)

To celebrate the second year of Rumpus Blog, we are editing a digital multimedia book

“Engaging methods to explore fun in education”

This book organised by Okada, A. Tatlow-Golden M., Fergurson R. & Sheehy K., 2022 is supported by our interactive blogposts.  Our objective is to generate a reflective dialogue with our participants about  “engaging methods to explore fun in education”. The reflections with our participants will be useful to   refine our engaging methods and transform our posts into chapters.

WELCOME TO OUR fromBLOG2BOOK PROJECT!
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Chop-chop, Cut-cut: Moments of Re(connection) with/in digital presentation.

by Emily Dowdeswell and Sarah Huxley

When we were asked to write something about our presentations, we thought about conventions of academic representation, and of ways to elicit fun in our own process of reflecting upon the experience of presenting with/in a digital conference. Focusing on the conference title “Research Re(imagined)”, how could our writing be a provocative contribution for change and growth (Koro-Ljungberg & Maclure, 2013)? A part of wider conversations in progress around the need to reimagine academic conference in a time of intersecting pandemic and climate crises.

Being with/in digital presentation

How might we convey the lived experience of doing digital presentations. This is different from the fixed content of the presentation itself. Whilst completing her doctoral research, India Amos of the School of Health and Society at the University of Salford, explored ways to ‘carry forward’ human experience if human experience is conceptualised as ‘more than words can say’ (Amos, 2019). She adopted found poetry to bring the meaning of her research experience alive. Poetry can capture complexity, heighten creativity and invite reflexivity (Pithouse-Morgan et al., 2014). Monica Prendergast, professor of drama and theatre education at the University of Victoria, advocates for poetic inquiry, and particularly found poetry (e.g. Prendergast, 2006), as a way of doing qualitative research differently. So, could found poetry be created from presentation texts as an arts-based approach to describing the complexity of doing digital presentations? In order to discover and communicate that experience in a multidimensional, evocative and more accessible way (Cahnmann, 2003).

Chop-chop, Cut-cut

Found poetry is created by taking words and phrases from other sources and reframing them to convey a different meaning to the reader. Sometimes described as literary or poetic collage, it also references the dadaism of Marcel Duchamp, and reimagines the communication of meaning in ways that are unexpected. Natalie Franks has a very useful account here if you are interested in having a go. Creating poetry to represent research experience is a non-linear process that involves physically or electronically cutting and pasting selected words and phrases together (Pithouse-Morgan et al., 2014). The process itself reframes research presentation away from a description of fixed findings, towards the unfolding of ambiguity, tension and precarity. The process highlights that our understanding is always partial, contingent and subject to change (Pithouse-Morgan et al., 2014).

Photo 1: In blue, words/phrases from Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem, and in orange, text from Sarah’s PowerPoint.

So, having discussed our approach, Sarah went off and scribbled, chopped, and collaged. We had agreed our theme: the lived experience of digital presentations, and her focus was to find a poem that represented her experience of ‘disassociation and reconnection’. A quick search surfaced several articles about dissociating as an embodied response to significant trauma. It’s a serious condition, and some common signs of being in a dissociate state can be: mind wandering; a sense of the world not being real; and watching yourself from seemingly outside of your body.

Whilst we most certainly did not experience a trauma induced experience of disassociation during our digital presentations, we did jostle alongside some of these sensations. We share a vignette of Sarah’s memories as an example of what we mean:

“I recall saying ‘Um’ – a sound I too frequently use to hold the space, as I search for the verbalisation of my thoughts. Immediately I became aware of my self-critic: the sound reverberated, and I was suddenly watching myself give the presentation. As someone behind – looking at the body present, and then, the digital screen. This sensory moment was transitory, and I was soon drawn back into re-connecting with the movement to the next slide, drawn into the digital visualisation of text and colour. Slides – a packaged extension of thoughts being shared with others, all neatly placed on a digital screen. It felt good. I was re-plugged back into the virtual experience”.

