Of Snakes and Circles: Making Sense of Classroom Group Processes Through a Case Study

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie J. Janesick
Keyword(s):  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Lene Pettersen

<p>This article addresses knowledge professionals’ experiences of being in and using social enterprise media, which is characterized by a social, people-centric, dynamic and non-hierarchical information architecture. Rather than studying the social enterprise media from a typical STS-perspective in terms of ‘scripts’, ‘antiprogram’, or as ‘configuring design processes based on the user’, the paper direct its analytical lens to the users’ experiences, practices and routines when they are making sense of the virtual space in social enterprise media. As theoretical framework, unexplored corners of structuration theory where Giddens (1979, 1984) discusses spatiality (place) and temporality (time), where Giddens is inspired by the philosopher Wittgenstein (1972), the micro-sociologist Goffman (1959), and the time-geographer Hägerstrand (1975, 1978) are employed. With this approach, dynamic social processes are included in our studies of technology. Qualitative insights from a comprehensive and longitudinal case study of a multinational organization with entities in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East were used in order to get an in-depth understanding of how people experienced using virtual and social architectural spaces. The findings show that the social architecture and people-centric model in the virtual space in social enterprise media does not provide an intuitive spatial sense, nor does it provide logics that correspond with known and familiar logics or established communication and interaction practices among employees. Key features in social enterprise media (e.g., transparency) collide with how space is constructed in the physical world and with the logics at play in offline conversations and social interactions (e.g. turn-taking in conversations or the opportunity to withdraw from conversations).  </p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-227
Author(s):  
Marlo Rencher

Entrepreneurship, as applied here, involves helping students develop an entrepreneurial mindset by working in a university-supported startup that lacks the artificiality of a simulation or the safety net of heavy financial subsidization. This article chronicles an organizational-wide change at a private Midwestern university and the development of a new “artifact”—the dynamic case study—to complement a new approach to business and entrepreneurial education. After reviewing the function of case studies in a teaching and research context, I consider this new kind of case study as a boundary object and means for making sense of early stage entrepreneurial activity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 3239
Author(s):  
Seval Ördek İnceoğlu ◽  
Yaşare Aktaş Arnas

There are many studies conducted about Barbie dolls. However, it has not been investigated how these toys reflected on gender perceptions of children. That is this topic is still an issue of concern. On the other hand, games give crucial clues regarding making sense of children’s worlds. Through this study, it was aimed to analyze the reflections of Barbie culture on children’s dramatic game processes. The design of the study was case study one of qualitative research designs aiming to obtain information in depth. The participants consisted of seven children in 5-year class of a nursery school and prefer to play in dramatic game center during game time. The data of the study was collected by observations. Within data collection, the whole process was recorded as videos in order to minimize data loss. In total, video record of 280 minutes was obtained. The data was analyzed by content analysis method. It was found out that children frequently emphasized physical features playing with Barbies, besides they involved in gendered conversations. Moreover, it was revealed that Barbie culture increased the gendered utterances of children when handled in terms of gender. Our study is parallel to the results of limited number of studies regarding this matter.Extended English abstract is in the end of PDF (TURKISH) file.ÖzetBarbie bebeklere ilişkin olarak yapılmış bir çok araştırma bulunmaktadır. Ancak bu oyuncakların çocukların toplumsal cinsiyet algılarına nasıl yansıdıkları yeterince araştırılmamıştır. Yani bu konu halen merak konusudur. Oyunlar ise çocukların dünyalarının anlaşılmasında önemli ipuçları sunarlar. Bu çalışmada Barbie kültürünün çocukların dramatik oyun süreçlerine yansımalarının incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın yöntemini derinlemesine bilgi edinilmesini amaçlayan nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden durum çalışması oluşturmaktadır.  Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu bir anaokulundaki 5 yaş sınıfına devam eden ve oyun zamanında dramatik oyun merkezinde oynamayı tercih eden yedi çocuk oluşturmuştur. Çalışmada veriler gözlemler yoluyla elde edilmiştir. Veri toplama sürecinde, veri kaybını en aza indirmek için sürecin tamamı kamera kaydına alınmıştır. Toplamda yaklaşık 280 dakikalık kamera kaydı elde edilmiştir. Veriler içerik analizi yöntemiyle analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmada çocukların Barbie’lerle oynadıkları sırada sıkça fiziksel özelliklere vurgu yaptıkları, ayrıca cinsiyetçi söylemlerde bulundukları belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca «toplumsal cinsiyet» bakımından ele alındığında Barbie kültürünün çocukların cinsiyetçi söylemlerini beslediği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmamız konuya ilişkin olarak yapılmış sınırlı sayıdaki çalışmanın sonuçlarıyla örtüşmektedir.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 570-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Storey

Purpose – Constructing academic library learning spaces involves ad hoc groups of agents often with fuzzy inter-relationships. Librarians and their user communities are initially hailed within these groups as prime-movers in realizing projects. Librarians bring to the table contagious ideas generated from their own profession in the hope of securing appropriate funding and planning pre-requisites. All other agents, be they internal community representatives or external architects, assist them in making sense of each other’s standpoints to co-create dynamic learning spaces in “commons consent”. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using the community culture in The Chinese University of Hong Kong as existed in 2012 as a case study, this paper examines the reality of this process in terms of a new library for learning, teaching and research. Findings – Can librarians hold sway over the priorities of other individual agents, particularly architects, to gain consent to build their initial concept of the commons which they are vigorously promoting as professionally valid and educationally potent? In the co-creation of a building, individual preferences and organizational power structures in ad hoc groups drawn from the university’s distinct cultural environment fuel compromise and even tension around the librarians’ and architects’ original visions. Research limitations/implications – Many other case studies of library building learning commons projects would be useful to add to these findings in sensemaking, co-creation and community cultures. Practical implications – Assists library managers in their management of large buildings projects. Originality/value – An original case study of a major Asian academic library learning commons project which involves sensemaking, co-creation and community cultures ideas imported from construction science.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Ricke

This article expands the recent sensorial turn in identity studies. It illustrates how individuals embody and link together multiple identities through the multivocality of a particular sensory experience as well as the various meanings encapsulated within the sensory experiences of a particular event. Through a case study of King and Queen celebrations in Santa Catarina, Brazil, this article investigates the social meanings associated with the aesthetics of one of the oldest German traditions in the country. While on the surface the King and Queen celebration appears to be solely a celebration of German roots, a focus on the multivocality of the sensory experiences reveals a more complicated situation where the hosts are claiming not just a German ethnic identity but a Brazilian national identity by drawing upon the multiple social meanings associated with certain sensory experiences and foregrounding particular aesthetics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 160940691984301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo A. Ayala ◽  
Tomas F. Koch

Although systematic observation and interviews are the most common techniques in ethnography, a deep understanding requires research tools adapted to exploring beyond the observational scope. Nonconventional methods can support ethnography and complement observations and thus refine the construction of meaning. Qualitative research literature deals disproportionately more with some forms of data, typically text, lacking a structured method for visuals. This article arises from a case study using nonconventional methods, such as sociograms and participant-made drawings, and presents a structured method to attain enriched ethnographic analysis. Using this structured method, the research then draws on representation, visualization, and interaction as ports of entry into group dynamics. The aim being to open a way to discovery when visual and interactional representations do not easily translate into words. Spoken language presupposes an ability to capture and convey thought with precision and clarity and to know how the interlocutor may interpret words. A structured method to analyze images can fruitfully assist in the process. Since every research participant has a view on or a way of making sense of the research subject, the method is universal in application.


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