Paper presented at the LCSS PhD 2013 Conference on Methodological Choices and Challenges

1. Adapting ethnographic action
research to study responses to
educational technologies
Florence Dujardin
(Sheffield Hallam University)
LCSS 2013 PhD conference – April 2013

2. Overview
• Online learning context
• Initial research design
• Adapting a methodology from Development
studies

3. Online MA programme in
Professional Communication

4. A digital immigrant?
(Prensky 2001)
Or... a potential digital
resident?
(White & LeCornu 2011)
Second-order digital divide

5. Initial research design
Action research
Reading
Social bookmarking
Reflection
Collective blogging
Feedback
Screencasting
Multiple case studies

6. Weakness
Context of culture
Context of
situation
Practice /
Media
Higher
Education
Tutor-
reader
student-
writer
home
community/ies
work
Adapted from Lillis (2001)

7. Key features of EAR
Social mapping
Socio-cultural
animation
Communicative
ecology
Context of culture

8. • Local practices situated in
the wider context of culture
• ‘entanglements’ of social
practice and technology
• Does new media challenge
anything?
Why borrow EAR?
Original design
• Focus on local practices /
media
• Technologically
deterministic?
• Difficult to discuss the
context of culture
• Emancipatory intention
hidden
Ethnographic action research

9. Conclusion
• A productive and flexible methodology for
researching educational technology issues
• Well adapted to look at technology use in
context, including in entirely online context
• Potential for connections with wider issues
(second-order digital divide, pedagogy, and
ICT use in HE)