In reworking our presentations, through remembered sensations, and poetry that resonates with our experience, we rethink digital presentation as “something more complex and creative, even agentic” (Banerjee & Blaise, 2018). “A digital hokey cokey”, created by Sarah from her slide presentations, sensations and the poem ‘The Whole Self – by Naomi Shihab Nye’, seeks to carry forward our experience of doing presentations. In drawing on poetic inquiry, we intentionally adopt a method that is partial, serious, playful and imperfect (Banerjee & Blaise, 2018).

Photo 2: Bringing different possible versions of the found poem together.

Figure 1: A digital hokey cokey by Sarah Huxley

[Audio] recording of the poem, read aloud by Sarah Huxley

Moments of Re(connection)

We were curious to understand more about the potential for collective poetic inquiry to engage with the polyvocality (Pithouse-Morgan et al., 2014) within our educational conference space. We have (re)presented our digital presentations using found poetry, in order to share our experience as a poetic performance, evoking the diverse voices of body, wire, screen, key, soundboard, pixel, text and image. Did we succeed in carrying forward the collective, multifaceted aspects of digital conferencing? Did our approach capture the risk we feel as we move away from familiar forms of conference presentation?  As argued forcefully before, poetic inquiry can push us “to the precarious point of confronting and publicly revealing ambiguities in what and how we come to know” (Pithouse-Morgan et al., 2014, 167). Our approach to representing our research is a risk, a provocation to reimagine how research experience can be shared, which we hope aligns with the goals of the conference itself. It is an approach that also seeks to disrupt conceptualisations of digital presentation as known, familiar and inert (Koro-Ljundberg & Maclure, 2013). We have paused to wonder what is possible if we reconfigure and reimagine our digital presentation experiences differently. We now are left to wonder what might be possible if we make room for fun to entangle readers in different and unknowable ways (Banerjee & Blaise, 2018)?

References

Amos, I. (2019). “That’s what they talk about when they talk about epiphanies”: An invitation to engage with the process of developing found poetry to illuminate exceptional human experience. Counselling & Psychotherapy Research 19(1), pp.16-24.

Banerjee, B. & Blaise, M. (2018). An unapologetic feminist response. Research in Education 101(1), pp.17-24.

Cahnmann, M. (2003). The craft, practice, and possibility of poetry in educational research. Educational Researcher, 32(3), pp. 29-36.

Dowdeswell, E. (2021). (Re)imagining learning and research: invitations to create and reflect. WELS Postgraduate Researchers Conference. Research re(imagined): (post)pandemic perspectives. 20th March 2021.

Huxley, S. (2021). Changing method: how I shifted from a ‘blended’ to fully online ethnography. WELS Postgraduate Researchers Conference. Research re(imagined): (post)pandemic perspectives. 20th March 2021.

Huxley, S. (2021). A digital hokey cokey.

Shihab Nye, N. (1995). The Whole Self. From Words Under Words – Selected Poems. 4th Edition.

Koro-Ljungberg, M. & Maclure, M. (eds) (2013). Special issue: Data. Cultural Studies <-> Critical Methodologies 13(4), pp. 219–372.

Pithouse-Morgan, K., Naicker, I., Chikoko, V., Pillay, D., Morojele, P., & Hlao, T. (2014). Entering an ambiguous space: Evoking polyvocality in educational research through collective poetic inquiry. Perspectives in Education 32(4), pp. 149-170.

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“The impact of the pandemic on open schooling”

by Alexandra Okada

Understanding the impact of the pandemic on open schooling projects is a key topic of the European online event using “fishbowl approach” organised today March 24th  by  OStogether a network with nine European projects – all part of the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme – Science with and for society. The moderator was Maria Zolotonosa (from Make it Open). There were four speakers who started the debate.  

  • Alexandra Okada (The OU, UK – CONNECT): How can we help schools to connect and cooperate with local communities during the COVID pandemic?
  • Matteo Merzagora (Association TRACES, France – SALL) :the challenge of building trust at distance – difficulty of stakeholder engagement when actors do not know each other  
  • Nicole Salomon (OVOS media, Austria – COMnPlay): experience of organising a virtual makerspace
  • Erik Knain (UNIVERSITETET I OSLO, Norway – SEAS): Open schooling can help teaching during a pandemic, but maybe not teachers

The rapid spread of the new COVID-19 variants has put the world on alert. The various school lockdowns have affected the educational system in our countries.  Challenges and opportunities must be considered to better respond to these issues. How can our open schooling projects support schools during and post-pandemic? What can be done, and what can be done differently?

