Building an Ethnographic Toolbox: Engaging Analog and Digital Tools in Virtual and Physical Spaces

Studio pedagogy has been used as a comprehensive approach to prepare students to practice within their chosen discipline of design. However, little is known about how students experience these learning environments, including the interplay of social and educational experiences that support the development of expertise and identity. To explore and evaluate this complexity, I used a critical ethnographic approach to immerse myself for one year in a physical studio and set of Facebook groups, which in parallel supported students' learning experience. I describe the "ethnographic toolbox" that I built and utilized to inform interpretations of the physical and virtual learning environments. This toolbox included analog and digital tools, along with many forms of sensemaking, archiving, and engagement with metadata that both structured and enabled my role as an ethnographer. I describe the set of tools, and use vignettes to illustrate how these tools were used in physical and virtual environments.