At first, I found Brenda Dervin’s article to be complex and unrelatable. I read half the article before realizing there was a link to a video with an overview explanation to sense-making. After viewing the video, I went back and finished reading the rest of the article. Along with the process of reading, I took notes, highlighted important or unknown information, paused and reflected on what I was reading. The visuals in the video and the visual representations in the article, made it easier for me to wrap my brain around the process of sense-making as an approach to studying the constructing that humans do to make sense of their experiences. If I were to teach this same reading content to a high schooler, I would add graphic organizers, such as story map or use Google Slide to make a powerpoint presentation of the content.
The exemplar studies showed the use of the approach to yield data in qualitative terms, such as case studies. In this studies, the exemplars present studies which have been for the most part, close-ended, asking respondents to describe their situation either through a series of gap-bridging and gap-defining. Overall, my understanding of Dervin’s article is to present sense-making studies that have been conducted with a wide sample of populations, pertaining to their information needs in several situations and their interactions with a wide systems of communication systems.
3 Comments
An Truong
2/5/2018 04:50:20 pm
I have to agree, the video and images gave be a better understanding of the objective as well. The article was a complex reading, I have to reread certain paragraphs to grasp the meaning. I like how you would incorporate Google Slide to present this to your students. I think breaking down one slide a time will allow questions from students and more detail information would best give the students comprehension of the objective.
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2/5/2018 07:17:41 pm
Diana, I had a similar experience with the article, but once I saw the video, it all made a little more sense. One part that is still confusing to me is the gathering the qualitative data through the surveys. But what I am hearing you say, is that this collection of data has been done with a wide variety of populations because according to Dervin, "no woman is an average woman". I also agree with you in breaking the concepts down and teach the material in pieces. I agree that a graphic organizer and ppt slides could come in very useful when presenting and organizing the information.
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Amanda Olson
2/5/2018 09:35:14 pm
I am in complete agreement with you that watching the video was most definitely beneficial to the deeper understanding that I was able to compose after my second reading of the article. Throughout my first read, I was most focused on making sure I came away with at least some basic understanding of what sense-making is. I believe that this very specified focus took away from my ability to truly comprehend what I was reading at a deeper level. After the first read, I watched the video which helped me to move past the point of simply desiring an understanding of sense-making because the way in which it was presented using multimedia and images provided me with not only a basic understanding but a greater amount of confidence in myself and my preparedness for the next read. With my newfound understanding apart of my prior knowledge, I was able to simply read and allow other aspects of my prior knowledge, my own personal context, and previous experiences to take their place and therefore read with a new lens. I always wonder though if being provided with someones understanding of a reading (like that which we saw in the video) so unknowingly and significantly impacts how we bridge our own gaps, that we miss out on a chance for an understanding that we ourselves would have formulated in accordance to different situational factors. What do you think? Thank you for sharing all of your great ideas!
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AuthorI am a special ed teacher at Vintage High School. Archives
July 2018
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