CSTL Research Retreat April 9 and 10, 2005

Extended Abstracts

Susan Boyce
Deakin University, Faculty of Education, School of Social and Cultural Studies in Education

"Speaking outside the circle"  (Bruce, B., 1999)

This paper draws from my own experience of working through ethnographic case-study research based in my work-place. Conventions for setting up and designing research projects are well defined, but in this paper I discuss the less spoken dimensions of research: the politics of my own positional stance, the politics of working between the ‘inside’ discourse of my workplace and the ‘outside’ world of academic research, issues of self-disclosure and reflexivity, social relationships, and the question of ‘voice’ throughout the final text.

Choices made about the processes for data collection and methods for analysis impact on these concerns. My paper explains my choice to locate the research within my workplace and outside of my immediate professional discourse. My purpose was to develop a reflexive critique of everyday practices at the local site in relation to discursive structures and systems that shape the broader social and cultural contexts. From such a position I chose to resist universal theories and dominant narratives, in both domains, for the purpose of finding other ways to investigate how the wider society also shapes and coordinates the experiences of identity and practice within the school library. At times, this decision located me in a discomfortingly ambiguous position. This situation might seem questionable to some, but I understood from my previous study of research methodologies that it is only possible to critique a Discourse from one's position in another.

From this position I developed an awareness of the complex social relations involved in the research act - particularly those that came into play within my inside/outside/reflexive practice. Linda Hutcheon expresses these tensions in her comment that an ‘insider-outsider’ position "becomes either totally complicitous or totally critical, either seriously compromised or polemically oppositional" (Hutcheon, 1988: 201). It was my experience, however, to be situated as both complicitous and critical, compromised and polemically oppositional. I found this very ambiguity provided opportunities from which to operate, immersed as an actor in the daily particulars of institutional life on the one hand, and involved in a critical re-thinking of that institution on the other.

Data collection: the spoken and the unspoken

Conscious of both the politics and the vulnerability of this position, my work was sustained by Witgenstein’s ideas, referred to by Bertram Bruce, of “speaking outside the circle” and “speaking the unspeakable” (Bruce, B., 1999). These ideas suggest that the most important things in life cannot be circumscribed by words, so that what can be spoken is secondary to that which  is, in fact, unspoken. 

Much of the data I gathered was in the form of texts - visual depictions, policy proposals, observations, speculative mootings, reflections, responses and discussion. Some qualify as fitting what Bruce would call the 'hard stuff' that falls within the "modern realisation of Wittgenstein's circle" (Ibid: 226) - that is, those definable, measurable, replicable, neutral "institutional requisites…that are so conducive to disinterested academic discourse" (Ibid: 222). Official documents such as the School Prospectus, formal policy proposals and maps depicting spatial location and organisation of library facilities fit the requirements of circumscription. Other data, however, consisted of what Bruce might, by implication, describe as soft, peripheral stuff, "ancillary, preparatory, or incidental" (Ibid). these are the unspoken every-day instances of ambiguity and liminal experience that are difficult to present at committee meetings and unlikely, therefore, to influence policy decisions. These instances are unspeakable within the official discourses of administration, but as data they were telling - because they belied what had been gathered as officially circumscribed 'knowledge'. 

Bruce urges us to swim against the tide, to speak outside of the circle, to revive the validity of ephemeral soft 'stuff' by speaking the 'unspeakable'. Lather (1991a, 1991b) and Smith (1988, 1999) urge the research to similarly problematise the local, starting with the every-day particularities of lived experience, because "[t]he social happens", albeit through and around co-ordinating sets of "concepts, ideologies, theories, ideas and so forth" (Smith, 1999: 75). The intersection of individual consciousness with ideology plays a crucial role in post modern research. 

Method, culture and politics

Mark Dressman's study Literacy in the Library: negotiating the spaces between order and desire (Dressman, 1997b) has been a key source, informing my view of the interaction between professional practice, literacy education, the place of the school library and the organisation of its spaces. Dressman's study of reading and ideology in school libraries describes processes of enculturation as they have been encoded by the organisation, texts and practices of libraries and librarians. His approach contributed to sharpening my awareness of the "centrality of politics, culture and power…" and of "culture as a crucial site and strategic force for productive social change" (Giroux, Ibid, Series Foreword, xiii).

As methods for analysis, narrative ethnography, Discourse analysis and social cartography provided useful concepts for problematising data. Together, they provided organisational reference points, which worked as interpretive means of conveying the richness, depth and complexity of this study. Most importantly they enabled me to develop an awareness of the complex social relations involved in the research act – particularly those that came into play within my inside/outside/reflexive practice. Conscious of both the politics and the vulnerability of this position, my work was sustained by the ideas referred to by Bertram Bruce in “speaking outside the circle” and engaging with methods that allowed me to bring the ‘unspeakable’ to the surface.

