This was a presentation done at an inter-institutional higher education workshop on developing a research proposal for academics on this course from CPUT, UCT, UWC and Stellenbosch universities. It provides an example of a research project and the sort of questions which were addressed in this project

1. Developing
a
research
ques2on
into
a
teaching
and
learning
research
project
Vivienne
Bozalek
2013/08/12

2. The Community, Self and Identity Project;
An Inter-institutional, inter-disciplinary
teaching & research collaboration between:
• Vivienne Bozalek (Social Work Dept, UWC)
• Ronelle Carolissen (Psychology Dept, Stellenbosch University)
• Poul Rohleder (Psychology Dept, Anglia Ruskin University
• Lindsey Nicholls (Occupational therapy Dept, Brunel University)
• Leslie Swartz (Psychology Dept, Stellenbosch University)
• Brenda Leibowitz (Centre for Teaching and Learning, Stellenbosch
University)
And Linda Biersteker (ELRU), elearning team UWC and facilitators UWC
and Stellenbosch

3. As
a
group
of
higher
educators,
we
were
concerned
about
the
history
of
minimal
inter-­‐professional
and
inter-­‐insDtuDonal
contact
between
students
from
psychology,
social
work
and
occupaDonal
therapy,
parDcularly
across
historically
advantaged
and
disadvantaged
insDtuDons
in
South
Africa.
2013/08/12

4. The
context
and
concerns
addressed
by
project
• South
Africa
–
context
of
extreme
inequality
which
in
Higher
EducaDon
is
mirrored
in
insDtuDonal,
professional
and
personal
(gender,
race
and
class)
idenDDes
• Important
for
students
to
quesDon
their
own
taken-­‐for-­‐
granted
assumpDons
and
beliefs
about
concepts
and
the
idea
was
that
they
may
be
beQer
able
to
do
this
through
engagements
across
differences
of
social
idenDty,
discipline
and
higher
educaDon
insDtuDon
• Need
to
see
whether
exposure
to
those
regarded
as
‘other’,
and
whether
crossing
insDtuDonal,
disciplinary,
gender,
race,
class,
sexuality
boundaries
assist
in
achieving
human
capabiliDes
and
pracDsing
an
ethic
of
care

5. General
research
quesDon
• What
can
academics
from
different
disciplines
and
insDtuDons
learn
about
how
to
generate
a
community
of
pracDce
across
posiDons
of
difference
in
terms
of
class,
race,
age
and
gender
in
higher
educaDon
in
Southern
Africa?
2013/08/12

6. Specific
quesDons
to
be
invesDgated
in
the
project
• What
is
the
value
of
parDcular
curricular
acDviDes
in
the
social
service
and
allied
health
professions?
• How
do
insDtuDonal,
social
and
biographical
differences
influence
students’
engagement
with
each
other?
• How
do
the
above
differences,
students’
engagement
with
each
other
and
exposure
to
criDcal
literature
impact
on
students’
concepDons
of
dominant
disciplinary
constructs
(in
relaDon
to
community,
self
and
idenDty)?
• What
are
the
challenges
of
and
the
potenDal
in
inter-­‐
disciplinary
and
inter-­‐insDtuDonal
curriculum
development?

7. Development
and
implementaDon
of
module
• Planning:
second
semester
of
2005
• First
pilot:
first
term
of
2006
• ReflecDon
on
pilot
and
changes
made
• Second
pilot:
first
term
of
2007
• Third
pilot
first
term
2008

8. Curricular
AcDviDes
in
2006
• Sandwiched
approach
–
two
workshops
iniDal
and
ending
with
e-­‐learning
tasks
in
between
• Involved
95
students:
45
from
SU
and
50
from
UWC
• First
workshop
at
UWC
and
second
at
SU
• Assessments
on
Learning
Management
System
(LMS)
• CriDcal
literature
on
LMS
• Division
into
groups
of
six
students

9. IniDal
workshop
at
UWC
• Training
on
learning
management
system
(LMS)
for
all
students
• Input
on
ParDcipatory
Learning
Techniques
• Students
divided
into
interdisciplinary
and
cross
insDtuDonal
of
6
• Students
engaged
small
group
experienDal
exercises
involving
three
parDcipatory
learning
techniques

