6.0 Appendices
Appendix A – Recruitment and Informed Consent
Recruitment Letter
My name is Helen DeWaard. I am a student in the Joint PhD program through the Department of Education at the Universities of Brock, Lakehead and Windsor, Ontario in the field of Cognition and Learning. You are invited to participate in a study which explores teacher educators’ lived experiences with open educational practices (OEPr) in Faculties of Education in Canada. This research project titled Critical media and digital literacies in the open educational practices of Canadian teacher educators: A post-intentional phenomenology is being conducted as part of my PhD research in the field of education.
I can be contacted at any time by email: [redacted], by direct message in Twitter —- , or by phone at [redacted]. This research is being conducted under the supervision —-. You may contact my supervisor by email at [redacted]or by phone at [redacted].
Purpose and Objectives
The purpose of this research project is to explore the experiences of teacher educators’ OEPr from a faculty of education lens, with a focus on how media and digital literacies may impact or shape your OEPr. In conducting this research, I am hoping to better understand how open practices can be defined from a teacher educator’s lived experiences, and how OEPr is impacted by critical media and digital literacies. I define open educational practices as collaborative pedagogies utilizing digital technologies and authentic learning encounters for “interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation, and empowerment of learners” (Cronin, 2017, p. 18). In other words, teacher educators will individually or collaboratively select open educational practices to support their ways of knowing, designing, planning, and assessing teaching and learning events (Cronin, 2017; Nascimbeni, 2016; Paskevicius, 2017; Roberts, 2019)
The study is framed by the following research questions:
- What does it mean to be media literate and digitally literate as a teacher educator? What are your lived experiences as a teacher educator with media and digital literacies?
- As a teacher educator in Canada, what is it like to be an open educator?
- How do media and digital literacies inform or shape your work as a teacher educator immersed in open educational practices?
- What is the lived MDL and OEPr experiences of teacher educators, as evidenced in the ethos and stories of their teaching practice?
Participant selection: You are being asked to participate in this study because you are actively involved in open educational practices as evidenced by your social media accounts, blog site, your course materials such as syllabi and/or course website(s), and recent publications. Additionally, that you are currently working, or have worked within the past two years, as a teacher educator in a Canadian faculty of education.
What is involved? If you consent to voluntarily participate in this research, your participation will include:
- Participating in one semi-structured interview. This will be an individual interview lasting approximately 45-60 minutes in length. This will be an opportunity for you to share and respond to several open-ended questions by the researcher regarding your academic experiences with media and digital literacies within open educational practices as a teacher educator. For these interviews, conducted online using Zoom software, you will need access to a microphone and speakers to communicate in this environment. I welcome you to make use of a webcam as well, but this is optional as video during the interviews will not be used in this research. I will be recording the audio and/or video of the interview for transcription and analysis.
- After the interview, I will ask you to reflect on frameworks for media and digital literacies that are reflective of your teaching practices as a teacher educator. A choice of frameworks will be provided to you. You are then asked to share your reflections using any media-making technology of your choosing. In this way, your creative ‘storying’ about your media and digital creation experiences will be revealed.
I will also monitor those social media accounts you provide to me and would consider to be relevant to this research, as well as any course syllabi you are willing to share. You are welcome to submit any further web resources or artifacts you feel would be useful for this study.
Compensation
As a way of compensating you for time spent and any inconvenience related to your participation, you will be offered a $25 Chapters/Indigo gift card should you complete any part of the research phases. If you consent to participate in this study, this form of compensation to you must not be coercive.
Consent
A full consent form is attached to this email for you to read. I have also prepared this short video as a way to introduce you to this research project [link to video: abcdefghijkelmnop] Once you have reviewed the documentation and consent form, kindly let me know via email if you would consent to participate. The consent form will be reviewed at the time of the interview.
Sincerely,
Helen DeWaard
Lakehead University, Faculty of Education, Joint PhD student
Research Ethics Board Approval # —–
DRAFT Terms of participation in research
Proposed Research Title: Critical media and digital literacies in the open educational practices of Canadian teacher educators: A post-intentional phenomenology
You are asked to participate in a research study conducted by Helen DeWaard (Principle Investigator) and Dr. Michael Hoechsmann (Supervisor) from the Department of Education at Lakehead University. The results of this study will contributed to a doctoral dissertation in the field of Cognition and Learning for the Joint PhD Studies.
If you have any question or concerns about this research, please feel free to contact …
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the proposed study is to explore the cognitive and social lived experiences of developing media and digital literacies as part of an open educational practice as a teacher educator.