Open Schooling (OS) is a key approach promoted by the European Commission through nine funded projects to support the cooperation between schools, scientists and local communities for youth to become more engaged with science through real-world problems.

These OS projects have been developing a variety of relevant approaches to bridge formal, non-formal and informal science education to improve students’ experience in science. These approaches include a variety of relevant scenarios, themes, pedagogical methods, tools, environments and multi-actor platforms with high-quality resources, learning materials, and events, for example, workshops, courses, coaching and mentoring programmes.

A relevant issue suggested by a member of OStogether was

“How could we help schools connect and cooperate with local communities through open schooling in science during COVID-19?”

This question leads to many others.

Are schools interested in connecting with communities? What type of connections are they willing to establish? Will they benefit from cooperating with external partners? What are the advantages of cooperation for schools and partners involved in open schooling?    

To respond to these issues, more questions are necessary.

What are participants’ needs (what they care)? What are their priorities (what they need to know)?  What are their expectations (what they can do) during and post-pandemic? 

CONNECT is an open schooling project with 10 partners led by the AI enterprise EXUS  responsible for project coordination and technology and the Open University responsible for scientific coordination, ethics and evaluation.

Our aim is to increase students’ confidence towards using science in life now and future by connecting them with science professionals, family, and community members.

CONNECT is designed to facilitate teachers’ work through the curriculum enhanced by multi actors’ cooperation. Our open schooling model focuses on socio-scientific issues and societal challenges that:

  •   activate students and their local communities interests, concerns, “CARE”,
  •   create the need to KNOW linked to the curriculum supported by teachers and,
  •   offer opportunities for students to DO science-actions and develop skills guided by scientists and STEM professionals.

To facilitate connections and cooperation, schools are provided with future-oriented support by scientists, engaging activities, fun participatory science tools, and more inclusive teaching strategies with special attention to disadvantaged students, gender equality, and educational equity.

Pandemic has affected significantly the education system. Schools and universities had to move to distance education during various lockdowns. Many teachers and students were not prepared nor equipped to work with technology. A large number of disadvantaged students of state schools with free meals missed social relationships, learning, and food.

UNESCO (2021) has been calling our attention to the human capital loss during COVID-19.

“Approximately half of the world’s population (some 3.6 billion people) still lack an internet connection… 463 million or nearly one-third of students around the globe cannot access remote learning. The pandemic shows that connectivity has become a key factor to guarantee the right to education. Digital skills and learning must be incorporated into education systems in order address the injustice of the digital divide”

 The context that we have now with COVID-19, school lockdowns and self-isolation,  is completely different from when we develop our open schooling proposals. To identify the needs, priorities, and expectations the OU team developed three studies with students, open education researchers, and teachers during the pandemic.  

The first study examined students’  views of an introductory module of the Open University (Okada & Sheehy, 2020). We contacted 4,500 students, and 550 participated in our exploratory study about online learning during the first lockdown in the UK. Our aim was to understand their views about collaborative learning, cooperation with others, problem-solving and inquiry based-learning, traditional teaching approaches, and the value of fun/enjoyment in distance education. The OU is the largest university in the UK open to all learners with a significant number of disadvantaged students, 72% work full or p-time, 26% live in the 25% most from deprived areas, 34% of new students come from secondary schools or failed to complete it and 33% with a lower qualification at entry. (OU, Facts, and Figures)

 Our findings revealed that more than 85% of students valued fun in learning to support well-being, motivation, and performance. However, approximately 15% indicated that fun within learning could result in distraction or loss of time. Three groups were identified   (1) students who value fun in collaborative learning wish more interacting activities and cooperating with others, (2) students who think that fun gets in the way of their individual learning prefer to learn at their own pace and on their own with useful activities problem solving and inquiry-based activities to succeed in their exams,  (3) students who mentioned that there is no fun in online learning think that online learning is transmissive – focused on content, they do not want to waste time with discussions, teamwork, and participatory approaches. There are also students who cannot see the point of cooperation, fun and engagement. They  are struggling to study, feeling depressed, or stressed, they mentioned that are not capable nor ready to engage with collaborative projects 

 

 

The second study focused on a workshop organised at the OEGLOBAL conference with 700 attendees, 277 presentations with 12 studies about open education and COVID-19 pandemic.  We investigated the key issues for open education – open schooling including learners’ competencies, learning environments, open partnerships, and education 2030 with SDGs. In this workshop, we also discussed the recent reports of UNESCO, World Bank, and OECD about Education and COVID – technologies.

