Is it plagiarism if you use material you got from Wikipedia without citing it?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/09/AR2008080901453.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia
Online Training Education and Your Career
Washout! Wooden Remake
A remake of the story “Washout” by Christopher Awdry from the book Thomas comes home. Percy is looking after Annie and clarabell while Thomas is away at the great Railway Show, but trouble follows when Percy has to cross an old bridge going over a stream… Disclaimer: All Thomas and tugs music owned by Hit entertainment and Clearwater features and all Doctor who music owned by the BBC With Thanks to sodorproductions for letting me use his music in some parts of this
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Accounting Education?
Are Tech schools (ITT, Devry) worth the time and money for the education you get?
Alternative Learning System for the Aeta Community: Equalizing Education to Cultural Minority Groups in Lopez, Quezon, Philippines
This mini case study focuses on the role of the ALS programs catered by the Lopez East District ALS coordinator and its local instructional managers to address the present needs and to delineate briefly their clienteles’ way of life in the settlement or community in Brgy. Villa Espina, Lopez, Quezon. The Aetas in Lopez, Quezon can not be overlooked for they are already adapting to the changes in their surrounding. Furthermore, being members of the disadvantage group of people, giving them the opportunity to equal access to education is a priority concern of the government being carried over by its local counterpart. While some nongovernmental organizations also take part in aiding educational facilities and health and sanitation service, this mini-case study highlighted only the application of ALS in the promotion of literacy among the Aetas of Lopez, Quezon, describing the attitude or responses of the clienteles in Aeta community toward the realization of educational efforts starting February 2008 to the present. This case study includes the initiatives and actions of the ALS coordinator and her instructional managers’ common experience with their clienteles and the attitude or behavior of the Aeta clienteles toward its programs. It also includes ethnographic account of how the usual ALS class goes on. The student-researchers were able to validate such remarks and notes in direct observations and interview they conducted at the Aeta clienteles and its immediate community. Majority of the data used in this report were drawn from interview and observations from the school site and reports of the Lopez East District Alternative Learning System Office. On the other hand, this mini-case study had also limitations. The researchers initially recommend that another follow or related study on the subjects be conducted concerning on the cultural impact of this learning in an alternative way. ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEM OF LOPEZ EAST DISTRICT AND THE AETA CLIENTELES IN BRGY. VILLA ESPINA The Alternative Learning System Coordinator of Lopez East District who is in-charged of delivering the programs of BALS to the Aeta community is Mrs. Angelina J. Oblina. On her team are two Instructional Managers (IM) and an Aeta coordinator. The two instructional managers are the key teachers and implementers who directly get involved and supervised and promote ALS program to the Aeta Community. Mrs. Mabel A. Oblina and Wilma Capistrano are the IMs, who are paid by the local government with a monthly honorarium of P 4, 500.00 pesos each. The Aeta coordinator is Andy Villa Franco, local villager who maintains direct contact to the Aeta community clienteles in the absence of the IMs or the ALS coordinator. From non-formal to ALS, it formally opened last February 2008. Through local ALS Coordinator’s initiatives of hiring local funded instructional managers and her unquestionably commitment to its program implementation, ALS instruction to the Aeta community begun. Since its target clienteles are the Aeta community, encouragement and recruitment to this displaced minority was the biggest toll at the onset. Formerly, on her report, Mrs. Oblina was able to delineate some of its beginning noting the following points. Tribal groups, specifically Aetas are the deprived, depressed and undeserved population. Their settlement can be found in a far-flung area. Uncivilized and illiterate, only few attended formal schooling because they do not understand the benefit that education could give to a person. On September 1, 1994, Non-Formal Education (NFE) brought the school for the Aetas, through “Magbasa Kita Project” a basic literacy program of the department. I was assigned to handle the class or community of Aeta as “para-teacher” at the same time “ate” not ma’am or teacher by the Aetas. Back then, I introduced the phono-syllabic lessons. The school was made up of nipa that existed in Villa Espina. The enrollees of these classes are of no age limit. Dealing with Aetas as one of the NFE/ALS clienteles is not an easy task for me. So, I mobilized our local system. It is indeed very challenging