At the group workshop today, I got some great feedback on my questionnaire from my peer researchers.
Part One: Sensory Integration and rationale for including colour in the Time Management Tool/Intervention Questionnaire.
The following section of this blog is rationale for including colour choices within the time management tool in my questionnaire.
During the tutorial we touched on, but we didn’t explore, the part of the questionnaire that aims to gain feedback on the social semiotics of the model’s visual presentation, basically, the colour scheme.
Some neurodiverse students that I support have different sensory integration from neurotypical people and are more sensitive than others to visual imagery. Therefore, I have given attention to the colour scheme of the emerging intervention of the time management model and am gaining some feedback from colleagues in my questionnaire over this. That is the rationalisation for including colour scheme feedback on my intervention.
Visual stress is a common phenomenon for people with neurodiversity (British Dyslexia Association, 2023). I’m also curious about colour schemes based on some informal feedback I received from showing the original Eisenhower matrix time management tool, pasted below, that found the primary colours hard on the eyes and difficult to look at:
Urban (2015)
The colours seemed too strong as in the picture above from Urban’s (2015) web page article. This was part of the rationale for including colour choices in my methodology, the questionnaire. So, I adjusted the colour scheme and incorporated 6 colour variations in my questionnaire for staff feedback. Artist and animator Lily Jenkins (CSM graduate, 2023) has created 6 templates of alternative colour schemes of the model, to help me get a temperature check on the model’s colour design.
People integrate information from their senses differently, sometimes experiencing particular sensitivities, known as sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) (Aron and Aron, 1997, cited in Malinakova, 2021), and can be ‘sensitive to subtle stimuli’ (Malinakova, 2021).
In terms of processing and integrating our senses, the Seven Senses Foundation (2023) has helpfully defined the following terms:
‘Sensory processing is the brain receiving, interpreting, and organizing input from all of the active senses at any given moment. Sensory integration is the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and the environment and makes it possible to use the body effectively within the environment.
(Seven Senses Foundation, 2023)
Beyond experiencing colours as visual stimuli, colours also have a semiotic value for people (Won and Westland, 2017). Red can convey danger or urgency (Won and Westland, 2017), and may bring stress due to the association of that colour to the user of the time management tool, and this was the part of the rationale as well, to adjust the colour scheme in the questionnaire.
Part Two: Phraseology and rationale for including choices in labels of quadrants in the Time Management Tool/Intervention Questionnaire
I am exploring the phraseology used to label the four quadrants of the time management tool as shown below:
One
a.) ‘takes a long time to do’
b.) ‘takes me a long time to do’
Two
a.) doesn’t take a long time to do
‘b.) doesn’t take me a long to do
I have questioned whether using the word ‘me’ unsettles the student as they feel ‘different’ because the phrase ‘takes me a long time to do’ clearly directs the reader to the distinguishment of them personally in contrast to others. It highlights that things might take them longer than others and I don’t think that comparative is particularly useful. Disability stigma can be experienced in the seemingly slightest ways. However, it is useful for them to reflect directly on how, regardless of others, tasks take specific lengths of time for them as an individual.
Working in education generally, and also specifically in the creative arts, we know metacognition plays an important role in developing students’ ability to organise their independent learning. Funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), ‘Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning Guidance Report’ (Quigley et al., 2021) for practictioners from primary to further and higher education, emphasises the importance of talking about metacognition in learning settings, to heighten individual students’ awareness of their unique learning processes. The report also identifies how sometimes disadvantaged students are less likely to have metacognitive skills at hand. Metacognition also features as an underlining principle for the Association of Dyslexia Specilists in Higher Education (2023), an organisation that seeks to support neurodiverse learners.
Something I like about the EEF guidance mentioned above, is that it recommends metacognitive skills are best taught alongside other subjects. As a specialist study skills tutor for neurodiverse students, the strategies that I suggest in tutorials, like seeking to understand how long a particular study or creative task is going to take for them, are embedded into how the students are approaching something they are practically doing on their course. I believe this helps them construct their own learning in a way, aiming to bring a sense of control.
So, concerning the developing time managment tool, when one of my peers from the group tutorial fed back to me that he felt personalizing the phrase with the word ‘me’ was a valuable contribution to the questionnaire, I think he highlighted the value of making learning experiences specifically meaningful to the learner. Using the object pronoun ‘me’ helps the learner personalise their tasks, developing self-metacognitive awareness. This peer also expressed that models such as the one I am developing, sometimes alienate the reader/user as they are not relatable. Therefore, he felt, the use of the word ‘me’ improves the model. This feedback has contributed to my rationalisation of exploring the phrasology of the model.
References
Association of Dyslexia Specialists in Higher Education (2023) ADSHE 7-Principles® Underpinning Specialist 1:1 Support for Neurodivergent Learners. Available at: https://adshe.org.uk/adshe-7-principles/ (accessed 16.11.23)
British Dyslexia Association (2023). Neurodiversity and Co-Occurring Difficulties. Available at: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexia/neurodiversity-and-co-occurring-differences/visual-difficulties (accessed 9.11.2023)
Malinakova, K., Novak, L., Trnka, R., & Tavel, P. (2021). Sensory Processing Sensitivity Questionnaire: A Psychometric Evaluation and Associations with Experiencing the COVID-19 Pandemic. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(24), 12962. Available at https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412962 (accessed 9.11.2023)
Quigley, A., Muijs, D. and Stringer D. (2021). Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning Guidance Report. Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/metacognition (accessed 16.11.21)
Seven Senses Foundation (2023). What are the seven senses? Available at: http://www.7senses.org.au/what-are-the-7-senses/ (accessed 7.11.2023)
Urban, T. (2015). The Procrastination Matrix. From Wait but Why. Available at: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/03/procrastination-matrix.html (accessed 9.11.2023)
Won, S. and Westland, S. (2017). Product-specific colour meanings: A semiotic approach. In Journal of the International Colour Association (2017): 18, 43-59 Available at: http://www.aic-colour.org/journal.htm (accessed 13.01.2024)