(18) Investigations in complexity - kindle

This posting is about bringing three ideas together and exploring knowledge construction.

(1) I had a phone conference last week with 8/13 people enrolled in EDUC601. It became clear as I was talking with them that the investigation I am asking them to undertake is substantially different from other investigations (or research activities) that they have been asked to undertake. I want to tease out the difference as it is fundamentally related to the ideas I was developing in my thesis (2003).

(2) The Avonside research project (RULT) project that Lindsey and I are writing up has had feedback to say that we should strengthen our findings. We agree - it takes a lot of careful explanation to move a reader who is embedded in one paradigm to get even a glimmer of understanding about what is being said in another.

Rose sent the following: This question from EE (enviromental educator) Stephen Sterling might help: "How can we design in an open and non-deterministic way. educational systems and institutions that promote healthy emergence?" (2001, p.80)

Non-determinism is the key word here - I want to clarify how it relates to complexity thinking and emergence (I can see it but not articulate it).

What I am exporing here is non-determinism in relation to research processes (it is something to do with open-ended investigation where findings are found, but when we set out we do not know what they will be). We do, however, know the general domain of inquiry.

(1 & 2) The domain for EDEM601 participants is praxis.

(3) Capitalising on random interest - Kindle. As I was working away this morning, feeding material into the EDEM601 website, I heard Kim Hill interview someone who loved Kindle (it was the guy who invented blogs). You can load books into Kindle and read them where-ever - and it looks like a book - light is reflected off the screen and it is very portable, smaller than a paperback - and you can search within the text and hold heaps of books).

I got interested and googled Kindle and learnt that it works on wireless in teh states but in other parts of the world Google does not have wireless - but you can access material through a PC (not an Apple) and download it through USB - US marines in Germany do not miss having wireless. But - they will only send Kindle machine through a US mailing address - so you need a contact.

(1 & 3) The exercise of finding this out happened just at the same time as I was thinking about investigations - this juxtaposition made me think about an ongoing investigation of mine which is to keep up with and use technologies - in particular the web effectively (all the social networking sites and blogs and etc. - I struggle with figuring out what is going on and how to handle all the possibilities).

So I diverted from thinking about 601 investigations to thinking about my own e-investigation. I do not know what is going to come up that is relevant. BUt if something comes up it is worth noting it and following up (if and when I can find the time) It means that, occasionally and retrospectively, I can summarise for myself, where I have got to with my learning about e-technologies.

And, periodically, I chat with colleagues who have expertise about the things I am puzzling over or I share my insights with them. That adds to my knowledge.

(1 & 2 & 3) This is an example for me of non-deterministic investigation. I am interested in e-technologies (the underlying investigaton); I do not know where I might be in my investigation in three month's time. And random things happen - like hearing Kim Hill.

A non-determinist investigation relies on noticing and documenting the random events so that, at the end of the investigation it is possible to summaries what has been learnt.

(Not that my investigation will end, but it does have end points where I summarise learning for myself - in a similar way, 601 people need to round off their investigations in time to hand in their portfolios - even if they continue with them for evermore.

So - this blog entry helps me sort out what a non-deterministic investigation is. Great!

(9) Rorty's "interesting philosophy"

Praxis-oriented research in whatever guise (as research, reflection, inquiry, exploration, experimentation) involves a shift beyond the forms of research that seek objectivity from the researcher. This is points to a celebration of forms of research that locate researchers in a subjective spaces where they are deeply implicated in the actions and theories that are the focus of research. My thesis argues that these forms of research require a different vocabulary from more objective forms of inquiry.

This scrambling for recognition and space to grow does not reject the value of other forms of research which seek objective forms of knowledge. However there is competition for power in the forms of funding and status - so the waters are murky - there is political resistance to fresh forms of research.

To further complicate matters, the tools of investigation (quantitative and qualitative methods of data gathering and analysis) are important tools in subjective forms of research.

So, I guess from this that my thesis is about describing things in new ways so that new ways of thinking are fostered.