on our part. We had a hard time encouraging and motivating them so that they will come to school. Convincing them to come to school even included drinking liquor with them. Furthermore, we use variety of ways and approaches to be able to win their interest. The school set-up lasted for some years yet their ways of living have not changed despite all the efforts exerted by their other mentors. Some still carried the old practices and do not even own a house where they can live permanently and comfortably. Construction of two-room building sponsored by the ABS-CBN “Tree of Hope Program” built last year (2007) became one of the motivating factors that led the Aetas to take ALS program. ALS program formally started from February to April 2008. Fortunately, out of more or less 50 households, Fifty-four Aetas were its first batch of students. The group was divided into two separate classes. The first group consisted of young Aetas for 6 to 13 years old under the tutelage of Mrs. Wilma A. Oblina. This group is at the beginning level of instructional. The other class, under Mrs. Wilma Capistrano comprised of the teenagers to adult consisting of 13 years old to as old as forty-four. This group could be considered as emergent learners progressing from the very basic level. During this grace period, meetings were done three times a week. Instruction during those times focused mainly to basic literacy focus, which is more on reading of the alphabet (phono-syllabic lessons), writing (specifically writing their names) and clienteles’ adjustment to alternative schooling. Alternative Learning System programs continued starting this beginning school year, June 2008. There was an increased enrolment. From fifty-four (54) Aetas who enrolled last February, it escalated to seventy-four (74) this June. Out of this 74, majority of which is female, 65% and male, 35%. Ten of which are parents and mostly are young ones. “However, maintaining 100% attendance is the biggest problem,” the instructional managers noted. On the average, 50-60 % of the total enrolment comes to school regularly. Consequently, the food for school program requested by the ALS District Coordinator which the Local Government Unit (LGU) addressed the problem of abseeteism among the Aetas. However sustaining the program is another concern. Meetings this time are from Monday to Friday not unlike the previous one, which is only three times. The coordinator and instructional managers would recount that the usual or typical day would go like this… The Aeta-clienteles would come to school in the morning. Not all students would come early. Others were still be coming from Brgy. Pisipis and other neighboring barangays. Some wore uniform others in their ragged cloths. A flag ceremony used to be held at the start of the week. Then, the Aetas did housekeeping and other pre-routinary activities. Basic alphabet to word reading, writing, and arithmetic activities were provided for three hours. We would read aloud the alphabet, minimal pair words, read short passages, and ask them to read aloud and write. Most of them get bored easily for they had different types of learning. Most of them had usually short span of attention so we had quick breaks from time to time. Preparing the meal of the day was the most important for them. Since some of them had not taken breakfast or suffer the day before. After the early morning routinary activities, we would be preparing the meal of the day where everybody will be part. Food is the best reward and encouragement we could offer them. Because of food nourishment, they come to school. There was even an incident that Aeta would come very late to school just in time for lunch. After a while or a siesta, Afternoon session would be allotted to free and varied activities. Film viewing occupied the most times, because of the Television set and educational package, we have recently received from a donation all the way from Hawaii. Televiewing became a part of the afternoon session. When the day was over, we teachers could not help but be challenged different adjustments met so as our Aeta clienteles. We find teaching and learning with them demanding yet very stimulating because of some reasons: · Some unsanitary practices of some of the Aeta clienteles are lessened. We introduced teaching of basic sanitary hygiene. However, for customary reason few would not heed our advice for it already became their system since they were born. Consequently, we got use to some of their unsanitary practices but we always address them as much as possible teaching the parent clienteles the right ways though most of them do not care much to their children for customary reason. · Abseetism is also common problem since the approach is new for them at the start. Looking at them from a day-to-day perspective, most of them skip school because some work in farms by harvesting young anahaw leaves or working with their specific “Amos”, and for very apparent reason, if there are times that we don’t have food or meal of the day to offer them, we would rather have an empty room than to have clienteles with empty stomachs. · Aetas clienteles interact