Ted Talk: Elizabeth Loftus. The Illusion of Memory.

Elizabeth Loftus, a Psychologist specialising in memory, is used to people asking her why they forget names or dates, or why, when walking into a room with purpose, they experience that really disconcerting feeling of 'why have a come in here?' but that isn't where Loftus' interest lies.

Loftus is interested in the study of false memory, that is, memories that an individual may recount with detail and conviction, but are in fact not actual memories, they have arisen either through suggestion, misinformation, or, in the extreme, been deliberately planted.  Loftus begins by telling us the story of a young man named Steve Titus, who, due to incorrect eye witness testimony was wrongly imprisoned for rape.  Titus' story hits home the importance of police questioning in such instances, which can sometimes lead a witness to recollect facts about an incident or features of a perpetrator that are simply not accurate.  Of course, this type of false memory is incredibly important but doesn't really relate to my field of teaching: Counselling.  So, what is the link here, I hear you say?

Loftus has recently turned her attention to psychotherapy, specifically, the cases of individuals who undergo psychotherapy and suddenly remember childhood abuse during the therapeutic intervention.  Indeed, she cites a case in which a young lady uncovers abuse meted out by her mother during her childhood, which Loftus has uncovered as a false memory- it simply didn't happen.  Now, I don;t think that Loftus, nor I am suggesting for one single second that this is nefarious behaviour on the part of the therapist, but rather that it is possible that the in-depth exploration of childhood as a means of understanding adult trauma may lead one to dredge up 'false memories'.

Whilst I appreciate that this type of thing probably does occur, I can't help being slightly uncomfortable with the idea of false memory in regard to cases of historic child abuse.  It concerns me that this may become the next legal 'loophole' in which defence barristers may link the clients' engagement with psychotherapy (understandable for those with trauma) with the idea of false memory. How can one prove one way or the other?  Could this be the 'get out of jail card' for paedophiles?  Sounds dramatic, but stranger things have happened.

There can be little doubt that Loftus' work is invaluable to the field of memory, and this Ted talk is inspirational in driving that fact home to the viewer, however, when using this particular talk with my students I will be urging caution and critical thinking when it comes to psychotherapy and false memory.    

An Escape from Death by Powerpoint OR More of the Same?

We've all had that feeling- the drain of the brain cell caused by Powerpoint after Powerpoint presentation used in education or the workplace.  So, the new (er) kid on the block, Prezi is apparently a serious contender for the relief of the yawning, switching off, fidgeting in the seat symptomology of Powerpoint overdose.....

So, lets look at it in more detail.  I'll be blogging about Powerpoint as part of the Microsoft package later so I'm not going to tell you lots about that (lets face it, you probably already know- yawn!)  But to put my cards on the table, I'm a Powerpoint fan so Prezi is going to have to work pretty hard for me to take the plunge and change my existing presentation security blanket.  Prezi is seen as the grander version of Powerpoint, although the interface is completely different.  For starters, it is a flash based program which begins as one blank canvas, as opposed to several blank slides.  Prezi works in a non- linear fashion, and therefore allows for the presentation of information in a non-linear fashion, ideal for those who like to jump around a presentation, as opposed to presenting sequential slides (although you can hyperlink Powerpoint slides- read the other blog if that is something that interests you).  This style of presentation may also be more appealing to the audience, as it comes across as somewhat less predictable, and, considering the way in which you present can often be more important than the information than you're actually presenting, this may give Prezi a distinct edge. There is no doubt that the zoom function is impressive, it means that the information can be displayed in a unique and creative way.  When you wish to speak about a particular topic, you simply zoom in to the part of the canvas containing that information.  The smooth transition between each zoom area means that the sometimes awkward fumbling through slides is a thing of the past- even if you aren't zooming in on the right area, it looks like you know what you're doing and it's so quick, the audience doesn't have a chance to doubt you......

Prezi is also very portable, being a free (yes, free) web-based program, you don't have the hassle of carrying around a flash drive or being anchored to a particular computer, Prezi is good to go from any computer (providing its connected to the internet) making for an ease of delivery and eliminates the dreaded moment when you realise that your Powerpoint hasn't saved to the stick (we have all been there).  In this way, you save time as the necessity to email your presentation to yourself, your friends, your neighbour's cat and everyone you have ever met as a back up before a big presentation is no longer, well, a necessity.  Indeed, because Prezi is web-based, the presentation can be easily embedded into blogs and webpages.  If you like to make your presentation particularly visual (something we teachers like to do in order to accommodate our students' learning styles) then images can be easily inserted into Prezi at any angle you wish- horizontal, vertical, slightly off kilter, depending upon your preference.    The design options offered by Prezi are also particularly refreshing, with the ability to present information as though it is in a magazine or newspaper article, something which may come in particularly handy on a Monday afternoon when your audience has had lunch and just wants to sleep it off.

