RESEARCH & SCHOLARSHIP
My scholarly interests center around three broad areas: (1) technology in education and its relation to social transformation; (2) intersections of gender-race-class, creativity-innovation, technology, and education policy and practices; and (3) theories of methodology (qualitative/interpretive, transdisciplinary, and feminist). Working betwixt and between these, I pursue questions of how discourse practices, an intersection of the imaginary and imagination, methodological practices, and technologies (conceived broadly through Deweyian, Heideggerian, and Foucauldian lenses) come together as a complex network of opportunities for understanding the points of intersection wherein learning, knowledge, and policy agendas unfold. My work is in part driven by my long-term interests in digital media/technologies and the ways they afford opportunities for thinking, creative inquiry, and/or production and at the same time may stifle (or become the means for stifling) these same activities or ideals. This is the broad milieu within which I understand the potential and challenges of technology, 21st century literacies and education policy, broadly defined.
I have long been fascinated by the kinds of intellectual boundaries and assumptions that we live within and/or create and that influence the ways in which learning education and policy are conceived. Gender is one of those boundaries/assumptions, particularly as it plays out in the context of computing. When, as an artist, I moved from traditional art media to the world of 3D computer graphics/animation, I found a particularly transparent yet fully functioning boundary that reflected numerous assumptions about women and technology. This boundary manifests as a wide-ranging narrative that attempts to describe the gender/technology (g/t) relationship. The transparency and strength of this g/t boundary story prompted my interest in pursuing a doctorate. As my studies progressed, I became ever more curious about the methodological and conceptual foundations of this g/t story, as it is represented in both the field of education and feminist technology studies. (more info available on request)...
Interests
Theories/practices of inquiry in research & pedagogy ~ Qualitative & interpretive methodologies ~ Feminist technoscience ~ Technology studies in education ~ Transdisciplinarity ~ The social imaginary + individual creativity + technology ~ Literacies, learning, & imagining ~ New media practices & aesthetics ~ Undergraduate research & processes/practices of inquiry
Educational technology: projects & papers
"Blogquiry" (2008, an occasional blog chronicalling my research and reflections on blogging in the contexts of teaching, learning, and new literacies): http://blogquiry.wordpress.com/
The following represent some of my earlier work related to technology and education. This work was focused on the development of learning technology tools & environments. The Whoola (a defunct startup) games were a kind of hybrid of ideas from Everquest and discovery learning. The other projects build from constructivism. All of these also reflect my earlier understanding of the gender & technology relationship. My dissertation represents a strong shift in my thinking but since these older projects are built from the dominant gender & technology story, they are examples of this kind of genre.
- I-space (2003)
- The imagined, teachable hero (2003)
- Exquisite Learning - prototype and development doc (2002): http://www.mysharmin.com/exquisite/empathy.html
- Whoola 3D edutainment games (2000-1)
Creative projects:
Explorations of spaces (aesthetic, virtual, psychological, cognitive, embodied, and or enframing) and how these might be evoked in digital media. Of late I am inspired by a number of philosophers of "technology", e.g. Heidegger, Dewey, Haraway, ...)