Narratives Of Experience Research Articles

Reclaiming space in family histories: impressionistic memory work as a feminist approach to historiography and storytelling

PurposeThis article explores memory work and storytelling as an organising tool through family histories, offering theoretical and methodological implications and extending existing conceptualisations of memory work as a feminist method. This approach is termed as impressionist memory work.Design/methodology/approachTo illustrate impressionistic memory work in action, the article presents two family histories set during Second World War and invite the reader to engage in the “undoing” of these stories and dominant ways of knowing through storytelling. This method challenges the taken-for-granted roles, plots and detail of family histories to uncover the obscured or silenced stories within, together with feminine, affective and embodied subjectivities, marginalisation and social inequalities.FindingsThis study argues that impressionistic memory work as a feminist method can challenge the silencing and gendering of experiences in co-constructed and co-interpreted narratives (both formal and informal ones).Originality/valueThis study shows that engagement with impressionistic memory work can challenge taken-for-granted stories with prominent male actors and masculine narratives to reveal the female actors and feminine narratives within. This approach will offer a more inclusive perspective on family histories and deeper engagement with the marginalised or neglected actors and aspects of our histories.

Teacher Use of Digital Stories to Promote Reflective Practice Supportive of Migrant and Refugee Children’s Sense of Belonging

AbstractCreative and innovative reflective methods are important to prompt and sustain alternative and novel ways for teachers to consider their professional identity and practice. Digital storytelling is one such method that enables the sharing of valued events including narratives of lived experience. This paper reports on a case study investigating teacher use of digital storytelling to promote reflection and pedagogical awareness in support of immigrant and refugee children’s developing sense of belonging. The case study is part of a larger funded project aimed at strengthening the identity and belonging of refugee and immigrant children in early childhood education. In the case study, four early childhood education teachers in an education and care centre planned and created their digital narratives, reflected on the process, and considered the opportunities and implications for integrating digital storytelling in their practice. A range of qualitative data were collected through observations (notes, photographs, video recordings), focus group interview, and teacher created artifacts. Thematic analysis identified that teachers valued their experiences with creating their own digital stories in identifying and affirming their values and identities as teacher practitioners, and in thinking more deeply about coming to belong. They recognised the transformative potential of digital storytelling in promoting understandings of belonging, facilitating reflective practice and identifying relevant belonging-based pedagogical strategies. They recommended other staff and parents could undertake a similar process, predicting that this would enable even stronger reciprocal connections between staff, parents and children to facilitate greater understanding of children’s cultural backgrounds and home experiences as a basis for establishing more targeted belonging-based pedagogies.

A mental spaces analysis of religious identity discourse

Abstract Religious identity is often viewed as a relatively stable construct, reflecting an individual’s personal worldview. However, individuals living within modern multi-cultural societies often must engage in extensive reflection to orient themselves to faith traditions in ways that are coherent and personally relevant. Although some work has examined the connection between narratives of religious experience, identity and cognition (cf. Richardson, 2012; Richardson & Nagashima, 2018; Richardson & Mueller, 2019), the relationship between thinking and speaking about this identity is still a developing area of enquiry, with important consequences for how religious faith and practice are understood. This article presents a detailed analysis of an interview with a UK-based Jewish woman based on the mental spaces (Fauconnier, 1994) and conceptual blending (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002) frameworks. The analysis shows how mental spaces and the relationship between elements within those spaces emerge over the course of a discourse event so as to constitute a personal account of religious identity. The concluding section furthermore discusses how within- and across-space contrast links are utilized, along with general processes of compression and decompression, to develop a blend that dynamically expresses the interviewee’s religious identity as an integrated and coherent position lying between competing attractor states.

