Renowned researcher plans return to OU

Faculty and students in Oakland University’s Department of Music, Theatre and Dance are looking forward to a powerful partnership that blossomed following a November visit from prominent education researcher Tom Barone.

"Dr. Barone has accepted our invitation to return to OU in the summer of 2010 to teach a one-week research seminar,” said Music, Theatre and Dance Chair Jackie Wiggins. “He was quite impressed with our students, which pleased us to no end, and was intrigued by the possibility of working with them further."

Author of “Aesthetics, Politics, and Educational Inquiry and Touching Eternity: The Enduring Outcomes of Teaching,” Barone teaches courses in curriculum studies and qualitative research methods in the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education at Arizona State University.

His work centers around alternative ways of sharing research findings, and particularly those that might be more meaningful to readers than scientific models, Wiggins explained. Among the alternatives he and his mentor, Elliot Eisner of Stanford, proposed was narrative presentation of qualitative work, rooted in what Eisner and Barone have described as arts-based educational research.

"Arts-based research, including analysis of narrative and narrative construction, strives to portray the meaningfulness of the situation being studied in ways that have the potential to touch the reader in personally meaningful ways and therefore potentially redefine the reader’s understanding of aspects of his or her own life," Wiggins said.

Robert A. Martin, a doctoral student in educational leadership with a cognate in music education, was among about 50 people who attended Barone’s presentation at OU. The inspiration he received is what Music, Theatre and Dance officials hope future students will experience through this partnership.

"Dr. Tom Barone is an icon in the qualitative research circles,” Martin said. “What an honor it was to meet him, listen to his approach to writing and witness his thoughtfulness about and care for his topics."