Thursday 4 December 2008

The internationalisation experiences of staff and students

A report on:

‘A Changing World: the internationalisation experiences of staff and students (home and international) in UK Higher Education’

has just been published on ESCalate’s website at: http://escalate.ac.uk/4967

Staff and students from Londonmet were participants in this study.

It includes useful suggestions for teaching and learning activities (see especially pp. 16-17, 23-24).

Thought this might offer you some useful insights...

Best,
Sandra

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Essay Structure - some suggestions

Whilst the final assignment is billed as an essay, I am happy to view this more as an academic paper or journal article. As such you should use strap headlines and sub-headings to help both you and your readers navigate your piece.

Possible structure:Title & sub-title: this should indicate the aim and scope of your writing – and should e copied from the module handbook – just inserting your own community.

Introduction
(This sets the context for your paper and can include Background; Methodology – if you conducted primary research; Literature Review – if you include an account of key issue that are relevant to refugees – forced migration, labelling, trauma, second language acquisition, education theory, education policy - read on…)
Background:
Introduce your refugee group - perhaps indicate why this group is of interest to you – and BRIEFLY outline:
Conditions that forced this group to migrate
Location in London
Numbers & conditions in the UK
Educational issues - success/failure rates

Possibly include:
Methodology:
If conducting primary research, e.g.interviewing people, indicate your approach and why you chose it; your choice of interviewee and rationale for that choice; your ethics statement (confidentiality)

Literature Review:
A critical coverage of the relevant literature with respect to your client group - and touching on key modules areas/themes/learning outcomes - AND the themes identified in your interviews if you conducted any.


Findings: outline what you have discovered through your research

Discussion: discuss your findings in relation to the Lit Review

Conclusion: draw conclusions as to the educational responses that would be appropriate for your refugee group.

Recommendations: if appropriate, make a recommendation for each of your conclusions.

Bibliography: Append your bibliography –Harvard style

Appendices: you may add appendices, relevant additional material – e.g. the questions you used in your interviews, the questionnaires you distributed. You MUST refer to appendix items in the body of your paper.

Worried about referencing? Workshop help available

Following previous successful workshops, Colin Neville, author of 'The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism' (Open University Press, 2007), will again be at the London Met Writing Centre (Calcutta House, CMB-20) hosting a third drop-in workshop to help individual students with referencing issues that concern or interest them.
**Thursday 11th December, 1-4pm **
This is a drop-in session, so you can turn up at any point in the afternoon. Bring a current assignment and discuss with Colin your choice of sources. Or come along with questions you want answering, including:
• How do I reference certain types of sources?
• How can I make sure I am not plagiarising?
• When and how can I use my own ideas in assignments?
• When and how can I include my own experiences in assignments?
• When is it necessary – and not necessary – to reference sources?
This is an excellent opportunity to have all your referencing questions answered by an expert in this field! Could you let us know that you will be coming by emailing writingcentre@londonmet.ac.uk or calling 0207 320 1211. We look forward to hearing from you.

Wednesday 26 November 2008

Links that did not work

Hi everyone,
this is the webpages for the links that did not work properly yersterday. The first one is the video and the second one the photo gallery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGiXxKHJuo8

http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-photography/refugees_2612.jsp

Sunday 23 November 2008

Here are the resources that helped me with my week 8 presentation.

www.educationburma.net
www.karen.org/knu/knu.htm
www.tbbc.org/camps/populations.htm
www.burmalibrary.org

Refugee Children in the Classroom, Jill Rutter, 1994

Thanks.
nn

Wednesday 12 November 2008

New Updates of Statistics

hello every one. I am looking about updated statistics of asylum seekers and refugees in UK for the year 2008. Until now I have found until 2003. Does every one know where can I find new statistics. I am looking in Home Office web page but I cannot find.

More sharing!!

Dear All,
here's the link that Khaleda supplied that unfortunately we could not access last night:
http://www.teachers.tv/video/3115

ALSO - come on you lot - be brave and get sharing your thoughts, your notes and even bits of your writing!

If you can get up and present to each other for an hour or so - then you can definitely share bits of thinking & writing here!

Best
Sandra

Monday 3 November 2008

Rutter, J (2006) Refugee Children in the UK OU Press

(Anything by Jill Rutter, who designed this module and works for the Home Office.)