with the ALS program differently. Students learning style and mental capacity vary different from one another. Some learn smoothly. Others need constant review. At the beginning level, it is common to see Aeta-clienteles to misspell their names what is even the worse is that they sometimes forget their surname or they change their names. · Few of their practices are still prevalent but mostly are dead or forgotten. One Aeta client even shares that they could no longer remember any tribal rites taught to them by the elders. Still, some of them wander and work from the community to nearby barangays. They don’t permanently stay in one place, except of course for those who have learned to fit in to the local villagers. What is quite pressing for us in relation to their ways is that an early marriage is common thing. An Aeta could already find and live with his/her partner at the age of 12. In addition, they could easily switch or change partner as the pair pleases. Another noticeable activity they often engage with is drinking. Moreover, in certain occasion, a villager could get along with most of the Aeta over bottles of liquor or any alcoholic drink and if Aetas drink alcohol, it ends to a drinking spree. This manner somehow affects their attitude to learning. An adult Aeta clientele could compromise going to school just to a bottle of liquor. Battling these all sort of things every day, we as their teachers or “Ate” as they call us, could freely tell that we influence their lives toward the basic literacy and even more. Most of them have already accustomed to the ways of the civilized people. Emerging clienteles whom we have been teaching hard can already read and write basic Filipino words, can calculate numbers so that they well not be cheated by their “Amos” for their fair share of farm works, can practices basic sanitary hygiene from brushing of teeth to basic housekeeping, and for some who have fitted in to the latest technology can send short messaging service (SMS) via cellphone. The Aetas in Brgy. Villa Espina are becoming like civilized people because of us, other local villager’s intervention, and the influences of the latest technology-stricken world. With the programs being offered by the District, seeing ALS greater impact for the future of the Aeta community, has a long way to go, of which the District Coordinator and the researchers unanimously agreed upon adding that a lot of concerns or priorities still must and should be acted promptly. OTHER CONCERNS “Education to be meaningful must be rooted in the community life and experience of the people; because learning takes place in this context as well as in the way they understand the stages of their cycle.” BALS framework To ensure the expansion of access of educational opportunities and capability building, the BALS national office has been training its ALS district coordinators starting the opening year. One seminar on ALS Trends & Updates for Full Time District ALS Coordinators impacted much the approaches of Mrs. Oblina and her team of local counterparts. Myriad of realization was absorbed by contemplating and living up with the BALS framework. It does require change from their usual approaches. Meanwhile, on a division level training, the local ALS people and some of the Aeta representatives attended just recently this month (August 2008). They were exposed to training framework for the Indigenous People (IP) and Indigenous People Core Curriculum (IPCC). With the help, expertise of local indigenous people and in coordination with the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) Summer Institutes of Linguistic (SIL) and other IP concerned agencies: the Bureau was able to develop an Indigenous Peoples (IP) Core Curriculum. The competencies identified by the ALS curriculum are now realized through a modular system of education that will guide the coordinator, Instructional Managers and the Aeta clienteles to mode and education the clienteles will receive. Citing this remarkable interventions or realization, the following concerns and points are noted by experts for the culturally sensitive and integrative delivery of instruction to the IP, specifically the Aeta clienteles:
The development process not only ensured a culture-sensitive core curriculum but also maximized local participation in all aspects of decision making and actions relevant to the finalization of the IP Core Curriculum.
Expert on IPCC remarked that without necessarily emphasizing an overkill tone, the highly western-entrenched current educational system has contributed to the further marginalization and exploitation of IPs. The said system has been producing graduates who are trained to become employees and not as entrepreneurs who can become employers.
The Right-Based Approach (RBA) to education verbalizes these facts. Its strengths sustainable development and the exercise of self-determination in as much as education is supposed to be an “enabling” (for recognition and empowerment), an “ensuring” (for protection) and an “enhancing” (for development and promotion) tool for indigenous Peoples, their ancestral domains and their cultural integrity.
