Teaching Students How to Make Their Dreams Come True: An Autoethnography of Developing and Teaching the Dream Research Methods Course

The Qualitative Report ◽

10.46743/2160-3715/2017.3056 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

E. Baesler

Keyword(s):

Research Methods ◽

Life Story ◽

Student Perspectives ◽

Methods Course ◽

Communication Research ◽

Traditional Methods ◽

Central Focus ◽

Personal Stories ◽

Institutional Issues ◽

Dream Research

How to make students’ dreams come true is the central focus of this autoethnography that chronicles the story of the transformation of a traditional undergraduate communication research methods course into a new and creative dream research methods course. Pedagogical and institutional issues in teaching the traditional methods course join personal influences in my life story to birth the new dream research methods course. The content and format of the new course are described chronologically using personal stories, student perspectives, advice to teachers, and reflection questions. I encourage teachers, by experimenting with the ideas in the dream research methods course, to serve as midwives for helping bring their students’ dreams to birth.

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Star Performances: Ed Roberts on the Speaking Circuit, 1983-1995

Disability Studies Quarterly ◽

10.18061/dsq.v40i4.7387 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Scot Danforth

Keyword(s):

Civil Rights ◽

Research Methods ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Life Story ◽

Historical Research ◽

Disability Rights ◽

Disabled People ◽

California Department ◽

Personal Stories ◽

Performed Identity

This article uses historical research methods to explore noted disability rights leader Ed Roberts' performances on the speaker circuit between 1983, when he left his position as director of the California Department of Rehabilitation, and his death in 1995. This article examines how he managed his performed identity, his self as presented on stage, in order to be a disability star. Using his own life story as a poignant example, he narrated an autobiography of how a paralyzed man could live a vigorous, successful, indeed a joyful life. His personal stories communicated his lived experiences of battling discrimination and stereotypes. Roberts skillfully and strategically marshalled his own growing celebrity as the most prominent disabled American while he promoted the cause of civil rights for disabled people.

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Reflexivity and Practice in COVID-19: Qualitative Analysis of Student Responses to Improvisation in Their Research Methods Course

Journal of Communication Pedagogy ◽

10.31446/jcp.2021.2.11 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 78-94

Author(s):

Elizabeth Spradley ◽

R. Tyler Spradley

Keyword(s):

Research Methods ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Methods Course ◽

Communication Research ◽

Face To Face ◽

Learner Centered ◽

Instructor Communication ◽

Student Participant ◽

Negative Perceptions ◽

Communication Pedagogy

The improvisations needed to adapt to COVID-19 teaching and learning conditions affected students and faculty alike. This study uses chaos theory and improvisation to examine an undergraduate communication research methods course that was initially delivered synchronously/face-to-face and then transitioned to asynchronous/online in March 2020. Reflective writings were collected at the end of the semester with the 25 students enrolled in the course and follow-up interviews conducted with six students. Thematic analysis revealed that available and attentive student-participant, student-student, and student-instructor communication complemented learner-centered and person-centered goals, but unavailable or inattentive communication, especially with participants and students in the research team, contributed to negative perceptions of learner-centered goals. Implications explore how communication research methods pedagogy may achieve greater available, attentive, and learner/person-oriented goals through modeling, resourcing, reflexivity, and appreciation in online and offline course delivery to enhance shifts in communication pedagogy, whether voluntarily or involuntarily initiated by faculty.

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