(written in Sandra's previous post)

Resources

Hello Everyone,

I am having the same problem too, I am finding it difficult to find material about responses to refugees.

Any good book describing creative responses.

hello every one,
for all of you that you have began already to learn. Did u found any book that describes creative responses for refugees. I will be grateful if you can help me.

Sunday 2 November 2008

topic

Thank you so much Fumni ,i later on come up with another topic that suit the module.Wish you all the best.

Saturday 1 November 2008

Chrys,
I think you should look at the topics again.
From my own point of view, you should choose a topic you can relate very with the education of the refugees.
To everyone, all the best in your write up.
Funmi

Friday 31 October 2008

WRITING A REPORT

I AM THINKING ABOUT WRITING A REPORT TO THE M.P COMPLAINING ABOUT THE TEACHING OF SEX EDUCATION TO CHILDREN STARTING FROM THE AGE OF 5 YEARS.AM I STILL IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION OR I AM LOST?AM I SUPPOSED TO WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE REFUGEES?
PLEASE HELP ME GUYS.

Tuesday 28 October 2008

Hiya:)



I spoke to Funmi and we have agreed to do two half hour slots for our presentation. The learning outcome requested that we explore different theories on second language acquisition. I just wondered if anyone had any suggestions! I thought that I may focus on second language acquisition on refugee children.

let me know if you have any ideas.

Regards,
K
hello george and eunice,

i will be joining two of you for presentation on week 8.
i would like to discuss about this with you.

nn

Tuesday 21 October 2008

Presentation options left - choose now

Some of you still have not agreed your presentation topic with me yet - so listed below are the choices that are left:

w5: - joining Chres on the effects of labelling

w6 - joining Marisa on the psycho-social aspects

w7 - second language acquisition

w9 - joining Yiannis on exploring creative responses...

These are the only options left - so all of you please get back to me ASAP with your first preference.
Best,
Sandra
Me Again! I guess this means my presentation is on week 10?

Presentation Topic

Hello:)
I am going to do my presentation on 'Governmental/Educational Responses to Somali Refugees in the UK', focusing from 1990-1995 in particular. I realise the topic is quite similar to another group, but hopefully that should not cause any problems.
Regards
Khaleda

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Thank you Ms. Sandra.
I can download the Home Office document today.

nn

Tuesday 14 October 2008

Hi

Sandra & James,
Thanks for the invitation.
Hope to enjoy the blog to the fullness.
To all my colleagues, welcome on board.
Funmi

Monday 13 October 2008

Notes for Week Three - and beyond

Welcome back to everyone! Remember that we are running the course in room LC-G36 - which is on the ground floor of the Learning Centre.

The story so far:
W1: Introduction to module, to Inquirt Based Learning (IBL) & Free writing.
W2: Logging on the the Last Refuge blog - and posting inroductory blogs. Brief session on research methods – email Sandra for a copy of the power point.
W3: Former student presenting – have your questions ready
W4: Input from RAGU (Refugee Advice & Guidance Unit) specialist

NB Writing specialist to take forward your writing – from week 10.

Your sessions start week five – be ready!

And remember – if you cannot make your session – you have to arrange a swop!

W5: LO1: Constructing the refugee – implications of labelling – Chres

W6: LO2: Psycho-social aspects – Marisa

W7: LO3: Second language acquisition – Uzma

W8: LO5: Educational responses in Western Europe and Kenya – George & Eunice

W9: Overarching: Creative responses – Yiannis

Note: those who have not yet got a topic can double up with Chres, Marisa, Uzma or Yiannis - or choose a topic from the 'Overarching themes'. the idea is that you are proactive on this module!

Best,
Sandra

Home Office document

Here's the link for the Home Office document to which you can respond - OR WHICH will prove a useful resource for your final essay.

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-strat-refugee-201004/strat-refugee-integrate-201004?view=Binary

I just tried it and it did work...