Four key topics emerged in our discussions – a significant loss of human capital: 1. learning disruption including low achievement and high dropout rates; 2. students’ health (mental, physical, and emotional);   3. teachers’ workload (pressure and stress) and 4. Inequalities (increased gap of disadvantaged students).

Participants highlighted eight key drivers: education for all, special attention for girls, affordability, free education, pedagogy, new education policy, each one –  teach one, the added value of open school/ open education. Fifteen recommendations were grouped to enhance open education to support learners’ access, learners’ retention, learners’ attainment, and learners’ progress.  

 

The third study focused on various communities of teachers from Amazon, Pantanal, and the large semi-arid area of Brazil. This study will be completed for the book  “Adversities in Education” edited by Dr. Holliman and Prof. Sheehy.

While all eyes are on COVID-19, both the Amazon forest and the world’s largest tropical wetlands Pantanal face fire… Conservation and environmental protection are in crisis

BBC (Nov. 2020) Highlighted that  “The number of fires blazing in Brazil’s Amazon region in October 2020 was more than double those in the same month last year, satellite data suggests. The Institute of Space Research said there were 17,326 fires in the Amazon, compared to 7,855 in October 2019. Data released by INPE   suggests there were 2,856 fires in the Pantanal region in October.

Our study reached more than 7,000 teachers from these areas. More than 1,000 teachers completed our questionnaires, participated in our webinar, discussed their issues, practices, needs, and expectations related to open schooling through webinars, questionnaires and interviews. We are now discussing what type of connections and kinds of cooperation are relevant for state schools and communities considering not only the effects of the pandemic, digital divide but also environmental socio-scientific, and political issues.  

To sum up, CONNECT project was designed before the pandemic and started during the peak of COVID-19. Understanding the stakeholders’ needs and more inclusive and future-oriented strategies are fundamental especially in the UK, Brazil, Spain/Catalunya, Greece, and Romania.  Some research studies developed with schools during various lockdowns in CONNECT indicate some challenges and drivers. In terms of challenges, the negative effects of the pandemic for schools to implement open schooling are :

  •   More emphasis on completing the curriculum and fewer opportunities for external activities.
  •   More teaching time is needed and fewer learners’ centered opportunities.
  •   More emphasis on preparing students for exams and less time for inquiry-based learning and community-based projects.
  •  More concerns with students’ achievement – knowledge acquisition (short term) rather than scientific skills development (long term).
  •  More resources and support online but limited opportunities for the most needed students, who do not have access to the internet nor digital devices.

In terms of drivers, the positive effects of the pandemic for schools to consider open schooling integrated into their lessons are:

  • More high-quality learning resources linked to the curriculum.
  • More enjoyable activities – fun and relevant – that are meaningful for students’ learning.
  • More opportunities to help students become more confident, more interested in, and more capable to succeed in science.
  • More strategies to deal with outbreaks and foster scientific and digital literacy
  • More support through cooperations to help a large number of disadvantaged students, educating girls and the various minority groups.

To open up further discussions, our preliminary findings suggest that there will plenty of relevant societal issues for developing useful open schooling projects. There will be some meaningful practices to evaluate the value of open schooling approaches/ models in-depth. However, …

…will there be opportunities to scale up our open schooling models before the end of our projects and keep it sustainable after it? How?

