scholarly journals Refugee Higher Education & Participatory Action Research Methods: Lessons Learned From the Field

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
Hadas Yanay ◽  
Juan Battle
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Dynamic Learning ◽  
Quantitative Research Methods

Refugee access to higher education is devastatingly low.  Recognizing the complex barriers facing refugee learners, global educational initiatives are innovating flexible learning models which promote blended online and in-person learning modalities. This article describes the implementation of a five month, online-based internship pilot offered to 21 refugee participants in qualitative and quantitative research methods, through a participatory action research (PAR) framework in five different countries -- Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, and Lebanon.  The internship is part of the Global Education Movement (GEM), which brings refugees accredited online college degree and career development opportunities.  Through direct engagement, observation of the internship and feedback from staff and participants, we highlight the ways in which the PAR model can serve as a dynamic learning approach to engage refugees in research practice and an evaluative tool of the GEM program.  While the use of online learning presented several clear advantages, such as engaging multiple GEM sites simultaneously or insulating students from delayed studies due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it also revealed variations in student competencies across program sites. In this article, we review the GEM PAR internship, its lessons learned and propose recommendations for future programming.

scholarly journals Participation in Higher Education Curricula Development in Armenia and Possible Effects for the Labour Market—The Case of an “Organic Agriculture” Master’s Program

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 331
Author(s):  
Hasmik Hovakimyan ◽  
Milena Klimek ◽  
Bernhard Freyer ◽  
Stefan Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Organic Agriculture ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Master's Program ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Participation In Higher Education

Weak or unstructured stakeholder participation in higher education curricula development still remains a problem in Armenia. Change in outdated curricula development processes is needed, as they often do not meet students’ needs; do not adopt innovative teaching methods or tools; and do not fit the labour market’s demand. This paper traces the evolution of the participatory curriculum development process of the Organic Agriculture Master’s program at the Armenian National Agrarian University (ANAU). Prioritizing mainly qualitative methods of research, five relevant stakeholder groups with approximately 10–12 members each at varying levels were involved in this action research. Additionally, paper-based and online surveys were conducted with 290 ANAU students. The results focus on the conceptual mapping of the process of participatory action research, bridging its relevance to the Armenian labour market’s needs. Moreover, the results highlight lessons learned from the process—shaping them around significant theories for participatory action research—and underline the possibilities of the Organic Agriculture Master’s development process as a model program at ANAU and perhaps elsewhere.

Preparing Critical Educators and Community-Engaged Scholars Through Participatory Action Research

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Meagan Call-Cummings ◽  
Melissa Hauber-Özer ◽  
Jennifer Rainey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Discrete Method ◽  
Emancipatory Pedagogy ◽  
The University

Participatory action research (PAR) is a community-based form of inquiry conducted with individuals affected by an issue or problem being studied rather than about them. Rather than a method of inquiry, PAR is an epistemological stance towards knowledge and knowledge creation that is rooted in critical, emancipatory pedagogy. Because it is an orientation, rather than a discrete method, PAR is difficult to teach. Here the authors explore the experiences of both undergraduate pre-service teachers and doctoral students as they seek to reconcile PAR principles and practice with their personal and professional backgrounds. The purpose is not to present the best approach for teaching PAR in the university classroom; rather, it is a reflective exploration of the experiences of the authors' participants, which reveals rich insights into what it feels like to become researchers within the ‘culture' of formal higher education in the United States.

scholarly journals Engaging New Parents in the Development of a Peer Nutrition Education Model Using Participatory Action Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Richard Ball ◽  
Kerith Duncanson ◽  
Lee Ashton ◽  
Andrew Bailey ◽  
Tracy L. Burrows ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Peer Education ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Child Feeding ◽  
Implementation Model

This study investigated the implementation model and research methods of a peer education program for new parents focused on infant feeding and nutrition. Two hundred and sixty-nine parents with an infant aged birth to two years old were invited to become co-researchers in a Participatory Action Research (PAR) study over three years. Data included focus group and online participant meeting transcripts, social media data, correspondence between the implementation team and peer educators, and field notes. All data were consolidated regularly and discussed by project participants and the research team. After each PAR cycle, structured content analysis was conducted, informing the next iteration of the implementation model and research methods. Participating parents were highly engaged in child feeding peer-to-peer education, but felt more effective and comfortable being considered as a child-feeding information resource sharer or ‘champion’ rather than a formal peer educator. Similarly, quantitative data collection was only effective when it was integrated seamlessly into the implementation model. PAR methodology suited the diversity and dynamic real-life study setting, facilitating substantial improvements to the peer nutrition intervention model and data collection methods. Our study demonstrated that a genuine collaboration between health professionals and participants to implement research in practice can achieve both intervention outcomes and research aims.

scholarly journals "Everybody knows by hearing but not by seeing": Exploring the use of photovoice to document challenges of some inter-provincial students at the University of Danang, Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Duc Tran
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Research Process ◽  
University Administrators ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

