SELF-MANAGED LEARNING IN OUT-OF-SCHOOL CONTEXTS

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Data Sample 2 - Researcher Field Notes: Preliminary analysis grounded in the data 

What was interesting in this data was the emergence of two things - researcher perspective/reflection and the introduction of social actors and a focus on technology and learning. This builds on the earlier data generated in the layout sketch in Data Sample 1. The reflections for this data sample were largely framed by a set of semi-structured interviews conducted during the researcher's second visit to the learning centre.

In terms of the kinds of data that emerge here, there is an extension of themes generated in visit one around the conceptualisation of spaces and environment and the introduction of new data (albeit still fuzzy) around the use (potential and actual) of technologies, activities related to learning and additional contextual information about the learner and his/her social relations.

Just as the initial data sample suggested notions of resources and filters, the combination of these three elements (technology, learning and learner social context) begins to suggest potential MAPs. In the following example, the mentor is a potential map for the learner.

Example - Paragraph 3, line 6 - potential MAP situation:  

A (mentor) chats to B (learner) about his learning needs in terms of spaces, being present at the centre, and home-school differences.

At this stage, the EoR Model and Framework are still not being explicitly applied to the setting but researcher awareness of the EoR Model elements starts to suggest/generate potential connections between the Model and the setting being explored. At this stage, this is more of a tacit process than an explicit one. However, these new foci of attention (technology, learning, learner social context) are the result of an explicit intervention - the semi-structured interviews - which looked explicitly at learners and their technologies at home and at the learning centre. When linked to the first data sample (learning environment and layout sketch) - these new data types also generate information about interactions within the learner's context and these social elements suggest new filters: e.g. individual and communal negotiation of shared spaces. This in turn fed into the generation of new data of the kind exemplified in Data Sample 3 - visual data - which sought to capture the kinds of activity and social interactions occurring between participants in the research setting.