Research Publications (Academic Support)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/211
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Item Complex journeys and methodological responses to engaging in self-study in a rural comprehensive university(University of the Free State, 2014) Meyiwa, Thenjiwe; Chisanga, T.; Mokhele, Paul; Sotshangane, Nkonsinathi; Makhanya, SizakeleThe context in which self-study research is conducted is sometimes complex, affecting the manner in which related data is gathered and interpreted. This article comprises collaboration between three students and two supervisors. It shares methodological choices made by graduate students and supervisors of a rural university at which, self-study research was introduced in 2010. As individuals, and as a collective, we reflect on the reasons and decisions for adopting certain research approaches towards self-study: the ways in which such decisions are negotiated in conceptualising, conducting, transcribing, and supervising graduate research. While self-reflexive data-collection approaches (mainly journal writing and storytelling) guide our research, the manner in which data is analysed and presented to the wider university community is influenced by expectations and by the context of the university. We, therefore, use innovative approaches differing from self-study research, speaking more to the challenges and expectations of a rural context. We further reflect on the implications such choices have for our research and the work produced – where knowledge shifts are executed, methodologies are re-defined and social change is desired.Item ‘Walking our talk’ : exploring supervision of postgraduate self-study research through metaphor drawing(Unisa Press, 2014) Pithouse-Morgan, K.; Chisanga, T.; Meyiwa, Thenjiwe; Muthukrishna, N.; Naicker, I.; Singh, L.; Van Laren, L.; Harrison, LizThe authors of this article portray their learning as a group of eight academics who met to examine the roles and relationships of supervisors of postgraduate self-study research. In the article, they represent how through a metaphor-drawing activity they were able collectively to rethink their experiences and understandings of becoming and being supervisors of postgraduate self-study students. They used a metaphor-drawing activity to gain further understanding of self-study supervision, while also learning more about how visual methods can assist in self-study research. Significantly, in their drawings the supervisor was portrayed as a partner working with the student during the supervision process, rather than as a provider of expert knowledge. Through collaborative interactions and sharing of their personal images of supervision of postgraduate self-study research with critical friends, they were able to reconsider their practices in a reflexive manner that provided insight into possibilities for enhancing their supervisory roles and relationships.