Researching mobile learning

A summary of the research I have done so far into mobile learning has just been published in the University of Hamburg's "Hamburger eLearning Magazin". This publication gave me reason to review my past research and reflect on the research method used; an online questionnaire.

As I discussed in a previous post, creating an online questionnaire, in my case using google docs, was a very quick and simple process. Asking students to participate either in person or in a message on a university website discussion forum also required very little effort. On the other hand, the response rate for my questionnaire was not high. Out of over 1,000 full-time students, only 90 chose to participate in my second study, a return rate of less than ten percent. However it has to be noted that not all thousand students would have been aware that the study was taking place. Students are not required to use the message board where I posted the participation request and I certainly didn't speak to each individual directly asking for their help.

Obviously it would be folly to suggest that the results from less than ten percent of the total population are in any way representative. In order to make future results more reliable a way must therefore be found to increase participation. I believe one way to achieve this is to reduce the population size. Rather than attempt to survey the entire student population, my new research project will focus on second semester students of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. This will mean to total population of less than two hundred students. As these students are also required to attend a compulsory English module that I teach, reaching them to request their participation should also be easier.

My next research project will also use a combination of research methods, namely a questionnaire and semi-sturctured interviews. There seem to be several problems with the online questionnaire used previously which the next research should address:

• Closed questions don't allow any room for participants to explain their answers.
• The empirical data gathered reveals what people might think but not why.
• The respondents were limited by the questions set by the researcher.
• Completing the survey online meant there was no possibility to clarify ambiguities.
• The results offered only a snapshot of the facts at that moment in time.

I hope that redesigning the questionnaire and reconsidering how it is promoted and how students participate may address these issues. In addition, semi-structured interviews, although more time consuming, will give the opportunity to discuss the students' attitudes and experiences with mobile learning. Time allowing, I think the most successful approach would be to conduct interviews at the beginning of the research project in April, hold shorter update interviews midway through in late May or early June and then hold final interviews to discuss the results in July.

This approach will hopefully offer a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data which should ensure reliable results.

Neil


Sources.

Davie, N. & Heß, M-T. (2012) Studierende nehmen Mobile Learning selbst in die Hand:
Ergebnisse einer Umfrage an der Fachhochschule Südwestfalen in Meschede.
http://www.uni-hamburg.de/eLearning/eCommunity/Hamburger_eLearning_Magazin/eLearningMagazin_09.pdf (Accessed 30.12.2012)

Hannan, A. (2007) Questionnaires in Education Research.
http://www.edu.plymouth.ac.uk/resined/QUESTS/index.htm (Accessed 30.12.2012)

Cousin on "Generating an Ethical Framework"

In chapter two of her book on research in higher education, Cousin raises the issue of research having an "ethical framework" which should (not just morally) guide the researcher and help shape the rest of the research process.

For Cousin there are (at least) two good reasons for researchers having an ethical framework: 

Firstly to protect both the researcher and that which is being researched. Reflecting on the ethics of a study help us to ensure the language, messages, assumptions and effects surrounding our research have all been thought about carefully.

Secondly Cousin says that having an ethical framework is facilitative in that it helps ensure the research is conducted thoughtfully which therefore also adds to the credibility of the results.  

According to Cousin a researcher's ethical framework will also have an impact on their choice of research methods and in particular that certain research methods have implications with regards to the procurement of subjects. 

General guidelines for all educational research should be sought at the national research association of the country in question. Cousin references the American Education Research Association (AERA) for the USA and the British Education Research Association (BERA) as the appropriate body in the UK. Although I am studying at a UK institution I am based in Germany as are my research protagonists - I therefore should make contact with the relevant research body in Germany. A quick google however reveals that the situation is perhaps not as clear as in the UK or USA.

The German Institute for International Education Research (DIPF), which has a Center for Research on Educational Quality and Evaluation, seems like it could be a good place to start.

There is however also the German Educational Research Association (DDGFE) which may also be a relevant contact. They even have a link to their Ethics Codex (in German) on their startpage.

Finally I also discovered that the European Educational Research Association (EERA) is based in Berlin although interestingly seems to have been based in Scotland from 1994 to 2008.


Unfortunately, as my university doesn't teach education I don't have any direct contacts working in this area who could offer me guidance. As a fledgling researcher perhaps reading more on their webpages and contacting them directly is the best approach.

Drawing on the AERA headings Cousin goes on to list five themes of most importance when considering the ethics of your research:

1. Trustworthiness: This means acknowledging your own beliefs and opinions before starting your research and considering other issues such as the quality of your data and how it is presented. 
2. Research participants and participating institutions: Respecting the rights of those taking part in the research and respecting the integrity of the institutions where the research occurs.
3. Informed consent: Means insuring that the partipants in the study are aware of the purpose of the study and their role within it. 
4. Do no harm: Research should not in any way disadvantage those involved or on the otherhand give one group an advantage compared to the other. In the case of testing a different teaching technique or technology this issue is generally accepted as irrelevant as there is no way of knowing if the approach being tested will be advantageouos or not. 
5. Evaluation research: As a researcher it is natural to want to show that an approach being tested is beneficial. It is however vital to remain impartial and ensure that your research method is fair and balanced.