 

Questions discussed during the event:

  • What are the challenges for open schooling? How have these challenges changed with the pandemic? 
  • How can we engage parents/families in your open schooling projects, given that their role changed a lot during the pandemic? 
  • How can we best support teachers?  And the rest of the stakeholders including policymakers? 
  • How do we find the balance between being on time with your open schooling projects (in terms of following the Grant Agreement) and not pushing schools too much?
  • Have we made any big adjustments to our projects due to the pandemic? 
  • How can we convince schools to stay on board when things get tough? 
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Fun and the benefits of Sign Supported Big Books in mainstream Indonesian kindergartens

http://oro.open.ac.uk/78253/1/78253.pdf

Khofidotur, Rofiah; Sheehy, Kieron; Widayati, Sri and Budiyanto (2021). Fun and the benefits of Sign Supported Big Books in mainstream Indonesian kindergartens. International Journal of Early Years Education (Early Access).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2021.1956440

Abstract

Inclusive kindergarten provision remains relatively rare in Indonesia. This article indicates factors that contribute to this situation (stigmatisation, lack of resources and training) and reports on an approach to begin to address it. Sign Supported Big Books were evaluated in mainstream kindergartens (i.e. classes without children with special educational needs ) as a way of enhancing their inclusive affordances. These books used Signalong Indonesia, a keyword signing approach, to support whole class stories with 76 children in five kindergarten classes. Four classes used books with signs, and one used a book without signs as part of their everyday activities. Five teacher interviews suggested that the approach enhanced pupils’ engagement and was enjoyable and fun for pupils and teachers alike. There were also positive effects for children’s story comprehension and sign learning. The findings of this study support the novel position that having a disabled child in a class is not necessary in order to justify using an inclusive keyword signing approach. The implications of these findings are discussed for developing a proactive approach to facilitate inclusive practices in Indonesian kindergartens.

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Drawing as a mediating artefact to support Responsible Research and Innovation with fun

by Alexandra Okada

In the context of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), drawing when combined with other methods can be considered a useful instrument for explorations of participants’ views. RRI aims to examine the priorities, views and values of all participants; so that scientific development is aligned with the expectation and needs of societal actors including youth (EC, 2020).

A research study in Ireland developed by Tatlow-Golden (2011) investigated the views of young people about “Who am I?” through the activities and types of relationships they valued most. This was explored through drawings and other graphic means such as ‘Identity Pies’, as well as interviews. Drawing combined with conversation and writing was important to identify what the young people thought was important and why.

“When young people talked, drew and wrote about what was important to them, and why, they foregrounded many relationships beyond peer popularity (friendship, and relationships with parents, siblings, extended family and even pets) and activities beyond sports and school (very many creative and active pastimes)…

Young people almost never mentioned school or curricular learning — unless it was to discuss relationships or activities in the school context, or the obligation to ‘get an education’. ” (Tatlow-Golden & Montgomery, 2020:13)

This study was selected for the RUMPUS – we explore fun – blog to highlight the importance of selecting enjoyable instruments and procedures that help participants to express themselves in a more pleasant way.  Drawing combined with dialogue can promote the involvement of youth to respond to questions with more freedom than articulating words. It also supports researchers by creating opportunities for a more spontaneous conversation and reflection which can generate more meaningful data when participants are enjoying the experience.

The methodology of this study is also useful for CONNECT and OLAF researchers who are interested in fun participatory approaches to explore learning and engagement.  Drawing can be an engaging and helpful artefact to externalise views and values where words may be more difficult than visual representation. Artefacts that are enjoyable for participants are helpful to obtain more expressive and authentic views; so that the values, expectations and priorities of young people can be unveiled in the research. Although Tatlow-Golden found that participants aged up to 13 years readily engaged with these tasks, an important feature of using drawing in research is that some participants lack confidence in their own drawing ability, so it is crucial to create an atmosphere in the research encounter of exploration and play, rather than setting an expectation that participants will make a ‘good’ drawing.

The work of Tatlow-Golden (Tatlow-Golden & Guerin, 2010, 2017; Tatlow-Golden, 2011) is considered original and relevant because it examined the voices of youth about their lived   experiences through qualitative instruments (conversation, drawing and writing) to question the validity of quantitative self-concept scales that are widely used in psychological and educational research. This body of work found that conventional self-concept research scales are limited as they omit domains of self that young people value.

Tatlow – Golden and Montgomery (2020) highlight that “it is impossible to  imagine  how  psychological  measures  that  do  not incorporate children’s perspectives can yield accurate, meaningful psychological findings about young people’s selves.

