Surveys

After listening to Bonnie and Aaron, I toyed with the idea of handing out a survey questionnaire to my students. I thought of asking questions such as: Do you feel more comfortable writing open form prose or closed form prose? How easy or difficult is it to follow the rubrics mentioned in your syllabus when writing a) open form essays b) closed form essays? Is it easier to have a guideline in the form of rubrics or would you prefer to write down your thoughts/opinions on the topics/subjects your own way? Having considered these questions, I realized, these are exactly the issues I discuss with them in every class, albeit in a different way, when I explain the essay topics to them, help them brainstorm through discussions and offer them answer prompts. I also realized that their answer sheets are in themselves the best possible answers to my queries. If they are collectively (and not as stray or exceptional cases) conforming to rubrics easily when tackling a certain genre of writing and not another, then that in itself answers the research question.

I also realized that it might confuse and perhaps scare the (mostly) 17-19-year-olds in my class if I ask them these thought-provoking questions which are, to my mind, more suitable for slightly older students (graduate students would probably provide more fruitful answers if they were surveyed). Keeping my student profile in mind, I finally decided that textual analysis of assignments is the best method to adopt in my research. I plan to use every student in my class as a case study and analyze their writings closely to identify areas where they find it most challenging to meet the demands of rubrics. So I think my heuristic is: How to customize rubrics for the different genres of writing?

Regarding biases in research, being a new teacher I suppose I had entered the classroom with fewer pre-conceived notions than I will when I walk into the same room next semester. In fact, I had unquestioningly accepted the department's "trait analysis sheet" which describes the grading rubrics. It was only through the experience of grading that I discovered the challenges mentioned above. I did speak with a few of my colleagues on the subject, and they said the best way to deal with it is to just turn in the grades without getting into these details. "That is how it has worked for years," said a colleague. So why topple the apple cart? Well, that's another research question right there. Does it sound like this question is more suitable for a survey if I were to send it to other teachers?

Focus groups

Our discussions in class on Monday made me wonder, are my students just case studies for me or my focus group as well? I may not be interviewing them, but while I try to find answers to specific questions from their written responses, would I not be practically using them as a focus group? Can we draw a clear line here? The line between case studies and focus groups seems so thin at times... However, one thing is for sure: I will not be paying them which is the norm when working with focus groups... Maybe just a bunch of Kisses :)

I do see one important difference between the scope of case studies and focus groups though. In the case of the former, you can interact with your subject one-on-one and thus have access to personal stories/anecdotes that may not come out in the open in a (focus) group setting. However, this aspect of the two kinds of research methods does not apply in my case.

Since I am basically looking at a literacy method in the classroom, it does seem like I am going to devise a cross between case studies and focus groups to get there.

Case studies, my research and the heuristic

I think the most prominent feature of a case study that distinguishes it from other methods such as survey is its individualized nature. Case studies may even call for customized research methodology and need lots of time to best suit the requirements of a research subject, and bring to light all relevant facts and data for the purpose of drawing up an accurate picture of the subject or situation. It could involve digging up of a huge amount of details/information, in contrast with quick facts and figures obtained during a survey.The research focus of a case study is thus narrow and well-defined, and its findings may not be relevant to other cases at all. In short, the findings may not help in making generalized conclusions about topics or issues.

Case study findings could also include lots of personal stories and thus, run the risk of being relegated to the lore category. However, that is precisely the beauty of a case study... it is unique. In my research in the classroom, I definitely see considerable amount of case study happening as I examine individual assignments to ascertain student proficiency in areas such as focus, development and clarity (the prescribed rubrics). Finally, it will be the general impression gathered from all of my 21 students that will help determine the best methods of teaching and grading. If any student stands out as a special case (for instance someone with special needs), (s)he can be helped individually, in a customised manner. However, fact remains that to indentify such students, I still need to follow the case study track.

So to sum up, I think I will have to use a mixed methods approach—contextualized and case studies primarily, with more methods added to the approach if required—keeping two worldviews in mind: social constructivist (for the benefit of students and the teaching/learning process in general) and pragmatic (to figure out the best teaching and grading methods in a developmental/freshman class). The findings of this research is what will lead to the heuristic, that is, answering the question: how can one maximize the benefits of using rubrics when teaching and learning in the classroom?