So far so good.  But what are some of the negatives of Prezi?  Well, surprise surprise, there are some. The interface is so different from what we are used to it can be a little overwhelming when we initially try to put together a presentation.  If you're pushed for time, starting a Prezi presentation from scratch with no experience of it is probably not a good idea.  From an audience perspective, there have been some rumblings of individuals becoming dizzy or having headaches due to the zooming in and out (see, everything has a downside) and unlike Powerpoint, you can't print out copies of the presentation for the audience to take with them.  This I see as a distinct disadvantage where I teach, I like to put my Powerpoint slides on Moodle in advance of the lecture so students may print them out and write notes on them.  In this way, they don't feel the need to write everything down but may rather focus upon what is being said (or at least I hope this is the case!).  I personally felt that Prezi didn't look quite as professional as Powerpoint and felt the functionality was a bit gimmicky, but then I don't tend to like change so have a look for yourself.

Taking all of this in to account, the only conclusion to draw really is that the presentation software you use is down to your own personal preference.  For my part, despite my reservations, I will be using Prezi in the coming semester if for nothing other than some relief of the boring tedium of Powerpoint probably felt by my students.  I think that over time, we may be best using a combination of presentation software to keep the audience interested.  On balance, Prezi is, to an extent an escape from death by Powerpoint but only because it is novel.  Should we adopt the use of Prezi completely, we will eventually have the same complaints.  In this way, the responsibility comes back to the presenter to choose the presentation software appropriate to their audience.

Have a look for yourself by clicking this link to Prezi........

A Quality, Qualitative Blog

Next semester, I plan to introduce my students to the wonders of qualitative research.  I've laid the groundwork in terms of exploring some quantitative research this semester, and I suspect they may all be getting tired of me repeating "quaNtitative= Numbers, quaLitative= Language".  I'm pretty comfortable that by now, they know the difference.

Qualitative research as a methodology allows us to get underneath the data in a way that quantitative does not- an ability to capture depth.  The first thing I need to do is to engage the students in reading qualitative research- no mean feat when you consider that some of the better papers are particularly lengthy.  Therefore, I set about finding some andragogical guidance online which may enable me to demonstrate to the students some texts which are not perfect studies (therefore allowing us to identify the flaws) but has the features of good research that permits us to appreciate how the research plays out in the real world.

After an extensive online search, I came across the 'Qualitative Research Cafe', an online blog dedicated to interpretative and critical research approaches.  I was particularly impressed to see the author had recommended a list of books used in research classes which will allow students to see good (but not perfect) examples of qualitative research, whilst also allowing some room for critique. Learning by example, you might argue.

Of particular resonance was the post, complete with an embedded video clip, reminding us of the difference between empathy and sympathy (a concept of particular import to counselling) and how empathy is fundamental to qualitative research.  This is something I certainly plan to build in to my lessons.  I feel this blog will be an incredibly useful tool for my teaching, although the posts are (a bit like qualitative research papers) a bit on the lengthy side.  The author (s) also appear to have a disregard for the use of capitals in titles, but as it's an informal method of communicating I shall switch off my grammar police radar. The blog design itself is quite drab, certainly not reflective of the innovations the posts themselves represent and perhaps feeds into the misinterpretation of qualitative research as being 'dull'.

That said, the blog isn't too busy and therefore doesn't detract from the quality of the content. The site is well organised with a search option included which allows the user to search categories,as well as navigate between recent posts and older posts by title.