Breaking the silence: exploring women’s experiences of participating in the #MeToo movement

ABSTRACT #MeToo is a digital social movement that has garnered significant attention from feminist scholars since the hashtag obtained viral fame in 2017. Nonetheless, how survivors of sexual violence experience participating in #MeToo remains an understudied question. In this paper we analyze vlogs posted on YouTube under the hashtag to understand how women represent the affordances and drawbacks of participating in the movement, and how they imagine their experiential narratives may affect other survivors. We argue that vloggers represent #MeToo as a forum for breaking the culture of silence that structures sexual violence. As they narrate their experiences, vloggers challenge silencing mechanisms by cultivating voice, resistance strategies, and survivor solidarity, while encouraging viewers to similarly examine their own experiences. Vloggers also identify the emotional burdens associated with disclosure and the damages incurred by confronting rape myths and the entrenched denial of perpetrator guilt as drawbacks of participation.

Prevalence, Correlates and Subjective Experience of Emotional Abuse in Adolescents Presenting to Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services: A Mixed Methods Study

Introduction: The burden and impact of childhood emotional abuse (CEA) among children and adolescents utilizing psychiatry services is a less studied area, especially in the Indian context. This study aims to study the prevalence and correlates of CEA in adolescents attending psychiatry services and to understand the subjective experience of emotional abuse (EA) in this population. Methods: Adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years attending child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) services were recruited for the study. The prevalence of CEA was assessed using ICAST-C (ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool), temperament was assessed using the Malhotra Temperament Scale, and psychosocial adversities were assessed with the Parent Interview Schedule (PIS). From those reporting CEA, a few of them were interviewed to get narratives of subjective experiences of CEA, and this was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: In total, 81 adolescents were recruited for the study, and among them, 82.7% ( n = 67) reported at least 1 form of EA in the last year, and 93.8% ( n = 76) of them reported a lifetime history of at least 1 form of EA. The frequency of other psychosocial adversities like abnormal intrafamilial relationships ( n = 33; 40.7%) and inadequate or distorted intrafamilial communications ( n = 49; 60.5%) was high in this sample. There was a significant association between the presence of EA in the last year and physical abuse ( p = .00) and neglect ( p = .01) in the last year. Narratives for qualitative analysis were collected from 21 adolescents. The most common themes in the context of CEA were related to academics ( n = 10) and emotional and behavioral problems in the child ( n = 7). Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of EA among adolescents attending CAP services. There is a high co-occurrence of other forms of abuse and other psychosocial adversities with EA. As adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) pose a high risk for future physical and mental health sequelae, this needs to be identified early and intervened with.

Patients' Experiences of a National Patient Portal and Its Usability: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Patient portals not only provide patients with access to electronic health records (EHRs) and other digital health services, such as prescription renewals, but they can also improve patients' self-management, engagement with health care professionals (HCPs), and care processes. However, these benefits depend on patients' willingness to use patient portals and, ultimately, their experiences with the usefulness and ease of use of the portals. This study aimed to investigate the perceived usability of a national patient portal and the relationship of patients' very positive and very negative experiences with perceived usability. The study was aimed to be the first step in developing an approach for benchmarking the usability of patient portals in different countries. Data were collected through a web-based survey of the My Kanta patient portal's logged-in patient users in Finland from January 24, 2022, to February 14, 2022. Respondents were asked to rate the usability of the patient portal, and the ratings were used to calculate approximations of the System Usability Scale (SUS) score. Open-ended questions asked the patients about their positive and negative experiences with the patient portal. The statistical analysis included multivariate regression, and the experience narratives were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Of the 1,262,708 logged-in patient users, 4719 responded to the survey, giving a response rate of 0.37%. The patient portal's usability was rated as good, with a mean SUS score of 74.3 (SD 14.0). Reporting a very positive experience with the portal was positively associated with perceived usability (β=.51; P<.001), whereas reporting a very negative experience was negatively associated with perceived usability (β=-1.28; P<.001). These variables explained 23% of the variation in perceived usability. The information provided and a lack of information were the most common positive and negative experiences. Furthermore, specific functionalities, such as prescription renewal and the ease of using the patient portal, were often mentioned as very positive experiences. The patients also mentioned negative emotions, such as anger and frustration, as part of their very negative experiences. The study offers empirical evidence about the significant role of individual experiences when patients are evaluating the usability of patient portals. The results suggest that positive and negative experiences provide relevant information that can be used for improving the patient portal's usability. Usability should be improved so that patients receive information efficiently, easily, and quickly. Respondents would also appreciate interactive features in the patient portal.

