Seminar Three October 14th & 15th 2010 The Open University
Complexities, challenges and affordances of ethnographic and literacies research
in the digital university: Contextualised perspectives
Using digital media to facilitate longitudinal youth-based ethnographic research
Sally Baker, Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University
Unravelling assumptions of the ‘digital’ in academic literacies research in the South African
context
Lynn Coleman, Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University
This joint presentation session seeks to address and unpack assumptions associated with the
notion of the ‘digital university’ (as reflected by the title of the seminar series) as it applies to
ethnographic and literacies research in South Africa (Coleman, 2009) and England. A core
argument of this session is that the notion of ‘the digital’ has particular sociocultural
contextual meanings, resulting in us as researchers working within an academic literacies
frame having to accommodate differing affordances and challenges as we incorporate the
digital into our research. These two presentations raise some important questions about
some of the assumptions made about literacy and the digital in debates about the digital
university and digital literacies (Jones and Lea, 2008; Lea and Jones, forthcoming, 2011).
Sally Baker’s presentation focuses on her use of Facebook as a communication platform in a
longitudinal ethnographically-styled study on student writing in the transitions from A level to
university study in England. Using this digital social networking platform not only facilitates
communicating with young, mobile people over a period of upheaval but also provides further
opportunities to ask vital questions about students’ literacy practices and attitudes. The
presentation will discuss some of the contextual affordances of the approach, while raising
some of the ethical complexities and challenges such usage has revealed.
Lynn Coleman’s presentation highlights the unintended consequences of making assumptions
about what ‘the digital’ means within higher education in South Africa. Research analysing
ICT infrastructure and e-learning provisions at South African universities highlights the
implications of infrastructural, resource and access challenges that continue to define and
differentiate, across national, institutional and disciplinary boundaries, the extent to which the
digital can be integrated into teaching and learning practice (Brown et al, 2008; Czerniewicz,
2004). Within these contextual realities, Lynn’s research explores students’ academic literacy
practices in disciplines where digital and multimodal assessments are privileged. The
presentation challenges decontextualised conceptualisations of ‘digital’ and ‘literacies’,
suggesting that unproblematic adoption of these concepts can impact negatively on how
digital and literacy practices are represented in ethnographic research.
References
1. Brown, C., Thomas, H., van der Merwe, A., and Dyyk, L. 2008. The impact of South
African’s ICT infrastructure on higher education. Conference proceedings, Remenyi, D (ed) 3rd
International Conference of E-Learning. Cape Town: Academic Publishing Limited.
2. Coleman, L., 2009. Student academic literacy practices in a South African vocational web
design higher education course. Unpublished dissertation. The Open University.
3. Czerniewicz, L., 2004. Cape of Storms or Cape of Good Hope? Educational technology in a
changing environment. British Journal of Educational Technology. 35 (2) 145-158
4. Jones, S. and Lea, M.R., 2008. Digital literacies in the lives of undergraduate students:
Exploring personal and curricular spheres of practice. The Electronic Journal of e-Learning.
6(3) 207-216
5. Lea, M. R and Jones, S., Forthcoming 2011. Digital literacies in higher education. Exploring
textual and technological practice. Studies in Higher Education. 36 (3)