10. The
Community,
Self
and
IdenDty
Course
2013/08/12

11. Community mapping
Step 1
Draw a picture/map of your home and neighbourhood
including the resources that are there.
Step 2
Identify and label three things that you would like to
change in relation to your experiences (could be
physical or relate to attitudes, social issues). Put
these in order by choosing to give the one you feel
is most important the most tokens.
Step 3
Share in your group, explaining your picture/map and
the reasons for wanting things to change.
11

12. Engaging
with
parDcipatory
learning
and
acDon
(PLA)
techniques
2013/08/12

13. 2013/08/12

14. 2013/08/12

15. 2013/08/12

16. 2013/08/12

17. 2013/08/12

18. 2013/08/12

19. 2013/08/12

20. 2013/08/12

21. 2013/08/12

22. 2013/08/12

23. Guest
lectures:
Remix
Company

24. TELL ME YOUR RACE THEN I WILL
GIVE YOU OUR IDENTITY
Guest
lectures:
local
arDst:
Bernie
Searle

25. Performing
poetry
Gabeba
Baderoon

26. CriDcal
Texts
Anthias
&
Yuval-­‐Davis
Lugones
Dominelli
2013/08/12

27. What/who
informed
our
pracDce?
2013/08/12

28. Davidson’s
(2004)
decentring
the
academic
self
• ‘Decentring’
refers
to
an
academic
who
interrogates
the
assumpDons
of
his
or
her
own
discipline
through
engagement
with
perspecDves
of
other
disciplines.
•
we
would
add
insDtuDon
and
social
idenDDes
to
this
(Bozalek
et
al.,
2010)
• Importance
of
interrogaDng
our
own
assumpDons
(Leibowitz
et
al.,2010,
2011)
2013/08/12

29. The
pedagogy
of
discomfort
2013/08/12

30. Data
collecDon
over
3
years
• Online
worksheets
• Online
discussion
forums
• Pictures
of
artefacts
–
drawings
• Student
presentaDons
• ReflecDve
essays
• EvaluaDons
• Video
recordings
of
group
interviews
• Audio
recordings
of
individual
interviews
(research
team)
• Google
chat
interviews
with
students
in
workplace
2013/08/12

