Conditional acceptance

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It is with relief that I received confirmation of conditional acceptance of my dissertation research proposal from my PhD committee. There are some edits and revisions to make. I expected that and know that the feedback will improve the research design and clarify my thinking about some of the frameworks. What keeps resonating for me is the WHY? I ponder over why this research and why these questions are important to me. What difference will this research make in the general body of work that is already available? Why will this research help anything or anyone – or is that even important? Do I make the effort to complete this research only for my own sake, or will there be inherent benefits for my participants or my colleagues. Why? Why? Why?

After re-writing my research questions, I need to put these our here and ask others to comment and share. Perhaps some insight can be gained from others in my open educational network. Why is this research even worth doing? Do others who venture into PhD research also ask this burning question? Why is there so much doubt and wondering if this research will be worth the effort?

The context for these questions is teacher educators in Canadian faculties of education and relates to their open educational practices. The phenomenon under investigation is the lived experiences of learning and using media and digital literacies.

  • What does it mean to be media literate and digitally literate as a teacher educator? What are the lived experiences of teacher educators with media and digital literacies (MDL)?
  • As a teacher educator in Canada, what is it like to be an open educator?
  • How do media and digital literacies inform or shape the practices of teacher educators immersed in open educational practices (OEPr)?
  • What are the lived MDL and OEPr experiences of teacher educators, as evidenced in the ethos and stories of their teaching practice?

So what’s my why?

The dissertation research proposal outlines my intention to explore how teacher educators in Canadian faculties of education (FoE) describe their lived experiences of media and digital literacies within an openly shared teaching practice. Because I stand within the confluence of three fields of study, this research emerges from my own lived experiences as a teacher educator, open educator, and explorer of critical media and digital literacies. For me, this research answers my burning need to bring teacher education into the open, and to bring teacher educator’s voices into prominence within the field of education, while examining the living literacies (Pahl & Rowsell, 2020) found within the field of media and digital literacy. This research supports the growing demand for digitally and media literate educators demonstrating global competencies (CMEC, 2020) and is a response to global calls for open educational practices (Bates, 2019; Montoya, 2018).

References

CMEC. (2020). Pan-Canadian systems-level framework on global competencies: Literature review. Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. https://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/402/Pan-Canadian%20framework%20on%20Global%20Competencies%20Literature%20Review_EN.pdf

Montoya, S. (2018, September 12). Meet the SDG 4 data: Indicators on school conditions, scholarships and teachers. UNESCO.Org. http://uis.unesco.org/en/blog/meet-sdg-4-data-indicators-school-conditions-scholarships-and-teachers

Pahl, K., & Rowsell, J. (2011). Artifactual critical literacy: A new perspective for literacy education. Berkeley Review of Education, 2(2), 121–151.