References

Bruce, B. (1999) "Speaking the unspeakable about 21st century technologies", in G. Hawisher and C. Selfe (eds.), Passions, Pedagogies and 21st Century Technologies, Utah State University Press, Logan. Utah

Dressman, M. (1997b) Literacy in the Library: Negotiating the Spaces Between Order and Desire, Bergin and Garvey, Westpoint, Connecticut

 Gee, J. P. (1996) Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourse, 2nd ed. Falmer Press, London

Hutcheon, L. (1988) A Poetics of Post modernism, History Theory, Fiction, Routlege, New York

Lather, P. (1991a) Feminist Research in Education: Within/Against, Deakin University, Geelong 

Lather, P. (1991b) Getting Smart: Feminist research and Pedagogy with/in the Post modern, Routlege, New York 

Smith, D. (1999) Writing the Social" Critique, Theory and Investigations, University of Toronto Press, Toronto

Jennie Bales
Teacher Librarian, Summerdale Primary School, Launceston, Tasmania

Coder reliability testing for synchronous data: Challenges, processes and results

This report on interrater coder reliability testing represents one methodological aspect of doctoral research currently being undertaken. The research investigates an educational MOO (multi-user object orientated domain) as a supportive learning environment and focuses on the synchronous interactions of upper primary students (11 and 12 year olds) conducting literature circle discussions in Learning Communities MOO. The researcher acted as a participant observer throughout the project. 

Focus of research paper

The paper focuses on issues arising from researcher participation in the project as both a participant observer and as the coder of the transcripts. Two major challenges in dealing with the data involve the potential for subjectivity to emerge from the researcher’s participatory involvement in the project and the reliability of coding to interpret the quality of the dialogue generated in the discussions. To address these issues, interrater reliability testing was conducted with an independent second party. Rourke et al (2001, Criteria for Quantitative Content Analysis, para. 3) define interrater reliability testing as “the extent to which different coders, each coding the same content, come to the same coding decisions.” The need for such testing will be explored through a discussion of the relevant research literature. The method of assessing and reporting on the interrater reliability testing follows the framework recommended by Lombard, Snyder-Duch & Bracken, 2004). The outcomes of the pilot test in further developing and refining coding protocols will be examined and the methods and results of the sample testing will be presented.

Review of the Literature

A review of the literature on qualitative content analysis reflects a concern with building on from protocols applied in quantitative content analysis. These include a need for consistency in coding through clearly defined criteria, consideration of objectivity and subjectivity, reliability and replicability. An issue that arises with qualitative research is the need to explore data on an inductive level. For this reason Mayring (2000) recommends that only trained project team members should be involved. This was not an option in the research under discussion, and the processes applied for the selection of an appropriate coder for interrater reliability testing will be discussed.

 The method of data coding has been informed by Mayring (2000), Newman, Webb & Cochrane (2001) and Rourke et al (2000); with consideration of the qualities of synchronous computer-generated data and the application of both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Coding protocols were applied to not only analyse the manifest content of the material but to also differentiates between levels of content to explore themes and main ideas generated through social interaction and in the literature circles. A key concern has been to develop a means to measure the levels of thinking demonstrated by the students. This required the development of a multi-layered approach to content analysis of transcripts through deductive and inductive category development, as discussed by Mayring (2000).  Deductive categories are based on theoretically derived aspects of analysis formulated before application. In this case, they encompass the representation of the MOO environment and students’ use of communication commands to interact with each other. Inductive categories are developed to determine the textual aspects of the material with a criterion of definition being formulated as the material is being worked through. Examples of inductive categories include group dynamics and management, literature circle processes and a means to identify attributes of cognitive processes through the application of Bloom’s revised taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl 2001). Both approaches to category development can result in subjective interpretation of the data as the researcher forms and applies the categories and coding protocols. The outcomes of the test will help inform the researcher on the relevance of the coding protocols and the reliability in their application prior to coding the complete data sample of the research project.

 There are several widely used measures or ‘agreement indices’ for assessing adequate interrater coding reliability in communication. An overview will consider their strengths and weaknesses in relation to this qualitative project with consideration of how they can be applied to measure interrater coder reliability of the data under investigation. The selection of Holsti’s coefficient of reliability, which provides a formula for calculating percent agreement between two coders (Holsti 1969, cited in Rourke et al 2001), will be discussed. Opinions on the exact level of interrater reliability that needs to be achieved vary and will be examined in regard to the coefficient used and the standards that emerge in the literature. The results of the interrater coding reliability testing in this project will be presented in relation to appropriate acceptability levels.

