Email and Its Involvements in the Lives of K-12 Teachers: Phenomenological, Postphenomenological, and Posthumanistic Explorations by Joni McBeth Turville A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Secondary Education University of Alberta © Joni McBeth Turville, 2018 i ABSTRACT Web-connected devices are everywhere and can be used to send electronic messages, no matter the time or place. They are not merely tools or a means to an end; they also shape our everyday lives. In kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) schools, teachers are increasingly contacted by parents, students, colleagues, and others. They have reported that digital communication can be overwhelming when added to what teachers typically do outside regular work hours, such as planning, grading, and writing student reports. Using email as a critical example of a digital communications tool, this study examines the experiences of K-12 teachers in receiving email outside their regular work hours. Inspired by Max van Manen’s phenomenological approach entitled “Phenomenology of Practice”, this research explores experiences situated in this professional context. Interviews were conducted with 24 teachers in Alberta, Canada from Grades K to 12 to collect lived experience descriptions or examples of receiving email outside regular work hours as they were lived through. This research also uses postphenomenology in order to gain insight into the past, present, and future of email and proposes a model to describe the evolution of digital communications tools. The final chapter explores a posthumanistic approach related to both phenomenology and postphenomenology called “interviewing objects” to uncover what email may be producing. As caring professionals, receiving email outside regular work hours can pose a dilemma for teachers. Opening a message that describes a difficult situation can mean that a teacher spends their evening, weekend, or holiday emailing back-and-forth or ruminating over an issue for a prolonged period of time. Email also has contradictory effects—it can bring students, ii parents, and colleagues closer but at the same time, may make a teacher unavailable to loved ones or friends. It provides a freedom from having to answer email in only the school but may create a feeling of being shackled to email. Being aware of experiences may help teachers and others to be more thoughtful about their use of digital communications use. iii PREFACE This is an original work by Joni Turville. The research project, of which this thesis is a part, received research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board, Project Name “A Phenomenology of Email in Teachers’ Lives” No 00067284, September 30, 2016. This document is comprised of five papers. All papers have been published and/or presented at academic or professional conferences. Paper I. “From ‘You’ve Got Mail’ to Email Overload: A Postphenomenology of Email” delves into the roots of email by describing historical variations. It provides not only a recounting of email’s evolution but also of how technology has impacted individuals and the wider culture. It also proposes a genealogical model to describe the evolution of digital communication technologies. It was presented at the 2017 conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE) in Toronto, Ontario and is forthcoming in Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology. Paper II. “Availability and the Ethics of Care: A Phenomenology of Email in Teachers’ Lives” addresses the primary research question: “What is it like for a teacher to receive email outside regular work hours?” An early version of this paper based on an exploratory study was presented at the tenth international Culture, Technology, and Communication Conference (CaTaC) held at the University of West London, UK and was published in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings. A short article adapted from this paper also appear in the Canadian Teachers’ Federation magazine Perspectives, Issue 27, March, 2018. It was also presented in Ottawa, Ontario at the 2017 National Staff Meeting of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation in a iv panel discussion on teachers’ professional work spaces. Paper III. “Instructional Leader or Emailer-in-Chief? The Complexities of Email for School Administrators” discusses email from the perspective of school leaders. As data from interviews were analyzed, it was noted that some administrator experiences were unique and therefore a separate paper was created to account for the differences in their experiences. It was presented at the “Leadership Essentials for Administrators” conference in Calgary, Alberta in November, 2017 for school administrators in Alberta. It was also presented at the “uLead 2018” conference in Banff, Alberta for an audience of international school and system leaders. Paper IV. “Teaching Beyond the Classroom: On the Pedagogy of Email” gathers the experiences of both teachers and administrators and was created because many of the instances recollected were pedagogical in nature. They not only spoke to concern for student learning but also of student general wellbeing and care. An early version of this paper was presented in 2017 in Malaysia at the International Conference on Humanities, Language, Culture, and Business. It was also presented at the World Congress on Education, Dublin, UK in 2018. Paper V. “If Email Could Speak, What Would It Say? Interviewing Objects in a Digital World” is a posthumanistic examination of email using experiential accounts of email. It draws on the work of Catherine Adams and Terry-Lynn Thompson (2016) Researching a Posthuman World: Interviews with Digital Objects). In this paper, I use heuristics, related to both phenomenology and postphenomenology to explore what email may be producing in our everyday lives. It was presented at the 18th Annual Media Ecology Conference at St. Mary’s College, California in June 2017 and won the conference award for top student paper. It has also been published in Explorations in Media Ecology, Volume 16, Number 2–3, September, 2017. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My heartfelt gratitude goes to: Cathy Adams for her warmth, wisdom, and her belief in me and, ironically, for all of the time spent on our email exchanges; Michael van Manen for challenging me in his gentle and supportive way; Greg Thomas whose pragmatism and guidance helped me continue to push forward; George Buck for his thoughtful feedback and for being involved in my work since my master’s program; Stacey Irwin for her involvement with my dissertation defense and her encouraging words. Peter Wright for seeing potential in me and for his support throughout my academic career; Teachers in my program who challenged me and guided my learning: Cathy Adams, Michael van Manen, Greg Thomas, Dwayne Donald, Jason Walin, Kent den Heyer, and Rosemary Foster; My colleagues and friends, Andrea Berg and Lisa Everitt. I have learned a great deal from both of you and benefited greatly from travelling in your wake. I also appreciated our “research meetings”; My fellow students, especially Ellen Watson, Carly Coleman, and Gillian Ledermeyer; vi The Alberta Teachers’ Association and my colleagues who supported me in this endeavour. Thanks to Mark Yurick, Monique Gravel, Nancy Luyckfassel, Jeff Johnson, Gaylene Schreiber, Dan Grassick, and Sandy Gillis for holding down the fort during my leave. Special thanks to Gordon Thomas, Dennis Theobald, Brian Andrais, and the Provincial Executive Council for their support; The faculty and support staff of the Department of Secondary Education for their gentle reminders and work behind the scenes; The teachers who shared their experiences. There would be no research without the generous gift of your time; My love and appreciation to: Brock and Jaclyn—the lights of my life. It was a bit surreal to be fellow scholars alongside you and I thank you for encouraging me throughout the journey. My mom Adele; my brother, Doug—two of the smartest people I will ever know and who unfailingly love and support me. Blaine, for being a constant supporter. The many coffees and conversations mean more to me than you will know. I also wish to acknowledge the generous support of the University of Alberta, Queen Elizabeth II scholarship, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, the GRA Rice Graduate Scholarship in Communications, and the Gordon Kaplan Graduate Student Award. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Research Inspiration.................................................................................................................... 1 Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Email Beginnings ........................................................................................................................ 2 Email and Communication ......................................................................................................... 4 Characteristics of email communication. ................................................................................ 4 Functionality. ...................................................................................................................... 5 Versatility. ..........................................................................................................................