Research methodology

I have been debating with myself till the very last moment whether I want to conduct my research on the performance of online identity by professional women (a topic I relate with in my old avatar as a journalist) or on the success or failure of rubrics when grading writing on closed and open forms of prose. The second topic relates with my new avatar as a classroom teacher at DACC. I have finally decided to go with the second topic; so sorry for the delay.

My tentative research question: Do rubrics really work when grading?

My subject: A class of 21 developmental students/freshmen at Dona Ana Community College.

My aim: To analyze assignments that my students turn in to figure out how successful the use of rubrics has been when grading these papers.

The variables: The types of writing — open form of prose and closed form of prose — with the first requiring free writing and the second, research, analysis of information and use of logic and reasoning to come to conclusions.

Research tool: Myself, the sole researcher.

My observations so far: Even though the concept of rubrics doesn't always work when grading a piece of writing, I discovered in the last few weeks that I have been teaching, the prescribed "Focus, Development, Clarity" headers work quite well for the purpose of teaching/learning. For example, when I used the "storytelling" method to teach open prose form, the "I am from" essay helped the students "focus" on their own story, "I am (like) a" helped them "develop" the thought to the next level using metaphors or similes; and finally "Diversity in the classroom" took the development of their ideas to the big story while at the same time refining their writing through revisions, thus achieving an impressive degree of "clarity."

Tentative inductions:
1. That rubrics work when grading closed form of prose but not when grading the open form.
2. Rubrics work better when teaching/learning than when grading in general.

Heuristics: How do you make rubrics a useful tool when teaching?

The paradigms I saw myself adhering to when conducting my research:
1. Contextualist: Jonanek may not be our favorite theorist in class, but I did find her directions pretty useful when conducting my classroom research. I saw how the classroom could be the naturalistic setting for my reseach without necessarily being a lab setting! It helped overcome the location issue that muddies the distinction between empirical and library or lab-based research.
2. Case studies: Of course I was doing case studies as well when I looked at how my students attempted the two kinds of prose.
3. Texual analysis: That's what I was doing when analyzing all these papers for evidence of the success or failure of rubrics when grading.

My conclusion: I think I'm into mixed methods... please let me know if I'm all mixed up!

Hope in Afghanistan

It was a such wonderful news clip: Afghan women protesting the legalization of "rape within marriage." I hope the will of these brave women prevails over those chauvinistic lawmakers acting in the name of religion.

Somali pirates

Wow, the pirates were allowed to go scott free! UN and Canadian ships had to let go of a bunch of Somali pirates today because of legal loopholes... All they were legally allowed to do was disarm them. How funny! Now these same pirates will take some more hostages and demand more ransom!!

CIA and torture

I agree with CNN's David Gergen that there's no point conducting a witch hunt. This guy seems to be one of the few sensible voices around. On the other hand, we must not forget that some of the detainees we are dealing with are tough guys (trained in torture) and that we need to come up with an internationally acceptable way of handling them... we must find a way to get information from them without resorting to inhuman means.

Gaming analysis

Introduction: I was looking through the key hole of a vast virtual world thriving on the passion, time and sheer energy of a huge community of gamers — people mostly aged 5-35 — as I played Tap Tap Revenge in class the other day. It felt like I had gone back to my teen days (when my reflexes on the badminton court were so much quicker). I was required to tap on the shinning balls rolling down the grids before they hit the base line, and in a matter of moments, was focusing on them intently as I used to focus on the shuttlecock. Was it good for the soul? I don’t know, but I know it was a good exercise for my mental reflexes. It did nothing for my physical reflexes though and that, to my mind, is the negative aspect of all “couch” games.

Educational value/learning principles for the millennium: There is a section of parents from the older generation who think video games turn children into more of couch potatoes than the “idiot box” already did, without teaching them anything valuable. But then, everything is not idiotic about television, right? Similarly, there are video games that help young people pick up good “learning principles” (Gee’s words) relevant to the 21st century which are not available in conventional classrooms. To my mind, one of these “learning principles” is handling the challenge of learning by competing with oneself in a game, rather than with peers in a classroom which can sometimes turn nasty and vitiate the education environment. And the right games can actually contribute to a child’s education process by promoting cognitive growth.

Parental supervision: As with television, it is a matter of discernment and discretion on the part of parents when letting their children play video games. Yes, a certain soft drink ad on television did result in a teen (in India) trying to emulate the free fall from a highrise, but so far, we haven’t heard of video games causing such a tragedy. The National Institute on Media and the Family, a conservative media watchdog group, in this year’s report gave parents an ‘Incomplete’ for not paying enough attention to ratings and failing to use parental controls built into game consoles. Citing excessive bloodshed and brutality, the NIMF red-flagged 10 violent games (already rated M for Mature) which parents should keep away from under-17 children. These games include Blitz: The League II, Dead Space and Fallout 3. On the other hand, the NIMF recommended several Teen-rated alternatives such as Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band 2 and Rock Revolution.

