Teacher Professional Development in Multiple and Digital Literacies

• In Event: 29.058 - Understanding the Strength of A/r/tography as a Theory and a Research Methodology

Abstract

1. Objectives and Purpose: While a/r/tography has been present in arts-based research for the past decade, beginning with Irwin and deCosson (2004), the methodology has more recently become established in other disciplines, such as multiple and digital literacies (Authors, 2013). As such, the objectives of the first panellist are: (1) to highlight recent developments of a/r/tography, particularly to reveal how it has evolved alongside living inquiry and action research; and (2) to explain how it is being applied in K-12 education.

2. Perspectives or theoretical frameworks: A/r/tography is a form of educational action research that equalizes roles, as teacher participants are also artists and researchers (Irwin & Springgay, 2008). Action research is research that is undertaken by practitioners (e.g., teachers) for the purpose of helping develop their own practice; in a/r/tography action research this is usually done in conjunction with creatively advancing their own artistic creative analytical processes (Richardson, 2012).

Based on the successful employment of a/r/tography in previous studies, the first panellist (2013) argues that if K-12 teachers can identify as a/r/tographers, they will be able to better theorize and implement multiple and digital literacies into their pedagogy. Building on the little literature concerning the employment of a/r/tography in K-12 education, this study explores the lived experiences of one PEI teacher (Grade 8, English Language Arts), concurrently completing a Master’s of Education who employed a/r/tography in her classroom (Authors, 2014).

3. Modes of inquiry: Drawing on findings from a pan Canadian study on a multiple and digital literacies, the first panellist has employed a/r/tography action research to enable teachers to bring research and art into their teaching. This form of a/r/tography proposes a new identity for teachers and students as creators of art, understood in this context as digital and multiple literacies. For teachers who are practitioners and not theorists, a/r/tography offers an accessible way to apply multiple and digital literacy into their teaching.

4. Data sources: Working closely with a PEI teacher, the first panellist has drawn from conversational data the exploration of how naming herself as an a/r/tographer affected this teacher’s pedagogy. In their conversation the teacher explored how naming herself as an a/r/tographer was important step in her journey as she had previously lost touch with her creative writing. Together their conversation considered how prioritizing and nurturing artistic development is an avenue for improving pedagogy.

5. Substantiated conclusions: Findings suggest the identities approach foregrounded in a/r/tography addresses the following difficulties: (1) applying digital and multi-literacies theory in instructional design; (2) thinking across literacies domains, (e.g., from speaking to writing to representing); and (3) assessing literacies holistically, where discrete competencies are embedded into the experience of the learning (Author et al., 2014).

6. Scholarly Significance: Given that a growing body of literature is calling for contemporary pedagogies to target student learning in the 21st century, a/r/tography enables teachers to develop their own artistic practice to improve teaching.

Author

• Sean P. Wiebe, University of Prince Edward Island