20 Dec Special Topic Editorial

Special Topic Editorial:

Emerging research innovations in visual-video methodologies

Dr. Elaine Khoo,

Senior Research Fellow Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research (WMIER)

Te Wānanga Toi Tangata – Division of Education University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

Published articles from this special topic are now available open access on our journal webpage!!

In this time of COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns, our dependency on the affordances of video and visual forms of communication has never been more acute to bridge social, geographical and physical distances. The instantaneous proliferation of these communication modalities has created additional challenges yet an opportunistic environment to consider, (re)design, and assess the potential of innovative visual and video research methodologies. Conducting research during the pandemic has seen Zoom and Skype being used to conduct interviews at a distance while social media such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are used to disseminate findings to outside academia. Researchers are turning to and seeking guidance on alternative visual and video methodological choices and orientations to guide their work. The timing of the publication of this Special Issue, conceived prior to the pandemic, is therefore strategic in addressing these issues whilst progressing its original aim of supporting new and emerging researchers to share their methodological innovations. It presents a collection of four multidisciplinary studies representing leading edge thought from graduate scholars around the world, on research innovations in visual-video methodologies to offer glimpses into issues, challenges and potential directions.

The first three articles in this special issue consider the potential of video in a variety of ways. Elizabeth Hidson’s article describes the use of internet-based video calling and desktop sharing (VCDS) through Skype to explore teachers’ pedagogical reasoning and lesson planning processes in the context of a newly introduced national computing curriculum. Importantly Hidson offers a model of a video desktop sharing method for researching teacher practices which had the added advantage of eliciting think-aloud expositions of teacher practices.

With the similar aim of accessing a wider group of teacher research participants, Suzanne Culshaw describes how Youtube was used as a video recruitment approach in a study on the experiences of struggling as a teacher. She explicates the characteristics and language essential for the recruitment video to be effective.

Maggie Haggerty’s article invites readers to consider the entanglements of possibility, risk and ethical responsibility in conducting video research with young children. Seeking to understand children’s experiences of curriculum and assessment priorities, she illustrates how video is a powerful tool for exploring young children’s modes of being, doing, knowing and becoming in a way that recognises and engages with the human and more-than-human.

Moving away from education-based research, Romaine Logere presents the use of visual diagrams as a way to bridge methodological challenges in researching the sensibilities of transdisciplinary practice. Drawing from her experience as a creative practitioner to inform qualitative ways of researching, Logere details the process of constructing diagrams of intensity to capture and illustrate the non-verbal experiences of group ideation.

Taken together, these articles indicate the diverse ways emerging scholars are exploring to overcome methodological and pragmatic research limitations. In their doing so, epistemological, ontological and ethical issues were unearthed and addressed in new ways. As editor of this special issue, I see a fascinating and promising future for methodological and technological innovation using video and visual practices. I hope this Special Issue gives readers of VJEP new insights into these bold and innovative new directions.

Special Issue Reviewer Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the following reviewers for reviewing manuscripts for this special issue during this challenging year. Authors have valued their high-quality and supportive feedback in enhancing the quality of their contribution.

Amanda Bateman, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Lucy Catherine Caton, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

Maurice Cheng, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Jack Koumi, Educational Media Production Training, United Kingdom

Natasa Lackovic, University of Lancaster

Kirsten Locke, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Elin Eriksen Ødegaard, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

John O’Neill, Massey University, New Zealand

Soern Finn Menning, University of Agder, Norway

Clive Pope, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Gloria Quinones, Monash University, Australia

John Roder, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Deborah Silvis, University of Washington, United States

Sean Sturm, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Arezou Zalipour, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand