Working on transcriptions

Back from Easter break and I am currently working through the transcriptions. There are definitely common themes emerging and I need to try to decide on the most suitable approach to take.

Interviews – lessons learned

Some points I have reflected upon after each of the four interviews:

• An Ethics Protocol was submitted prior to conducting the interviews, and a Project Information sheet and Consent form was sent to the participants. This took me longer than expected to write-up.
• Before each interview I printed off two copies of the Project Information sheet with Consent form, so they could sign one copy for me and keep the other copy for their own records. I then did not turn on the digital recorder until they were happy for me to do so.
• It was important to have suitably quiet surroundings where the interview wouldn’t be disturbed. In some cases this required room bookings, but this was definitely worth the effort.
• I definitely had issues with timings even though I had planned to stick to four themes taking one hour, this is maybe something I’ll learn with practice?
• What worked well was the time I spent researching the subject and the participants prior to the interviews this enabled the conversation to be more tailored to their experience.
• I think it was good to send the participants a summary of the key areas of interest but important not to send them a list of questions (although I don’t know how they feel about this, I think it worked well).
• Not sure how my interview technique was for the participants but I have asked for feedback.

Visual Practices

Today I interviewed Pauline Ridley, Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton, and Learning Area Coordinator for Visual Practices, part of the LearnHigher Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL).
Pauline has a wealth of knowledge around this area based on her own research and working practice so the interview was very inspiring.

Digital Film and Screen Art

Yesterday I interviewed Rosie Gunn, Senior Lecturer in Digital Film and Screen Art at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham campus. It was really interesting to open up the conversation to thinking about moving images and to talk about the role of technology in other areas of teaching practice as well.

Myojin Curator of Italian Painting 1500-1600

Last Friday I was privileged to be able to interview Carol Plazzotta, Myojin Curator of Italian Painting 1500-1600 at the National Gallery, London.
In my previous role of Slide Librarian (job-share) at the National Gallery I had assisted Carol Plazzotta in obtaining images for a couple of presentations so it was very interesting to be able to follow-up and ask specific questions relating to image presentation software.

Fashion Promotion and Imaging

Last Wednesday I began my case studies by interviewing Jules Findley, Course Leader for Fashion Promotion and Imaging at the University for the Creative Arts, Epsom campus.
I also met with Kristy Widdicombe, Faculty Librarian For Fashion and Management, who used Adobe Presenter with Adobe Captivate last year to produce a learning and teaching object on ‘research’.
Kristy introduced me to Neville Kemp, Careers Adviser with the University’s Careers Service, who gave me a really useful demo of the Wimba Classroom software that they are trialling at the moment. Our conversation also raised issues to do with the role hardware has to play in multimedia presentations.

Case Studies or Surveys?

Over a week ago, Karen Paton, the University for the Creative Art’s Academic Developer in Learning and Teaching Research reminded me to look at the interviews I have scheduled, and consider whether they are really case studies, or in fact more likely to be surveys.

Karen lent me a copy of ‘Doing your Research Project’, by Judith Bell (4th ed. 2008), and sent me a photocopy of a chapter on case studies in ‘Researching Learning in Higher Education’, by Glynis Cousin (2009).

I have also been reading material for the literature review and need to update the references section on the blog.