PYGMALIONIZATION: DO ACTION FIGURES, NENDOROIDS, AND PLUSHIES OF FILMS AND GAMES TELL A STORY?

Studies on merchandise or merch as paratexts that serve as nano-narratives in adaptation context are under investigated. We argue that treating merchandise of hyped films and games as in the mentioned fashion might disclose a novel perspective in perceiving them as a narrative text. Employing the theories of paratextuality by Genette, ergodic literature by Aarseth, ludic adaptation by Purnomo et al., franchising storytelling by Parody and nano-narratives by Petten on a corpus of merch from forty animated films and games, we proposed a neologism that we dubbed pygmalionization. This perspective refers to adapting animated films and games into toy-based merch e.g. action figures, nendoroids, and plushies and treating them as paratexts with the purposes of serving nano narratives and of extending the narrative experiences methectically and metathectically to the general audiences and fans through transtylization. This study is expected to provide insights for adapted merchandise makers and scholars in regard to treating the merchandise as a paratext with nano-narrative functions.

Differences Between Online Trial Participants Who Have Used Statutory Mental Health Services and Those Who Have Not: Analysis of Baseline Data From 2 Pragmatic Trials of a Digital Health Intervention.

Digital health interventions (DHIs) are an established element of mental health service provision internationally. Regulators have positioned the best practice standard of evidence as an interventional study with a comparator reflective of standard care, often operationalized as a pragmatic trial. DHIs can extend health provision to those not currently using mental health services. Hence, for external validity, trials might openly recruit a mixture of people who have used mental health services and people who have not. Prior research has demonstrated phenomenological differences in mental health experience between these groups. Some differences between service users and nonservice users might influence the change created by DHIs; hence, research should systematically examine these differences to inform intervention development and evaluation work. This paper analyzes baseline data collected in the NEON (Narrative Experiences Online; ie, for people with experience of psychosis) and NEON-O (NEON for other [eg, nonpsychosis] mental health problems) trials. These were pragmatic trials of a DHI that openly recruited people who had used specialist mental health services and those who had not. All participants were experiencing mental health distress. NEON Trial participants had experienced psychosis in the previous 5 years. This study aims to identify differences in baseline sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with specialist mental health service use for NEON Trial and NEON-O Trial participants. For both trials, hypothesis testing was used to compare baseline sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of participants in the intention-to-treat sample who had used specialist mental health services and those who had not. Bonferroni correction was applied to significance thresholds to account for multiple testing. Significant differences in characteristics were identified in both trials. Compared with nonservice users (124/739, 16.8%), NEON Trial specialist service users (609/739, 82.4%) were more likely to be female (P<.001), older (P<.001), and White British (P<.001), with lower quality of life (P<.001) and lower health status (P=.002). There were differences in geographical distribution (P<.001), employment (P<.001; more unemployment), current mental health problems (P<.001; more psychosis and personality disorders), and recovery status (P<.001; more recovered). Current service users were more likely to be experiencing psychosis than prior service users. Compared with nonservice users (399/1023, 39%), NEON-O Trial specialist service users (614/1023, 60.02%) had differences in employment (P<.001; more unemployment) and current mental health problems (P<.001; more personality disorders), with lower quality of life (P<.001), more distress (P<.001), less hope (P<.001), less empowerment (P<.001), less meaning in life (P<.001), and lower health status (P<.001). Mental health service use history was associated with numerous differences in baseline characteristics. Investigators should account for service use in work to develop and evaluate interventions for populations with mixed service use histories. RR2-10.1186/s13063-020-04428-6.

The effects of virtual reality immersion on the content and structure of the narrative discourse of healthy adults.

