Getting to grips with educational technology research

After spending last semester in EDPK5003, I feel like I am needing to re-orient my thinking more specifically towards educational technology research and methods.  So I am going to get started on Multidisciplinary Methods in Educational Technology Research and Development (Randolph, 2008). After reading the first few pages, it looks like this is going to provide a good overview to what we are trying to develop in EDPC5025.

On determination of the research question: "While the research question may be of primary importance in determining the right research methods, there are a variety of factors that are of primary importance in determining the right research question – (a) the research problem, (b) the research purpose and its associated tradition, and (c) the state of the previous research" (Randolph, 2008, p.15).

A useful distinction suggested by Randolph to categorise research questions: knowledge based vs empirical research questions; procedural and structural research questions (Randolph, 2008, p. 15).

Reference:

Randolph, J. J. (2008). Multidisciplinary Methods in Educational Technology Research and Development. Hameemlinna: HAMK University of Applied Sciences.

Preliminary Ideas for Research Topic

I started thinking about how entrenched LMSes are within the Australian universities' landscape. Which led me to think about what are the drivers of universities policies on teaching and learning? It seems that universities are involved in a catch-up game with technological disruptions. How are our Australian higher institutions coping with the threats and opportunities that the Web/emerging technologies will offer? Labels like edgeless university, classroom without walls abound - are they all hype? Perhaps it would be important to consider the future of learning in higher education. In that landscape of the future - LMSes may or may not feature, so what are the alternatives and what may lie ahead? And what do academics and students think about the future of learning and how would they deal with emerging technologies? How do these perspectives compare to what experts in the field are saying?

Possible Research Questions - still need fine-tuning:

1. What are the dominant themes for the future of learning from the perspective of students, academics and experts in the field?
2. How do individuals (students and academics) and institutions deal with emerging technologies within our institutions?

Conceptualisation of literature review

I have started reading some of the books along themes of pedagogies, learning technologies and e-learning. Having framed the initial idea around future of learning, I started with a google search on the future of learning to gain an overview of what was out there and then focused on related search via e-journals. From some of the initial articles and readings, I came across other links and resources which I thought connected to my topic of inquiry. I would also need to include studies/research that would provide background and current perspectives and research that would offer differing perspectives to the topic of inquiry.

The resulting keywords from the various searches are:

• future of learning
• networked learning/e-learning/CSCL
• learning technologies
• "learning ecology"

Literature Review strategy

1. Garrison, D.R., & Anderson, T. (2003). E-learning in the 21st Century: A Framework for Research and Practice. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Although the technological revolution is labelled as "e-learning" in this book, it has relevance in the discussion on the future of learning and offers a framework to understand the change in higher education institutions.

2. Davidson, C. N., & Golderg, D. T. (2009). The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age. MIT Press. Retrieved from http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/Future_of_Learning.pdf.

This report has some firm views of what is envisaged as learning institutions of the future. I would like to use this report to review what are dominant themes and perspectives to elicit further ideas in the discussion of the future of learning in higher education institutions.

3. Conole, G., & Oliver, M. (eds). Contemporary perspectives in e-learning research: themes, methods and impact on practice. Abingdon: Routledge.
Another book on e-learning and research; would like to consider the perspectives under discussion in this book for e.g. Chapter 4: The design of learning technologies - it has a working definition of "learning technologies" that I could utilise.

Journal Articles that would provide background and current perspectives:
Conole, G. (2002). The evolving landscape of learning technology. Alt-J, 10(3), 4-18.

Dohn, N. B. (2009). Web 2.0: Inherent tensions and evident challenges for education. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 4(3), 343-363.

Lobato, J. (2009). Alternative Perspectives on the Transfer of Learning : History, Issues , and Challenges for Future Research. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(4), 421-449.

Porter, S. (2005). Issues in the relationship between technology and practice. Alt-J, 13(3), 231-240.

Stahl, G., & Hesse, F. (2009). Practice perspectives in CSCL. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 4(2), 109-114.

Key Role of Literature Review

You have heard of literature review, but what about "sophisticated" literature review. Boote and Beile (2005) put forward a compelling case to challenge us to look beyond literature review as just a summary of prior research.

The authors report a disparity in the quality of literature reviews in dissertations, which in turn reflects on the quality of the research undertaken. Boote and Beile assert that "good literature review is the basis of both theoretical and methodological sophistication, thereby improving the quality and usefulness of subsequent research" (2005, p. 4).

Using the criteria created by Hart (Hart, 1999 as cited in Boote and Beile, 2005, p. 7), the authors developed "The Literature Review Scoring Rubric" (Boote and Beile, 2005, p. 8) to assist budding doctoral students and researchers undertake a more rigorous literature review. A good literature review  identifies and includes papers of significance. It should also offer insights and background to the research area for example current/emerging trends and historical perspectives in learning technologies and education research, evaluate strengths and weaknesses of methodological approaches and assess the significance of the research.

The challenge ahead is to apply the rubric as I undertake a literature review of my proposed research topic.

Reference

Boote, D. N., & Beile, P. (2005). Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation. Educational Researcher, 34(6), 3-15.

Start Here for EDPC5025

This blog will be used to document my thoughts on this research process/journey for EDPC5025. I will be organising the processes around developing a research proposal i.e. Research Topic, Literature Review, and so forth.

Icon courtesy Paddy.