Friday 10 October 2008

Hi all

Just asking for some tips because I am still unable to access the Homeoffice doc.( the one we are supposed to critique).

eunice

Wednesday 8 October 2008

HELP - How to access this Blog

Hi everyone and welcome to the lastrefuge blog. To get access to this and start posting and adding comments, follow these instructions:

  1. Send me an email to j.connor@londonmet.ac.uk requesting to join the blog
  2. Once I have invited you, you will receive an email. This email will have a link in it titled: 'To contribute to this blog, visit:' Click the link
  3. If you have a Google account e.g. gmail account, type in your username and password, if you don't, click 'Create your account now' and create a Google account. When you do this you can use your current email address as your username. It takes no time at all and doesn't ask for any personal information.
  4. Once you have done this you will see a link called 'View Blog', click it.
  5. You can then create a new post by clicking on the 'New Post' link at the top of the page, or you can comment on others posts by clicking on the 'Comments' link, which can be found under the posting that you want to comment on.

If you have any questions please email me and I'll help you out.

Good luck.

James

Tuesday 7 October 2008

hie everyone

Sandra,
It was nice of u to invite me to the blog. I would like to say that I enjoyed the module and hope your new students will benefit from this wonderful tool and wish my cohort had used it more effectively. I will be more than happy to contribute this year.

Viv Victoria

join the blogspot

hi. I am Ioannis and I have just joined the blogspot. I hereby find the idea for the foundation of this blog really, amazing! We can now exchage our ideas and questions about the module.
So far, so good!

INTRODUCTION

hi
I am eunice and just joined the refugeblog. For my project ( presentation), I will be looking at how the Kenyan Government responded to the education of Somali or Uganda R efugee children.

Testing Only!

Just testing.
But more will come later.

NN

HI

Hello,

This is Khaleda.

My first Blog:)




HIE

Wish you all the best.

Chrecencia

Refugee

Hello

Finally here.

Risa

Welcome posting to the group

Welcome and hope you enjoy the module
Assessment will be threefold (Students will need to pass all three assessments):
Oral presentation/Seminars – students will lead a session on agreed topic. : 10%
Either (a) A written report for an MP on ONE key issue affecting the education of refugees, or (b) Response to the 2004 Home Office Integration Strategy. 500 words – Week 6 – 10%
An essay - 4,000 words - 80 % Students will choose a refugee community in London and research the educational issues affecting that community, linking broader theories about forced migration to the particular community - Week 15

ESSENTIAL READING
Rutter, J (2006) Refugee Children in the UK OU Press
(Anything by Jill Rutter, who designed this module and works for the Home Office.)

LAST REFUGE BLOG
We have an on-line space – a blog – in which you can share ideas and post drafts of your writing. We will invite you to join 7th Oct – Week 2. j.connor@londonmet.ac.uk will need EMAIL addresses from you for entry purposes.

COURSE OUTLINE
1: Introduction to module, to IBL & Free writing. Planned coverage of module contents.

Weeks 2-4 and later: It was agreed that we would cover the following:
Writing specialist to take forward the writing already initiated with the Free write – nb former student presenting week three – have your questions ready
Support with research methods
Input on RAGU (Refugee Advice & Guidance Unit) – week four

Your sessions start week five – be ready!

And remember – if you cannot make your session – you have to arrange a swop!
Sandra Sinfield
s.sinfield@londonmet.ac.uk

Useful links to support research methods

If you are going to conduct some primary research to put together your essay - you might find these links useful:

Free online tutorial to develop data analysis skills & general support
http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/analysethis/
http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/resourcepages/doingresearch/doingresearch.html
Action Research website – with links to BERA
http://www.jeanmcniff.com/index.html
Cornell University site:
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/
Quantitative/qualitative research methods - quizzes & resources
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nursing/sonet/rlos/ebp/qvq/index.html
See also the wikipedia - follow the links to references re methods:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative
HEA Literature Review site:
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/research/litreviews

Last Refuge Blog - Welcome

Hi there

Welcome to the Last Refuge blog, by the end of todays session you will all be able to access the blog, make postings and comment on other users postings.

Good luck and hope you enjoy using the blog.

James

Tuesday 30 September 2008

Searching for relevant texts

This is what I got when I searched the topic 'Refugees & education' in the escalate site:

http://escalate.ac.uk/181

Link to escalate - articles on education...

Check out this article in the Escalate Summer newsletter entitled "Towards a psychodynamic model of student experience" http://escalate.ac.uk/4922 .
Tony Brown highlights how relationships are significant in the learning process and how prior experiences can affect the relationhips that you form in education.

