ENGL685 #5 - Focus? Focwe? Focthem?

Discuss what you see as your focused research topic for the class. Why are you interested. Based on your research topic/question thus far, answer/freewrite “so what?” questions on BWR p. 34.

3 robust annotated bibliography entries on focused research topic.

"Do the female members of the Nerd Fitness Facebook group perceive increased motivation to adhere to the program when using new/personalized equipment? If so, what equipment caused this effect, and roughly how long does this increase last?"

My idea was that this is a group I have easy access to, that I could probably convince a fair amount of to take a short, multiple choice poll, and that this would lead to qualitative data easier than looking at how/why questions (where a lot of coding is needed to make numbers). Additionally, in Visual Rhetoric, we were just discussing how good aesthetics scientifically make people work better. I'd be curious to see if people report this perceived change with fitness programs as in interface design.

Unrelated to L337 H4X, I would also be interested in the effect of "actual benefit" versus "perceived benefit". That'd take a lot of science and research data I don't have, so this is a smaller, more subjective slice off of that parent interest.

now I guess I'll answer these questions formally blegh blegh blegh

• Who will care about the research you do?
• In all likelihood, just me and the group (with whom I'll probably share my final product, since they'll have been so good as to be my number base). This is (allegedly) already hard science. I'm not breaking hard ground so much as affirming what I saw in one field as fact in another.
• Who will your research affect?
• Maybe no one. My hope, though, is that there is an increase in activity based on good equipment aesthetics, and that'll motivate others to use 'getting what they need' quickly to get themselves un-stuck. Additionally, I'd like to justify my own motivation-based spending habits.
• How will your research affect your own situation?
• I mean, hopefully I'll pass the class. Also, next time someone asks me if I /really/ need a new pair of running shoes, I can have a sweet comeback with data to back it up waiting in the wings.
• What other situations or contexts will your research affect?
• Maybe this will help motivate me and my fitness group to help us help ourselves and get good workout/food-making gear?
• Who does your research need to matter to and why?
• Probably only to my professor, and to myself, but that's okay. Sometimes your research can't be all things to all people. That's a pipe dream, textbook, and you gotta let it go.

Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things. Basic books.

Right now I have the prologue and chapters one and two, detailing how aesthetics play into better users (like how good aesthetics make people more happy, which makes them more creative, which leads to better problem solving. I haven't investigated the rest of the book and right now, I don't really plan to. If needed, tho, I'm sure the rest of his work will be super helpful in defining how aesthetics changes users.

Hassenzahl, M. (2008). The Interplay of Beauty, Goodness, and Usability in Interactive Products. Hum.-Comput. Interact., 19(4), 319–349. doi:10.1207/s15327051hci1904_2

This study comes the closest to the ideas of the "parent study, where in this case there is a distinction between "goodness" (in usability) and "prettiness". Like the next one down, this is done with usability testing, so it has nice science numbers to back up the testing. I still need to take a deeper read on this one, but it's going to help back up the visual rhetoric I have in the book above and apply it to something other than teapots.

McCormack, G. R., Friedenreich, C. M., Giles-Corti, B., Doyle-Baker, P. K., & Shiell, A. (2013). Do Motivation-Related Cognitions Explain the Relationship Between Perceptions of Urban Form and Neighborhood Walking?. Journal Of Physical Activity & Health, 10(7), 961-973.

This one is also super sciencey, but the result of it is that constructed environments do motivate people to walk outside more. I think this'll help back up the idea that environment gives extra motivation based on how "pleasing" it is to the senses. This is another win for aesthetics, and it has tables too! If we're supposed to worry about data or numbers to give advisers for program funding, this will make excellent back up evidence.

ENGL706 - Mind Map Links

Week One Coggle

Week Two Popplet

ENGL685 #4 - Coding...No, Not THAT Kind of Coding...ffs...

Gotta getcha getcha getcha getcha head in the game

The first thing that struck me was the sheer volume of data there was to analyze. I know we said in class that, during a career, you analyze lots of different data all at once and coding helps with that, but...well, maybe when you have a specific goal in mind, it's easier. If you're reading for something specific, you can highlight that stuff and move on. Mining data just to mind data is a little...weird. I know it's practice, but I think that made doing this a little harder. Much like the project research journal assignment I felt like I wasn't sure what the direction I was supposed to be heading in was.

Gonna give this a shot, tho. My assigned targets are listed below, as are the things I noticed about their portfolios.

• JSe, CSm, JSm, MW
• College Objectives (All)
• Split vote between coming to college to learn and coming for additional activities. 
• All but one included some kind of "professional" caliber photograph. 
• Likewise, two chose charitable organizations for their "academic" choice (the other two were academics related). Half skipped social group mention.

• Extracurriculars (Some Data Inaccessible - CSm, JSe, MW)
• One list, the other two were in more "formal" formats (presentation and resume)
• All include at least one picture from a mentioned event
• All keep explanation of events short (1 - 2 lines), with the exception of the PPT which was 10 slides
• Three list (at least in one instance) the time spent at events/charities

• Academic Materials (All)
• All portfolios held a vast variety of educational materials
• Composition entries varied widely by subject and didn't seem to have much (thematically) in common
• This was the hardest to "code" because I didn't get what I was looking for. Some students did things like keep prompt materials, some didn't, none of their classes (outside of comp) really matched up to have comparables...looking forward to learning more about what the deal was in class!

Kristi- Surprisingly, we did things much the same! Woop woop! We both used the contents of the folders over a lot of the contents' contents (since a lot of that stuff didn't have much in common).

Katie- Golly, I can't even download this giant word document...she used lots of pictures tho. Whatta beautiful nerd 10/10.