Adding the important issues mentioned, on the literature of a news article of Ina Hernando-Malipot, available at http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2008/08/18/YTCP20080818132815.html, she stressed the study done by Dr. Jill Bevan-Brown, associate professor at Massey University in New Zealand during the 5th International Conference on Teacher Education (ICTED) marking that the children with special needs from ethnic minority groups can have additional disadvantage. In her talk entitled, “Culturally Appropriate Provisions for Children with Special Needs from Ethnic Minority Groups: A Story of Two Maori Initiatives,” Dr. Brown mentioned that for children with special needs from ethnic minority groups, having access to special education provisions is not a problem. In fact, in various special education categories, they are over-represented. “However, receiving an education that is culturally-appropriate and effective is major issue.” “Thus, we have developed two initiatives that aim to improve this situation – the teachers conducting a cultural self-review of their early childhood center or school as part of their SpEd qualification; and the involvement of government agencies, teachers and parents of the children,” Dr. Brown revealed. Dr. Brown finally said that in gaining education, children with special needs have additional challenges compared to their non-disabled peers. “Similarly, children with special needs from ethnic minority groups face challenges their disabled peers from majority cultures do not face, these children have been dealt ‘double whammy’.” The literature clearly appeals that change or innovation must be made to fit to the educational needs of the Aeta community in Brgy. Villa Espina, Lopez, Quezon. Since the ALS in this community is newly born, greater measures adaptive to their or Aeta clienteles’ culture which is being compromised should and must be acted upon not only by the ALS people, but also by the LGU, the NCIP, and most of all by people who are in control of major local resources.
IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS The following questions have become starting points to ponder. Is the ALS in Villa Espina “enabling” its Aeta clienteles (for recognition and empowerment)? “Ensuring” (for protection)? And “enhancing” (for development and promotion) tool for indigenous Peoples, their ancestral domains and their cultural integrity? Mrs. Oblina is hopeful that the modules on functional literacy that they have been waiting to be delivered by the national office would be received at the soonest possible time to empower the process of instruction and therefore the Aeta clienteles. The Local Government Unit through the Municipal Mayor, Hon.Isaias Ubana, has been planning an initiative that would give the Aeta community a place of home and refuge where their inherit and latent cultural ways and norms will be restored and revived. The Municipal Mayor himself has just disclosed this local initiative to the ALS coordinator. This mode of action if achieve would ensure protection. However, issues about ancestral domain surfaces. This is not the first time, municipal heads before the incumbent mayor had been appealed by the Aeta community though their local chieftain for support of their ancestral land recovery. Unfortunately, the petition for land recovery fell to deaf ears or should the researchers say “no clear response at the moment”. With the trainings and supports given by the national and local government units side by side with the non-governmental sectors, the ALS Lopez East District and the researchers envision that the ALS for the Aeta community in Lopez, Quezon on its long-term target goals will continue to realize and realize those following plans of: · Offering of food for school program be sustained and as time progress be replaced by a sustainable livelihood programs which the Aeta clienteles can be trained of and apparently leading to their independence from aids to self-sufficient and working individual or group of the community; · Liberating the members of the Aeta community from ignorance to functionally literate people. A functionally literate person is defined as one who can communicate effectively, solve problems scientifically, creatively and think critically, use resources sustainable and be productive, develop himself/herself and his/her sense of community and expand his/her world view; · Accessing to accreditation and competency tests is given to the ALS Aeta graduates. If the clientele is successful in the competency exam, going or transferring to the higher formal education if he or she desires, will be straightforward for them; · Having properly paid, equipped, and trained instructional managers. Nationalization of the locally compensated IMs will empower them further to work not only as a teacher but as highly committed social workers for the betterment of the clienteles; and · Educating them not only for literacy but also for restoration of their cultural ways as Indigenous People (IP) who have their cultural integrity and ancestral domains creating their own cultural identity as part and parcel of the Lopez, Quezon community and of the Filipino people. To achieve all of these, which some are still in plans, need hand-in-hand actions emanating both from the government and from the Aeta community. If this will be realized, equitable access to education is now at hand to those who need and aspire for it. Apparently, tt comes from alternative ways, if non-governmental sectors even take part to this movement like the ABSCBN school building project for the Aeta, and other philanthropic individual who are all genuine in their interests, the social cultural revival and education empowerment for the Aetas will surely be accomplished.
