Becoming and Being an (Open) Distance Learning
Practitioner and Researcher
Paul PrinslooUniversity of South Africa (Unisa)
@14prinspImage credit: https://pixabay.com/en/spiderweb-morning-dew-waterdrop-1684807/
Invited presentation in the Doctor of Distance Education Program (EDDE 806), Athabasca University, 17 November 2016
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS• Except for the personal photographs, I don’t own the copyright of any
of the images used and hereby acknowledge their original copyright and licensing regimes. All the images used in this presentation have been sourced from Google and were labeled for non-commercial reuse
• This work (excluding the licencing regimes of the images from Google) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
• Elements in this presentation were covered in Prinsloo. P. (2014, October 22). Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin: researcher identity and performance. Inaugural University of South Africa (Unisa). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267395307_Mene_mene_tekel_upharsin_researcher_identity_and_performance
Disclaimer: This is a personal reflection. My experiences, insights (or lack thereof) are my own and any resemblance to the experiences of other researchers is unintentional…
Not all the…
may be
Image adapted from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:All_persons_fictitious_disclaimer_English.PNG
• How does one become a researcher in distance education?
• When is one acknowledged as a researcher in distance education and from whom does this recognition come?
• How will I know if/when I’ve made it?• What does it mean to be a distance education
researcher?
Some preliminary questions for consideration…
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/stairs-architecture-secret-curve-1636573/
Context & identitySerendipity/luck
Curiosity and troubleNetworks
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/tree-branches-spring-nature-sky-439171/
At the intersections of…
Overview of the presentation• Map the field on which I play as distance
education practitioner and researcher• Explore my own journey in terms of context,
serendipity, curiosity and trouble as well as networks
• Share some themes and examples of my own work
• Towards digital scholarship and being• (In)conclusions
7
Researcher identity as plural, dynamic construct…
Becoming researcher
Who I am as a researcher, how I am measured, what I value
Age
Home languagePublication language
Being researcherRace
Gender
Performing researcher identity
Location/ Context
HealthCulture
Dispositions
Habits
Networks
8
[(habitus)(capital)] + field = practice/agency
My habitus - how my past and present (and my understanding thereof) shaped and still shape me
The capital that I have acquired in the process (or not)
The field – the context in which I find myself in. This is not a neutral space, but is, itself, shaped by various structures, and agencies of individuals and collectives
My practice/agency and my understanding thereof…
[(habitus)(capital)] + field = practice/agencyAdapted from Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: a social critique of the judgment of taste. Richard Nice
(trans). Cambridge: Harvard University Press
9
Image retrieved from http://www.allstaractivities.com/images/soccer-positions.gif
Exploring research as field…• Players have set/
predetermined positions
• Rules are predetermined
• Players have different skills
• What players can do is determined by their position on the field
• The physical condition of the field impacts play
See: Thomson, P. (2012). Field. In M. Grenfell (ed.). Pierre Bourdieu. Key concepts (pp. 65—82) Durham, UK: Acumen Publishing.
Context is (almost) everythingImage credit: https://pixabay.com/en/milky-way-rocks-night-landscape-916523/
Becoming a distance education researcher…
1959
- B
orn
1976
- M
atric
1995
– U
nive
rsity
of S
outh
Afr
ica
(Uni
sa) ,
Reg
iona
l offi
ce,
Polo
kwan
e
1982
- Bac
helo
r of D
ivin
ity
1985
-87
– N
ation
al S
ervi
ce
2000
– P
ostg
radu
ate
Man
agem
ent D
evel
opm
ent
Prog
ram
me
- Uni
sa
1987
-199
4 Fi
rst e
mpl
oyer
1984
Doc
tora
l ex
ams
1979
– B
ache
lor d
egre
e
2002
– C
ertifi
cate
for
Dist
ance
Edu
catio
n Pr
actiti
oner
s
2000
– a
ppoi
nted
as
Uni
sa tu
tor
2003
- Su
stai
ning
the
Onl
ine
Lear
ning
En
viro
nmen
t – U
NIS
A
1997
– P
ostg
radu
ate
degr
ee in
Art
Hist
ory,
UN
ISA
2005
- O
nlin
e Le
arni
ng
and
Teac
hing
–
Uni
vers
ity o
f Lon
don
2002
– C
urric
ulum
and
le
arni
ng d
esig
ner,
Uni
sa20
02 –
star
t my
law
deg
ree
– dr
op o
ut a
fter 2
0 m
odul
es20
02–
first
dist
ance
edu
catio
n co
nfer
ence
(P
CF4,
Dur
ban,
Sou
th A
fric
a20
03 –
firs
t pub
licati
on in
di
stan
ce e
duca
tion
2010
- 20
11 P
roje
ct c
oord
inat
or
– fr
om D
E to
ODL
2008
– D
litt e
t Phi
l (R
elig
ious
Stu
dies
) - U
nisa
2012
– a
pplic
ation
for
Nati
onal
Res
earc
h Fo
unda
tion
(NRF
) ra
ting
2013
– O
DL R
esea
rch
prof
esso
r
2012
– N
RF ra
ting
– C3
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/milky-way-rocks-night-landscape-916523/
Image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Africa#/media/File:LocationAfrica.png
My identity and being a researcher are irrevocably linked to and impacted by my context
13
My story of becoming and being:[(habitus)(capital)]
1948 – eleven years before I was born
Image credits: http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/europeans-only.jpg
Image credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
14
[(habitus)(capital)]
My story of becoming and being: [(habitus)(capital)] (cont.)
