What are effective practices in university and community partnerships?
What are effective models for DukeEngage pre-departure training?
What are the commonalities for pre-departure training throughout our program history?
What do students say about the pre-departure trainings that indicate impact?
Is there consistency across programs?
What is an effective orientation for DukeEngage students?
How might any or all of the above be different or the same as long accepted best practices for international education, community service, service-learning, alternative spring break, etc.?
What does the research say should be the outcomes of predeparture, on site, and ongoing training? Do our programs accomplish those outcomes?
How do we know (not know)?
What type of faculty and staff training represents effective practice? What should be the outcomes of fac/staff trainings and do we have those outcomes?
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Getting Started
My first idea for this project was to enjoin colleagues in a program-wide research project. That gave rise to a whole set of pre-research questions:
STEP TWO: I decided to start by reading about any/all research methods with nomenclature like ACTION, INQUIRY, COMMUNITY-BASED, PRACTITIONER, OR PARTICIPATORY.
STEP THREE: (I think) - Who else is doing this research? What exists? What are the models for us to consider?
- What questions do we have?
- What kind of data already exists?
- How would we triangulate and validate our findings?
- Which methods would serve us best? Would simple coding of archived sources be enough or would we want to learn about a variety of methods that would provide more flexibility in the field?
- How would we start?
- How would we ever find the time to fit in one more thing - even if it improved our practice and increased our investment in our work?
- Would we have access to our student, faculty, and partner survey data?
- Would our research be used for program improvement only or would we discover something to offer the field? If so, would we need IRB approval to review our archives that were never intended to be used for research purposes?
STEP TWO: I decided to start by reading about any/all research methods with nomenclature like ACTION, INQUIRY, COMMUNITY-BASED, PRACTITIONER, OR PARTICIPATORY.
STEP THREE: (I think) - Who else is doing this research? What exists? What are the models for us to consider?
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Why a blog?
I am beginning a new inquiry project and hope to use this blog to document my process. For the last 20 years (maybe more) the focus on my work has involved one or more of the following themes: civic engagement, service-learning, community partnership, adult literacy, volunteer training, program evaluation, social justice, and participatory education/research. I am grateful for all of the people who I've learned with along the way.
A lifetime of personal and professional questions about whose voice counts, when it counts, and why it counts has led me to a couple of conclusions. One, the people around us know a lot. We come to our conclusions from different backgrounds, experiences, but we share a deep desire for a conclusive and optimal way to work towards our respective goals. Opinion here - but if we're lifelong learners and open to being wrong (occasionally), we have something to offer that will inform the goal of a better world for everyone. Two, so many wonderful ways to document what people know exist. Community-based research, action research, inquiry-based research, art-based research, participatory research, interviews, focus groups, asset-based community development, just to name a few.
That being said, how often do you attend a professional meeting where those practices are the norm? How often is a community member or a practitioner/administrator presenting about research? Maybe as a part of a collaboration but rarely as the lead researcher.
Several of my own unexplored research questions inspired me to find a systematic way to document terms, methods, and practices give voice to the wisdom held by community members, practitioners, volunteers and administrators. I believe that people who work in civic engagement programs know much about what works (particularly in their own communities) but they are often sidelined in conversations that preference the experienced professional researcher. Not sure I need to believe this is intentional, but I do believe that until we find systematic ways to document our knowledge, our voices will be heard
I hope my learning (I have lots of questions!) will lead to increased program quality and offer a paradigm to others interested in having a voice or using participatory tools to encourage others to do research.
A lifetime of personal and professional questions about whose voice counts, when it counts, and why it counts has led me to a couple of conclusions. One, the people around us know a lot. We come to our conclusions from different backgrounds, experiences, but we share a deep desire for a conclusive and optimal way to work towards our respective goals. Opinion here - but if we're lifelong learners and open to being wrong (occasionally), we have something to offer that will inform the goal of a better world for everyone. Two, so many wonderful ways to document what people know exist. Community-based research, action research, inquiry-based research, art-based research, participatory research, interviews, focus groups, asset-based community development, just to name a few.
That being said, how often do you attend a professional meeting where those practices are the norm? How often is a community member or a practitioner/administrator presenting about research? Maybe as a part of a collaboration but rarely as the lead researcher.
Several of my own unexplored research questions inspired me to find a systematic way to document terms, methods, and practices give voice to the wisdom held by community members, practitioners, volunteers and administrators. I believe that people who work in civic engagement programs know much about what works (particularly in their own communities) but they are often sidelined in conversations that preference the experienced professional researcher. Not sure I need to believe this is intentional, but I do believe that until we find systematic ways to document our knowledge, our voices will be heard
I hope my learning (I have lots of questions!) will lead to increased program quality and offer a paradigm to others interested in having a voice or using participatory tools to encourage others to do research.
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