Wednesday 24 September 2008

Educational Review

Education Review is an open access electronic journal publishing reviews of books in education. The Education Review has published more than 2,200 reviews since its inception in 1998. All reviews are freely accessible on the internet at
http://edrev.asu.edu

The Education Review publishes reviews in Spanish and Portuguese as well as in English.

Thursday 22 May 2008

Possible final assignment structure

whilst the final assignment is billed as an essay, I am happy to view this more as an academic paper or journal article. As such I think that you can and even should use strap headlines and sub-headings to help both you and your readers navigate your piece.

Possible structure:

Title & sub-title: this should indicate the aim and scope of your writing (you are not writing all you know on the topic)

Introduction:
- Introduce your refugee group - perhaps indicate why this group is of interest to you
- Background: conditions that forced this group to migrate; location, numbers & conditions in the UK; educational success/failure rates
- Literature Review: A critical coverage of the relevant literature with respect to your client group (and touching on key modules areas/themes/learning outcomes - AND the themes identified in your interviews)

Findings: outline what you have discovered through your research

Discussion: discuss your findings in relation to the Lit Review

Conclusion

Recommendations

Best
Sandra

Sunday 27 April 2008

the 500 word bit of writing

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-strat-refugee-201004/strat-refugee-integrate-201004?view=Binary

can i just check - is this the doc that we are doing the 500 word response to (one of the choices for this)? i wasn't sure because it says draft consultation on it...

cheers - beccy

Monday 21 April 2008

Presentations - week 11 !!!

Last week we discussed having your assessed presentations in week 12 rather than 11, with the tutorials running the week before. I have now thought about this some more - and think that we should stay with the programme:

w.10: Rappel and Israa run their Learning Outcome sessions

w.11: Individual, assessed presentations (10%) - on your case study (9/10 mins MAX)

w.12: Peer and individual tutorials on your case study.

This arrangement allows me to give tailored one-to-one advice in week 12; especially necessary JUST IN CASE someone has missed the point or is going way off course.

Anyway - now you can hve your say!
Best
Sandra

Monday 14 April 2008

Politics of Belonging - lecture & website...

Lunchtime Seminar Series for 2008:Social Political Identities and Tackling Workplace Discrimination

Title of the talk:*Belonging and the Politics of Belonging*
Speaker: Nira Yuval-Davis
Date: Wednesday 7th May 2008
Time: 12.45pm to 2pm
Venue: The 'Boardroom' (JS1-41)31 Jewry StreetLondon EC3N 2EY

About the talk:Professor Nira Yuval-Davis will discuss some of the major issues involved in analysing the notions of belonging and the politics of belonging, theoretically and politically in relation to some of the major political projects in contemporary Britain.

About the speaker:Professor Nira Yuval-Davis is a diasporic Israeli Jew living in London. She is Graduate Course Director in Gender, Sexualities and Ethnic Studies at the University of East London. She has published widely on theoretical and empirical aspects of nationalism, racism, fundamentalism, citizenship and gender relations in Britain & Europe, Israel and other settler societies. Among her recent books are Gender and Nation (Sage, 1997) (which has been translated by now to seven different languages); Women, Citizenship and Difference (Zed Books, 1999); Warning Signs of Fundamentalisms (WLUML, 2004) and The Situated Politics of Belonging (Sage, 2006). She is currently working on a monograph on Nationalism and Belonging (Sage, forthcoming) and is the Director of an ESRC funded research project on Identity, Performance and Social Action: The Use of Community Theatre among Refugees.

Nira Yuval-Davis staff page:http://www.uel.ac.uk/ssmcs/staff/nira-yuval-davis/

For more info on the WLRI Social Political Identities Seminar Series 2008 - including audio recordings of past seminars: http://www.workinglives.org/events_wlri_seminarseries2008.html

We warmly welcome you all to come and listen to the views and theories of our prominent and diverse range of speakers. Please join us in debating contemporary issues of social justice on the first Wednesday of every month from 12.45 to 2pm over a sandwich lunch (including vegan options). These public seminars are open to all. However, since we will be providing lunch [ please attempt to email first].

Wednesday 9 April 2008

g2 Article

The thing I gave out today is available online if you can't guess the text the photocopier left off (sorry), although I don't know how long they'll leave it up.

Click here


If you have the time, it's a very interesting read.