 Results of the testing will be significant in determining the reliability of the coding to inform and validate interpretation. Rourke et al’s (2001) review of research conducted in this area, where coding protocols attempt to assess cognitive processes and critical thinking, demonstrate that many projects are flawed because of a lack of reliability testing and inherent subjectivity in the analysis. This report on the process and results of interrater reliability testing aims to present a sound methodological approach to increase the reliability and validity of the data analysis.

 References:

Anderson, LW & Krathwohl, DR 2001, A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: a revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives, Addison Wesley Longman, New York.

 Lombard, M, Snyder-Duch, J & Bracken 2004, ‘Practical resources for assessing and reporting intercoder reliability in content analysis research projects’, Mass Media & Communication, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, [online] http://www.temple.edu/mmc/reliability/

Judi Hurst/James Herring
Judi Hurst: Teacher Librarian, Queenwood Junior School, Mosman, Sydney
James Herring: Lecturer, Charles Sturt University

An investigation into the extent to which Year 6 students transfer information literacy across subjects

 This study took place in an independent junior girls’ school in Mosman, Sydney. The aim of the study was to examine the extent to which year 6 students transferred a range of information literacy skills across curricular subjects. The students were given active and extensive information literacy support in a term 3 project on Greek myths and legends but were given only passive support for a term 4 project on Rainforests. The methodology used took the form of a student completed diary during term 3 and a post project presentation questionnaire in term 4. The results were analysed using textual analysis but also included some quantitative data which was analysed using Excel. The findings of the study indicate that students did transfer a number of information literacy skills across the 2 subjects but mainly in a mental manifestation. Students tended not to transfer the physical manifestation of information literacy skills such as brainstorming and concept mapping. Interviews were completed with the teacher librarian and two class teachers. The class teachers indicated that the students’ work improved with the active information literacy scaffolding provided in term 3 and also that students did demonstrate improved capability in planning, organisation and presentation of information and ideas in he term 4 project. The implications for teachers and teacher librarians are discussed.

Linda Langford
Information Literacy Teacher, The King's School, North Parramatta, NSW

Designing structures and processes for developing a knowledge-oriented community:
a role for teacher librarians

Introduction

This research paper presents the findings from a single in-depth case study that explores the question How does knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and knowledge use work in a primary teachers’ learning community? Through an exploratory study of a teachers’ learning community, the structures and processes that enable or prevent teachers in creating, sharing and using their new ideas are considered in the light of teacher librarianship. A suggested scenario for teacher librarians is one of developing a pivotal role as knowledge management architects in designing and integrating knowledge management strategies into teacher information systems.

Area of research

Two concepts formed the basis of this study: learning communities (known as communities of practice) and knowledge management.

Fundamentally, and for this study, learning communities recognise that learning is a social phenomenon in which members are involved in a set of relationships over time and that communities develop around things that matter to people. Thus, it was important to this research that the study was centred on a learning community in which participants were actively involved in their own learning.  

In terms of knowledge management, the research was explicitly focussed on how teachers’ knowledge was created, shared and used. What structures and processes enable or discouraged the building of a knowledge-oriented community was implicit to this research. Further implications for practice could be directed towards the role of teacher librarians as knowledge architects.  

Research questions, assumption and propositions

Because of this exploratory study sought to identify, in explicit terms, the structures and processes that enabled teachers to create, to share and to use new ideas, the main question was: 

How does knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and knowledge use work in an Australian primary school’s teachers’ learning community? 

From this main question, three related questions formed the focus for the semi-structured interviews, the main source of date, as well as provided a scaffold for data analysis. The three related questions focussed on: 

1. knowledge creation – the processes and structures that aided or limited the development of new knowledge within a teachers’ learning community
2. tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge – the processes and structures that aided or limited the sharing of new knowledge within a teachers’ learning community; and
3. explicit knowledge and how it was applied (implemented/integrated) within the teachers’ learning community

Exploring the literature using keywords such as knowledge creation and knowledge sharing, learning community and knowledge management, it became clear that certain assumptions would need to be made about learning communities in terms of being knowledge building communities. Assumptions such as sound knowledge management practices lead to organisational learning, organisational learning leads to highly performing people-interdependent systems, and knowledge as the learning community’s core business, provided the basis for a set of propositions from which to analyse the findings. 

Methodology

The epistemological and ethnographic nature of this study included features such as naturalistic inquiry, and inductive reasoning, and depended upon the integrative abilities of the researcher to make sense of results within a flexible, evolving, and emergent design that lent itself to rich description and meaning-making. 