ENGL685 Journal #2 & 3 - What Are Your Interests? Get Good At 'Em!

This will be a Frankenentry since I wanna knock out all the research prompts in one go. I know, I know- fabulous, right?


Pick 1-2 topics you are interested in and do web searches (try alternative search terms and search engines). Do another round of searches using Google Scholar. How do the results getting you thinking differently about each topic. Which one do you think you are most interested in, why?
 My research terms for my searches were:

syllabus design japan
Japan instructional design
Japan composition instructional design
Japan composition
Japan composition instruction
Japan composition teaching
Japan college composition course design
Japan syllabus

What did I learn from this?

Holy cheese fritters, it is hard to find information about overseas composition classes.

There must be a term or something I'm missing, because I know these resources are out there somewhere! They must teach some equivalent to college comp in Japan, right?? I may need to email the Japanese staff at ODU to see if they can help me out on this one if I decide I want to try and take things further here.

 That said, I found a few resources on EFL instruction and the "holes" in how lessons work in Japan, so those are the leads I'll probably follow. I'd probably be more interested in looking at some syllabi (?) from a Japanese comp class and then comparing them to a US comp class, but when ya got lemons, ya can't make grape juice.

Research Journal: Pick on topic you are interested in. Find 3 “scholarly” articles from peer-reviewed journals. Write robust annotated bibliography entries for all three articles.

(I like how scholarly is in quotes- way to stick it to the man)

Brown, J. (2012). Emphasizing content in the English composition classroom in Japan. Accents Asia, 5(1), 1-7.

This source, despite not being very long, has some very useful materials in it. First, it advocates for a small tweak in Japanese ESL instruction vs a complete overhaul. Likewise, it also takes examples from a real textbook used to teach English in Japanese schools. It gets a MAJOR frowny face for not mentioning which textbook it's using, though- not even in the table of contents does it list where the cited exercises came from, which leads to a hard hit right in the credibility. Still, at least, this source has a nice short list of other cites works I can go to for more opinions on teaching English Composition to Japanese students.

Nishigaki, C.,Chujo, K., McGoldrick, S. L., Hasegawa, S. (2007). A Cross-Sectional Contrastive Analysis of Japanese Students’ English Composition Skills. The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol. 4 (No. 1), 27-54,

Like the last source, this article also looks at the deficiency between ESL teaching and composition writing in Japanese schools. Unlike the last article, this source has lots of qualitative data to back up its opinions. It doesn't offer up answers, so much as proof of the disconnect between the Japanese grammar/vocabulary focused teaching methodology and the students' abilities to write cohesive essays based off of a prompt. It's a little less current then the Brown source, but ultimately has more weight, and will definitely be a good "factual backup" if I continue down this path.

Brenda, D. (1996). L1 and L2 composition theories: Hillocks' ‘environmental mode‘ and task-based language teaching. ELT Journal, 50 (4), 312-317 doi:10.1093/elt/50.4.312

This is the only article not focused directly on Japan. Instead, the author decides to look at a handful of L1 and L2 composition teaching methods and, based on the results of a study done on their effectiveness, recommends a hybrid of two popular models of instruction (instead of the more popular idea that one must be best). I like this piece because it takes a step away from 'this is what's wrong with Japan' and instead suggests a solution applicable to all EFL courses seeking to make better writers. If I continue with the topic, developing a curriculum with this hybrid method at the center may well be the key to happy compromise between the failing system now and a full overhaul of a very entrenched teaching idea.

ENGL685 Journal #1 - Questions About Writing and Freewrite Post

• Pick 2-4 questions about writing you have. Briefly write about why you are interested in these questions. 
• Copy/paste/organize all the freewriting you did during class on 1/14 and make sure it is in your journal.

1. How has the idea of "academic writing" taken shape over the course of educational history to become what it is today? How do we define "academic writing"? If there is consensus, what is it, and how was it formed?
• As discussed briefly in class, what many scholars believe writing to be is a very loose and nebulous category. While it's fine to study these, what is expected from scholars by professors is often a very uniform, technically specific piece of writing. It has limits placed on its tone, format, length, and organization (though admittedly, often the higher one goes up the ladder, the less rigid this format becomes). I would be interested to know when and why these yardsticks came into play, as well as the rhetoric behind how the most common formatting rules are structured.

1. If there is such a thing as "academic writing", is this the most productive means of transferring scholarly information to others? Why or why not? How would one go about breaking down academic writing without getting a lot of push back from the Ivory Tower?
• There are many elements of academia that are not a result of best practice for learners or educators. In Middle and High School, it has been scientifically proven that a start time any earlier than 8:30 am is detrimental to the learning process and student well being. Still, schools continue to start at ridiculously early hours as a result of their history as a part of the factory system.This is what leads me to ask, is academic prose and its structure an aid to the passing-on of information, or a curse? If it is more harm than help, in what way could a compromise be formed where the writing still has structure, but is more accessible to those with less privilege?

FREEWRITE

#1 - What is Writing?) Writing is words on a page that take place in some sort of defensible order. This can be letters, advertisements, notes, and extends out to foreign languages superimposed over others. If you can explain why you wrote what you did, it’s probably writing. Good/bad is opinionist garbage.

#2 - What is Research?) Research is often tedious, and a necessary evil of finding out stuff you wanna know. Academically, one is often expected to properly cite sources, so peers (and not-so-peers) can fact check the heck outta you at will. You gotta do whatcha gotta do, but it’s like kool aid- too much aid and not enough kool.

Secondary Text Post

I will also be using this blog for my other class ENGL685. Titles will differentiate which post belongs to which class.

Test Post

This is a test post on the blog created for my ENGL706 class.