Without such insights, psychologists are unlikely to achieve their ultimate goal of supporting children and young people to develop and fulfil their potential, and so this is another area in which Childhood Studies perspectives and methods have the potential to enrich psychological research”.

The methodological approach that combines drawing and dialogue to for participants to express themselves is congruent with RRI which highlights the importance of incorporating participants’ perspectives – their thoughts, views and voices during the process of research and innovation.

Figure 1: An example of a child drawing (1) basketball after school, (2) breaktime, and (3) videogames at home   from Tatlow ‐ Golden & Guerin

Figure 2:  Procedures to combine drawing, dialogue and writing from Tatlow ‐ Golden & Guerin (2011)

Figure 3:  Visual Analogue Scale to check participants’ self-rated importance of aspects of self featured in their drawing   from Tatlow ‐ Golden (2011), see also Tatlow-Golden & Guerin (2017)

Figure 4:  Identity pie from Tatlow ‐ Golden (2011)

Other studies that use drawing as part of the research methodology also highlight that drawing needs to be integrated with other instruments. Sondergaard and Reventlow (2019) examined drawing as a facilitating approach when conducting research among children. Their findings revealed that children expressed feelings, emotions and, experiences through drawing. The authors suggest that visual representation helps children to express themselves more easily than through words. However, two requirements are vital, including other fieldwork data to support the interpretation of drawings and above all having a solid contextual understanding of the field.

Blog Video Interview   

Mimi, could you please let us know what inspire you to use drawing in your research? What were the challenges and benefits?

What are your recommendations for researchers who are looking for research instruments that are fun (children will enjoy it) to explore fun in learning ?

Glossary

Identity Pie

 

 is a   graphical method  for representing the relative importance of my self-concept domains used to describe who I am.
Self-concept
(Who am I?)
me-self		 Is a self-description about what I am;
it  includes self-representation, for example,
about my values, roles, activities, goals in my life.
It is closely related to self-esteem
Self-esteem how much I appreciate and like myself, what I am.

References

Søndergaard, E., & Reventlow, S. (2019). Drawing as a facilitating approach when conducting research among children. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406918822558.

Tatlow-Golden, Mimi and Montgomery, Heather (2020). Childhood Studies and child psychology: Disciplines in dialogue? Children & Society (Early access).

Guerin, Suzanne and Tatlow-Golden, Mimi (2019). How Valid Are Measures of Children’s Self-Concept/ Self-Esteem? Factors and Content Validity in Three Widely Used Scales. Child Indicators Research, 12(5) pp. 1507–1528.

Tatlow-Golden, Mimi (2011) Who I Am: Exploring the Nature, Salience and Meaning of Children’s Active and Social Selves. PhD Thesis. University College Dublin.

Tatlow-Golden, Mimi and Guerin, Suzanne (2010).   ‘My favourite things to do’ and ‘my favourite people’: Exploring salient aspects of children’s self-concept. Childhood, 17(4) pp. 545–562

Questions suggested by Mimi for researchers and readers to establish a conversation about drawing in research: 

1. What are the challenges of using drawing in research?

2. What are the recommendations for analysing drawings?

3. How about reliability and rigour? Is drawing reliable as a projective method?

You are very welcome to leave your comments on our blog … We will be glad to interact with you!

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“I like to climb and pick coconuts”

Moving Towards A Child-Guided Agentic Participatory Research Methodology: 7 To 11 Years Children’s Experiences Of Physical Activity.

Plowright-Pepper, Linda Caroline (2020). “I like to climb and pick coconuts”. Moving Towards A Child-Guided Agentic Participatory Research Methodology: 7 To 11 Years Children’s Experiences Of Physical Activity. PhD thesis The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.000121bd

Abstract

In 2018 only 18% of children met the UK Chief Medical Officers’ recommended physical activity levels in England (Public Health England, 2018). Despite emerging evidence suggesting that declines in physical activity may originate from 7 years old, little research has been undertaken with middle childhood children. This study addresses gaps in research which gives children an opportunity to express their lived experiences of physical activity.