References and Further Readings: Ina Hernando-Malipot news article available at http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2008/08/18/YTCP20080818132815.html Executive Order No. 358 S. 2004 available at http://www.ops.gov.ph/records/eo_no356.htm The Indigenous Peoples Core Curriculum by Department of Education, Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) Handouts 2006 Lopez East District Alternative Learning System Initial School Reports SY 2008-2009 Acknowledgements are given to the following persons for the interviews, observation and other data gathered of which the researchers are greatly indebted with. MRS. ANGELINA J. OBLINA, Lopez East District ALS Coordinator MRS. MARIVEL A. OBLINA, Instructional Manager MRS. WILMA S. CAPISTRANO, Instructional Manager THIS MINI CASE STUDY, WHICH THE RESEARCHERS CONSIDERED AS LABOR OF LOVE, IS IMPLICITLY DEDICATED TO THE AETA COMMUNITY OF BRGY. VILA ESPINA, LOPEZ, QUEZON. MAY YOU FLOURISH AND BE NOURISHED BY THE ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEM OF LOPEZ EAST DISTRICT.
How can I conclude an essay regarding economic rationalism and conflict theory in education?
I have written an essay that is a sociological analysis of an article that discusses the high cost of living out of home while studying at uni in australia. I have discussed the article in relation to economic rationalism theory and conflict theory but now i need to conclude. I am stuck. Can anyone think of something thought provokoing that I can use to wrap this up? I need to fill about 200 words with my conclusion…. Please help?
HELP! How would you define field trips, and how does field trips contributes to students education?
Help!!! How would u define “field trips” and how does it contribute to students education?
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Why is feild trip important?
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What are the common citation styles we need to write a term paper?
What are the common citation styles we need to write a term paper?
Oral History: a Viable Methodology for 21st Century Educational Administration Research: National Impact
Oral History: A Viable Methodology for 21st Century
Educational Administration Research: National Impact
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ABSTRACT
This article identifies three 21st Century realities that are redefining research in educational administration: 1) the increasing need for relevancy and authenticity in addressing community and school problem solving contexts; 2) the need for a research method that permits the kind of in depth interviewing of knowledgeable individuals with minimal Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight; and 3) a methodology that can be facilitated by emerging technologies. Oral history has been employed in many disciplines but has seldom been used in educational administration. It offers some promise and the authors suggest possible uses and interpretations of one proposed oral history project and one completed oral history project.
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Purpose of the Article
The purpose of this article is to examine oral history interviewing and historical research as a viable research method within the broad family of research methodologies in educational administration and educational leadership. The evolution of research methodology in educational administration has been influenced by changing paradigms, changing needs, increasing institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight, and changing technology. Educational administration research differs from other academic disciplines in that it involves the opportunity to find new and innovative uses for research findings for problem solving and decision making in school settings.
Research in Educational Administration Undergoing Transformation
Educational administration research has undergone great transformation during the past century. Business management principles drawn from industry dominated the first half of the 20th Century of educational administration thought. During the 1950’s and 1960’s various social science methods and concepts shaped a new generation of educational administration thought and research methodology (Campbell, Fleming, Newell & Bennion, 1987; Murphy, 2003, Fall). By the late 1980’s business and social science methodologies were supplemented though not replaced by qualitative methods drawn from anthropology. Action research fills yet another educational administration research niche. It places less emphasis on formal theoretical constructs while focusing on authentic, campus-based data gathering, and problem-solving. This continuing growth in acceptance of research methodologies from other disciplines was described by Campbell, et al:
Educational administration is an applied field rather than an academic discipline. It does not draw upon a single body of literature nor use a single set of scholarly tools…an applied field must maintain a vital concern not only with the extension of knowledge but also with the improvement of practice…Similarly…an applied field must be concerned with problems in their totality – drawing on the methods of many disciplines. (1987, p. 3)
Not all influences on educational administration research in the 21st Century have been methodological. A national increase in Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight has greatly influenced educational administration research (Herrington & Kritsonis, 2006). There remains great variance among universities regarding the extent to which educational research is subject to IRB oversight. Some universities exempt educational studies from IRB oversight completely, especially those studies that were intended to examine quality improvement in educational institutions or action research used for classroom instruction. Some universities were requiring complete reviews of every aspect of research regardless of methodology or intended uses of the data. Navigating the maze of IRB restrictions at some institutions has led to avoidance of some research methodologies or populations and in some cases resulted in diminished research activity altogether (Herrington & Kritsonis, 2006).