Narrative discourse is central to effective participation in conversations. When discourse is assessed in people with communication disability, structured tasks (e.g., picture descriptions) provide experimental control, while unstructured tasks (e.g., personal narratives) represent more natural communication. Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology may provide a solution by creating standardized experiences for narrative retell, therefore balancing ecological validity and experimental control in discourse assessment. Research is needed to understand how VR immersion affects narrative retell, first for adults with no communication disability, before application with adults with aphasia or related communication disability. To assess (1) the effects of VR immersion on the linguistic content and structure of narrative retells in a healthy adult population; and (2) whether VR immersion can influence the way a narrative is retold so that the speaker conveys their own experience, rather than the experience of the characters they are watching. In this pilot cohort study, 13 healthy adult participants with no reported communication disability watched an animated short film and a comparable immersive VR short film in a randomized order. Participants were asked to retell the events of the story after each condition in as much detail as possible. Mean length of utterance (in morphemes) was significantly higher in the video condition compared with the VR condition. Significantly more first-person pronouns were used in the VR condition compared with the video condition. No other measures of linguistic content or structure were significantly different between the VR and video conditions. Increased morpho-syntactic length and complexity in the video condition may suggest effects of elicitation stimulus on the narrative produced. The larger number of first-person pronouns in the VR condition may reflect that participants experienced a sense of presence in the virtual environment, and therefore were able to retell their communication experience rather than narrating the experiences of characters from an external perspective. Given the increasing need for more functional assessment of discourse in people with communication disability, further research is needed to validate these findings. What is already known on this subject As an ecologically valid tool, discourse analysis is often used to assess daily communicative exchanges in adults with acquired communication disability. Clinicians and researchers using narrative discourse assessment must balance the experimental control and diagnostic reference sample capabilities of structured tasks with the ecological validity and real-life transferability of unstructured personal narratives. What this study adds to existing knowledge This study explores the use of immersive VR technologies to create standardized, replicable, immersive experiences as a foundation for narrative discourse assessment. It highlights how the 'sense of presence' in a virtual world can prompt healthy adult speakers to retell a narrative of a personal experience that can be replicated for many different participants. The results suggest that immersive VR narrative assessment for adults with communication disability may balance ecological validity with measurement reliability in discourse assessment. What are the potential or actual clinical observations of this work? Immersion in VR resulted in the production of narratives with morpho-syntactic features that aligned with typical narrative generation, rather than retell. Participants used more first-person pronouns, suggesting retelling of personal experience. Though further study is needed, these preliminary findings suggest clinicians can use immersive VR stimuli to generate structured story generations that balance experimental and diagnostic control with ecological validity in narrative discourse assessment for adults with communication disability.

Narrative Crafting in Tourism Destinations: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Storytelling Techniques for Tour Guides

This study provides insights into the numerous storytelling techniques tour guides offer to provide visitors with memorable experiences. The study employs an autoethnographic methodology centered on the researchers' extensive background as tourist sector practitioners. The researcher identifies three fundamental tourism storytelling techniques: places, people, and objects. The use of sensory experiences that create a realistic view of a location, strong emotional connections with well-known personalities, the sharing of cultural insights, contrasting and comparing cultures at various locations, highlighting hidden gems, and the use of symbolism or themes to describe a location are all examples of techniques for telling stories about places. Using person-centered storytelling, tour guides can create engrossing narratives by focusing on the character's traits, abilities, and weaknesses, as well as personal tales and journeys. These techniques result in a more authentic and gripping narrative experience. The final approach involves discussing products or physical objects. Guides can narrate the origin and evolution of a product, its cultural significance, future use and potential advancements. This approach provides visitors with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the products unique to the destination. This study contributes to a better understanding of how tour guides can leverage storytelling techniques to enhance visitor experiences and offers practical insights for professional tour guides to improve their narrative delivery.

RealityMedia: immersive technology and narrative space

In this paper, we treat VR as a new writing space in the long tradition of inscription. Constructing Virtual Reality (VR) narratives can then be understood as a process of inscribing text in space, and consuming them as a process of “reading” the space. Our research objective is to explore the meaning-making process afforded by spatial narratives—to test whether VR facilitates traditional ways of weaving complex, multiple narrative strands and provides new opportunities for leveraging space. We argue that, as opposed to the linear space of a printed book, a VR narrative space is similar to the physical space of a museum and can be analyzed on three distinct levels: (1) the architecture of the space itself, (2) the collection, and (3) the individual artifacts. To provide a deeper context for designing VR narratives, we designed and implemented a testbed called RealityMedia to explore digital remediations of traditional narrative devices and the spatial, immersive, and interactive affordances of VR. We conducted task-based user study using a VR headset and follow-up qualitative interviews with 20 participants. Our results highlight how the three semantic levels (space, collection, and artifacts) can work together to constitute meaningful narrative experiences in VR.

