Ethnography inquiry and teacher education. The use of diaries for the comprehension of educational practice

We present in this communication a work of inquiry carried our using the diaries of students participating an educational experience in a primary school. Along a semester, a group of 10 students was workomg with a community learning project. These students were engaged with a teacher training experience which is being developed in the Education College at the University of Málaga. In this experience some teacher students attended two subjects of his education as collaborators in this school. His experience was collected systematically in field diaries in which they reflected their everyday experience in the school, as well as his insights, assessments, feelings, etc. These diaries become into the working material to study the school functioning and their experience. For that reason, working meetings were held with teachers of their subjects at the university. Collaboratively, diaries were analyzed, categorized and interpreted in an attempt to understand the school practice, and thus, progress their training process.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Stella Benson: a life of reading, writing and publishing

Stella Benson – feminist, diarist, novelist and travel writer – published her first novel, I Pose, in 1915.  Her last book, a collection of short stories, was published posthumously in 1936.  Although her diaries might suggest some reservations about the reception of her earlier novels, in a letter to Marie Belloc Lowndes, Benson’s husband James O’Gorman Anderson said of her work: ‘Stella was quite happy about her writing, was sure of herself there, and had no thought of not being sufficiently appreciated.’  Others shared that opinion; for example, her 1932 novel Tobit Transplanted (titled The Far-Away Bride in America) won the Femina-Vie Heureuse Prize and the silver medal of the Royal Society of Literature. Benson’s writing was informed by her reading; she was an avid reader throughout her life and talked at length in her diaries about books that she enjoyed.  She often read a book in a day and it is evident from her diaries that she was always keen to read contemporary, Modernist and avant-garde poets and authors such Sturge Moore, Dorothy Richardson and Ford Maddox Ford (reading, for example, The Good Soldier in just one day on 3rd January 1918).  Her diaries, for the most part unpublished, provide a rich source of material, detailing both her reading and her writing.  Drawing extensively on those diaries, this paper discusses the connections between Benson’s reading, her writing and the subsequent publication of her early novels. It will explore her relationship with her publishers and will also, as a postscript, consider the role of the recent republication of her fiction by Michael Walmer in a possible reclamation and re-examination of Benson’s work in the twenty first century.

In the eye of the storm: preliminary evidence on the use of online learning diaries

The surprising lack of pressure and speed in the centre of the vortex of a storm are in stark contrast to the force and destruction often experienced at its periphery. Many spectators watching a developing storm will be caught between fear and a desire to escape. The metaphor of a storm has been applied here to the emotions experienced by many students enrolling in online learning courses. Not only do the requirements of studying online collide with personal and professional commitments, the experience of learning online (often in groups) results in many students feeling displaced, scared or out of control. Learning diaries, especially in an online environment, present students with an opportunity to reach the centre of the vortex, though this may not be as quiet and safe as we may have presumed. This paper reports on students’ reflections in their learning diaries as a prescriptive part of the Professional Certificate in Management offered by the Open University. The research focused on the unstructured learning diary entries of 12 students from one tutor group over an 18 day period of a short compulsory online course. This phenomenographic study used grounded theory as methodology to analyse and describe students’ use of their learning diaries. The research found ample evidence that online learning diaries provide students with a safe space to reflect on the vortex around them. Without a quiet and reflective centre, students may be overwhelmed by the wider forces impacting on them. Students’ postings provided rich descriptions of the vortex of studying online and the function of having a centre to which to withdraw. There is, however, also evidence that posting reflections in learning diaries can itself be a dislocating and uncomfortable experience for some learners, while others question its usefulness. The work provides practical and useful information for managers of online learning experiences, instructional designers and curriculum developer

MS-007: The Papers of Jerry Spinelli, Class of 1963

The Jerry Spinelli collection traces the writing career of the children’s author from 1961- 2003. The papers consist mainly of various versions of manuscripts including his original handwritten manuscripts, several editions of his books and some promotional material. The researcher will not find materials about life at Gettysburg College or Temple University, or his work at Chilton Publishing; genealogical data, diaries, memorabilia or photographs. Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our websitehttp://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/findingaidsall/1006/thumbnail.jp

Diary versus questionnaire information on time spent on housework – The case of Norway

