The Enlightened Eye: Qualitative Inquiry and the Enhancement of Educational Practice, Reissued with a New Prologue and Foreword

by Elliot W. Eisner, Nel Noddings (Foreword)

Now available from TC Press with a new foreword by Nel Noddings and a new prologue by P. Bruce Uhrmacher and Christy McConnell Moroye, this classic text on qualitative research is ideal for both novice and established researchers. Eisner’s seminal work on mind, education, and research explores the ways in which the methods, content, and assumptions in the arts, humanities, and social sciences can help us better understand our schools and classrooms. The Enlightened Eye expands how we think about inquiry in education and broadens our views about what it means to “know” with the goal of positively influencing the educational experience of those who live and work in our schools. The text includes examples depicting this type of research and how it can be used to evaluate teaching, learning, and the school environment. Book

Genres: Education, Qualitative Research

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Peaches · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read Eisner before and this just wasn't as compelling as some of his other works. Yes, it is accessible and has a passionate tone for a nonfiction text; however, it's so dated, and seeing that the 2017 publication simply has a different forward and other small edits is surprising.
For instance, Eisner writes about the state of education in the 90s. Yes, standardization is still a significant aspect of education, but it is different than it was then in many ways (I've taught public school for seven years recently). He provides examples of observing teachers based on lectures versus engaging activities, which is in no way novel in 2018, and doesn't give many more suggestions such as arts-based education. I'm assuming this text came out before arts-based research, specifically a/r/tography, were as mainstream or formulated, but it feels like he's continuously alluding to them without naming them.
I've read much better texts in grad school when it comes to advice on how to set up qual interviews, so those parts were not useful. I did, however, like some of his narrative experience, like issues he has had when conducting studies (which seem like some wouldn't be an issue with cell phones and email being used regularly in 2018).

[Kelly Porter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mandatory Ed.S. reading and did not like 90% of it because the author spoke in circles.