Journal
Thursday, March 1st 2012
I've been feeling that my progress has slowed since I submitted my last update to my supervisors. Reading relevant literature has become my best catalyst for progress at such times.
Friday, March 2nd 2012
Today I created a new section '5.10 Digital thesis design issues' under Research methodology.
Saturday, March 3rd 2012
Today I created a new section '9.7 Directions for further research' at the end of the Conclusion section.
Sunday, March 4th 2012
The overview section has now
been overhauled. It used to have a table outlining the 12
sections but now each section can be given as much space as it
requires.
Monday, March 5th 2012
Today I created a new section '3.5 Multimedia and multimodality' in the Literature review.
Tuesday, March 6th 2012
I have not given up the possibility of creating
and submitting a digital thesis. Rather than having digital
appendix (either online or on a disc) I would have a hard copy
text appendix. This would maintain the integrity of the
digital thesis by making paper the exception rather than the norm.
Wednesday, March 7th 2012
I'm wondering whether the Storyboard thesis would still have QUAL-qual properties if it wasn't a digital thesis. I've concluded that it would because the QUAL-qual methodology was initiated by the multimodal nature of the data which was generated. A digital thesis, however, facilitates recontextualisation better than a linear hard copy.
I've also been reflecting on the different levels of analysis for this project. I've concluded that it's not like medicine where symptoms are observed at the surface level and then further testing with x-rays, ultrasounds, cat scans, etc. reveals more information. Instead it's a comparative approach where the multimodal nature of the data justifies using and reusing the data in different ways. The equates to a recontextualisation of the data which yields multiple perspectives on the same phenomena.
Thursday, March 8th 2012
Reusing data is not automatically part of the qualitative paradigm. Comparing children's test scores at a grade level, school level, state level etc. constitutes a reuse of data which is more quantitative.
Friday, March 9th 2012
Today I've asked the question 'Is QUAL-qual extra qualitative?' I think the issue is that qualitative data is multidimensional and QUAL-qual methods are well suited to capture and reveal these additional elements (i.e. qualities).
Saturday, March 10th 2012
Today I changed the 'Overview' section into the 'Introduction'. The introduction section is now number 1 in the structure of the thesis which reflects my plan for the introduction to outline the whole thesis in a logical and sequential manner.
Sunday, March 11th 2012
I decided to add (2012) to the Storyboard
index page. This will assist people who
wish to cite this site as a reference as they can use (Jacobs
2012).
Monday, March 12th 2012
I was reflecting today about the nature of minutes which are taken at a meeting as this is a task which is often part of my duties as a Primary School teacher. The functionality of minutes is linear as they are chronological but are they a genre or a text type?
Tuesday, March 13th 2012
Today I added a new section to the Literature review called '3.7 Managing emergence'.
Wednesday, March 14th 2012
Today I emailed my supervisors to arrange our next meeting.
Thursday, March 15th 2012
The lecturer for the 'Managing Innovation' class
which I'm doing at the Melbourne Business School (MBS) emailed the
class links to some video lecturers which he has prepared ahead of
this weekend's three-day intensive. They met the 'variant
graphics', 'high-tech' animation criteria which I first articulated
during my 2007 Master's thesis 'Animating
Best Practice'. All this really means is that it is a
stand-alone video rather than a PowerPoint presentation (which I'd
termed 'low tech').
Friday, March 16th 2012
Today I was reflecting about the
differences between ideas and information. For the Storyboard participants the sources of their information was not really an
issue as Google was never far away.
Saturday, March 17th 2012
Today I added another section to the Explanatory Animation Framework which is '4.7 Practical stage-gates for the Storyboard project'. The concept of stage-gates was discussed today during my 'Managing Innovation' class at MBS.
Sunday, March 18th 2012
I'm finding it hard to find many references for the 'Managing emergence' section.
Monday, March 19th 2012
How relevant are discussions about creativity to this thesis? I'm wondering whether the new section on emergence, creativity and ideation should be moved from the Literature review to the Discussion section.
Tuesday, March 20th 2012
I decided to moved the creativity entries to the Discussion section. It is now listed as follows:
8.1 Creativity, emergence and ideation
8.2 Analogy and metaphor
8.3 Analogies for learning and teaching
Wednesday, March 21st 2012
I'm wondering if I should look into Project Based Learning (PBL) as the Storyboard project seemed to function in a similar way. I watched an interesting video about this at http://www.bie.org. The main three elements are critical thinking, collaboration and communication.Thursday, March 22nd 2012
Today I borrowed Lowe, R. & Schnotz, W. (Eds.) (2008). Learning with Animation. New York: Cambridge University Press. I have borrowed this book before but when I saw it at the library, I thought it was worth revisiting.
Friday, March 23rd 2012
The digital thesis issue is still looming large in my mind until I find out definitively from the University whether this option is acceptable. Today it occurred to me that any reader of a hard-copy text version of this thesis would read it vicariously as they could not experience the multimedia first-hand.
Saturday, March 24th 2012
Today I was reading (Davis, Shrobe, & Szolovits 1993, p. 17) about how a basic assumption of knowledge representation is that a representation is a 'surrogate' for that which it represents.
Sunday, March 25th 2012
Today I was reflecting about purpose for a creative work or indeed any work. The author of a poem, for instance, would have a very different perspective on their word count compared to a copywriter drafting a newspaper headline.
Monday, March 26th 2012
Today was a 'Leadership day' at work where the leadership team spent the day together away from school. One of the presenters had put some improvement goals into a table and then attempted to fill in the remaining boxes through a brain-storming session. I felt that the nature of the headings were so different that the boxes were literally constraining our thinking. I was going to keep this thought to myself but she asked me directly. I said that the layout of data is an important design consideration and that maybe we should look at each issue in terms of its own criteria. I don't think she appreciated my comments.
Tuesday, March 27th 2012
The Literature review headings have changed yet again:
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Revaluating the concrete
3.3 Knowledge representation and animation
3.4 Multimedia and multimodality
3.5 Conceptual models and diagnostic tools
3.6 Exploring the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
3.7 ICT in education
Wednesday, March 28th 2012
I'm now wondering what the main ICT issue is with this project. Is it editing and refining an artefact over a sustained period of time? Computers as tools? There is some common ground between explanatory animation creation and the creation of computer games in terms of multitasking but there are also many differences so I won't pursue this angle.
Thursday, March 29th 2012
I applied for Long Service Leave at my school today to accompany my
wife back to the USA later in July. The leave was approved so we're really looking forward to it.
Friday, March 30th 2012
I have heard before that iPads don't play flash video. When I looked at my Storyboard site today on an iPad and saw the blank boxes where the videos were supposed to be, I wondered if I should consider making an iPad app. It would probably be too big if I included all of the media.
Saturday, March 31st 2012
Today I moved the 'Digital thesis design issues' section to the Literature review as part of the ICT in education section.