Newsgroups: bit.listserv.qualrs-l
Date:         Fri, 2 Oct 1992 13:41:29 +1000
              <QUALRS-L@UGA.BITNET>
From:         rmct@DEAKIN.OZ.AU
Subject:      Participatory Action Research
Comments: To: QUALRS-L@uga.cc.uga.edu

STUDY A GRADUATE COURSE IN PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

AN INITIATIVE IN INTERACTIVE GLOBAL PEDAGOGY

Deakin University Faculty of Education in Geelong Australia is a key centre
internationally for participatory action research.  Deakin University is part
of the Australian national university system, and its Faculty of Education has
an international reputation for graduate studies. Deakin is offering a
specially developed course at GRADUATE LEVEL for currently enrolled or
intending students with access to electronic mail.  No campus attendance is
required, so students who are in remote areas or who are otherwise prevented
from attending class are encouraged to apply.  It is expected that students
will be graduates in education or another social science with an orientation
to professional practice.

COURSE ASPIRATIONS

The course is designed for students wanting to work on changing and at the
same time studying the way things are done in their social or educational work
situations Q anywhere the student is in engaged in an attempt to work with
others to change their own practices.  Action research involves reflecting on
one's own immediate work as changes are tried out, taking particular care to
collect data about the way language is used, about the way relationships with
others are played out and influenced by organisational arrangements, and about
the nature of practices themselves.  It is NOT research done ON other people,
but may be done with them as people with similar interests and concerns get
together to help each other with individual and collective self-improvement.

Typical areas of change envisaged are gender issues (or race issues) in
schools, universities, colleges, classrooms and communities;  student
participation, for example in negotiating the curriculum; collaborative
learning, where students share learning tasks and report to each other on
their findings; on activity-based learning, for example in the writing process
or enquiry science; democratic decision-making in universities, colleges
schools and systems; and the 'clinical' or field experience practicum.  Other
social practice areas are also encouraged as topics and tasks Q environmental
education (institutions or the community), nursing, community health,
improving community care, HIV/AIDS education, programs with unemployed young
people, working in cross-cultural programs of all kinds.  Action research is a
practical way of working through these initiatives with a theoretical
rationale developed from critical theory and several other epistemological
currents including arguments for popular knowledge, critical reflection, and
knowledge production at work sites.  Action research is introduced
historically and through reports by educators and others who have been
involved in action research investigations.  The methodological rationale for
action research is dealt with in detail and the approach contrasted with other
approaches to social enquiry from the perspective of critical social science.
Ideology critique of particular approaches to research and innovation is a
feature of the course.

Students will need access to an educational or social setting where they can
work to improve their own practices along with others working in the setting.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course will be 'mixed mode' featuring student and staff interaction using
electronic mail and employing the published Deakin course materials on action
research.  Students will interact with each other as they conduct a
participatory action research project in their own work setting guided by the
provided course materials.  Course assessment will be by means of a series of
written assignments, but assignments with a difference.  As well as informal
interaction about projects (CONVERSATIONS) using email, students will submit
'assignments' for the course to an electronic PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH
COURSE JOURNAL.  The content of journal submissions will be progress reports
on students' own projects and on their developing understandings of action
research methodology, from the readings and their own action research efforts.

These journal submissions will also form part of the course as students engage
informal dialogue about each other's work and present more formal critiques to
subsequent versions of the COURSE JOURNAL.  The CONVERSATIONS, students'
communications with each other and with Deakin faculty members, will also be
accessible on file for other student participants to contemplate, engage and
agree or take issue with.  Of course, there will be the usual need for some
confidential communication, but it is hoped that the course will run as a
collective conversation about the substantive topics of students' enquiries
and about the participatory action research approach.

CREDIT
Students will need to seek credit for their study in an institution in their
own states or countries.  Deakin University will make available detailed
course outlines, assessment requirements, and the Curriculum Vitae of the
course professors (Stephen Kemmis, Colin Henry and Robin McTaggart).  The
course is appropriate for the coursework segment of MA, PhD and EdD and
programs of similar level.  The course is the equivalent of one quarter of a
full-time enrolment for TWO semesters to allow time for projects to be
conducted.  Students should note in their negotiations with their home
institutions that the course is fully self-contained and requires no demand on
library resources.

TUITION
The charge for the course will be $US2000 and includes ALL course materials
delivered to the student's place of residence.  Students should negotiate for
a reduction in tuition fees in the institution in which they are enrolled.
Students will also require ready access to a standard email network to submit
assignments.  Materials provided include AT NO EXTRA CHARGE the detailed
Course Guide and the following Deakin University publications:

Carr, W., and Kemmis, S.  (1986).  Becoming critical: Education, knowledge and
action research.  Geelong:  Deakin University Press.

Hook, C. (1982).  Studying classrooms.  Geelong:  Deakin University Press.

Kemmis, S., and McTaggart, R.  (Eds.) (1988).  The action research planner
(Third edition).  Geelong:  Deakin University Press.

Kemmis, S., and McTaggart, R.  (Eds.) (1988).  The action research reader
(Third edition).  Geelong:  Deakin University Press.

McTaggart, R. (1990).  Action research:  A short modern history.  Geelong:
Deakin University Press.

It is expected that other material will be made available by electronic
transmission.

DATES
The course is expected to begin in February 1993 and be completed as a summer
school equivalent in midyear or in the following semester.  A second cohort of
students will begin in the Northern Hemisphere 1993 Fall and run through
Spring 1994.  Both cohorts are contingent upon sufficient enrolments.

FIRM EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST ARE SOUGHT IMMEDIATELY FROM STUDENTS (AND/OR
THEIR PROFESSORS) FOR THIS INNOVATIVE COURSE TO BEGIN IN 1993.  PLEASE
INDICATE WHETHER YOU WOULD LIKE INFORMATION TO NEGOTIATE CREDIT IN YOUR HOME
INSTITUTION TO:

Dr Robin McTaggart
rmct@deakin.oz.au
Faculty of Education
Deakin University
Geelong Victoria
Australia 3217
Fax 61 52 272014

PLEASE SEND YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS and EMAIL ADDRESS.
NOTE THAT EARLY RESPONSES AND ENROLMENT WILL RECEIVE PRIORITY.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU