TOOLS AND PROCESSES
The annotations are intended to provide an entry point to the items listed, not a full definition or description. Phases in which the items arise are indicated in parentheses. An asterisk denotes that the item is described within the description for that Phase, not on its own, and = denotes that the item is synonymous with the phase as a whole.
Active Digestion
- What was demonstrated? Where could it have been taken further? Where does all this connect with my project? (Phase B)
Annotated Bibliography
- to check the significance of what you are reading against your current project definition and priorities (Phase B)
Assessment that Keeps the Attention Away from Grades
- helps teaching and learning interactions focused on the student's process of developing through the semester
Background Information
- finding out what others have done that informs and connects with my project (=Phase B)
Check-In
- an opportunity for every participant to begin to participate and have their voice heard
Clarification Through Communication
- overall progression or argument underlying my research and the written reports (=Phase G)
Closing Circle (Check-Out)
- an opportunity for every participant to take stock of the session or their plan for the time ahead and to have this heard (witnessed) by the rest of the group
Complete Draft
- get to the end (even if you only sketch some sections along the way) to allow readers to see if you are clear about the Position you want to lead them to and the Steps needed to get them there (Phase H*)
Compelling Communication
- Grab the attention of the readers or audience, Orient them, move them along in Steps, so they appreciate the Position I have led them to (=Phase H)
Component Propositions
- identify the premises and propositions that my project depends on (=Phase D)
Creative Habits for Synthesis of Theory and Practice
- establish structure of support to find your voice, clarify and develop thoughts, and express that voice in a completed written product
Critical Incident Questionnaire
- five minute feedback that can be fitted in at the end of almost any session
Design of Further Research and Engagement
- clear objectives with respect to product and process, in sequence of steps (=Phase E)
Daily writing
- a practice of writing 15-30 minutes 5-7 days per week from the very start of a project
Dialogue around Written Work
- written and spoken comments on each installment of a project and successive revision in response facilitates generative interactions between researcher and advisor
Dialogue Process
- shared and personal meaning that emerges within a group through listening, inquiry, and reflection
Direct Information, Models, and Experience
- information, models, and experience not readily available from other sources (=Phase F)
Direct Writing and Quick Revising
- Split the time you have available into two: write complete sentences, then put what you have in order (Phase H)
Engagement With Others
- facilitated new avenues of classroom, workplace, and public participation (=Phase I)
Evaluation Clock (to plan evaluations)
- a framework to design your own evaluation or systematic study, working both sequentially and recursively
Evaluation Clock (to review completed evaluations)
- put yourself in the shoes of the person(s) who conducted the evaluation and fill in the steps they appear to have taken
Final Report
- what peer readers would need to know to get interested in and understand what you have done. (This may require you to explain why you have pursued this project, convey your process of development during the project, and lay out your personal or professional development plans for the future.) (Phase H*)
Five Fs
- Background research involves a continuing interplay among Find, Focus, Filter, Face Fears, and File.
Focused Conversation
- a series of questions that begin with concrete things you observed and move through feelings and associations, on to interpretations and finally get to the overall implications
Freewriting
- write non-stop for seven-ten minutes and expose some thoughts about the topic that had been below the surface of your attention
Gallery Walk
- activity for a group's first meeting that introduces participants to each other and acknowledges that they already know a lot about the topic at hand
GOSP (Grab->Orient->Steps->Position)
- Grab the attention of the readers or audience, Orient them, move them along in Steps, so they appreciate the Position you've led them to (Phase H)
Governing Question
- focuses you on what you need to find out that you do not already know or cannot yet demonstrate to someone else
Historical scan
- review a group's progress or set the scene in which a project is to be undertaken
Initial Guide
- someone to guide your inquiries in their early unformed stage (Phase B)
Iterative Development
- revisit the different phases in light of other people's responses to your work and what you learn in other phases.
Jig-saw discussion of texts
- allows all members of a group to get up to steam on issues raised by a set of readings without everyone having read every reading in depth
KAQF
- identify what you need to Find out by examining the interplay between Knowledge, Questions for inquiry, and ideas about possible Actions
Key Article
- points to many other publications so you move towards "know[ing] what others have done that informs and connects with my project" (Phase B)
Mapping
- tease out connections from the central issue that concerns you (Phase C)
Models from the past
- review reports from previous projects to get a sense of their scope and the look of the final products (Phase A)
Narrative Outline
- outline with explanatory sentences that indicate the point of each section and interconnections among sections (Phase G)
One-on-one Session
- discussions between researcher and advisors are typically free-form, but can be given a more mindful structure
One-on-one consultations for a group that meets over an extended period
- provides opportunities to solicit advice one on one during a meeting or workshop when there is 45-60 minutes to spare.
Overall argument, clarifying
- the steps or progression that leads your audience to the position you want them at least to appreciate (Phase G)
Overall Vision of project
- who I want to influence or affect concerning what (=Phase A)
Paragraph Overview of project
- a single paragraph to orient readers to your project (Phase A).
Personal and Professional Development Workbook
- an organized compilation of materials to facilitate review of and later re-engagement with your thinking and processes of development
Phases of Research and Engagement
- ten phases that researchers move through, then revisit in light of other people's responses to their work and of what they learn during the other phases
Phase A. Overall vision
- who I want to influence or affect concerning what
Phase B. Background information
- what others have done that informs and connects with my project
Phase C. Possible directions and priorities
- expose possible new directions and clarify direction and scope within the larger set of issues
Phase D. Component Propositions
- identify the premises and propositions that my project depends on
Phase E. Design of further research and engagement
- clear objectives with respect to product and process, in sequence of steps
Phase F. Direct information, models & experience
- information, models, and experience not readily available from other sources
Phase G. Clarification through communication
- overall progression or argument underlying my research and the written reports
Phase H. Compelling communication
- Grab the attention of the readers or audience, Orient them, move them along in Steps, so they appreciate the Position I've led them to
Phase I. Engagement with others
- facilitated new avenues of classroom, workplace, and public participation
Phase J. Taking stock
- what has been working well and what needs changing
+Δ Feedback
- feedback in the form of an appreciation (+) and a suggestion for change (Δ)
Possible Directions and Priorities
- expose possible new directions and clarify direction and scope within the larger set of issues (=Phase C)
Process Review
- selected examples that capture the process of development of your work and thinking about the subject of the project or course (Phase J)
Probe and Discuss
- take each point and ask whether there is any controversy there, whether anyone else would formulate it in a different way (Phase D*)
Pyramid of Questions
- a compilation of questions arising during your research, with later questions building on earlier ones (Phase C)
Questions for opening wide and for probing
- Where? Who is implicated? Arguments, categories, definitions, holes, ambiguities,… (Phase C)
Reflective Practitioner Goals
- emphasizing taking initiatives in and through relationships (Phase J)
Research Design
- design should address: What do you most want to see happening in your project in the next two and a half months? What things might be blocking you from realizing this vision? What can you do to deal with the obstacles—what new directions do you need to move in? What achievable steps would move you in these directions? (Phase E)
Research Organization
- keep your ears and eyes open to good ideas, but customize the development of your research organization to your own situation and foibles
Reverse Outlining
- after making a note on the topic(s) or thesis(theses) of each paragraph, see how these can be rearranged, streamlined, discarded, combined, split, so that each paragraph makes a distinct contribution to a definite GOSPing path (Phase H)
Revising in Response to Comments
- you should not expect to work out your ideas in one attempt—everyone needs to revise!
Self-Assessment, mid-process or -course
- what I like about my work so far; what I plan to do differently; support I need (Phase J)
Self-Assessment, at the end, in relation to process goals
- describe for each goal: one thing that reflects what you have achieved well related to this goal, and one thing that you have struggled with or need more help on or want to work further on (see Phase J*)
Sense-making
- form of contextualization that teases out what has helped me and what has hindered me (Phase B)
Sense-making response
- an approach to active digestion of what you are reading based on Sense-making (Phase B)
- form of contextualization that teases out what has helped me and what has hindered me (Phase B)
Sense of Place Map
- a picture that addresses: Where am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going?
Sequence of Steps (in research design)
- do the steps allow you to fulfill your purpose, answer your Governing Question, support your arguments? When you get to any step are you prepared for it? (see Phase E*)
Sharing of Work to Elicit Responses
- sharing as giving so that responses be elicited and offered from a place of mutual respect
Small group roles
- roles that do not divert anyone from participating in the activity and in which everyone has to reflect and synthesize what happened
Statistical Thinking
- a simple chain of thinking to be understood before enlisting a statistician to analyze the data
Strategic Personal Planning
- acknowledging a wide range of factors and wishes that your work could take into account (Phase E)
Subject-Purpose-Audience
- Who you want to reach? What you want to convey to them? Why do you want to address them about that? (=Phase A)
Support and Coaching Structure
- consider ways that the group can function as a support and coaching structure to get most participants (students) to finish their reports by the target date (Phase J)
Supportive listening
- each person has half the time available to be listened to and simply paid attention to even if not talking
Taking Stock (evaluations of process)
- what has been working well and what needs changing (=Phase J)
Ten Questions, for opening wide then focusing
- write down 10 questions then circle two that interest you the most. Take these two and list 10 questions under each (Phase C)
Think-pair-share
- prepare your thoughts on your own, share with a second person, then with group as a whole
Visual Aids
- aid your presentation, not duplicate it (Phase G)
Work-in-progress Presentation
- through preparation, delivery, and feedback clarify your overall argument and plans for subsequent research (Phase G)
Writing Groups for Support and Feedback
- a small group protects a regular meeting time and takes turns to receive feedback on the latest installment of writing
Writing Preferences
- When you see your strengths you may keep that in mind as a resource; when you see your weakness, you may do remedial exercises to try to reduce that as a liability (Phases G and H)
Writing Workshop
- regular hour-long writing workshop to check in on progress and reflect on relevant topics
Written Evaluation, at end of process or course
- Starting with self-evaluation and moving through steps towards composing a synthetic statement aimed at helping the advisor or instructor and some third party appreciate the course’s strengths and weaknesses. (Phase J)