Ethnographies across virtual and physical spaces: a reflexive commentary on a live Canadian/UK ethnography of distributed medical education

Tummons, Jonathan; MacLeod, Anna; Kits, Olga

doi:10.1080/17457823.2014.956229

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Four methods for constructing data were employed within the HEDE project (Tummons, MacLeod and Kits, 2015). The first method was observation: observations (n=108) were conducted in lecture rooms, seminar rooms, staff meeting rooms, and technicians' control rooms, and were carried out between January and November 2013.…”

Section: Methodology and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As ethnographers, we are interested in the ways in which the people who actually 'do' the curriculumthe students and the lecturerswork with, make sense of and talk about it. We were interested in how they are enrolled or organised to work in the ways that they do at a local level, in lecture halls or seminar rooms, on an everyday basis (Tummons, MacLeod and Kits, 2015).…”

Section: A Framework For Inquiry: Actor-network Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Using technology to accomplish comparability of provision in distributed medical education in Canada: an actor–network theory ethnography

Tummons

Fournier

Kits

et al. 2017

Studies in Higher Education

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This article is derived from a three-year ethnography of distributed medical education at one Canadian University across two Canadian provinces. It explores the ways in which students and staff work inside the technologically rich teaching environments within which the curriculum is delivered. Drawing on data constructed through observations, interviews and photographs, the article seeks to explain how the key concept of comparability of provision is accomplished. The article concludes that the education received at both campuses is comparable. However, simply to attribute this comparability to the technology itself is to ignore the central role that is played by the staffacademic, administrative and audiovisual. The article concludes by arguing that, notwithstanding the fact that people will always respond to technologies in unanticipated ways, the curriculum within which they are enfolded is sufficiently robust to accommodate such practices whilst at the same time maintaining the quality of the provision.

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Section: Methodology and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Framework For Inquiry: Actor-network Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Using technology to accomplish comparability of provision in distributed medical education in Canada: an actor–network theory ethnography

Tummons

Fournier

Kits

et al. 2017

Studies in Higher Education

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…35 Actor-network theory alerts us to what is done, rather than to any abstract notions, such as what should be done. 36 Culture does not exist, at least not as some unseen force directing people and their practices. There are only actions that happen in time and space through particular arrangements.…”

Section: The Pr Ac Ti Ce Per S Pec Tivementioning

confidence: 99%

Approaching culture in medical education: Three perspectives

2019

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Background The notion of culture is increasingly invoked in the medical education literature as a key influence on how educational strategies unfold, and culture change is frequently identified as a necessary precursor to progress. A meaningful perspective on what culture means is often missing from these discussions, however. Without a theoretically grounded notion of culture, calls for culture change are challenging to interpret and to act upon. Objective In this cross‐cutting edge paper, we explore how culture has been defined and theorised using three lenses: the organisational perspective; the identity perspective, and the practice perspective. We consider what each perspective might offer to medical education researchers. Results Each of these perspectives draws on a range of disciplinary influences, and none represents a singular theory of culture. Broadly, the organisational perspective directs our attention to the shared assumptions and values that bind individuals within an organisation. It tends to view culture through a strategic lens; culture may be either a barrier to or a facilitator of the changes that are inevitably required of an organisation if it is to maintain its relevance. The identity perspective, particularly the notion of figured worlds, alerts us to the power of communal narratives to shape how individuals see themselves within particular cultural worlds. The practice perspective emphasises what actually occurs in practice, avoiding symbolic ideas about culture and shared values and instead privileging activity and human‐material networks or arrangements. Conclusions These diverse perspectives share a common thread— they shift our research gaze beyond the individual, allowing us instead to see how those individuals form organisations, inhabit cultural worlds and constitute practices. They afford substance and direction for explorations of culture, and thus offer the promise of a more nuanced understanding of some of medical education's most challenging problems.

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“…We reject the implication that qualitative research is subjective and lacking in scale or wider applicability and transferability. In fact, as this research reveals, sets of qualitative data can be constructed through the use of qualitative data analysis computer software for data management, storage, and analysis (Bryman 2008;Tummons 2014;and Tummons, MacLeod, and Kits 2015).…”

Section: Research Project and Research Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imitation is not always flattery! The consequences of academy schools in England for further education policy

Ingleby

Tummons

2017

Research in Post-Compulsory Education

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This article explores the consequences of the introduction of academy schools in England for Further Education. It is argued that the uncertainty of the remit of academy schools has indirect consequences for Further Education and that the employability agenda of the sector is challenged by academy schools. This appears to be happening because of years of government neglect of the Further Education sector in England. The research participants in the article are critical of the employability skills of young people in general and there is criticism of Further Education as the sector is regarded as not having developed employability skills in young people effectively. The research is based on a funded evaluation of an employability programme introduced into two academy schools in the northeast of England. The article applies the work of the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard by arguing that the academy schools are simulating the Further Education agenda. In simulation, a model of reality precedes what is real. The uncertainty surrounding the exact purpose of the academy schools appears to enable them to adopt agendas that have been traditionally associated with other sectors of education. This original argument forms the basis of the new knowledge in the article.

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Ethnographies across virtual and physical spaces: a reflexive commentary on a live Canadian/UK ethnography of distributed medical education

Cited by 16 publications

References 34 publications

Using technology to accomplish comparability of provision in distributed medical education in Canada: an actor–network theory ethnography

Using technology to accomplish comparability of provision in distributed medical education in Canada: an actor–network theory ethnography

Approaching culture in medical education: Three perspectives

Imitation is not always flattery! The consequences of academy schools in England for further education policy

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