A lttle bit more on notemaking ...

A follow up to the query in re notemaking - thought you might to see me give a little lecture on this on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1IHsPt_Nmg

And if you would like to see our module convenor, Tom Burns, introduce our forthcoming book, Essential Study Skills, see his Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgsgjS2WIg

And a reminder about our new Preventing Plagiarism course in WebLearn - which has friendly videos describing plagiarism - and resources to demonstrate how to reference correctly in the Learning Resources file there.

Best,
Sandra

Tuesday 8 April 2008

Tuesday 8th April - Beccy's session

Dear All,
I do hope that you have all remembered that we are having Beccy's session tonight. I also hope that you have read the two papers that she gave us in preparation for it.

ALSO - I hope that whoever is doing tomorrow night's session is equally prepared for it and ready to go!

I look forward to seeing you all tonight - initially in the workshop space outside our room...

Best,
Sandra

Monday 17 March 2008

Our next session after Easter

Dear All,
Just a reminder that we are NOT meeting on Wednesday 2nd April (I am away at a Writing Retreat - so may have even more writing tips to share!).

We have agreed to meet twice the week after thatTuesday, 8th when Beccy will lead her session and Wednesday 9th when I think it is Viv (?). Good luck to both of you!

Can someone email Israa and Rappel just to make sure that they get the message?

Happy Easter to you all - I do hope that you get some rest - but that you also start producing those paragraphs!!

Best
Sandra

rappel and ezra

rappel and ezra (i hope i spelled that correctly) - i need to give you a copy of an article for the session i'm doing on tues april 8th... would it be poss for you to give me your addresses so i can post it to you as i don't have electronic versions? you can email me on r.finch@londonmet.ac.uk or beccyfinch33@hotmail.com. cheers, beccy

note taking from readings

hi sandra - i wondered if you could help me with a quick question about notetaking, as i know this is your area of research and expertise... i struggle to make effective notes when i read an article or chapter. is it better to read the whole thing and then go back and make notes? or to annotate and then make notes from there? or write notes as you read? obviously i know a lot of this will be to do with individual style and preference but i just wondered if you could offer me any tips or strategies that i wouldn't have considered. thanks v much, beccy

Friday 14 March 2008

Link to my Powerpoint slides

This should be viewable in the browser window, please let me know if there are any problems.

http://jamierefugees.webs.com/Refugees.mht

Tuesday 11 March 2008

Hie all,

Books on the refugee experience
Here we offer a number of well written, illuminating novels and books about the refugee experience. We don't sell them ourselves, we just think you may enjoy them.Hie all,


Jade's Book - 'From There to Here'
Read Refugee Council volunteer Jade Amoli-Jackson's personal account of her journey to the UK, published as part of Penguin anthology, which was TimeOut London's Book of the Week.
Find out more>>


Our choices


Autobiographies
First-hand accounts of the refugee experience. These moving books tell the refugees' stories in their own words and include the autobiography of top supermodel, Alek Wek.


Novels
A selection of novels written about the refugee experience, including the hugely successful novel 'The Kite Runner,' which has recently been made into a major film.


Anthologies
Collective works featuring poems, novels and memoirs written by refugees living in Britain.


Non-fiction
A series of explorations into specific refugee issues. Topics include the use of child soldiers in conflict and the process of human trafficking in Europe. Each book uses personal stories alongside more in-depth analysis to explain the issue involved.


Children's books
Books aimed at younger readers.


Alternative
A selection of alternative works dealing with refugee issues, including a stunning photographic portrayal of life in Palestinian refugee camps and the extremely popular 'Persepolis' graphic novel series.

RE: Basics

Hie all,

here is one I came across.

http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/practice/basics/truth.htm

Your sessions begin!

From this week, you are now leading the sessions that will cover our key Learning Outcomes. I wish you all good luck - and also issue a caution: you can no longer be ill! If for any reason you feel that you will be unable to run your session, YOU must organise to switch with a colleague.

As you all know, these weeks are being launched by James O'Neill - and I just want to wish him luck, and to say how much I am looking forward to his session tomorrow evening.
Good luck & best wishes,
Sandra

Monday 10 March 2008

A news story & a great link!

Dear All - just to alert you to the Independent, Monday 10th March: great story on the Redbridge primary school where 40 different languages are learned - a way of making the diverse student body an opportunity not a problem!