Gender: Even my mom, a homemaker in India, appreciates the affordances of such “newfangled” things. That brings us to gender. Some games are supposed to be more popular with males than with females, but then, maybe it’s too early to draw a conclusion on gender-specific preferences, tendencies and capabilities. As ceilings built on gender bias come crashing down every day, and more and more doors are unlocked for women, only time can tell if they prefer one kind of games over another, given the freedom to choose and the opportunity to hone their natural/inborn skills.

Competitiveness: There are games — like Boom Blocks — that involve more than one person. As I played this game with two partners last week, the competitive aspect of the game just blew me away. I was barely into the second game and still learning the ropes when I found myself tilting the remote to view the blocks from various angles to determine the most effective spot to strike, as if I were a fighter jet pilot! Yes, I did blast the pile to clinch the third game early, but I’m glad it was only a virtual target and not some civilian’s home in West Bank or Baghdad or Kabul. That’s what’s good about gaming: it caters to the competitive spirit and helps let off steam without doing any real damage.

Psychological impact: There is talk of violence in the virtual world and its effect on young or impressionable minds. I would say, shooter games act more as means to help purge the soul of pent up feelings in a harmless way than catalyze real-life shooting sprees. A case in point would be my husband’s friend Sho, an avid hunter in his early thirties. Not only did he go elk shooting in Cloudcroft every year in the past decade, but also built a formidable collection of designer knives, swords, guns and other “weapons of destruction” that he says are an expression of his “hunter-warrior” soul. So we were surprised to hear he was at home this last hunting season, and decided to go find out if all was right. There he was in his cubby hole, yelling: “I killed the dork!” The virtual enemy in the video game had replaced the elk, and saved the life of a hapless animal.

Virtual identity: Gee’s comments on video game players taking on virtual identities really struck home. Games like Destroy All Humans, Medal of Honor and Fable (which have been around for quite a while), allow the players’ imagination to run riot as they portray fantastic roles such as that of an alien out to destroy humankind, or an American soldier storming foreign shores, or a character in a medieval adventure determined (by the player) on a scale of good to evil (with shades of grey thrown inbetween). Surprisingly, our friend Sho who sounds so jingoistic otherwise (and takes pride in his shooting and martial arts skills), says his conscience refuses to let him “degenerate” into 100 percent evil; such is his moral dilemma! So it seems that some video games can serve as mirrors of the soul and bring issues of the sub-conscience to the surface. That is, they help bring out the “real identity” or characteristics of a person through the filter of virtual choices.

Virtual high: Some of these games do not let you lose... they are only about winning! It could be the virtual high of victory for someone who has missed that experience in real life. Who knows, it could also be a potential therapy/cure for depression and tendency to diffidence, replacing prescription drugs!

Virtual power: This is an aspect of games involving simulated characters interacting in life-like backdrops. While some of us get creeped out when a simulated character dies or commits suicide because of a decision we made, others are delighted, perhaps due to a subconscious feeling of empowerment. For a taste of this phenomenon of virtual empowerment, I decided to play Indigo Prophesy. In this game, an apparently decent citizen (Lucas) commits a murder in a public restroom. Then he tries to escape and from this juncture onward, the player of the game is in charge of Lucas’ movements, determining his fate through her or his decisions, quick thinking or the lack of it, and dexterity with the hand-held device that is used to execute/coordinate the movements. The goal is to unravel a secret that is the key to a murder prophesy. To make an understatement, it is not easy to reach that final sequence. Before starting off with the game, I learned its ropes with the help of a fairly easy-to-follow tutorial. I was familiarized with all kinds of dangers that Lucas would face (thanks to my decisions) and was told that to play successfully, I needed a cool head supported by good reflexes. Equally important, that my actions would control the psychological state of Lucas, thus influencing his decisions.

