This will be a hands-on course that requires you to collect case study data beforehand on a literacy setting and event of your choice. Mary will offer guidelines for how to go about collecting this data; a "mapping session" for analyzing the data you collect; the opportunity to discuss your data in detail with others in the group and finally advice about how to write up your case study in the form of a poster display and a short written article.

In the workshop discussions participants will explore the idea of literacy practices and events, the practical methodological issues of researching literacy practices and the relevance of all this to learners in literacy programs.

Resource Person:
Mary Hamilton is Professor of Adult Learning and Literacy based in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, England. Her involvement with adult literacy started in the late 1970s when she was a volunteer and then a part-time tutor in London. Mary is a founding member of the national network, Research and Practice in Adult Literacy (RiPAL). If you would like to find out more about Mary's research, check her web page at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/eramh/ .

Session 2: Feminist approaches to research in practice with Jenny Horsman

In this practical, hands-on course, Jenny will demystify feminist and poststructural approaches to research. Participants will learn how to do research that makes it possible to question the taken for granted, and see the ordinary and the everyday in new ways.

Each phase of the research process will be viewed through a feminist lens. Rather than ask a "research question," a feminist approach examines an issue, developing and re-developing a series of questions. Our values and identities are examined to understand how they influence the research. Data collection and analysis provides new understandings of an issue and helps the researcher to see a problematic area afresh through discussion with others and critical readings of texts. Reporting enables us to tell others what we think we have learned. We will look for active ways to report learning that sparks more practitioners and researchers to engage with our "findings" check out what makes sense to them, shape and re-shape the ideas further, try out new practice, or develop further research themselves.

Resource Person:
Jenny Horsman is a community educator and researcher who has spent close to three decades in the literacy field. From a start as a volunteer tutor in England, she coordinated a literacy program in Sierra Leone, then taught ESL classes and worked in community-based programs in Canada. She began her apprenticeship as a researcher in the Participatory Research Group in Toronto in 1983 and continued with academic training at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Since then she has carried out research, taught in universities and led courses in the field for literacy learners, workers and volunteers. She works to bridge the divides between research and practice, the university and the field. You can go to Jenny's web site at www.jennyhorsman.com to read more about her research and practice.

 

Session 3: Getting Started on Research in Practice with Marina Niks

This course will be of interest to literacy practitioners who want to get started in research. Basic questions will be addressed such as: What is research? How do literacy workers and teachers conduct research in their daily practice? What research topics are practitioners investigating?

Participants will have opportunities to explore how they can include research in their everyday work as well as translate their research ideas into do-able activities. A possible outcome is that interested participants may develop individual or joint research plans around common literacy issues.

Workshop activities will include a variety of techniques such as small and large group discussions, role-playing, video analysis and individual work

Resource Person:
Since 1999, Marina Niks has been acting in the role of "Research Friend," encouraging and supporting literacy practitioners and learners in British Columbia to get involved in research. She has led research workshops and worked with several research projects initiated by literacy practitioners and learners. Marina is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her doctoral research focuses on the relationships between university-based and non-university-based researchers.

 

Session 4: Arts Based Research with Joe Norris

The arts have much to offer literacy research as they provide a variety of media in which to examine and re-explore the act of meaning making. This participatory course will guide participants through a series of meaning making activities to demonstrate how the arts can be used to collect, analyze and disseminate data. Film, video, storytelling, novels, collages, performance, role play, poetry, visual art, music, photography and quilting are a few of the emerging genres in arts-based research. The course will explore those genres that reflect participants' needs and interests. Joe is well-known for his ability to take people into new frontiers in a non-threatening manner. The session will be playful, rigorous and insightful.

Resource Person:
Joe Norris taught secondary English and Drama in Nova Scotia for 12 years before pursuing a doctorate in Drama Education. For the past 13 years, he has taught drama methods, drama for social change, drama as a way of knowing, curriculum theory, research methods and arts-based research methods at the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge and Mount Saint Vincent University. He is the Director of Education at Washington State University at their Vancouver, Washington campus.

 

Institute Rapporteur

We are pleased to have Elsa Auerbach as the coordinating rapporteur for the Institute. Session rapporteurs will work with Elsa to document the Institute courses and sessions. As well as coordinating the work of the rapporteurs, Elsa will report observations and reflections at various times during the Institute.

Elsa is the daughter of refugees from Germany who instilled in her a passion for social justice. She has worked in factories, union-based ESL programs, community colleges and university contexts, always attempting to link education with community action. As a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts/Boston, Elsa has participated in university-community collaborations which promote the leadership of language minority educators in their own communities and in participatory curriculum development projects.

Institute resource people will be available at other times during the Institute to meet with participants and offer feedback and advice on their individual research interests and projects.