Technology has made most forms of research far more convenient and achievable. For example more user-friendly Windows or UNIX based statistical software programs such as Stat-Pac, (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and SAS have replaced hand-calculations, data punchcard readers, and mainframe versions of the statistical software. Qualitative researchers have access to coding software such as HyperRESEARCH 2.6, NVIVO 7, computer-assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (QAQDAS 07) to assist with high volume qualitative data coding capabilities. Audio and video recording equipment, imaging equipment, and related software continue to be developed for oral history recording, however, analog recordings continue to be preferred by most oral history professionals.
The challenge for educational researchers in the 21st Century is to select a methodology that can provide a relevant context for examining education issues within specific contexts that are reliably and accurately preserved. The methodology must also yield a study that is achievable within a reasonable time frame, is affordable, and must satisfy ethical requirements or minimize the need for IRB scrutiny.
A Methodology-in-Waiting
Charlton (1985) defined oral history as “the recording and preserving of planned interviews with selected persons able to narrate recollected memory and thereby aid the reconstruction of the past” (p.2). Baum (1978) defined oral history as:
1. a tape recorded interview, or interviews, in question-and-answer format,
2. conducted by an interview who has some, and preferably the more the better, knowledge of the subject to be discussed,
3. with a knowledgeable interview, someone who knows whereof he or she speaks from personal participation or observation (sometimes we allow a second-hand account),
4. subjects’ of historical [or community] interest…
5. accessible, eventually, in tapes and/or transcripts to a broad spectrum of researchers. (pp. 389-390)
The value of oral history for educational researchers and practitioners is found in the background that can be provided by credible participants who are able to enrich understandings of the immediate problem-solving context or who can draw parallels with other contexts. Sometimes dramatic events or significant phenomena require giving voice to otherwise silent observers or constituencies that know the true nature of the problem of interest, but who have never been consulted by historians or decision makers. For example, ethnographic shifts in recent years have created major cultural divides in communities and schools that challenge long held assumptions of teachers and administrators regarding their client student populations.
An example is found in formerly rural/now suburban high school campus that in 1995-2004 comparison revealed the following demographic changes in students and teachers. In 1995 only 17 percent of the students of this inner city campus were Hispanic, 15 percent were African American, 65 percent of students were Anglo. The teacher demographic representations were similar. Ten years later 67 percent of the students were Hispanic, 17 percent were African American, but only 16 of the students were Anglo. The teacher demographics remained relatively unchanged over the same 10 years.
Conversations with parents, teachers, and administrators reveals that the unexpected demographic gaps that occurred during the preceding ten year period had resulted in an increase of racial tensions wherein teachers/student and teacher/parent conflicts occuring. The achievement of Hispanic students continued a downward spiral, attendance and dropouts were increasing, and disciplinary alternative educational placements were soaring. These realities placed the district in jeopardy of losing its standing based on statewide criteria and NCLB standards. This was a phenomenon that could be documented through oral history interviews and the results made available as a case for other districts. In this case a number of interventions might be possible in the short run but a comprehensive and effectively planned longer term plan informed by carefully conducted oral histories would provide some valuable context and community history of the community that can provide answers to working with all parties affected by the problem.
Another example is the fact that during the 1960’s and 1970’s the educational and experiential cornerstones for the first generation of Mexican-American college and university presidents and chancellors in the state of Texas and the nation were being established within an educational and cultural environment of South Texas that was hostile to the aspirations and future advancement of Latinos (Herrington, 1993, August). What can be learned about the education and mentoring experiences of these highly successful individuals would be invaluable to educators and other minority individuals making career and education decisions.
These two very real scenarios though unrelated have some connectedness. There are lessons that the teachers and administrators at the high school undergoing dramatic demographic shifts (study proposed but not yet conducted) could learn from the South Texas study of successful Hispanic students who grew up in communities that 30 and 40 years earlier resembled their current demographic and cultural realities. Communities that are just beginning to face the realities of permanently altered demographic landscapes can learn a great deal from their South Texas predecessors, precisely because those experiences have been previously recorded and transcribed for future reference (Herrington, 1993, August). The thoughts and feelings of these successful Hispanic individuals regarding their experiences, parents, teachers, and mentors (many of whom were Anglo as well as Hispanic) are eloquently recorded and transcribed for posterity. Their stories reveal personal strategies and significant persons who once extended a helping hand.
