16 research outputs found
Mediating Postcoloniaity in Education: Mis/Representations of Muslim Girls using Technology
In this doctoral research, I explore how social systems and postcolonial cultural norms impact the process and outcome of digital media production created by girls who belong to ethnoracial minority groups living in low-income communities. The study was conducted as a Feminist Ethnography and feminist intervention in a Toronto school over three years, with a focus on Muslim girls in 2011-2012. The purpose of this research is to respond to both the ongoing marginalization of Muslim girls in Canadian schools and to examine how digital media production can be used to bridge ongoing divides between schools and communities in low-income urban and multicultural areas of Canada. Using digital media production to explore student experiences, I identify three topics for analysis that complicate the notion of student âvoice.â In this work, I address how sociocultural structures inform the process of digital media production for racialized girls, exploring what kind of meaning can be derived from student-made media and considering how the videos and photos made by Muslim girls are framed within and informed by existing social structures, social expectations, and by the intentions and interests of adults. In addition, I also examine how student concerns over being seen and/or issues related to surveillance impact what they produce (or rather, end up not producing at all). Throughout this dissertation, I also consider how student engagement with different forms of new media and technology allow for varied behaviours and interests to be performed, offering a wider view into their lives. I conclude with a discussion of silence, addressing the importance of what was left absent in the process of making digital media with Muslim girls, and explore how these omissions relate to larger postcolonial power relations, to technology, and to media education for racialized girls in under-resourced schools and communities
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Tracing pathways to higher education for refugees: the role of virtual support networks and mobile phones for women in refugee camps
In this paper, we explore the role of online social networks in the cultivation of pathways to higher education for refugees, particularly for women. We compare supports garnered in local and offline settings to those accrued through online social networks and examine the differences between women and men. The paper draws on complementary original data sources, including an online survey of Somali Diaspora (n=248) and in-depth interviews (n=21) with Somali refugees who do or have lived in the Dadaab refugee camps of Kenya. We find an important interplay of local and global interactions, mediated by mobile technology, that participants identify as critical to their access to higher education. Our analysis relates these interactions to shifting social norms and possibilities for refugee womenâs education. Our findings directly address the use of ICT in expanding opportunities for higher education for women in refugee camps
Teachersâ Conceptions of Student Engagement in Learning: The Case of Three Urban Schools
Although student engagement plays a central role in the education process, defining it is challenging. This study examines teachersâ conceptions of the social and cultural dimensions of student engagement in learning at three low-achieving schools located in a low socioeconomic status (SES) urban area. Sixteen teachers and administrators from the three schools participated in two focus group discussions about their definitions of student engagement, indicators of and factors affecting student engagement, and how to facilitate it. The findings indicate that teachersâ conceptions of student engagement have profound ramifications for the ways that they approach their work. Additionally, the teachers recognize that student engagement is a symptom displayed by individuals, but the roots of engagement lay elsewhere. The teachers also described a wide range of strategies to enhance their students' engagement that focused primarily on the student, the teacher and the classroom through improving student-teacher relationships, incorporating out-of-school issues in the curriculum and the classroom, and having teachers show engagement with educational material. We conclude by outlining several implications for practice and policy and by calling for more research on the origins, development and consequences of teachersâ conceptions of student engagement.Alors que lâengagement des Ă©lĂšves joue un rĂŽle central dans le processus Ă©ducatif, en dĂ©finir le sens reprĂ©sente un dĂ©fi. Cette Ă©tude porte sur les conceptions quâont les enseignants des dimensions sociales et culturelles de lâengagement des Ă©lĂšves dans trois Ă©coles peu performantes situĂ©es dans des rĂ©gions urbaines Ă faible statut socioĂ©conomique. Seize enseignants et administrateurs de trois Ă©coles ont participĂ© Ă des discussions thĂ©matiques de groupe pour partager ce quâils entendaient par « engagement des Ă©lĂšves », les indicateurs de celui-ci, les facteurs qui lâinfluençaient et les moyens de le faciliter. Les rĂ©sultats indiquent que les conceptions quâont les enseignants de lâengagement des Ă©lĂšves ont des rĂ©percussions profondes sur leur façon dâaborder leur travail. De plus, les enseignants reconnaissent que lâengagement des Ă©lĂšves est un symptĂŽme que manifeste une personne, mais que les racines en sont ailleurs. Les enseignants ont dĂ©crit une vaste gamme de stratĂ©gies qui visent lâaugmentation de lâengagement des Ă©lĂšves, qui sont axĂ©es surtout sur lâĂ©lĂšve, lâenseignant et la salle de classe, et qui reposent sur lâamĂ©lioration du rapport enseignant-Ă©lĂšve, lâintĂ©gration dâenjeux externes dans le programme dâĂ©tudes et une manifestation dâengagement de la part des enseignants avec la matiĂšre Ă lâĂ©tude. Nous concluons en prĂ©sentant les grandes lignes des incidences de cette Ă©tude sur la pratique et la politique, et en rĂ©clamant davantage de recherche sur les origines, le dĂ©veloppement et les consĂ©quences des conceptions quâont les enseignants de lâengagement des Ă©lĂšves.
