Rachel Gaines | The University of Texas at Austin (original) (raw)
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Current views of literacy have expanded to encompass how individuals in socio-cultural systems ma... more Current views of literacy have expanded to encompass how individuals in socio-cultural systems make meaning as they ''read'' and ''write'' their world. From this view, the work of students involved in pursuing deeper understandings as they discuss course concepts is a literacy act. This study focused on the inquiry and questioning moves of graduate students as they participated in nine online classroom discussions about course concepts. A coding scheme adapted from several researchers interested in inquiry and knowledge co-construction was applied to the students' comments posted in synchronous online discussion. Findings indicated that students used various inquiry moves to engage actively with course ideas, with some moves more popular than others, and with some students using a wider variety of moves than others. Although the most common moves were of those reacting to others' comments with an interpretation, supporting evidence, or more thoroughly explaining a previously shared idea, threads often developed into more sophisticated inquiry exchanges through ''inferences'' and ''critical evaluations.'' Implications are offered for the use of
This study extends the research on uniqueness-seeking theory (Snyder & Fromkin, 1980) to explore ... more This study extends the research on uniqueness-seeking theory (Snyder & Fromkin, 1980) to explore how students with different needs for uniqueness participated in online classroom discussion and to examine their collaborative interaction in the dialogic process of the discussion. Eight focal participants with low, moderate, and more than moderate uniqueness-seeking levels were selected from a graduate-level course with face-to-face and computer-mediated discussion at each meeting. Data included beginning and end-of-semester surveys adapted from Lynn and Harris' uniqueness-seeking scale (1997), students' reflections on their discussion experiences each time, and the online discussion transcripts. To analyze students' discourse moves quantitatively and qualitatively, we adapted a coding scheme from Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's (2000) community of inquiry model. Results showed the participants engaged in online discussion with different amounts of social and cognitive presence, and with some exceptions within their grouping of uniqueness-seeking levels, were either more cognitive than social in their moves or made equal use of these moves. The dynamic nature of online discussion entailed that more factors than simply uniqueness-seeking needs seemed involved in explaining students' contributions.
Qualitative methodologies were used to identify the demands and resources lesbian and gay (LG) te... more Qualitative methodologies were used to identify the demands and resources lesbian and gay (LG) teachers face in their schools. Data sources included 2 interviews each with 11 teachers who each identified as lesbian or gay. Analyses of interview data indicated 3 main findings. First, although all teachers experienced demands because of their sexual orientation, the nature of the demands were different depending on their level of openness. Second, social support from others (e.g., colleagues, administrators, and partners) emerged as a particularly important coping resource for LG teachers. Third, by identifying specific demands unique to participants’ roles as teachers, the results suggested the importance of work context in understanding LG teacher stress. Implications for teacher educators and LG teachers are discussed.
This paper examines the occurrence and role of personal and professional stories, called small st... more This paper examines the occurrence and role of personal and professional stories, called small stories or narratives-in-interaction, shared among seven bilingual preservice teachers in nine online classroom discussions in a teacher preparation course. Grounded in qualitative and discourse analytic methods, findings indicated that narratives-in-interaction helped the participants make sense of becoming
bilingual educators. Small stories acted to connect academic knowledge to teaching experiences, inviting diverse aspects of the participants’ teaching self across time and personal and professional lives. Affordances of the online platform encouraged the use of small stories as a social practice for professional development as bilingual educators.
Current views of literacy have expanded to encompass how individuals in socio-cultural systems ma... more Current views of literacy have expanded to encompass how individuals in socio-cultural systems make meaning as they ''read'' and ''write'' their world. From this view, the work of students involved in pursuing deeper understandings as they discuss course concepts is a literacy act. This study focused on the inquiry and questioning moves of graduate students as they participated in nine online classroom discussions about course concepts. A coding scheme adapted from several researchers interested in inquiry and knowledge co-construction was applied to the students' comments posted in synchronous online discussion. Findings indicated that students used various inquiry moves to engage actively with course ideas, with some moves more popular than others, and with some students using a wider variety of moves than others. Although the most common moves were of those reacting to others' comments with an interpretation, supporting evidence, or more thoroughly explaining a previously shared idea, threads often developed into more sophisticated inquiry exchanges through ''inferences'' and ''critical evaluations.'' Implications are offered for the use of
This study extends the research on uniqueness-seeking theory (Snyder & Fromkin, 1980) to explore ... more This study extends the research on uniqueness-seeking theory (Snyder & Fromkin, 1980) to explore how students with different needs for uniqueness participated in online classroom discussion and to examine their collaborative interaction in the dialogic process of the discussion. Eight focal participants with low, moderate, and more than moderate uniqueness-seeking levels were selected from a graduate-level course with face-to-face and computer-mediated discussion at each meeting. Data included beginning and end-of-semester surveys adapted from Lynn and Harris' uniqueness-seeking scale (1997), students' reflections on their discussion experiences each time, and the online discussion transcripts. To analyze students' discourse moves quantitatively and qualitatively, we adapted a coding scheme from Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's (2000) community of inquiry model. Results showed the participants engaged in online discussion with different amounts of social and cognitive presence, and with some exceptions within their grouping of uniqueness-seeking levels, were either more cognitive than social in their moves or made equal use of these moves. The dynamic nature of online discussion entailed that more factors than simply uniqueness-seeking needs seemed involved in explaining students' contributions.
Qualitative methodologies were used to identify the demands and resources lesbian and gay (LG) te... more Qualitative methodologies were used to identify the demands and resources lesbian and gay (LG) teachers face in their schools. Data sources included 2 interviews each with 11 teachers who each identified as lesbian or gay. Analyses of interview data indicated 3 main findings. First, although all teachers experienced demands because of their sexual orientation, the nature of the demands were different depending on their level of openness. Second, social support from others (e.g., colleagues, administrators, and partners) emerged as a particularly important coping resource for LG teachers. Third, by identifying specific demands unique to participants’ roles as teachers, the results suggested the importance of work context in understanding LG teacher stress. Implications for teacher educators and LG teachers are discussed.
This paper examines the occurrence and role of personal and professional stories, called small st... more This paper examines the occurrence and role of personal and professional stories, called small stories or narratives-in-interaction, shared among seven bilingual preservice teachers in nine online classroom discussions in a teacher preparation course. Grounded in qualitative and discourse analytic methods, findings indicated that narratives-in-interaction helped the participants make sense of becoming
bilingual educators. Small stories acted to connect academic knowledge to teaching experiences, inviting diverse aspects of the participants’ teaching self across time and personal and professional lives. Affordances of the online platform encouraged the use of small stories as a social practice for professional development as bilingual educators.