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Chapter 2: Ethnographies of Video ProductionThe essential purpose of doing an ethnography of the participating high school courses was originally to sketch the context in which video projects were created for a fuller understanding of how students worked and as an alternate source in evaluating a novel methodology. In the process, however, it became evident that the ethnographies revealed differences between programs that would tell unique stories of technology use and of environmental participation. Additionally, I found surprisingly little written despite the growing numbers of courses. Thus the stories of the programs threatened to eclipse the quieter stories of the videos and demanded to be elevated to at least an equal topic of discussion. In addition to serving as a contextualization of the project, the ethnography has become a study in itself. I have given particular attention to the material environments of these courses, employing procedures that are consistent with grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). This chapter describes the ethnographies of nine video production courses in three public high schools. Three schools were selected to illuminate similarities as well as differences; with only two, the differences would have dominated. Three courses at each were observed because the contexts facilitated this decision, which complimented the original decision for three schools.4 The first section will describe the methods. The second will discuss the major constraints and promotions of each program. An analysis of social relations and how they are part of the educational process are then described, before finally discussing how material environments shape and reflect program activities. |
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4Specifically, there were three teachers at one school, the three classes were back to back in another, and at the third school, the opportunity existed within the time of the study. | Next References |