The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the extent to which a new child-guided approach to researching lived experiences of middle childhood physical activity provided insights into children’s activity choices and familial influences. Informed by social constructivism this study assumed that children were agentic social actors capable not only of contributing to research but capable of guiding research into matters which affected them. Participatory and existential phenomenological methodologies were brought together in a new model of agentic child-guided (AChiG) participatory research. Physical activity was conceptualised as an embodied experience and framed as an individually socioecologically contextualised phenomenon (e.g. Merleau-Ponty 1962).

I enabled coresearchers to identify fresh conceptualisations of physical activity through the use of the AChiG model. Coresearchers conceptualised physical activity for instance as ‘conquering creative challenges’ and ‘playing at’ structured activities.

High levels of imagination and creativity together with a strong motivation to connect with close family members underpinned fun and enjoyment which drove physical activity. Coresearchers also contextualised physical activity within a broad range of physically active and inactive free-choice pursuits. These competed for coresearchers time in fluid, layered and spontaneous ways. These insights and lessons learnt from the new child-guided approach provide potentially fruitful strands to inform further research.

“Sources of fun and enjoyment were multi-stranded and interconnecting. For instance, perceived competence and a sense of mastery(Mccarthy and Jones, 2007b)could be underpinned by a sense of autonomy and agency in the decision to participate,(Mackintosh et al., 2011). Fun was found both in the activity itself but also in having a friend with whom to share the activity (Agbuga, Xiang and McBride, 2012)”

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In celebration of sensory methods and movement

By Sarah Huxley

Can you understand what an ice cream is without eating it, but by only looking at it and describing it? Without experiencing its texture, taste, coldness, flavour, smell, and examining the multi-faceted and layered sensory experience that is all part of the process of eating an ice cream. This process is in its own way a celebration of sensory experience, movement and being. The process of eating an ice cream is a blog post in itself, but I won’t digress.

Source: Unsplash @Foodism360

For my research on exploring fun and learning, I understand ‘fun’ to be an ice cream of sorts. This may also be partly because I am writing this blog in 32-degree heat, but the metaphor stands.

Fun is an ambiguous concept, which has different connotations in different cultures and deserves to be better understood alongside learning processes.  This is the premise upon which my thesis is based. I am looking at what fun is, does and why it may be important with a sport for social change organisation called Coaches Across Continents (CAC) https://coachesacrosscontinents.org/.

Source: Coaches Across Continents (CAC)

For the purposes of this post, I want to acknowledge and focus on the work of the anthropologist Tim Ingold, in particular, his joyful book “Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description” (2011). Here he sets the case for his beliefs that “it is by moving that we know… a being that moves, knows and describes must be observant…[and] is being alive to the world” (Ingold, 2011: xii). Ingold does not like binaries: the mind is not a separate entity to the body (drawing from Merleu Ponty), nor is the world we inhabit a separate entity to humanity. For him ‘wayfaring’ is the rhythmic patterning of how people contribute alongside “through their movements to its [the worlds] ongoing formation” (p.44).

Ingold (2011) reminds sensory researchers of the bias of “head over heels”, and that the sense of touch, especially via feet and its wayfaring with the ground, especially in Western research practices is often ignored. Actually, there is much to be learnt as a researcher from his call to focus on the movement of intransitive and haptic experiences: not from the “accumulation of knowledge through successive points of rest”, but rather to consider that “for the most part we do not perceive things from a single vantage point, but rather by walking around them” (p.45).

As I am starting to build and prepare my methods using sensory ethnography, and this will mean participating and observing the ‘on-pitch’ games that CAC develop and use with their partners and children across the globe. Ingold’s work, therefore, reminds me to not lose grounding with my feet and embodied experiences, and to not simply focus on what I see at certain points. Rather examine if and how my sense of touch and movement throughout can communicate a reality about how fun and learning are understood through the play-based games of CAC.

Source: Ramesh Iyer

By the way, my favourite ice cream is pistachio: it’s not just about the vivid colour, or the visual audacity of it – I love the crunchiness of the nuts alongside the creamy texture, and it’s almost almond taste. It reminds me to be grateful for being alive.

To learn more about my PhD research or discuss your ice cream preferences you can follow me here: @AidHoover or write to me at: sarah.huxley@open.ac.uk