As this qualitative interpretive study, situated in grounded theory, was exploratory and relied fully on the voices of the participants being able to tell their stories, a single in-depth case study was chosen as methodology. This methodology was supported by blending the techniques of critical incident and storytelling, through the process of semi-structured interviews. The sample was small and non-random, leading to a more comprehensive or holistic understanding of the phenomena being explored.  

Data was constantly compared across three broad themes, each having two organising strands, with each organising strand being further divided into two additional categories. With the aid of software (NVivo), concept mapping and constant comparison of the data assisted in untangling the 250+ pages of data.

On many occasions, because of the iterative nature of knowledge creation and knowledge sharing, the same comments could be allocated across strands. 

Findings

Seventeen claims emerged from the analysis of the data. These claims presented a broad picture of how teachers in this case study created, shared and used their knowledge. The teachers outlined structures and processes that worked for them. They articulated the enablers and barriers that influenced how they were encouraged or discouraged to create and share and use their new ideas. They emphasised how important it was for processes and structures to be strategically organised if teachers were to share, willingly, and use new ideas, as noted in this comment by one of the participants, who was part of a professional learning team in the school, ‘actual sharing with a group of professionals that you were working with (was) really valuable…ideas being bounced around…very affirming.’ Still others commented that when these structures and processes were strategically organised, such as organised ‘unofficial discussions’, they felt more empowered to be innovative, to be flexible – to embrace change. As observed by another participant in this study, letting ideas ripple through the teaching community was a strategy that she felt worked because ‘a lot of staff are very receptive, very open staff, and very ready to learn, I could see that you could work through that avenue...particularly a couple of younger ones are very open, very receptive, and very eager to learn.’

 Implication for the role of teacher librarians

The implications of this research, as it relates to teacher librarianship, sit firmly in the field of knowledge management and learning communities. Within the paradigms, teacher librarians could: 

• be facilitators for connecting students and staff in meaningful ways, thus aiding the sharing and re-using of knowledge.
• Because of their overarching view of curriculum across the school, lend their expertise in identifying knowledge gaps, and connect teachers, with particular skills or knowledge, to others needing these expertises.
• Be supportive of innovative practise through providing the evidence or resources needed to facilitate the implementation of new ideas.
• Foster effective and efficient collaboration – bringing people’s expertises together, through organising, collecting, documenting and archiving practices, and through the exchange and interpretation of information.
• Be boundary members of many communities of practice, lading through mentoring, coaching, and stewardship.
• Be knowledge connectors through making coherent the voices of the different communities of practice within the teachers’ learning community, bringing teachers and others together, intellectually and emotionally.

Conclusion

Although this research was exploratory in nature, it served to highlight the conditions that teachers required to fully engage in new learning experiences and to apply new ideas in their teaching. Because teacher librarians are in positions of information management in schools, the next critical step for them to manage, and to archive, is teachers’ knowledge.   

Marcia Mardis
Project Director, Michigan Teacher Network, Merit Network/University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA

National Science Board. (1999). Preparing our children: Math and science education in the national interest. Retrieved 2001, from http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1999/nsb9931/nsf9931.txt

Julia Bale
Senior Librarian, All Saints Grammar School, Belmore, NSW

The myth of collaboration: a poststructuralist perspective on the relationship between
teachers and teacher librarians, in the context of the research process

 Despite the existence of research studies documenting positive outcomes resulting from the active collaboration between teachers, students and teacher librarians, many of the latter are at a loss to understand why they and their school libraries are not automatically considered as the first “port of call” for teachers planning student research assignments.   

A study of the relevant research indicates that such collaboration will generally lead to improved outcomes, in those schools in which such strategies have been effectively implemented.  For example, Kulthau’s research findings into the information seeking practices of high school students, engaged in the various stages of a research task, gave definition to the concept of a constructivist approach to the information seeking process, exploring the implications of a set of strategies that was further distilled by Eisenberg and Berkowitz in their skilfully marketed “Big 6 information skills” package.  Additionally, information scientists such as McGregor and Todd have variously demonstrated the benefits of collaboration with the school librarian, for students wishing to enjoy such benefits as avoiding plagiarism and enhancing their research outcomes.  How, then, do we account for the growing number of anecdotal comments from school librarians, lamenting the fact that many teachers still actively avoid bringing their classes to the school library for collaborative research tasks that use the expertise of the school librarian?  Why are some teachers still described as choosing to confine themselves to the role of reluctant participants in the class research experience, with body language clearly indicating (to librarians and students alike) that they would prefer to be elsewhere during the “library lesson”?

