http://hdl.handle.net/10468/384 Sun, 29 Oct 2017 22:01:02 GMT 2017-10-29T22:01:02Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3524 'I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home': exploring participation through music and digital design in dementia care Morrissey, Kellie People with dementia (PWD) living in care are a population commonly termed as ‘vulnerable’, and whose challenging life situations are often described in the literature as being a part of a ‘burden’, both on the part of their families and larger society. The difficult circumstances faced by PWD are often compounded by moving into care, where they can face loneliness, social isolation, and a lack of meaningful experiences. With many millions of people living with the condition worldwide, as well as a lack of available and effective pharmaceutical treatment for dementia, there have been increasing calls for the ‘problem’ of dementia to be addressed through psycho-social pathways, with technological design implicated as one of these. However, the vast majority of extant design research in dementia has focused on alleviating the cognitive problems that come with the condition, leading to a lack of design research that explores experiential aspects of living with dementia. This thesis presents the findings and insights from a three year long, in-depth participatory project carried out in three dementia care settings in the south of Ireland that explored how people with dementia can participate within creative (music) sessions, and how this participation can be folded into an ongoing design process to result in a rich and multi-authored account of experience, as well as in meaningful design processes and objects. This thesis contributes to design research, in particular to experience-centred design approaches, and positions these contributions within the context of their potential when practiced in communities of care. The work outlines an ethnographically-informed design approach which, in this thesis, responds to human potential and creative imagination, and which is realised in an analytic account of an unfolding design process carried out with communities of people with dementia living in care. In particular, the approach describes the potential for design and design processes to be creative and expressive for a population often denied a sense of agency through aspects of living in care settings, as well as through a medicalization of the condition of dementia that persists in the literature surrounding designing for and with this population. The thesis outlines how ethnographic (and later, participatory action research) approaches contribute opportunities for very different community members (e.g., PWD, researchers, artists, carers, nurses – and more) to come together in a process of co-inquiry that utilizes multiple forms of creative imagination and communication. In this thesis, this was achieved through an unfolding process of learning concerning the potential of embodied communication in dementia care and design. The work positions embodied communication as a fruitful way to access and understand the lived experience of participants whose verbal abilities may have waned, but whose ability for communication and expression is still present in alternative ways (such as eye contact, touch, movement, vocalisation, informal chat, gesture, song, and dance), and evidence this with data from my fieldwork. The thesis includes an account of the development and introduction of a design object (SwaytheBand), the creative (and embodied) use of which helps to make visible certain social and communicative processes by participants, and which itself leads to a novel account of creative, spontaneous participation in dementia. Ultimately, the thesis provides a rich analytic account of ways in which people with dementia can communicate and participate within design processes in ways that have not yet been articulated in the design literature surrounding design in dementia, and, positioning itself within this larger literature, indicates a number of ways in which a body of research concerned with the experience and participation of people with dementia may proceed. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3524 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3915 The unity of Edmund Spenser's Complaints Roy, David Karl Edmund Spenser's Complaints (1591) is a collection of nine poems; these poems are compartmentalized into four sections, each of which begins with its own frontispiece and contains a dedication to a lady. Complaints is an extremely problematic volume which prompts urgent questions, not hitherto adequately addressed, such as: How can Complaints be defined in terms of form, genre and structure? Is Complaints simply a collection of four separate pamphlets? Why does the volume not fit into any of the career trajectories proposed for Spenser? Why is fixing a date on the poems so difficult? Why is the authorship of the preface, entitled ‘The Printer the Gentle Reader’, so hard to define? Complaints has been regarded as a haphazard collection, thrown together by the publisher to capitalize on the success of the first part of The Faerie Queene (1590). The aims of this thesis are to address the above questions, while also arguing for the thematic, bibliographic, structural, numerological, cosmological and contextual unity found in the volume, and teasing out the implications of these various unities. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3915 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3974 Learning in networks through enquiry: the design, implementation and evaluation of an online intervention to support student teachers on school placement Gorman, Alan Initial teacher education (ITE) in Ireland has experienced accelerated transformation in recent years, resulting in extended periods of school placement on concurrent and consecutive programmes. A contributing factor towards this development can be linked to teacher education scholarship, which values the authentic learning experience that classroom sites offer in learning to teach. However, there is also recognition that the daily demands associated with the practice of teaching, alongside the tenacity of lay theories, can result in student teachers becoming overwhelmed during their practicum experience, and can challenge the approaches endorsed in their research-based teacher education. This research documents the design, implementation and evaluation of an online intervention entitled LÍNTE (Learning in Networks through Enquiry), which sets out to support student teachers in a hybrid space during their school placement experience. Guided by a qualitative action-oriented case study design, research methods include interviews, participant observation, and discourse analysis. Key findings emerge that relate to (a) the importance of structured support in learning to teach and (b) the appropriateness and suitability of online environments in providing such support. This research highlights that the employment of online hybrid spaces can provide a valuable learning context where knowledge of practice is generated. The research illustrates the importance of cultivating a ‘safe’ space, through interactions which are empathetic and affirmative in nature. The presence of cooperating teachers, as online tutors, as well as a higher education institute tutor is recognised as critically important for strengthening the overall learning experience. A significant conclusion to this study is that hybrid spaces that are aligned with the practicum can provide opportunities for dialogic reflection and enquiry within a community of learners. With the extension of school placement on ITE programmes in Ireland, this study proffers a researchbased pedagogical framework to facilitate an online hybrid space during school placement. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3974 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/4014 The professionalization of adult education: a critical exploration of policy, discourse and practice Murphy, Helen This study examines the phenomenon of professionalization in adult education in Ireland and the impact of professionalization on the field of adult education. It aims to investigate the effect of policy and regulatory changes that have taken place during the period 2000 to 2016. The study questions how these changes are altering the field, the identities and practices of practitioners and ultimately the experiences of adult learners. Adult and Continuing Education have been part of the education discourse in Ireland for many years, however, recent policy, structural and regulatory change have raised questions about the field, its purpose, its underpinning philosophy. The Government White Paper “Learning for Life” (DES, 2000) was the first significant policy paper setting out national structures, funding streams and regulation for adult education. While there has been significant development in adult education between 2000 and 2016, including increased funding and a widening of access for adults to education, the development of adult education as a recognised profession has been slow to materialize. The sector continues to be defined by part-time and casual work with little security of tenure, limited opportunities for career development and a lack of structured career paths. Recent policy developments, a new National Strategy for Further Education and Training (SOLAS, 2014), a new strategy for Professional Development for Further Education and Training (SOLAS, 2016), new regulations introduced by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and the Teaching Council of Ireland (Teaching Council, Regulation 5, 2011) coupled with significant structural change in the sector, have reignited the debate on professionalization. The research methodology in the study is a single case study, conducted within the constructivist paradigm, that is informed by a conceptual framework that draws on a socio-cultural perspective on learning and meaning making. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/4014 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z