Discussion
This appendix contains a transcript of a discussion between the two assignment authors, Megan Dick and Alastair Reynolds. The purpose was to discuss issues which had arisen during the first of the two weeks of the task, and to establish collaboratively whether any changes to the research method would be necessary in the light of these issues.
NOTE: The discussion was carried out on ExcitePal, an Internet-based real-time communications program.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Discussion participants : Megan Dick and Al Reynolds ----------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Al hi Megan Well hello! Fancy meeting you here... Al indeed Megan *grin* So... Megan Gone over questionnaire and they have raised some interesting points. Al absolutely Megan Ummm, huh? Al I just ate two mince pies! Megan Oh..:-) Megan Great tea! Healthy as ever.... Al Anyway, before we start, shall we agree an agenda? Megan nod Al 1. What issues have we noticed which have arisen? Al 2. What issues have been highlighted by the questionnaires? Megan 2. Questionnaires? Megan snap Al hee ;-) Megan shall we start...or should there be a three? Al That will probably be enough. Megan Where to go from here? Al OK Megan Right ... so ONE Megan Firstly, problems caused by timing ... half term! Al and exams Megan Leaders of weeks ... first week leader tried, but second week didn't happen, as far as peer leader went. Al I have felt like I haven't had much control over the discussion - I can't encourage people to comment like I can in a real classroom. Megan Yes ... you can't ask leading questions, and then draw them to a response. I feel the discussion has gone on tangents and I am not sure all of them have been very useful to our topic. Megan And case studies have *not* been studied! Al Also, it's difficult to tell whether someone is 'lurking'; looking at the discussion but not contributing. Megan I think the Cafe has helped slightly in that respect. People have commented in the cafe who have not said *anything* in the discussion...so we know they are around. Megan Shall we try and apply the 'Winnie the Pooh' model? Al Probably best to apply Winnie later once we have all the data ... Al There haven't been many comments about the case studies - perhaps our 'action' wasn't clear enough. Megan How much clearer could it be????? Al I'm not sure. Maybe our idea of clear is different to other people's. Megan Very true....but I thought it was clear - READ THIS and COMMENT Megan I mean ... do we think we are doing those management things? Just thought it might be a way of focusing ... but you might be right. Al I think our issues will fit in to the various areas of management. Megan Good point. :-) Megan Maybe too much for them to read? Should we ask them that on second questionnaire? Though some said they wanted more direction on reading in their answers to first questionnaire...so maybe not. Al Another issue ... I think that some students have benefited from the task - maybe our ideals about how it should have gone are unrealistic? Al Good idea to ask (possibly on second questionnaire but maybe in the session on Saturday) Megan I agree ... as with usual teaching, you can often not tell what pupils have learned until you specifically ask. Megan And the 'lurkers' are still learning ... if they are reading the discussion. Megan Just checking who has contributed ... who has lurked ... and who answered questionnaire but has not posted anything ... Al We can get a fair amount of the post-activity data collection in the QA session on the Saturday Megan Definitely ... we will do an issues tree? And students will have a chance to discuss with us face to face. Al It's just I think we'll get more valuable data from a general discussion. Actually I don't know about this ... people may be more honest in the questionnaire, but it does mean that the generation of issues will be 'pupil-led'. Megan Yup ... that sounds useful. Megan Any other issues? Al You can lead the discussion and I will take notes (or vice versa) Megan Found three who answered questionnaire but have not contributed ... one gave apologies in the discussion though. Al There are more issues I think ... Megan We will both contribute, but you get ideas down better than I do. Al But thinking about it they probably were highlighted in the questionnaire so that's part two... Megan I feel that me adding another strand on their own experiences ... (i.e. highlighting one of the actions they should be taking) ... helped spur some more on-task discussion. Al Shall we move on? Megan To number two? Al If that's OK Al I think it was interesting the number of people who said they were 'nervous' about contributing for one reason or another. Megan Yup. Al What were the reasons? Megan In the questioannire, you mean? Al 1. Worried about hogging the discussion (never bothered us ;-) Al 3. No-one else had contributed. Al 2. Hadn't contributed for a while. Al I'm thinking the 'virtual classroom' is a much bigger issue than we anticipated. Megan Another thing...some worried they would be left out...FE college. Megan And one answered they understood the task perfectly but has not contributed anthing! Al Obviously the timing was an issue for some students - we could bring up this in the general discussion but maybe it would be better under the 'organisation' section of the questionnaire. Megan Basically, lots of worries were noted...and we did try to allay many of them at the on-site day.... Megan I agree. Al btw I read through the questionnaire, it was fine but we may need to add in a couple of questions as a result of this discussion Al I like the word 'allay' Megan Anything else from questionnaires? Megan *grin* Al People seemed to be happy with who to go to for help etc. Megan Yeah...I think we need to add a few and maybe change others. We will edit. Megan Yeah ... but have they asked for help? Al Only in a small number of cases. Megan And others just don't seem active. I am a bit upset and the non- use of the materials for the task! Al We ought to remember that for some individuals on this course this has been a good experience. We must remember that we can't _make_ everyone approach the course like we do - it's like any classroom because 'pupils' always respond in different ways. Megan There has also been lots of carry over from peer tutoring...which is good. And some misunderstanding of the focus of this task. One person said they understood the task but put " I assume this is about collaboration in computer based tasks and grouping" in the 'what they are expected the learn' part. Al You're right, maybe this was because of that link you put in? Megan I know ... :-( Megan *head hung* I thought it was a good idea at the time! Al I did too, but it's like where you mention something in an off- hand way during a lesson, and that's the only thing the pupils remember afterwards Megan They are chatting about ways they use the computer, but not a lot on what is an effective strategy or not. Should we have commented more on this? I was put off from it, because I commented enthusiastically at the beginning but this seemed to kill the discussion on that thread. Megan Yeah. Al Perhaps we should have given more direction. The problem is with the time-lag - it would be three days before anyone noticed. Back to the differences with the 'virtual classroom' again. Megan Your 'using summaries' comment did focus them on that though. Megan Yeah....I'm at a bit of a loss with this one...back to your comment that this has been a good experience for some. Al I think that's because I picked up on something _they_ raised. This might be a good strategy (except it relies on people raising things) Megan Glad we had two weeks though! Al Absolutely *grin* Al I think we'll just carry on a little into week 5 if it is necessary. Megan So we needed to look at effective strategies for us too? Could be a good section in our analysis. Al It certainly features in the Winnie model Megan I'm all for that! Megan When should we send out the second questioannire? Al Half way through next week. Al (Wed) Megan Yeah...Measurement and Analysis Megan Maybe Monday....it takes a while for people to get to it and I don't want them to forget what they were doing. Al True - good idea Megan Do we need to summarise issues now? Or do we have that in the chat? Al I think it's all in the chat Megan We could add a few more focusing comments tonight ... about the case studies (as a last effort) and see what we get? Like I did with the "effective strategies" strand? Megan ok Al ok Al shall we do that now? Megan ok Megan ok :-) Al I will call you about 10ish? Megan ok Megan (couldn't resist) Megan I'll be waiting! That all then? Al Yep - bye Megan Oh...need to revise the questionnaire...want to send me revisions? Al ok Al ; - ) Megan Right....chat to you soon. Al bye ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - End of transcript ---------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------