31. PublicaDons
from
the
project
2013/08/12
Bozalek,
V.,
Leibowitz,
B.,
Carolissen,
R.
and
Boler,
M.
(eds.)
(forthcoming)
Discerning
Cri+cal
Hope
in
Educa+onal
Prac+ces.
London
and
New
York:
Routledge.
Leibowitz,B.,
Swartz,
L.,
Bozalek,V.,
Carolissen,
R.,
Nicholls.
L.
and
Rohleder,
P.
(eds.)
(2012)
Community,
Self
and
Iden+ty:
Educa+ng
South
African
Students
for
Ci+zenship.
Cape
Town:
HSRC
Press.
Leibowitz,
B.,
Bozalek,
V.,
Carolissen,
R.,
Nicholls,
L.,
Rohleder,
P.,
Smolders,
T.
&
Swartz,
L.
(2011,
October
8).
Learning
together:
Lessons
from
a
collaboraDve
curriculum
design
project.
Across
the
Disciplines,
8(3).
Bozalek,
V.
(2011)
Acknowledging
privilege
through
encounters
with
difference:
ParDcipatory
Learning
and
AcDon
techniques
for
decolonizing
methodologies
in
Southern
contexts
Interna+onal
Journal
of
Social
Research
Methodology,
4(6):465-­‐480.
Carolissen,
R.,
Bozalek,
V.,
Nicholls,
L.,
Leibowitz,B.
Swartz,L.
&
Rohleder,
P.
(2011)
bell
hooks
and
the
enactment
of
emoDon
in
teaching
and
learning
across
boundaries:
a
pedagogy
of
hope?
South
African
Journal
of
Higher
Educa+on,21(5):157-­‐167.
Bozalek,
V.,
Carolissen,
R.,
Nicolls,
L.,
Leibowitz,
B.,
Swartz,
L.
&
Rohleder,
P.
(2010)
Engaging
with
Difference
in
Higher
EducaDon
Through
CollaboraDve
Inter-­‐InsDtuDonal
Pedagogical
PracDces.
South
African
Journal
of
Higher
Educa+on
24(6):
1023-­‐1037.
Carolissen,
R.,
Rohleder,
P.,
Swartz,
L.,
Leibowitz,
B.,
Bozalek,
V.
(2010).
“Community
psychology
is
for
poor,
black
people”:
Challenges
in
teaching
community
psychology
in
South
Africa.
Equity
and
Excellence
in
Educa+on,
,43(4):595-­‐510.
Bozalek,
V.
&
Biersteker,
L.
(2010)
‘Exploring
Power
and
Privilege
with
using
ParDcipatory
Learning
and
AcDon
Techniques’
Social
Work
Educa+on,
29(5):551-­‐572.
Leibowitz,
B.,
Bozalek,
V.,
Rohleder,
P.,
Carolissen,
R.,
&
Swartz,
L.
(2010).
“Whiteys
Love
to
Talk
About
Themselves”:
Discomfort
as
a
pedagogy
for
change.
Race,
Ethnicity
and
Educa+on,
13(1):83-­‐100.
Leibowitz,
B.,
Bozalek,
V.,
Carolissen,
R.,
Nicholls,
L.,
Rohleder,
P.
&
Swartz,
L.
(2010)
Bringing
the
Social
into
Pedagogy;
Unsafe
learning
in
an
uncertain
world.
Teaching
in
Higher
Educa+on,
15(2):123-­‐133.
Swartz,
L.,
Rohleder,
P.,
Bozalek,
V.,
Carolissen,
R.,
Leibowitz,
B.,
&
Nicholls,
L.
(2009).
“Your
mind
is
the
baQlefield”:
South
African
trainee
health
workers
engage
with
the
past.
Social
Work
Educa+on,
28(5):488-­‐501.
Rohleder,
P.,
Bozalek,
V.,
Carolissen,
R.,
Leibowitz,
B.,
&
Swartz,
L.
(2008).
Students’
evaluaDons
of
e-­‐learning
as
a
tool
in
a
collaboraDve
project
between
two
South
African
universiDes.
Higher
Educa+on,
56(1),
95-­‐107.
Rohleder,
P.,
Swartz,
L.,
Bozalek,
V.,
Carolissen,
R.,
&
Leibowitz,
B.
(2008).
Community,
self
and
idenDty:
ParDcipaDon
acDon
research
and
the
creaDon
of
a
virtual
community
across
two
South
African
universiDes.
Teaching
in
Higher
Educa+on,
13
(2),
131-­‐143.
Rohleder,
P.,
Swartz,
L.,
Carolissen,
R.,
Bozalek,
V.,
&
Leibowitz,
B.
(2008).
“CommuniDes
isn’t
just
about
trees
and
shops”:
Students
from
two
South
African
universiDes
engage
in
dialogue
about
‘community’
and
‘community
work’.
Journal
of
Community
and
Applied
Social
Psychology,
18
(3),
253-­‐267.
Bozalek,
V.,
Rohleder,
P.,
Carolissen,
R.,
Leibowitz,
B.,
Nicholls,
L.,
&
Swartz,
L.
(2007).
Students
learning
across
differences
in
a
mulD-­‐disciplinary
virtual
learning
community.
South
African
Journal
of
Higher
Educa+on,
21(7):812-­‐825.
Leibowitz,
B.,
Rohleder,
P.,
Bozalek,
V.,
Carolissen,
R.,
&
Swartz,
L.
(2007).
“It
doesn’t
maQer
who
or
what
we
are,
we
are
sDll
just
people”:
Strategies
used
by
university
students
to
negoDate
difference.
South
African
Journal
of
Psychology,
37(4),
702-­‐719.
Rohleder,
P.,
Fish,
W.,
Ismail,
A.,
Padfield,
L.
&
Platen,
D.
(2007).
Dealing
with
diversity
in
a
virtual
learning
community
across
two
South
African
universiDes.
South
African
Journal
of
Higher
Educa+on.
21(7):893-­‐918.