Gender Gap in the Writing Practice and Identity Experienced by Male University Students in South Kalimantan

The gender gap between male and female teenage authors causes considerable difficulty in literature. In this work, I employed qualitative research methods to unearth the intricate narratives of personal experiences masked by quantitative research approaches. I used a semi-structured interview format to talk with the participants about their ideas in greater detail. Five university students aged 17 to 19 took part in the study. According to the findings, the absence of gender equality in the writing development of male adolescents is a contributing factor to the gender gap that exists in male adolescents' writing growth. Male and female writing abilities differ significantly, severely impacting young males' educational and professional objectives. By learning more about the writing experiences of college-bound male teenagers, I could gain insights that could be used to improve educational policy and practice. Therefore, it is essential to understand male adolescents' writing identities and provide them with a voice. Additionally, it is essential to learn more about and comprehend the policies and practices that can assist in closing the gender success gap in writing practice.

Intersections between Technology, Journalism and Civic Participation in India

The adaptation of evolving technology in Indian filmmaking has been a process of embracing it as a valuable tool rather than perceiving it as an alien imposition from formerly colonized nations. Developments in telecommunications since 1995 have profoundly impacted filmmaking in India, from the technology employed to the evolution of non-fiction storytelling. In an environment where mainstream journalism faces challenges and grassroots media gradually gains viewership on digital platforms, immersive journalism can enhance civic participation by providing a heightened sense of 'immersion' and 'presence' compared to traditional two-dimensional formats. This paper examines 360-degree immersive journalism videos produced by ElseVR, a non-fiction subsidiary of Mumbai-based Memesys Cultural Lab, a pioneer in mixed-reality filmmaking in India. During the first wave of VR immersive non-fiction, ElseVR released app-based quarterly magazines featuring 360 video documentaries. These films not only offered narrative experiences but also encouraged viewers to assume various perspectives while watching them. Utilizing Nash's (2022) concepts for interpreting first-person experiences in VR documentaries, this study employs the positions of tourist, encounter, and witness to analyze three immersive journalistic documentaries using ElseVR's technology: Nishtha Jain's Submerged (2016), Naomi Shah and Pourush Turel's Caste is Not a Rumour (2017), and Faiza Khan's When Land Is Lost, Do We Eat Coal (2016). Each position provides insight into the experience of entering unfamiliar spaces, as interest, curiosity, and the VR environment’s affordances give rise to a multi-sensory experience where the positions of tourist, encounter, and witness uniquely intersect. In India, where digital and smartphone penetration varies significantly, the potential for widespread adoption of such technology remains uncertain. However, the intersections between journalism, civic engagement, and technology in ElseVR's documentaries are noteworthy. By avoiding a technologically deterministic perspective, a heightened understanding of VR technology's role in journalism from non-Western environments could enhance civic participation and encourage reevaluating emerging media practices in the Global South.

Queer Mapping as Decolonial Praxis

Queer Mapping as Decolonial Praxis

Pre-Empting Stigma and Complicating Trauma: Narratives of Gay and Bisexual Men who Inject Drugs in Australia.