Also - check out this link for on-line space, including on-line journal, on issues of race:
http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/

And, hey, be careful out there!
Best
Sandra

Sunday 2 March 2008

Sounds Interesting!!!?

Hie Sandra and everyone,

Try this out!

"it is a place where representatives from the North East's 104 different nationalities can meet, share ideas and experiences, and work democratically toward a shared aim: the successful integration of ALL refugees.
It is also a platform where the voice of the region's refugees seeks out and engages with the statutory sector, and other key agencies. In this way we contribute to the immigration debate and actively influence policy."



http://http://www.refugeevoices.org.uk/

Over 55 case studies on supporting refugee integration

Hie all,
Colleagues may be interested to see the following website guidance - comprehensive guidance and over 55 case studies on supporting refugee integration in education settings: The Integration of Refugee Children: Good Practice in Educational Settings_http://www.nrif.org.uk/Education/index.asp_ (http://www.nrif.org.uk/Education/index.asp) This Home Office National Refugee Integration Forum website provides information, guidance and examples of good practice to support the integration of refugee children and young people in schools and other education settings. Tim Spafford



http://http://www.nrif.org.uk/Education/index.asp

Attaching a link

Thanx Jammie, u a a good teacher as you can see. it worked.
Hie everyone,

Schools receive funding for children of asylum seekers and refugees in the same way as they do for all other children on the school roll, through the ......... read on


http://http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/atoz/r/refugeeandasylumseekerschildren/

Thursday 28 February 2008

Thinking about doing a Literaure Review?

You may remember that I am a member of the Learn Higher Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning www.learnhigher.ac.uk - go there for information and resources that might support your APPROACHES to to study!!!

Personally, I am undertaking research in to student reading and notemaking strategies - and also producing teaching & learning resources in these areas.

This year I have commissioned the production of an ON-LINE LITERATURE REVIEW.

The Literature Review is on the topic of student Reading issues - and you are very welcome to read the Review for its content - and to join in the BLOG discussions that go with it. this sort of activity helps you to feel part of a lively academic community - this is a good thing!

ALSO - you may want to go there to see what a good literature review should look like - and how you can build one over time...

FINALLY - you might like to go there to read the CONTENT - for much of this review will be covering issues of POWER & CONTROL in relation to education - and you may be interested in these areas - and in the related research - to help you with your case study.

On-line Literature Review
http://litreview.pbwiki.com/

for the blog:<http://onlinelitreview.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html>

Best,
Sandra

my essay topic (i think)

I want to look at the Somali community of north east London, focusing on the psychological and social aspects of the educational issues they face as forced migrants. I plan to relate these to the 'ecological' theory of development proposed by Bronfenbrenner - could using this perspective help us to view the issues these refugees face, and the responses they require, in a different way?

... or something like that!
i don't know if i will be able to answer this yet!

beccy

Tuesday 26 February 2008

Refugee Camp Simulation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7262658.stm

Oxfam set up Refugee Realities in Australia.

Word document

I have tried to attach a word document and have found it difficult so will email you the document.

Victoria

Monday 25 February 2008

Get searching!!

Remember my tip in last week's notes re a great GOOGLE search.
Put
government + policy + education + refugees
in the search box.
A couple of clicks will get you to Jill Rutter's Policy Document on this - with case studies of good practice.

Best,
Sandra

Friday 22 February 2008

oops, i should have said, rappel - victoria has your copy of the article. ta, beccy
hi, beccy here.
thanks for the articles.
the one i gave out the copy of - for info, this is the last chapter from
Hamilton, R. & Moore, D. (Eds). Educational interventions for refugee children. Routledge Falmer.
i have that book out of the library at the mo and have found it interesting. There are eight chapters in all - on things like 2nd lang issues, trauma, and policy - but the chapter i copied was quite a good summing up of everything in the book.
cheers
beccy

Thursday 21 February 2008

Paper on Enthnographic research methods - narratives

Dear All,
I am so happy that we got the Blog up and running last night - many thanks to James for getting us set up so swiftly and with so little fuss.

I note that Jamie has already started the ball rolling wth a post on a useful journal article for us.