In both of these cases, oral history methodology presents perhaps the only way to preserve otherwise unobtainable information. Concerning oral history Hoffman (1974) wrote:
Its most important advantage…is that it makes possible the preservation of life experience of persons who do not have the …leisure to write their memoirs…Interviews with people who have been foot soldiers in various important movements of social change but have heretofore been unrecorded may now be preserved and hence their impact assessed. (p. 26)
The Role of History in Educational Reform
Scholars have identified several uses for history in educational research. History can be instrumental in effecting social reform, predicting future trends, or in influencing practice through the training of educators (Borg & Gall, 1983). Comparing the work of historian to that of psychotherapist Borg, et al noted that history has a particularly liberating function for educators:
To Freud, neurosis is the failure to escape the past, the burden on one’s history. What is repressed returns distorted and is eternally reenacted. The psychotherapist’s task is to help the patient reconstruct the past. In this respect the historian’s goal resembles that of the therapist – to liberate us from the burden of the past by helping us to understand it. (p. 802)
It is our common understanding of history and the ability to learn from our shared past that distinguishes humans from all other creatures. Wector (1957, August) wrote:
Chimpanzee with a stack of empty boxes and a banana hanging out of reach soon learns by his own experience. But man alone learns from the experience of others. History makes this possible. In the broadest sense, all that we know is history. More strictly, it is the road map of the past. (p. 24)
History is our collective memory. The ability to utilize history and extract useful generalizations and theories is uniquely human. Without a record of the past we are left to navigate life’s course without the aid of those who have gone before us.
In a cogent essay published posthumously, Kennedy (1964, February) provided several reasons for examining the historical record. He noted:
There is little that is more important…without [history]…[one] stands uncertain and defenseless before the world, knowing neither where he has come from nor where he is going. With such knowledge, he is no longer alone but draws a strength far greater than his own from the cumulative experience of the past and the cumulative vision of the future. (p.3)
Ethical Oversight of Oral History
And Technological Considerations
Historical research and particularly oral history interviewing provides context and clear precedents that can be explored and considered for educational policy as well as practice. Educational researchers and IRB board members might wince at the notion of preserving recorded interviews. Such practice seems to contradict ethical provisions safeguarding anonymity of research subjects. This is where the difference between oral history interviewing and other methodologies is important. Unlike any other discipline or methodology, oral history interviewing requires the spoken words of a specifically named individual connected in time and place by means of recording data on audio tapes, video tapes, images, documents, and transcripts preserved so as to be accessible for historical verification (Dunaway, D.K. & Baum, 1984).
To address this ethics concern, the Organization of American Historians (OAH) and the Oral History Society (OHS) in October 2003 successfully petitioned the U.S. Office for Human Research Protection (OHRP), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, for a special ruling on oral history research interviewing. They were especially concerned with oral history projects that do not involve the type of research defined by HHS regulations. It was determined that some oral history projects may not fall under the “Common Rule” (45 CFR, part 46) that define research as “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.” According to the Organization of Oral Historians (2003, November):
This type of research involves standard questionnaires with large samples of individuals who remain anonymous, not the open-ended interviews with identifiable individuals who give their interviews with ‘informed consent’ that characterizes oral history. Only those oral history projects that conform to the regulatory definition of research will now need to submit their research protocols for IRB review. (p. 17)
An advantage of the oral history interview, therefore, if the study is carefully designed, is that IRB oversight has become far less restrictive than for other methodologies.
Concluding Remarks
In conclusion, oral history methodology is technology-intensive. Emerging 21st Century technologies as well as existing technologies continue to simplify and broaden the capabilities of the oral historian, both for gathering information and presenting information in a variety of formats. Digitizing voice, image, video, and text materials have greatly reduced the processing and production time for producing and presenting oral history findings.
Finally, oral history interviewing, more than ever before, has enormous potential for giving voice to silent but important players within the arenas of social change – including community and school. In order make any further changes in our school systems educational leaders and researchers have got to find ways to hear these previously unheard voices. Well designed studies that seek out these voices of individuals who have given informed consent can provide historically and contextually rich information specific to time and place with minimal IRB oversight. Finally, technology is rapidly expanding the repertoire of formats for archiving and presenting very useful and usable knowledge to drive school improvement.
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