Gay and bisexual men (GBM) report higher rates of sexualised and injecting drug use (IDU) than heterosexual men. Injecting-related stigma is linked to negative health outcomes among people who inject drugs (PWID). This paper describes the ways in which stigmatisation manifests in the narratives of GBM who inject drugs. We conducted in-depth interviews with Australian GBM with IDU histories, exploring drug use, pleasure, risk, and relationality. Data were analysed using discourse analytical approaches. Interviewees (n = 19), aged 24-60 years, narrated their experiences of IDU practice over 2-32 years. Most (n = 18) injected methamphetamine, and used other (non-injected) drugs, in sexual contexts. From participants' narratives, we developed two themes related to stigmatisation of PWID that illustrate the limitations of conventional drug discourses to narrate GBM's experiences. The first theme captures participants' attempts to pre-empt stigmatisation, outlining the layering of stigma faced by GBM who inject drugs. Linguistically, participants transformed injecting stigma by distinguishing their personal practice from that of more discreditable drug users. Practically, they mitigated stigmatisation by keeping discrediting information from others. The second theme illustrates how by complicating the stereotypes of IDU, participants took up prominent discursive practices linking IDU with trauma and pathology. Participants exerted agency by broadening available interpretive repertoires for understanding IDU among GBM, thus creating a counter-discourse. We argue that mainstream discursive practices reverberate through gay communities, perpetuating stigmatisation of PWID and inhibiting care-seeking. More narration of unconventional experiences, beyond insular social groups and critical scholarship, is needed in public discourse to effect destigmatisation.

Learning Purposive Communication: A Personal Narrative Experience of Non-Teacher Education Students

This research explored the learning experiences of non-teacher education students enrolled in Purposive Communication at Sultan Kudarat State University-Kalamansig Campus. The study employed a qualitative design and non-probability purposive sampling. This study included six(6) non-teacher education students participants, such as students taking BS in Information Technology, BS in Biology, and BS in Fisheries. For data collection and collection, a semi-structured interview guide question was used. Colizzi’s thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. The learning experiences of non-teacher education students in purposive communication revealed that they enjoyed learning Purposive communication through hybrid learning. Various performance tasks were provided for the students to perform, and these tasks are based on real-life experience. In performing these tasks, English was evident as a medium of instruction. Non-teacher education students can integrate responsive examples in the community and the global arena.&#x0D; Further, the most common challenges experienced by non-teacher education students were technical issues, distractions, time management, understanding course expectations, lack of in-person interaction, adapting to unfamiliar technology, and uncertainty about the future. It is recommended that the institution implement a monitoring strategy that would sustain the teaching methods employed by the teachers to make the teaching-learning process effective and productive in Purposive communication. The institution must provide sound-based classroom management during the new normal education and religiously implement hybrid learning to maintain the learning process. The institution should provide learning tools for poor but deserving non-teacher education students to assist them in learning Purposive communication even in times of educational crisis.

Statistical analysis plans for two randomised controlled trials of the Narrative Experiences Online (NEON) Intervention: impact of receiving recorded mental health recovery narratives on quality of life in people experiencing psychosis (NEON) and people experiencing non-psychosis mental health problems (NEON-O)

BackgroundMental health recovery narratives are a first-hand account of an individual’s recovery from mental health distress, access to narratives can aid recovery. The NEON Intervention is a web-application providing access to a managed collection of narratives. We present the statistical analysis plan for assessing the effectiveness of the NEON Intervention in improving quality of life at 1-year post-randomisation. We pay particular focus on the statistical challenges encountered due to the online nature of this trial.Methods and designThe NEON Intervention is assessed in two trial populations, one for people with experience of psychosis in the last 5 years, and mental health distress in the last six months (NEON Trial) and one for people with experience of non-psychosis mental health problems (NEON-O Trial). Both NEON trials are two-arm randomised controlled superiority trials comparing the effectiveness of the NEON Intervention with usual care. The target sample size is 684 randomised participants for NEON and 994 for NEON-O. Participants were randomised centrally in a 1:1 ratio.ResultsThe primary outcome is the mean score of subjective items on the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality-of-Life questionnaire (MANSA) at 52 weeks. Secondary outcomes are scores from the Herth Hope Index, Mental Health Confidence Scale, Meaning of Life questionnaire, CORE-10 questionnaire and Euroqol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L).ConclusionThis manuscript is the statistical analysis plan (SAP) for the NEON trials. Any post hoc analysis, such as those requested by journal reviewers will be clearly labelled as such in the final trial reporting.Trial registrationBoth trials were prospectively registered. NEON Trial: ISRCTN11152837, registered on 13 August 2018. NEON-O Trial: ISRCTN63197153, registered on 9 January 2020.