1956 – the Bantu Education Act of 1955
"There is no place for [the Bantu] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labor ... What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it (sic) cannot use it in practice?“ (Hendrik Verwoerd, Minister of Native Affairs, South Africa)
15
My story of becoming and being:[(habitus)(capital)] (cont.)
Born white and male into a system of intergenerational privilege, white superiority and epistemological license
• Born 1959• Started school in 1965• Schooled in my home
language• Classified a European• Grew up in a segregated
mining village, in a middle-class family
16
My story of becoming and being:[(habitus)(capital)] (cont.)
I matriculated in 1976 when (black) schools in Soweto were burning and when (black) school were kids killed for protesting against Bantu education
Image credits: http://kgothatsomanale.blogspot.com/2013/06/soweto-uprising-16-june-1976.html
17
I enrolled at universities of my choice, worked on the mines to fund my studies and somehow pulled it off
Yes I worked hard – but it would be disingenuous to disregard the opportunities afforded to me because of my race, my language and my gender
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/key-stump-nature-forest-1683108/
18
Recap: [(habitus)(capital)] + field =
practice/agencyMy habitus - how my past and present (and my understanding thereof) shaped and still shape me
The capital that I have acquired in the process (or not)
The field – the context in which I find myself in. This is not a neutral space, but is, itself, shaped by various structures, and agencies of individuals and collectives
My practice/agency and my understanding thereof…
[(habitus)(capital)] + field = practice/agency
19
My story of becoming and being a (distance education) researcher
When I entered the field of distance education as an administrative officer, a curriculum developer and later as researcher – the field, practice in and research on distance
education were dominated by white, male theorists and scholars, and predominantly white, male administrative and academic staff
20
But…I entered the field of distance education research ill-prepared (theoretically and methodologically), battling to find a voice as
African distance education scholar in a field dominated by mainstream educational research, and a field ‘ruled’ by North
Atlantic (white, male) voices, journals and networks
I discovered the power of networks as not only connecting people, but also disconnecting others
21
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/rule-board-circle-font-wont-1752412/
Context & identitySerendipity/luck
Curiosity and troubleNetworks
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/tree-branches-spring-nature-sky-439171/
Becoming and being…
Some themes and examples of my research journey: context, serendipity,
curiousity and troubleImage credit: https://pixabay.com/en/doors-choices-choose-open-decision-1587329/
Prinsloo, P. (2003). The anonymous learners: a critical reflection on some assumptions regarding rural and city learners. Progressio, 25(1): 48-60.
Du Plessis, A., Muller, H., & Prinsloo, P. (2005). Determining the profile of the successful first-year accounting student. South African Journal for Higher Education, 19(4): 684-698.
Du Plessis, A., Muller, H., & Prinsloo, P. (2007). Validating the profile of the successful first-year accounting student. Meditari Accountancy Research Vol. 15 No. 1 2007 : 19-33.
Prinsloo, P., Muller, H., Du Plessis, A. (2009). Raising awareness of the risk of failure in first-year Accounting students. Accounting Education, 19(1-2), 203-218. DOI: 10.1080/09639280802618130.
