Doug Belshaw :: Blog
I received this email today: Hi All, We would like to inform all users of EduSpaces that we will be shutting down the service on Jan 10th, 2008. We have provided a mechanism for you to export all your blog posts in either an RSS format or HTML. To do this, go to your blog and select the submenu option you require. For those of you with files, you might want to download those as well. Thank you to everyone who has supported EduSpaces over the last three years. Best regards, The EduSpaces team This means I've had to move this blog elsewhere. Join me at http://dajbelshaw.edublogs.org! :-)
Inspired by Bredo's diagrams in 'Philosophies of Educational Research' (within Handbook of Complementary Methods in Education Research - see previous post for reference), I've produced the following diagram. Hopefully it will help clarify my thinking when it comes to writing the methodology section of my thesis proposal: 
There are two main philosophical traditions when it comes to research methodologies: positivism and constructivism. Positivism holds that the world is 'out there' waiting for us to discover it, whilst Constructivism holds that 'facts' are socially and psychologically constructed labels and descriptions we place upon the world as we experience it. All research methods - apart from perhaps Pragmatism - fall into one of these two camps. The Wikipedia article on Methodology sums things up quite nicely: Methodology refers to more than a simple set of methods; rather it refers to the rationale and the philosophical assumptions that underlie a particular study. This is why scholarly literature often includes a section on the methodology of the researchers. This section does more than outline the researchers’ methods (as in, “We conducted a survey of 50 people over a two-week period and subjected the results to statistical analysis”, etc.); it might explain what the researchers’ ontological or epistemological views are. The following OpenCourseWare resources (found via the very useful oercommons.org website) should help me - especially these in particular: Some books I shall be looking for to help me with my thesis proposal: - Allison, B., et al. (1996) Research Skills for Students (001.44 RES - Education Library)
- Cohen, L., et al. (2000) Research Methods in Education (370.72 COH - Education Library)
- Creswell, J. (2007) Qualitative Inquiry and research design: choosing among five traditions (300.723 CRE - Education Library)
- Patton, M.Q. (2002) Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods (300.723 PAT - Man Library)
- Phillips, E. (2005) How to get a PhD: a guide for students and their supervisors (378.240941 PHI - Education Library)
- Wisker, G. (2001) The Postgraduate Research Handbook: succeed with your MA, MPhil, EdD and PhD (001.42 WIS - Main Library)
I was up at 5am again this morning working on my Ed.D. It's hard when it's so dark and it's the end of term... After looking at various research methodologies, I think I'm going to go for a combination of a hermenutic, philosophical and pragmatic approaches in the dialectical tradition. It could all end up a mess, but I think I'm on to something: digital literacies are culturally and very specifically situated, but have broader elements which can be discussed, synthesized and made sense of. Here's what I've been looking at today - all from the Handbook of Complementary Methods in Education Research:
References: Is 'transliteracy' a better term than 'digital literacy'?
I've used Gliffy to outline the argument for my thesis proposal. It's a bit rough and needs some work, but I'll come back to it later! Click on the image below for a larger version: 
Cin Barnsley has an interesting post on Information Literacy entitled Lifting the Fog in which she posts a useful image (above) and video (can't embed here...) Update: In a subsequent post, Cin brought my attention to a presentation entitled Literacy Remixed in a Web 2.0 World by Judy O'Connell.
I've just found out via a mass-mailing that my current Ed.D. supervisor, Stewart Martin, is leaving the University of Durham next month to become Principal Lecturer in Education in the School of Social Sciences and Law at Teesside University. I'm obviously pleased for him, but it kind of forces me to do what I was thinking of doing on the basis of a rash decision anyway - i.e. change my supervisor. I can now understand why he was a bit fuzzy about when to hand in my re-written thesis proposal...
A lot of the research I've been doing recently on the concept of 'digital literacy' either references Ilana Snyder or is in a book edited by her. Perhaps I need to get in touch, especially as according to her profile it appears she's got a new book coming out in February 2008... :-) The notes I've made from Page to Screen: taking literacy into the electronic era (1998) and Silicon Literacies: communication, innovation and education in the electronic age (2002) can be found on my wiki. Unfortunately, the libraries at both Durham and Sheffield universities do not stock Doing literacy online: Teaching, learning and playing in an electronic world (2004) and I'll likely not be able to access The Literacy Wars when it comes out in February 2008... :-(
 (Depth of Mist Wood)
After failing my previous Ed.D. thesis proposal (I can see why now...) I'm beginning the process of starting from first principles, this time building towards analysing the concept of 'digital literacy'. The books I'll be looking at today are both ones I've looked at (briefly) before and are both edited by Ilana Snyder: - * Page to Screen: taking literacy into the electronic era
- * Silicon Literacies: communication, innovation and education in the electronic age
I'll be putting my notes, as usual, over at teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/wiki in the 'thesis' section.
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