Procedures
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to:
- Participate in one semi-structured interview. These will be an individual interview lasting approximately 45 minutes to one hour in length. This will be an opportunity for you to share and respond to several open-ended questions by the researcher regarding your academic experiences in media and digital literacies within your open educational practices as a teacher educator.
- Create a digital artifact that represents your reflections on frameworks for media and digital literacies as evidenced in your teaching and learning as a teacher educator, and shares your personal perspectives about your lived experiences as an open educational practitioner.
Potential risks and discomforts
To further clarify, minimal risk is anticipated as you can be expected to view the possible harms you may encounter in this study as no greater than those you may experience in your everyday life as a teacher educator practicing the craft of teaching and learning in open digital spaces.
Potential benefits to participants and/or to society
By participating in this study, you will also be able to share your experiences and stories of media and digital literacies within an open educational practice, both academically and digitally, which may help you navigate your own personal open educational practices in more positive ways.
In addition, while there has been some research regarding open educational practices in post-secondary education, very little has been focused on the experiences of teacher educators in the field of education. Further research is needed to gain deeper insight into these experiences to enhance understandings of how media and digital literacies influence open educational practices. Your participation will contribute to the body of research in the field of teacher education specifically, and the fields of media and digital literacy, as well as the field of open education more generally.
Compensation for Participation
There will be no compensation for participation in this study, but those who do participate will receive a $25 gift card from Chapters/Indigo Canada. This should not be considered as coercion for your participation but a thank you for sharing your time and insights to this research.
Confidentiality
In order to protect your anonymity as participants, each individual will be informed that they may choose their own pseudonym which will be used on all documents related to this study, including audio transcriptions, video transcriptions, the dissertations itself, and any subsequent publications of the data. In addition, you will be asked to not discuss the content of the interview with others once it is finished. The researcher and the supervisor will be the only ones to listen to the audio and video recordings. The audio and video recordings will be stored on a secure USB device and removed from the researcher’s personal computer following transcription, after they have been checked for accuracy. All documents and devices related to this study will be kept in a locked filing cabinet and seen only by myself and the research advisor for a period of 5 years, and then subsequently destroyed. You will have the opportunity to de-anonymize selected quotes depending on your preferences toward openly sharing your research participation.
Participation and withdrawal
All participants may choose whether to participate in this study or not. If you have chosen to volunteer to participate in this study, you have the choice to withdraw from the study at any time without consequence. In addition, you may refuse to answer any questions that you do not wish to answer on the semi-structured interview, and still remain in the study. In addition, contact information for the researcher is provided in the Letter of Consent if you wish to withdraw from the study.
If you choose to withdraw from the study, you will have the option to remove any and all data that you previously contributed to the study, which will then be destroyed. However, you also have the option to leave previously contributed data as part of the study prior to your withdrawal. There will be no consequences to you for a withdrawal, and you will still receive the compensation for the study. In addition, the investigator may withdraw you from this research if circumstances arise which warrant doing so.
FEEDBACK OF THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY TO THE PARTICIPANTS
A summary of the initial findings of this study will be made available on password accessed WordPress website after the completion of the study. The website address to obtain these results is: /// If requested, the researcher will send a brief summary of the results to the participants via email after the completion of the study and dissertation.
SUBSEQUENT USE OF DATA
All documents related to this study will be kept in a locked filing cabinet and seen only by myself and my research advisor. The transcriptions of the semi-structured interview will be kept up to five years after the last use of the data for any subsequent publications or presentations that may result from this study. After this period of time the transcriptions will be shredded. The recordings will be erased and destroyed following the five-year required wait period.
RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
If you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant, contact:
SIGNATURE OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT/LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE
I understand the information provided for the “NAME OF STUDY” as described herein. My questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I agree to participate in this study. I have been given a copy of this form.
Name of Participant
Signature of Participant
Date
SIGNATURE OF INVESTIGATOR
These are the terms under which I will conduct research.
Signature of researcher
Date
Appendix B –
Not posted for reasons of confidentiality.
Appendix C – Interview Protocol and Prompts
- Procedural / setup
I’d like to begin with introductions and extending my thanks for your participation in this research.
- Welcome to this digital interview space. I’d like to start by thanking you to consent to participate in my research. As a teacher educator, your voice matters and your experiences are important. I hope this research will provide you with an opportunity to share your unique perspectives on open educational practices with a focus on your lived experiences of becoming media and digital literate.
- Thank you for signing and returning the consent form. Did you have an opportunity to watch the brief video I prepared as a way to welcome you to this research? Do you have any questions before we begin the interview?
- Warning and begin recording (audio and video)
- This interview will be recorded, with the audio and video becoming part of the data gathering that will inform this research. Do you consent to the recording of today’s interview?