I have always been a firm advocate of the benefits of research participation, particularly from the perspective of the undergraduate counselling student, who will be required to undertake various forms of research of their own.  By being a research participant, we can better understand how the requirements of different studies may affect us, what works and what doesn't and allows us to truly put ourselves in the position of the participant.  Therefore, when we come to plan our own research, we are better placed to keep the best interests of the participants in mind (and might just help to achieve ethical approval first time around!).  The Qualitative Research Cafe has a post entitled 'Learning to be a better researcher...by being a research participant' which sums this up perfectly.  Also included are some accounts of reactions from research participants when the researcher has got it 'wrong'.  These can serve as a warning to us all and I will definitely be using these examples when I am expounding the benefits of a well thought out research process.  I especially appreciated these sentiments:

 'We should remind ourselves..............
Narcissism should not prevail and being a researcher is simply not a license to tell all'

Couldn't have put it better myself.  If you have any interest in qualitative research, this is the blog to visit.  You can find by  clicking here .I hope that you find it as informative as I have.

Mind Reader Dave- A hit!

In my last post I mentioned the responsibility of educators to alert students to the dangers of online sources being erroneous or, worse, deliberately misleading.  Of course there is also the wider issue of the hazards posed by posting our personal information online, through the use of online banking, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc.

Whilst we are all getting pretty used to the fact that we can have virtual 'friendships', business relationships as well as updating friends (whether virtual or actual), acquaintances and the like with practically our every move (cue photos of my dinner), we don't seem to be quite as good at realising that what we choose to post online is NEVER really deleted and can come back and cause us real problems.  With this in mind, I recently ran a seminar debate with my students entitled:- 'How useful is social media for the purposes of employment?'.  Students were arbitrarily divided into 'pro' social network and 'anti' social network groups and given a week to research the topic.

The results were interesting.  All participants seemed to view social network from the position of recruitment (as in, is it right that employers view Facebook profiles when making decisions to interview?), rather than from the perspective of the individual posting things on to social networking sites that may be deemed as inappropriate when in employment (or otherwise!).  Also missing was any consideration of the advantages or disadvantages of using social media in an employment context (i.e., for liaising with work colleagues or educational purposes).  I think this says a lot about our current attitude to social media.  The focus is not upon the responsibility of the individual to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner whilst online, but rather upon the rights of the individual to behave improperly without an employer using this in 'judgement' as to their suitability for a given role.

As can often happen, the debate became a bit tangential, with passionate arguments about the freedom of the individual to express themselves and the equity of some having access to things like the internet and some less fortunate not having this luxury but in all, I felt it summed up how we tend not to take ownership of things we post online in the same way as we would in person, or say, writing a letter.  I wanted to make these students see that what we post online can, and sometimes will be used against us and we must approach any dealings we have online with this very much in mind.  So, I used 'Dave' the 'mind reader'.  This is a Youtube clip shown to us during our recent ICT module which I felt summed up being careful online beautifully.  Basically, mind reader Dave can tell you anything about yourself- he can even tell you your BANK DETAILS.

It was an absolute hit with the students.  An excellent way of driving this point home.  I'm not going to spoil it- watch it here for yourself.  Prepare to be amazed.........

Internet Detectives- Useful for teaching what sources NOT to use in academia

During our recent ICT module, we talked a lot about the use of the internet to support academic work.  Of course, there are a plethora of sources out there just waiting for us to use them and this makes the task of the modern day student far less onerous when it comes to synthesizing information for their essays and reports.  However, this brings with it its own set of issues, such as the old 'copying and pasting' trick, where large swathes of information is dropped into work as well as the use of sources not appropriate for academic work (wikipedia, anyone?!).

As lecturers I see it as our responsibility to alert students to the dangers of online sources, and the 'Internet Detective' application we were introduced to during our ICT module is perfect for just that.

The application takes the user through a variety of scenarios, explaining how to investigate the authenticity of websites (looking at URL etc.,) as well as how to decide how robust a source is for inclusion in academic work.

I used it recently with my first year cohort.  Whilst there is no doubt that the 'chalk and talk' strategy of explaining things to students has value, the ability of applications such as 'internet detectives' to allow students an experiential perspective of the concepts being discussed is, in my opinion, invaluable.

So, what did the students think of it?  Feedback was mainly positive, with many expressing the wish they had been introduced to this sooner.  Students liked being able to work through the task in their own time, with the application assessing them via a true false/multiple choice system as they worked through the tasks.  It seemed to put things into context for them and helped them to see that the internet is not 'what you see is what you get' but rather a minefield of scams and deceptions that they need to be able to spot.  I will certainly be using it again.  The only negative comment was 'it's a bit cheesy...'- ah well, we can't have everything I suppose!

If anybody wishes to try this (cheesy) but very useful resource, it can be found by clicking here.