The method I foster is described by Richard Rorty (an American pragmatist) who suggest that new ways of thinking happen when you "describe lots and lots of things in new ways, until you have created a pattern of linguistic behaviour which will tempt the rising generation to adopt it, thereby causing them to look for appropriate new forms of non-linguistic behaviour, for example, the adoption of new scientific equipment or new social institutions." Exhibit 1.2.1 is from my thesis.

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Exhibit 1.2.1 Rorty’s “interesting philosophy”
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On the view of philosophy which I am offering, philosophers should not be asked for arguments against, for example, the correspondence theory of truth or the idea of the “intrinsic nature of reality.” The trouble with arguments against the use of a familiar and time-honoured vocabulary is that they are expected to be phrased in that very vocabulary. … Interesting philosophy is rarely an examination of the pros and cons of a thesis. Usually it is, implicitly or explicitly, a contest between an entrenched vocabulary which has become a nuisance and a half-formed new vocabulary which vaguely offers new things.

The latter “method” of philosophy is the same as the “method” of utopian politics or revolutionary science (as opposed to parliamentary politics or normal science). The method is to describe lots and lots of things in new ways, until you have created a pattern of linguistic behaviour which will tempt the rising generation to adopt it, thereby causing them to look for appropriate new forms of non-linguistic behaviour, for example, the adoption of new scientific equipment or new social institutions. This sort of philosophy does not work piece by piece, analysing concept after concept, or testing thesis after thesis. Rather it works holistically and pragmatically. It says things like “try thinking of it this way” - or more specifically, “try to ignore the apparently futile traditional questions by substituting the following new and possibly interesting questions.” (Rorty, 1989: 8-9, italics added)
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I wonder how the method Rorty describes (which is a philosophical approach) sits alongside my use of method in the earlier paragraph (quant and qual methods of gathering and analysing data) ...

(7) Praxis-based research and teacher inquiry into praxis

Here is a short-term, instrumental distinction between these two terms and the way I will use them (and it might change - but then all ideas might change).

Praxis-based research

• the researcher is a practitioner (a professional within the area of practice, in this case, teaching)
• the researcher understands praxis as being a blend of practice and theory (action and word in Freire's terms) with a focus on social justice / social good

AND

• the researcher publishes or shares the emerging findings with her/his peers so that conversations are ongoing and pragmatic (seeking to understand consequences of actions) and the researcher seeks critique (rather than simply acclamation) of praxis (actions and theorising).

Teacher inquiry into praxis (This is identical to the above except for the red words)

• the teacher is a practitioner (a professional within the area of practice, in this case, teaching)
• the teacher understands praxis as being a blend of practice and theory (action and word in Freire's terms) with a focus on social justice / social good

AND

• the teacher may (or may not) publish or share the emerging findings with her/his peers so that conversations are ongoing and pragmatic (seeking to understand consequences of actions) and the researcher seeks critique (rather than simply acclamation) of praxis (actions and theorising).

The consequences of these definitions are to do with who can call themselves researchers and who might publish in refereed journals. The consequences are to do with ...

1. Teachers in higher education being able to see themselves as researchers and see that there is research value in investigating their own praxis. (Currently this insight is not well understood among some teacher educators who did not previously see themselves as researchers yet they had been engaged in praxis-based inquiry (i.e. teacher inquiry into praxis). In order to publish they do not need to engage in new forms of work in order to gather data - they are already engaged in the investigation - the challenge is to publish their understandings, their learning as they grapple with current educational issues, and their approaches and ways of exploring/researching their ideas.
2. Teachers in areas other than higher education being able to see the potential for moving into higher education because they are engaged, not only in teaching within their sectors, but also that researching in their specialism is natural for them - they might see themselves as praxis-based researchers who do debate their own learning through research with their peers and with their colleagues in the tertiary sector (as part of gaining higher quals or being involved in research projects such as TLRI or ECE COI)
   
3. Teachers in areas other than higher education being able to generate knowledge, directly, about teaching in their areas without becoming involved directly in higher education - i.e. to publish in refereed journals.
   

So, whether these things are called inquiry or research, I am keen to foster the notion that teachers are able to explore the impact of their own teaching in ways that foster their thinking about the social impact of their ways of working - and I am keen to foster ways of enhancing this kind of collaborative conversation - something that encourages all professional practice to be under the scrutiny of collective self-study.