FIRST THEME: A preoccupation with the student experience/student success
Pretorius, A.M., Uys, M.D., & Prinsloo, P. (2010). Exploring the impact of raising students’ risk awareness in Introductory Microeconomics at an African open and distance learning institution. Progressio 32(1): 131-154.
Subotzky, G., & Prinsloo, P. (2011). Turning the tide: a socio-critical model and framework for improving student success in open distance learning at the University of South Africa. Distance Education, 32(2): 177-19.
A turning point: serendipity, luck & hard work
George Subotzky
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketman80120/3980724036/sizes/l/
SECOND theme: The student online experience
Slade, S., Galpin, F.A.V., & Prinsloo, P. (2011). Through the looking glass and what we found there: exploring student entries in online learning diaries. Open Learning. The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 26(1): 27-38.
Liebenberg, H., Chetty, Y., & Prinsloo, P. (2012). Student access to and skills in using technology in an open distance learning context. International Review of Research in Open Distance Learning (IRRODL) 13(4). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1303/2348
A turning pointSlade, S., & Prinsloo, P. (2013). Learning Analytics: Ethical Issues and Dilemmas. American Behavioral Scientist 57(1) pp. 1509–1528.
Van Rooyen, A., & Prinsloo, P. (2007). Exploring a blended learning approach to improve student success in the teaching of second year Accounting. Meditari Accountancy Research Vol. 15 (1): 51-69.
A turning point: serendipity, luck and hard work
Slade, S., & Prinsloo, P. (2013). Learning Analytics: Ethical Issues and Dilemmas., American Behavioral Scientist 57(1) 1509–1528
2007 – International Fellowship, Open University Business School (Dr Sharon Slade & Fenella Galpin)2008 – Unisa International Fellowship to the OU2009 – Second International Fellowship Open University Business School
THIRD theme: Learning analyticsPrinsloo, P., & Slade, S. (2014). Educational triage in higher online education: walking a moral tightrope. International Review of Research in Open Distributed Learning (IRRODL), 14(4), pp. 306-331. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1881
Prinsloo, P., & Slade, S. (2015, March). Student privacy self-management: implications for learning analytics. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Learning Analytics And Knowledge (pp. 83-92). ACM.
Slade, S., & Prinsloo, P. (2015). Student perspectives on the use of their data: between intrusion, surveillance and care. European Journal of Open, Distance and Elearning. (pp.16-28).Special Issue. http://www.eurodl.org/materials/special/2015/Slade_Prinsloo.pdf
Prinsloo, P., & Slade, S. (2016). Student vulnerability, agency, and learning analytics: an exploration. Journal of Learning Analytics, 3(1), 159-182. Willis, J. E., Slade, S., & Prinsloo, P. (2016). Ethical oversight of student data in learning analytics: A typology derived from a cross-continental, cross-institutional perspective. Educational Technology Research and Development. DOI: 10.1007/s11423-016-9463-4 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11423-016-9463-4
FOURTH emerging theme: Supervision and supervisor identities
Maritz, J., & Prinsloo, P. (2015): A Bourdieusian perspective onbecoming and being a postgraduate supervisor: the role of capital, Higher Education Research & Development, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2015.1011085 (pp 1-14). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2015.1011085 Prinsloo, P., & Maritz, J. (2015) “Queering” and querying supervisor identities in postgraduate education. Higher Education Research and Development (HERDA), 34(4), 695-708. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2015.1051007
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/beaded-cobweb-network-dew-drip-1630493/
Networked and networking scholarship: a personal approach
• How does one become a researcher in distance education?
• When is one acknowledged as a researcher in distance education and from whom does this recognition come?
• How will I know if/when I’ve made it?• What does it mean to be a distance education
researcher?
(In)conclusions
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/stairs-architecture-secret-curve-1636573/
THANK YOU
Paul Prinsloo Research Professor in Open Distance Learning (ODL)College of Economic and Management Sciences, Office number 3-15, Club 1, Hazelwood, P O Box 392Unisa, 0003, Republic of South Africa
T: +27 (0) 12 433 4719 (office)
[email protected] Skype: paul.prinsloo59Personal blog: http://opendistanceteachingandlearning.wordpress.comTwitter profile: @14prinsp