The author of this paper is a practising teacher librarian who is seeking answers to these and other questions, in the form of doctoral research into the information seeking preferences of secondary school teachers.  A major focus is an investigation into their preferences for particular information sources, formats and intermediaries, evidenced within the context of the teacher’s research process.  Results of the initial surveys, undertaken in three different independent secondary schools, indicate that the teacher librarian, although nominated as “very important” or “important” in theory, is not commonly the “first port of call” in practice.   Insight into the reasons for particular preferences will be expanded through an analysis of interviews with selected teachers.  The author believes that the teacher’s reluctance to comprehensively collaborate with school librarians can be better understood by viewing certain of the outcomes of the constructivist process to information seeking in the light of a poststructuralist perspective of the relevant power relationships, based, for example, on concepts identified in the works of Foucault, Derrida and Introna.  

By the completion of the research project, the author hopes to have identified strategies that will enhance the likelihood of constructive and mutually rewarding collaboration between teachers and teacher-librarians, and to have flagged those negative factors that may inhibit or restrict a more productive range of information seeking preferences for secondary school teachers.  The paper presented at this scholarly retreat will examine the work in progress and discuss results to date.

Susan LaMarca
Lecturer, School of Education, Latrobe University, Bendigo Campus, and
Publications Officer, School Library Association of Victoria, Editor – Synergy

My PhD research, completed at the end of 2003, investigated the role of the teacher-librarian as an enabling adult in creating a reading environment in a secondary school library. It explored the factors that influence this role and provides an understanding of how teacher-librarians can best create an environment to foster reading as an activity. 

 The resulting thesis utilised a case study method. The main source of data in each cases study school came from the transcripts of extensive open-ended questioning undertaken in six suburban Melbourne secondary schools of varying types. Independent, Catholic and State schools were represented, as were both single sex and co-educational examples.  School populations ranged in size from less than two hundred students to well over one thousand. The socio-economic background of the school populations was also varied. The teacher-librarian in each school was the major focus of the study. Teachers, administrators, library support staff and students were also interviewed.  Observation field notes and photographs were also recorded in each environment to provide an extra dimension to the data collection. The data was organised using the computer software package for the structuring of qualitative data - Nudist.

 The resulting data was analysed in relation to a framework that was devised through two extensive literature reviews. This framework explored the various factors that influence the role of the teacher-librarian as an enabling adult of an effective reading environment. The factors were: 

• The attitudes of the teacher-librarian towards their professional responsibility in creating a reading environment, and towards their students as readers.
• The relationships forged between the teacher-librarian and teaching staff, administrators, other library staff and students.
• The organisational and policy decisions that affect access, such as collection management, reading promotion programs and the knowledge base and advisory role of the teacher-librarian.
• The ambience within the library space and how this assists the teacher-librarian in creating a welcoming environment conducive to encouraging reading, including factors such as layout and display.
• The influences on the reading environment that were external to the library in some way, yet within the school. These included: budget allocation, staffing levels, support from the school administration, curriculum needs and the demands and limitations of architectural structures.
• The professional context of the school community and the wider educational and professional debate in the profession of teacher librarianship  within which the teacher-librarian operates.

 Through the exploration of the data each of these areas was addressed. As well, four issues worthy of further investigation were identified. These issues were, though represented in the research data, not central to the thesis. Each of these four issues are of interest and importance to the profession of teacher-librarianship and worthy of further investigation. 

In the paper proposed I intend to explore one of these issues. That is the role of the teacher-librarian. 

The research data indicated two interesting facts about the evolving role of teacher-librarians. Firstly, a friction was evident between various components that make up the role of the teacher-librarian. Research respondents found it difficult to reconcile all of the components of their role in a way that allowed them to give equal time to each. Secondly, the trend for teacher-librarians to specialise in, or choose, a component of the total role to focus their attention on in their particular workplace. The evidence indicated that this takes place either in line with a whole school policy dictated by administration, was built around a particular interest or skill base of the teacher-librarian or was driven by a perceived need in the curriculum. The research data also indicates increasing demands upon teacher-librarians to undertake a number of different roles, many of which are new or cutting edge, without extra support to enable them to adequately take up new challenges while maintaining traditional services. Worthy of note is the suggestion from the data that some of these changes are occurring with little thought to the educational impact on the school community. 

The proposed paper will address the role of the teacher-librarian through a review of the relevant research data that was collected for the aforementioned thesis and a review of current literature. It is hoped the resulting paper will add to the knowledge of the evolution of our role in practice and encourage further discussion on the nature of the profession, in practice, now and into the future.