- As part of my commitment to you as a participant in this research, you will be provided with a full transcript of this interview, as well as a graphic rendering of the transcript that I will create using word cloud software and concept mapping software. You are also able to withdraw from this research and this interview at any time.
- Personal Background – prior to each interview I will attempt to find out as much information about each faculty member’s work-related experiences to help frame the interview conversation. I will frame and ask the following questions regarding their background.
- I’d like to get to know a bit about you as a teacher educator in XXX faculty of education. Can you please briefly describe your academic career as a faculty member such as your years of teaching, institutions where you have worked, and/or your speciality areas as a teacher educator.
- Tell me a little bit about the context in which you teach i.e. describe the courses you teach, the classrooms, the lived experience of teaching?
- Describe any other relevant professional experiences that would help me understand your professional background that influences your open educational practice (which we will explore in the next part of the interview).
- Alternative prompt: Could you please tell me your story about your experiences thus far as a teacher educator at [name of university] (Mian, 2007).
Open Educational Practices
I’d like to focus now on your open educational practices as a teacher educator. One of the reasons you have been approached to participate in this research is for the evident nature of sharing your educational practices in social media and comments or connections to the field of open education.
- Can you tell me a little bit about your interest in the open education?
- How would you define or describe your open educational practice?
- Can you describe any of the people, events, or other writing that has influenced your open educational interests and/or commitment to open educational practice?
- How has the field of open education shaped your teaching practice?
- From your lived experiences in open education, what are some of the core assumptions, beliefs, guiding philosophies and/or theories that inform your open educational practices?
- What do you believe are some of the essential core tenets or non-negotiable aspects that constitute open educational practices?
- Alternative prompts: How might you define or describe your open educational practices? In what ways does your teaching and learning model open educational practices?
Media and Digital Literacies
Let’s focus next on the area of media and digital literacies, since you’ve mentioned a few items relevant to MDL in your previous responses.
- Can you talk a bit more about what you mentioned earlier (refer to …. From comments in OEPr section).
- When and how have you developed your media literacies? Your digital literacies?
- How would you describe your media and digital literacy experiences with focus on what key elements of media and digital literacies are important or critical in your OEPr.
- Describe your lived experience in weaving these MDL into your OEPr.
- Alternative prompts: How might you define or describe media literacy? How might you define or describe digital literacy? In what ways does you teaching and learning include media and digital literacies?
Challenges and Barriers to MDL within OEPr
You’ve mentioned a few things in your responses about the challenges you’ve faced and some of the barriers you’ve encountered in your teaching as they relate to MDL and OEPr.
- Can you tell me a bit more about ….. that you mentioned earlier.
- How have these challenges and barriers influenced your MDL? Your OEPr?
- Describe a bit more about your lived experiences and potentially some of the negotiations you’ve made in your MDL that have shaped your OEPr.
Concluding the Interview
I really appreciate the time you have taken to share your story, your lived experiences in MDL and OEPr with me. I’d like to give you the opportunity to think about this interview and take a moment if there is anything you would like to revisit or anything else you’d like to add.
If not, I’d like to thank you for spending time and sharing your story with me. In recognition and being very aware of the value of this time, I’d like to offer you a $25 Chapters / Indigo gift card that will be emailed to you in the next week.
As a followup to this interview, I hope you will take another hour or two in the coming weeks, to reflect on your MDL within your OEPr in light of a few frameworks that outline elements of MDL and OEPr. I will forward these frameworks to you by email following this interview.
Within two weeks from today, I hope you can return to me a personal and/or professional reflection about your MDL within your OEPr as informed by these frameworks. This reflection can take the form of any media production of your chosing – a written reflection, graphic rendering such as an image or infographic, an audio response, or a video production. The focus of this reflection should be on your lived experiences of MDL within your OEPr. This reflection will allow me to envision your story of becoming media and digitally literate and becoming an open educational practitioner. This reflection will add to the data gathering for this research.
Also, in the coming days, I will email you a summary transcript of this interview along with a graphic rendering of the transcript, done as either a word cloud, a concept map, or both (if time permits). This will give you some time to review the transcript for accuracy and ensure I have a correctly captured the story of your lived experiences. This may also help you in the reflection artifact that I’m asking you to create.
I’ll also remind you that you can drop out of this research at any time and you can request that I not use this interview as part of my research. Please let me know by email if you would like to withdraw your participation.
Do you have any final questions or comments? If not, again, thank you so very much for your participation in this research. I hope that together we can illuminate the MDL that teacher educators apply to their OEPr.
Appendix D – Research Planning
Not posted for reasons of privacy.
THIS IS THE END OF THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH PROPOSAL
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