Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemActing with care: how actor practice is shaped by creating theatre with and for children( 2017)Research has investigated the backgrounds, dispositions and skills of artists working with children in both school and in out-of-school contexts (Ascenso, 2016; Brown, 2014; Galton, 2008; Jeanneret & Brown, 2013; Pringle, 2002; Pringle, 2009; Rabkin, Reynolds, Hedberg, & Shelby, 2008; Waldorf, 2002). Actors make a significant contribution to this work but few studies focus in depth on how they create theatre with and for children. Incorporating constructivist, phenomenological (Van Manen, 1990) and case study methodologies, this research investigates the practice of nine actors who create theatre with and for children in diverse contexts. Drawing on document analysis, surveys, semi-structured interviews and performance observations, the research explores two key questions: What characterises the practice of actors who create theatre with and for children? and How is actor practice shaped by working with children? This thesis explores actor practice in relation to being, doing, knowing and becoming (Ewing & Smith, 2001). Shaped to be outward facing and ‘pedagogically tactful’ (Van Manen, 2015), actor practice gives emphasis to four key qualities: listening, reciprocating, imagining and empathising. When creating theatre with and for children, pedagogically tactful actors are guided by a sense of care and respect. This thesis adds to the discourse about artists working with children, making actor practice visible and drawing attention to their beliefs, goals, motivations and acting techniques.
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ItemPost: 9/11: hidden pedagogy: the positional forces of pedagogy in Victoria, Australia( 2015)This qualitative study charts the lived narratives of twelve participants, six teachers and six students from urban and rural Victoria, Australia. The study examines in detail the question ‘How do teachers teach, post 9/11?’. 9/11 has become accepted shorthand for September 11th 2001, in which terrorist attacks took place in the United States of America. The attacks heralded a ‘post- 9/11 world, [in which] threats are defined more by the fault lines within societies than by the territorial boundaries between them’ (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 2011, p. 361). The study is embedded in the values that have come to the fore in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the ideological shifts that have occurred globally. These values and ideologies are reflected via issues of culture and consumption. In education this is particularly visible through pedagogy. The research employs a multimethodological (Esteban-Guitart, 2012) form of inquiry through the use of bricolage (Kincheloe & Berry, 2004) which is comprised at the intersectional points of critical pedagogy (Kincheloe, 2008b), public pedagogy (Sandlin, Schultz, & Burdick, 2010b) and cultural studies (Hall, Hobson, Lowe, & Willis, 1992). This study adopts a critical ontological perspective, and is grounded in qualitative research approaches (Lather & St. Pierre, 2013). The methods of photo elicitation, artefact analysis, video observation and semi-structured interviews are used to critically examine the ways in which teacher and student identities are shaped by the pedagogies of contemporary schooling, and how they form common sense understandings of the world and themselves, charting possibilities between accepted common sense beliefs and 21st century neoliberal capitalism. The research is presented through a prototypical form of literary journalism and intertextuality which examines the interrelationship between teaching and social worlds exposing the hidden influence of enculturation and addressing the question ‘How do teachers teach, post 9/11?’
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ItemPortrait of the artist who works with children( 2014)In both school and non-school based studies, the significant role of artists is often cited but rarely researched in any depth, except for a few notable exceptions (Brice-Heath and Wolf, 2005; Galton, 2008; Rabkin, Reynolds, Hedberg, & Shelby, 2011; Pringle, 2002; Selkrig, 2011; Waldorf, 2002). Despite the view that artists are a rich resource for the community (Mulligan & Smith, 2009), and the claim that there is much to learn from these professionals in relation to their work with children (Galton, 2008; Pringle, 2002; Waldorf, 2002), there are no known interpretive frameworks that provide artists, and the organizations that employ them, with a guide to reflect deeply and critically on their practice involving children in non-school contexts. This research maps the backgrounds, goals and practices of over fifty artists working in a public arts facility, ArtPlay. Located in the heart of Melbourne, ArtPlay provides a wide range of artist-led programs for children aged from three-to-thirteen years. Involving a blend of discovery and constructivist methodologies, aligned with ethnography and case study, this research sought understanding through immersion and dialogue, informed by a hermeneutic model of inquiry (Hammersley, 2011). The key questions for the study were, Why do artists work with children? How do artists work with children? and How does context influence why, and how, artists work with children? To answer these questions, data, gathered through interviews, observations and surveys was analysed through a process of ‘progressive focusing’ (Stake, 2000). Highlighted in this research are the complex factors that influence the artist’s goals and practices, including child age, other adult support, length of program, and the environment. The multi-faceted and contextualised portrait constructed indicates that artists aim to promote child confidence, creativity, aesthetic awareness and joy, through practices that give emphasis to personalized and informal connections, modeling, co-construction, and creative inquiry.
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ItemPedagogical and cognitive usability in online learning( 2013)The last decade has seen a sharp – and necessary – increase in attention to the quality of eLearning which has expanded a relatively new area of usability specifically for online learning: pedagogical usability. This research focuses on the usability attributes that contribute to effective eLearning and delineates those pertinent to teaching (pedagogical usability) and those specific to learning (cognitive usability). A multifarious methodology provided the elicitation of data from almost all conceivable and feasible angles of the execution of eLearning in a real-world setting – the main positions being: the pedagogical considerations from the teacher-developers’ planning sessions through to the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) by students, as well as an in-depth usability inspection and evaluation of the Learning Management System (LMS) used as the tool for delivery. The project, in essence, put a microscope on the entire process of eLearning. The complementary use of twelve methods of data collection for rigorous triangulation provided a synergic framework that enabled the examination of each stage of eLearning. The analytical framework applied to the data comprised a complex integration of existing models and a specifically devised analytical model that assisted in the deconstruction of all the factors that contribute to pedagogical and cognitive usability. The study introduces the concept of cognitive usability as distinct from pedagogical usability on the grounds that certain features and contributing factors to VLEs are more teacher-driven (pedagogical) while others are more learner-consummated (cognitive). The study found that a VLE’s constitutional design is governed by teachers’ philosophies about teaching and learning and their teaching styles and repertoires which in turn are also governed by curriculum design; the teachers’ lack of techno-pedagogical skills coupled with the limitations of the eLearning platform hold an equally pivotal role in determining the VLE’s pedagogical usability. The study showed a strong relationship between the technical, pedagogical and cognitive usability of a VLE and found that using an LMS to create eLearning is fraught with problems that are rooted in the technical design of the LMS. Since LMSs are a mandatory feature in almost all educational institutions nowadays, the findings of this study are particularly important since so much research focuses on the use of eLearning without specifically addressing the software used to create it. While even a VLE with low techno-pedagogical usability can still facilitate learning outcomes, this study showed that approximately one third of VLE activity is ineffective due to poor LMS design which impacts on the VLE design, leading to low cognitive usability.