A Personal Narrative Experience of Teachers Teaching Purposive Commu-nication During the New Normal Education

This study explored the teachers’ teaching experiences in purposive communication during the new normal education setup at Sultan Kudarat State University-Kalamansig Campus. Qualitative research design using the narrative research methods was the research design of this study. It used non-probability purposive sampling as the sampling technique. There were five (5) teachers handling purposive communication. Moreover, this study employed a semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions. The data were analyzed using Colizzi’s thematic analysis.&#x0D; The teachers' experiences teaching purposive communication seem fruitful and efficient for students learning. Classes were conducted using the blended learning approach. Due to internet connectivity issues, Asynchronous was the typical learning mode than synchronous session. Further, the learning assessment was found to be unauthentic because it was conducted using asynchronous mode. Internet connectivity and power interruptions were the greatest challenges ever experienced by the teachers. Their coping mechanism included psychological health and well-being and proactive and approach-oriented application. The use of a personal budget is also included.&#x0D; It is concluded that teachers have issues in lesson planning, classroom management, internet connectivity, and managing students' virtual behavior in the new normal environment. Teachers have utilized a variety of strategies to overcome difficulties.&#x0D; It is recommended that the institution should provide planning programs as a foundation for new normal teaching and perform a series of studies on instructors' experiences in the new normal educational scheme. The faculty should evaluate the practicability of their teaching methods to satisfy the needs of students with diverse cultures during the new normal.

Curating Unmarked Banality

Bindi Kang's ‘Curating Unmarked Banality’ explores the digital videos in Jingjing's Life Journal on Today's Headlines and examines the seemingly ordinary and repetitive nature of vlogs by migrant workers, uncovering their captivating appeal to online audiences. The research argues that the vlogging of mundane life offers an updated narrative of migrant workers' urban experience, creating a contemporary Asian worker's rendition of the flâneur–a classical literary archetype known for its associations with urban public life and leisurely observation. By self-documenting their daily experiences, these workers are shown to challenge the conventional urban-rural binary that prevails in Chinese mainstream media portrayals. These vlogs serve as an act of 'reverse (un)marking', reaffirming and showcasing a mediated urban identity for the migrant population. The analysis adopts Peggy Phelan's concept of the 'unmarked'–which examines the ideology of visibility and its relation to power in performance–and Wayne Brekhus's sociological extension of the term to critique the disproportionate focus on the 'marked' in academic inquiry. Through 'reverse marking', this research discusses the significance of these digital narratives in the broader cultural landscape, examining how such mediated performances engage with issues of visibility, representation and identity formation of traditionally underrepresented groups.

Teacher's Reflection: Learning Activities for Stimulating Preschool Children's Creative Thinking Skill

Teachers play crucial roles in delivering a successful learning process, as optimal learning outcomes will only be achieved with support from competent teachers. In this study, we delved into a teacher's experience in stimulating 5-6 years old children's creative thinking during the learning process. Creative thinking skill is one of the important skills in 21st-century education. This study involved teachers of 5-6 years-old children (Class B of Kindergarten) in Surakarta, who focused on stimulating creative thinking in an A-accredited institution categorized as a Sekolah Penggerak in Surakarta City. This study presents a teacher's experience in successfully stimulating children's creative thinking through in-depth interviews and reflective journals. The narrative approach was used to analyze the interview transcript and reflective journals to identify the teacher's learning method for stimulating 5-6 years-old children's creative thinking. This study identified the teacher's creativity-stimulating learning process from the narrated experience. Creative thinking was stimulated through intentional learning, which was conducted based on the need analysis, learning principle, and learning achievement at the ECE level, i.e., project-based learning. The learning was conducted through play activities and involved various learning media in delivering more meaningful education and promoting children's learning enthusiasm through digital media. Challenges in stimulating creative thinking should also be addressed seriously. The study finding showed that stimulating creative thinking requires serious preparation based on each child's needs, characteristics, and learning principles.