<p>This research employed a Participatory Action Research methodology to work with minority inter-provincial students and unearth their lived experiences at the University of Danang in Vietnam. It focused on examining the undervaluation of inter-provincial students’ voices in the university’s policies – and to a wider extent, in most Vietnamese universities – by facilitating a process in which their challenges and ideas for change at university could be heard.  This research also sought to observe and analyse the influences of power dynamics within a Confucian-heritaged context on the participatory research process itself. Vietnam is believed to be a society in which hierarchical power takes its deepest roots due to the effects of Confucianism. By using Participatory Action Research with a variety of methods – photovoice, diagraming, group discussion, interviewing and exhibition – I sought to facilitate student voices and document some of the potential and constraints of the methodology within this cultural context.  The research involved eleven student participants and ten teacher participants over a period of six weeks. Data was collectively analysed and shared by student participants with invited teachers through an exhibition at the University of Danang. Throughout the process, I took extensive field notes of my observations and interactions with participants. Data analysis was then written and presented in this thesis based on what participants had provided. Key themes that this thesis explores are: (1) challenges that faced inter-provincial students, (2) the impact of Confucius hierarchical power on participants’ involvement and ownership in the research and (3) the role of language and emotion when undertaking Participatory Action Research in such a context.  The process generated clear evidence of the common challenges facing interprovincial students associated with limited finances, mentality/spirituality, and poor living conditions. From analysis of these challenges, the research provides recommendations for teachers, university administrators and policy-makers. These recommendations promote a more holistic pedagogy that better encourages students to develop themselves throughout their time at university.  The thesis also concludes that the use of Participatory Action Research within higher education settings in Vietnam can serve as a research model for the betterment of disadvantaged minority students. It could help minimise the effects of neoliberalism on the country’s higher education sector and foster better development outcomes for students and their home provinces.</p>

We are women! We are ready! Amplifying women’s voices through feminist participatory action research

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Tracy Mcdiarmid ◽  
Alejandra Pineda ◽  
Amanda Scothern
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Women's Leadership ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Women's Movements ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Women's Development ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Women's Voices

Gender equality requires incremental and transformative change which occurs over generations. Strengthening women’s movements through collective action and learning is a key strategy in achieving such change. Capturing those changes in the voices of diverse women is critical to ethical, feminist, participatory evaluation. The purpose of this article is to explore the strengths, benefits and challenges in using Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) to evaluate a women’s leadership programme. This article demonstrates the rationale and context for FPAR providing a brief overview of feminist approaches to evaluation and an outline of the key elements of FPAR that have influenced recent evaluative activities by the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA). The case study of the Women’s Action for Voice and Empowerment (WAVE) programme is then presented to demonstrate the application of FPAR. Findings indicate the potential of this framework to influence evaluation design to strengthen the capacity of diverse women as co-evaluators; build on and generate knowledge as a resource of and for the women who create, own and share it; and, design evaluative spaces that promote authentic and inclusive forms of evidence. This article discusses insights from the findings, reflections and the lessons learned on using a FPAR framework.

scholarly journals "Everybody knows by hearing but not by seeing": Exploring the use of photovoice to document challenges of some inter-provincial students at the University of Danang, Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Duc Tran
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Research Process ◽  
University Administrators ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

<p>This research employed a Participatory Action Research methodology to work with minority inter-provincial students and unearth their lived experiences at the University of Danang in Vietnam. It focused on examining the undervaluation of inter-provincial students’ voices in the university’s policies – and to a wider extent, in most Vietnamese universities – by facilitating a process in which their challenges and ideas for change at university could be heard.  This research also sought to observe and analyse the influences of power dynamics within a Confucian-heritaged context on the participatory research process itself. Vietnam is believed to be a society in which hierarchical power takes its deepest roots due to the effects of Confucianism. By using Participatory Action Research with a variety of methods – photovoice, diagraming, group discussion, interviewing and exhibition – I sought to facilitate student voices and document some of the potential and constraints of the methodology within this cultural context.  The research involved eleven student participants and ten teacher participants over a period of six weeks. Data was collectively analysed and shared by student participants with invited teachers through an exhibition at the University of Danang. Throughout the process, I took extensive field notes of my observations and interactions with participants. Data analysis was then written and presented in this thesis based on what participants had provided. Key themes that this thesis explores are: (1) challenges that faced inter-provincial students, (2) the impact of Confucius hierarchical power on participants’ involvement and ownership in the research and (3) the role of language and emotion when undertaking Participatory Action Research in such a context.  The process generated clear evidence of the common challenges facing interprovincial students associated with limited finances, mentality/spirituality, and poor living conditions. From analysis of these challenges, the research provides recommendations for teachers, university administrators and policy-makers. These recommendations promote a more holistic pedagogy that better encourages students to develop themselves throughout their time at university.  The thesis also concludes that the use of Participatory Action Research within higher education settings in Vietnam can serve as a research model for the betterment of disadvantaged minority students. It could help minimise the effects of neoliberalism on the country’s higher education sector and foster better development outcomes for students and their home provinces.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document