Ethics, Power and Agency in Transnational Qualitative Methods: Remote Collaboration in a Refugee Camp
This is a methodological paper discussing the ethical and power-based implications of conducting remote and participatory research in a refugee camp. The paper presents the methodological approach to a community-engaged project studying education and technology in a refugee camp in Malawi. Half of the research team lives in Canada and half in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp. This paper reflects on this study, with a focus on remote partnership, team building with community researchers, and the use of digital tools to coordinate and manage data collection and analysis. We also identify locations where ethics and power are both disrupted and affirmed in this participatory study
Pathways to Educational Success Among Refugees: Connecting Locally and Globally Situated Resources
Serious Learning in Playful Roles: Socio-political games for education and social change
Educational practice is closely tied to social, cultural, and political economies (Brandt, 2003; de Castell & Jenson, 2004). As videogames dominate mass entertainment revenues (ESA, 2007), the production and play of videogames also influences society (de Castell & Jenson, 2004). New media forge new relationships between learners and teachers, creating tension between student attention and the focus of teachersâ limited time (McLuhan, 1959/2003; de Castell & Jenson, 2004). Today, 88% of parents with children between the ages of 6 and seventeen state that their children play videogames from once a month to every day (ESA, 2007). Of the commercial game market, âseriousâ games include educational games, games for military training, games for social change, and more. The serious games discussed in this paper attempt to âpersuadeâ the player toward a particular perspective through play. Each game addresses a social or political topic considered âseriousâ by widely accepted social standards such as war, poverty, abuse, and homelessness. For the sake of brevity, I will use the term âserious gamesâ throughout this paper to refer specifically to the kind of serious socio-political games just described, which have the intention of educating game players on a social or political topic, or that hope to influence social change
View to the U: An eye on UTM research
This is an audio recording from the podcast series "View to the U: An eye on UTM research".For this particular episode we focus on: âWhy and how are mobile phones and social networks enabling education as it relates to refugees? How is this working in some remote places around the world?â
We turn to Professor Negin Dahya from UTMâs Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology and UofT's Faculty of Information Studies for an answer to these questions, along with some other insights related to her research.
Over the course of the interview we cover Neginâs work that considers the cultural and social contexts of digital media production and use through the lens of education and learning with a particular focus on women in refugee camps in Kenya.
Negin also talks about how she got into the area of research initially, the potential impact of her work for things like educational design in blended-learning systems, and the importance of International Womenâs Day on March 8 but also that feminism is a fight for equality that should be recognized the whole year through
(RE)MAKING DIGITAL IMAGINARIES WITH VIDEOGAME DEVELOPMENT: DO-IT-YOURSELF (DIY) DISRUPTIONS TO SOCIAL INEQUITY
Digital media has altered not only the form through which we communicate, but also the type of both communication and learning that transpires across transmedia platforms. âDo-it-yourselfâ (DIY) productions reflect changing forms of communication, education and civic engagement (Ratto & Boler, 2014; Stack & Kelly, 2006) and represent new possibilities for not only imagining social interactions and opportunities, but also constructing them. In this paper, we draw on Charles Taylorâs (2005) definition of âsocial imaginariesâ to consider âthe ways people imagine their social existenceâ (p. 23) in the context of digital industries and maker spaces. Networked digital technologies in particular enhance the possibility of sharing and collaborating across geographical and conceptual social divides. In recent years there has been growing recognition that digital media like film and videogames can create opportunities to interrupt social norms â to âshow what you knowâ to, with, at and across boundaries. Importantly, multimedia production creates a process of reflective (re)making that incorporates knowledge and experience from varied aspects of an individuals life into a product that can be reviewed, remixed, and reflected upon later on (Pink, 2001, 2007). This process of working with and creating digital artifacts informs and transforms society, creating an opportunity â a new imaginary â for continual dialogue and altered networks and social norms, circulating around digital artifacts throughout production and after
View to the U: An eye on UTM research
This is an audio recording from the podcast series "View to the U: An eye on UTM research".For this particular episode we focus on: âWhy and how are mobile phones and social networks enabling education as it relates to refugees? How is this working in some remote places around the world?â
We turn to Professor Negin Dahya from UTMâs Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology and UofT's Faculty of Information Studies for an answer to these questions, along with some other insights related to her research.
Over the course of the interview we cover Neginâs work that considers the cultural and social contexts of digital media production and use through the lens of education and learning with a particular focus on women in refugee camps in Kenya.
Negin also talks about how she got into the area of research initially, the potential impact of her work for things like educational design in blended-learning systems, and the importance of International Womenâs Day on March 8 but also that feminism is a fight for equality that should be recognized the whole year through
Exploring the Challenges of Conducting Respectful Research: The Seen and Unforeseen Methodological Factors within Urban School Research.
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