EVERYONE: please remember to post NOTES on your research and reading EVERY WEEK. It would be useful if you can give: Author (date) TITLE, location;Publisher - and a summary of the key points of the piece that you read - indicating how useful - or not - it was - and how it fits into field.

Below I have pasted the Abstract from a paper that uses student narratives as a research methodology. Obviously what we are really looking for in a paper like this is a model of how someone else has justified their methodology...
If you would like a copy of the whole paper, please email me s.sinfield@londonmet.ac.uk

-----------------------------------------------
Telling tales: a fresh look at student experience and learning in higher education
Dr Dilly Fung (University of Exeter) D.Fung@exeter.ac.uk

BERA Conference 2006 Reference Number: 0498
Session: Parallel Session 5 Date: 08/09/2006 from 09:00 to 10:30

Abstract
Drawing on sequences of oral narratives by first year university students, the primary research study on which this paper is based (Fung, 2007) brings a new perspective to some of the key ideas found in today’s literature on ‘learning and teaching in higher education’. The notions of student experience, students’ approaches to learning and their conceptions of learning frequently arise in today’s research into higher education (HE). Proponents of the ‘deep and surface learning’ model (Marton et al.,1997) and the related notion of ‘constructive alignment’ (Biggs, 2003) offer advice for educational developers and teachers in HE, with a view to encouraging ‘deep’ level learning for meaning, rather than ‘surface’ learning which aims only to reproduce; this approach has been referred to as a ‘new paradigm’ (Entwistle, in Marton et al., 1997). Underpinned by phenomenographic methodology, the field has raised useful questions about ‘student experience’ regarding students’ individual differences in approach to and conceptions of learning, and about the implications of these for practitioners.
However, this recent narrative research (Fung, 2007) takes a fresh look at the issues, using personal stories as a means of gaining a richer description of the lifeworld of students and their learning. Twenty-two first year students, arriving at an ‘old’ university to take English or English-related undergraduate degrees, were invited to talk at length on three occasions (at the beginning, middle and end of the first year) about their experience. No specific questions were asked; rather, narrative prompts such as ‘Can you tell me about this term?’ were given, encouraging students to talk as fully as possible about their learning within the wider context of their experiences of university. This resulted in 60 personal narratives, totalling more than 400,000 words. In this era of Widening Participation, half of the narrators were ‘traditional’ students and half ‘non-traditional’; a hermeneutic analysis (Gallagher, 1992) based on Chatman’s approach to narrative analysis (Chatman, 1993) of the transcribed narratives was then conducted, and the stories of students from different backgrounds juxtaposed.
As students represent at length their experience, it is noticeable that, whilst the traditional and non-traditional students express some differences in terms of their representations of experiencing HE culture, participants show a marked and common emphasis on the social and interactive dimensions of their approaches to learning. The centrality in the texts of the collective dimension of the learning experience raises strongly the importance of the notion of ‘education as relation’ (Bingham and Sidorkin, 2004), for students from all backgrounds. In turn, structural issues arise for those designing and delivering programmes of study, and some practical steps are proposed that may be taken by institutions, departments and lecturers to focus afresh on the importance of this dimension of the students’ experience, and its importance for their ‘learning’, and education more broadly.

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Best,
Sandra

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Burmese Refugees in Japan

http://0-ejournals.ebsco.com.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/RemoteRedirect.asp?IsPaginated=0&ContentType=Article&ArticleID=10484700&ContributionFullTextIndex=1&RemoteURL=FullTextDelivery%2Easp%3Fformat%3Dfulltext%26ciid%3D10484700%26ftindex%3D1

(Link to PDF file of article from the Journal of Refugee Studies; you will need to log in to access it).
Hie everyone,

I hope all the students have been doing some reading cause I didnt as I wasnt well, I know its no excuse but if the rest read then we can always share with the sick of the group. Just to let you know that when I phoned Rappel today, his girlfriend said he wasnt well too.

At the moment I do not have a computer at home and this a warning to all; you will all be tired of reading from me! Be warned!

Victoria

tom.

Research methods. Hello group and welcome to research methodology. This is sometimes a confusing and enraging subject. However by engaging creatively at this stage of the module and course, these sessions will not only prepare you for this assignment but also for your research proposal module and dissertation. Hope you enjoy the challenge.
Best.
Tom

test post

Hello.

--Jamie
this is me testing to see if i'm doing this right. beccy

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