Information on housework-time is important for understanding the daily life organisation of different population groups, especially parents. However, time-use surveys, which are usually seen as the best method for capturing information on unpaid work, are very costly and are conducted rather rarely in Norway. Hence, we want to assess whether housework can be adequately measured by other methods. Internationally, a great deal of work has been undertaken in cross validating diaries and questionnaires. It is often found that questionnaires generate somewhat larger estimates for housework-time than diaries, but the reporting gap varies between groups of people. It is assumed that social desirability plays an important role so that people feeling pressures to do much housework overreport their contributions more than others. In Norway, the housewife role has nearly vanished, and people now rarely meet social prescriptions to do much housework. This might imply less over-reporting in questionnaires. The present paper compares estimates for housework-time from the diary-section and the questionnaire-section in the latest Norwegian Time Use Survey with particular focus on parents. Looking at all adults we find only modest differences in the time-estimates between the two methods, but the gap varies considerably between age groups.Time allocation, data collection and data estimation technology, housework, measuring time-use

Using qualitative diary research to understand emotion at work

This chapter addresses the role of qualitative diary research as a method for documenting subjective experiences and emotions at work. Qualitative diary research can yield rich insights into relationships, processes, events and settings and diaries more generally are a means by which to ‘capture the particulars of experience in a way that is not possible using traditional designs’ (Bolger, Davis & Rafaeli, 2003, p. 579). The chapter addresses issues relating to the strengths, limitations, ethical considerations, design and conduct of qualitative diary research. Researchers are not immune to emotion in and about their work, and the role and use of diaries in reflexive research practice are also discussed using extracts from three researchers’ diaries/field notes as illustrative examples. Empirical data from multimethod organizational psychology research into work-related gossip are also included as practical examples of using diary research methods and working reflexively (Waddington, 2005; 2010a; Waddington & Fletcher, 2005). The broad aim of the chapter is to outline and discuss ways of conducting qualitative diary research on emotions in the workplace and illustrate how such qualitative data can be analyzed

Women Pioneer Diaries, 1820-1920: A Selected Annotated Bibliography

The works of twenty women whom participated in the westward expansion at some time between 1820 and 1920 are represented. The women have participated by immigration, emigration, homesteading, or simply living a trans-Mississippi community during the aforementioned time period. The work as a whole provides a variety of examples of the lifestyle and challenges of the period, which may highlight the uniqueness of each woman, while at the same time showing some common experience. Diaries have been selected to represent as many states as possible, in as many time periods as possible within the one hundred year time span, in an attempt to provide a representative bibliography. Overall, the diaries demonstrate the immediate value of writing, as well as its long term significance. Writing was important to diarists for various reasons, such as companionship and personal enjoyment. But without the diaries our understanding of history would be drastically diminished. If a goal of examining and analyzing literature is to better understand human nature, its complexities, strengths, and weaknesses, then pioneer women diaries are a rich source

Using diaries to explore the work experiences of primary health care nursing managers in two South African provinces

PKBackground: South Africa is on the brink of another wave of major health system reforms that underscore the centrality of primary health care (PHC). Nursing managers will play a critical role in these reforms. Objective: The aim of the study was to explore the work experiences of PHC clinic nursing managers through the use of reflective diaries, a method hitherto under-utilised in health systems research in low- and middle- income countries. Design: During 2012, a sub-set of 22 PHC nursing managers was selected randomly from a larger nurses’ survey in two South African provinces. After informed consent, participants were requested to keep individual diaries for a period of 6 weeks, using a clear set of diary entry guidelines. Reminders consisted of weekly short message service reminders and telephone calls. Diary entries were analysed using thematic content analysis. A diary feedback meeting was held with all the participants to validate the findings. Results: Fifteen diaries were received, representing a 68% response rate. The majority of respondents (14/15) were female, each with between 5 and 15 years of nursing experience. Most participants made their diary entries at home. Diaries proved to be cathartic for individual nursing managers. Although inter-related and not mutually exclusive, the main themes that emerged from the diary analysis were health system deficiencies; human resource challenges; unsupportive management environment; leadership and governance; and the emotional impact of clinic management. Conclusions: Diaries are an innovative method of capturing the work experiences of managers at the PHC level, as they allow for confidentiality and anonymity, often not possible with other qualitative research methods. The expressed concerns of nursing managers must be addressed to ensure the success of South Africa’s health sector reforms, particularly at the PHC level

Group and individual time management tools: what you get is not what you need

Some studies of diaries and scheduling systems have considered how individuals use diaries with a view to proposing requirements for computerised time management tools. Others have focused on the criteria for success of group scheduling systems. Few have paid attention to how people use a battery of tools as an ensemble. This interview study reports how users exploit paper, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and a group scheduling system for their time management. As with earlier studies, we find many shortcomings of different technologies, but studying the ensemble rather than individual tools points towards a different conclusion: rather than aiming towards producing electronic time management tools that replace existing paper-based tools, we should be aiming to understand the relative strengths and weaknesses of each technology and look towards more seamless integration between tools. In particular, the requirements for scheduling and those for more responsive, fluid time management conflict in ways that demand different kinds of support