My “movie” experience: The makers of Indigo Prophesy call it a “movie.” The visual and aural rhetoric of the video game, combined with a story or narrative that is partly scripted by the player (since her/his choices alter the course of Lucas’ journey), give it the characteristics of cinema. As with the setting of any Hollywood thriller, the carefully crafted background of the game comes complete with flakes of snow descending on the dark, eerie streets as the killer is on the run. There are cops waiting at every turn and I must successfully dodge them by making the right decisions or Lucas will be doomed. With every subsequent level, it becomes more and more difficult to save Lucas, and even before I know it, I am under the skin of the killer. I want to save him, or rather myself, as I have now become one with this computer-generated character, thinking and feeling on his behalf. I realize, it is this identification with the protagonist of the “movie” that makes a player breathe real-life attributes into a virtual character. Also, as the game progresses and the player gets drawn in further, the “compulsion” generated by the narrative to save Lucas helps sharpen mental and physical (limited to the fingers) reflexes. Bonus points are gained with successful completion of levels and a certain number of points allow the player to “unlock” the doors to advanced sequences. How far did I reach? Not far really. In the hour and a half that I spent with it (including tutorial time), I (now that I’m Lucas!) managed to give the slip to security at the venue of crime and dashed out the exit, but then kept wandering the streets too long and got nabbed by a policeman on patrol. So I didn’t really have the chance to experience things like “the consequences of my decisions” on Lucas’ psyche, or fully explore the world of dark forces where “anything can happen.”

The addiction factor: I have been sucked in. It is now a challenge to me. I want to go back to the game, do what I should have done but did not (that is, scanned the road better to find an escape route before the cop got me), and push my way toward the illusive secret. This is how video games get a player hooked, making the hours fly. I am told it takes at least 10 hours to reach the final turn of Indigo Prophesy. That makes it worth its price tag!

The time factor: A news report from Sweden, dated November 17, 2008, said a 15-year-old boy collapsed and went into convulsions the day before, after playing World of Warcraft for 20 hours straight. A new version of the game was released in Sweden the second week of November. This is what The Local reported (online):

…At around 2:00pm on Sunday, the boy had what appeared to be an epileptic seizure. “We were terrified and called rescue services,” said the father. At the hospital, doctors said the boy’s bodily systems had been thrown off by a combination of sleep deprivation, lack of food, and too long a stretch of concentrated game playing. While the boy is expected to make a full recovery, his father said he plans on limiting the amount of time his son is allowed to play computer games. He has taken it upon himself to warn parents of the other boys about the dangers of extended game playing…

Emilie Backlund, official with the Game Over treatment centre in Lincoping in central Sweden, told the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper she has seen a steady rise in computer game addiction, with most cases stemming from those playing online fantasy games such as World of Warcraft and Counter Strike. “And it’s not only a problem for young people. Adults have also contacted us and it really doesn’t matter how old you are,” Backlund told SvD. This seems to be one of the new problems of the 21^st century that needs to be addressed, in developed as well as developing countries.

Closing comments: Like everything else in life, video games, too, are good for the mind and soul, if played in moderation. I intend to devote a reasonable part of my winter break to try and crack the secret of Indigo Prophesy and divide the rest of my time to “physical” sports and sleep. Thankfully, I learned the lesson second-hand from the example of a gaming-addict friend whose wife divorced him not too long ago.

Political rhetoric through multimedia

To be more specific, I will focus on the way multiple forms of the new media were used by the Dems and the Repubs during the 2008 election campaign. While Obama was considered more new media savvy and therefore, fit for a leadership role in the New Age, McCain's apparent handicap in this area raised questions about his eligibility. Obama used the Net as a campaign machine and not just an ATM. He unleashed a barrage of multimedia campaign material: a dedicated blog, an Ipod application, a web site, a Facebook profile, and several paid ads on television including the now famous multimillion-dollar, half-hour "infomercial" on three major television channels plus cable networks on October 29 at prime time. All this was in addition to traditional/old forms of campaigning. On the other hand, McCain set up a web site, and showed up on QVC with Ben Affleck, (said that was all he could afford) and Saturday Night Live. Obama showed up briefly on Saturday Night Live too, and Sarah Palin gave a short interview. Palin and Joe Biden also had their web sites. Clearly, McCain was depending more on old modes of rhetoric (town hall meetings, much in the Athenian way) to convey his ethos and appeal to the audience's pathos. Apart from this, both the presidential candidates used video biographies at their respective conventions and had large screens at the back of the stage with images which were meant to enhance the effect of their orations.

I will be talking about the visual, aural and written rhetoric conveyed by the candidates through multimedia and their effectiveness/success or otherwise in the light of ethos, pathos and logos.