1. Framework & Methods
This post unifies two strands of this project: the methodological framework that informs my Action Research design and the specific methods planned for the intervention. The project draws on literature in Action Research, inclusive design and hybrid education to shape the task-based methods I have described below. Key sources for this approach include McNiff on Action Research, CAST’s Universal Design for Learning guidelines and research on hybrid and blended learning in higher education.
2. Practice Based Methodology
Adopting Action Research as the overarching methodological framework for this project has enabled me to lead a practice-led investigation into how hybrid studio and/or exhibitions technologies might reshape access, participation and learning within the Fine Art Computational Arts department. I think Action Research is particularly appropriate here as it has supported a level of inquiry that is iterative and embedded in professional practice, allowing my methods to evolve in response to genuine environmental conditions.
Within this framework my proposed intervention will be explored through a task based, participant, centred methodology. Rather than evaluating the tech via abstract tests or performance metrics, the project is designed to highlight lived experience. Participants will be invited to complete three short structured tasks, each intended to demonstrate different features of the proposed hybrid studio system. These tasks include configuring peripheral devices such as mice and keyboards to access the remote PC, installing a digital work on the screen in the space using the remote machine and accessing the machine using a remote viewing software (Parsec).
3. Think Aloud Methodology
During the tasks, participants will be audio- and/or video-recorded (with informed consent) and encouraged to self-narrate their actions, decisions and responses as they work. This approach draws upon think-aloud and self documentation methods (Ericsson, Simon, 1993), allowing participants to convey moments of ease, discomfort, confusion or adaption in real time. The resulting recordings will be transcribed and analysed, forming a qualitative dataset that captures both technical interaction and affective response.
The emphasis on participant voice becomes extremely useful given this project’s social justice and accessibility focus. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) literature shows that multiple means of engagement and expression are important, recognising that students (and staff) experience technologies differently depending on a number of physical, cognitive and contextual factors (Rose and Meyer, 2002; CAST, 2018). Encouraging participants to narrate the tasks that I have designed for them in real time, should foreground these differences in experience rather than treating accessibility as a purely technical aspect of the trial.
4. Post-Task Feedback
In addition to the task based recordings, participants will be invited to complete a short questionnaire created in Microsoft Forms. This questionnaire is designed to capture reflective feedback once the tasks have been completed. My proposed questions aim to capture perceptions of accessibility, usability, viability, confidence and perceived impact upon studio practice. I hope that combining narrated task performances with post-task reflection will bring a significant amount of depth to my methodologies. From an Action Research perspective, these methods are intended to generate practice related outcomes that can inform the next cycle of design and refinement.
5. References
McNiff, J. (2013) Action Research: Principles and Practice. 3rd edn. London: Routledge.
Rose, D.H. and Meyer, A. (2002) Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. Alexandria.
CAST (2018) Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Wakefield, MA: CAST.
Ericsson, K.A. and Simon, H.A. (1993) Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. Rev. edn. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
BERA (2024) Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research. 5th edn. London: British Educational Research Association.
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