Ultimately, Cousin concludes that ethical considerations are not just something to be made at the beginning of a research project. In actual fact, they have an important role to play in shaping and guiding research from its conception right through to the publication of the research results.

Sources.

Chapter 2, Generating an ethical framework in: Cousin, G, (2009) Strategies for Researching Learning in Higher Education. Routledge: Abingdon

Methodology Abuse of the English language?!

A new magazine, creatively titled "Business English Magazin" was recently launched in Germany for people who want to improve their Business English skills.  I discovered the second issue by chance and, as a teacher of English as a foreign language, decided to order the first issue to see if it might be a useful resource for my teaching.

At the back of the first issue was an article which seemed to be the first of a series entitled: "Room 101". This issue's theme "I Haven't Got an Ology". Obviously a play on words to the old BT adverts with Maureen Lipman. The contents seem to fit in well with this module so (at risk of damaging anyone's copyright - but it is for educational purposes) here is the article:

"Scurrying through the hallowed cloisters in gown and mortarboard in the historic and noble seat of learning, otherwise knwon as Oxford, a bright young thing hurries to his award ceremony. Which college does he attend? I haven't got a clue. It could be anyone of Balliol, Corpus Christi, Magdalen (pronounced Mordlin), St. Hilda's or Trinity. You see, it really doesn't matter because the boy's got an ology. Which ology? Don't ask me; it could be biology , theology, philosophy, anthropology or even gerontology, but even so, it proves that he studied something thoroughly and painstakingly by analysing the theories within. Why do I care? Because I'm on the Room 101 warpath. The thing is, I haven't got a clueology how such a simple word became corrupted. Probably, as usual, it was formed by a personology trying to impressology somebodyology. Have I gone mad? Perhaps, but it's driving me round the bend, and I will need to investigate how a normal word was usurped by the robes of academia.

My wayward word for today's Room 101 target practice is the pretentious imposter, methodology. Granted, it has a legitimate use in describing the study of methods, for that's just what it is, but sadly, this aristocratic word has been kidnapped by its ruffian brother, method. Method was so drably attired that, thinking that nobody would take him seriously he donned the fine, lacy clothing of his more refined sibling while his smarter, older brother was out receiving awards.Now method struts around like a peacock, saying affectedly that he doesn't use a method to do something but a methodology; that's certainly a feather in his cap. At least that's what my research methodology revealed. But I see you are tiring from this tale and already weary of superfluous ologies - please accept my apologies. And now for a just punishment; in true British public school tradition, methodology will receive a sound thrashing in the form of six of the best and then be expelled from school. Ruthless discipline is the only way to uphold standards."

As I am only in the UK occasionally I can't really comment on this. Is the word "methodology" being abused like this is or is the author overreacting? All feedback is appreciated.

Source.

George Sandford, Business English Magazin, Ausgabe 6/2012. www.business-english-magazin.de

Data collection techniques - status quo

Nothing to do with aging, three-chord, denim-clad rockers - before I begin working through unit 4's material on Data Collection Techniques I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on my experiences in this area so far.

As an undergraduate student of Communication Studies I have the feeling that research wasn't talked about as much as it could have been. I had one class in reseach methods and during my exchange semester in the USA was able to take an additional two classes on this area. As a branch of the social sciences I think there was a (natural) bias towards qualitative methods although whilst I was in America we did also get taught more empirical topics about sample sizes, reliability, Anova, and t-tests. Unfortunately, as I decided to write my dissertation as an analysis of literature (on propaganda in school history books, for those who are curious) I didn't make use of any of these tools.

When I did my first research for the BOE degree during the Customised Study module I had to go back to my notes and refresh my memory on research techniques. I decided to use an online survey as my data collection instrument - probably for the same reason most students choose them: 

• Surveys are quick to create and carry out
• Online survey tools do all the number-crunching for you
• No need to go out into the cold and actually talk to people
• No waste paper

On the other hand, I did also discover the drawbacks to using a survey, and in particular a web-based survey:

• Little control of your target audience
• Reliant on student good-will for their participation
• Not possible to explain questions if they are unclear
• Little possibility for getting qualitative feedback
• No possibility to ask additional questions

 For the eager researcher then, the question has to be, "Do these advantages outweigh the disadvantages?". In my case, as I wasn't wanting to make any profound scientific observations based on my results I think it was okay. Students here who are researching for the Bachelor also tend to reach for online survey tools and then make sweeping statements based on the results. I think this is due to us not having a compulsory course on research methods, in other words, a lot of them don't know any better!

Personally, I find this a really interesting area and am looking forward to the unit and reporting back on what I have learnt.

Neil

   

Coping with mountains of material!

As mentioned in my previous post, there is so much literature available on my topic that knowing when to stop reading is a real challenge. Interestingly, researchers such as Kukulska-Hulme & Shield (2008) have commented that there is a lack of research in some areas of mobile learning. Going by the results of my initial searches via google scholar (see below) this does not however seem to be the case:

Search Term	Results	Results (since 2012)
technology enhanced learning	1,130,000	23,500
computer assisted language learning	312,000	23,500
computer assisted language learning + vocabulary	49,200	4,240
mobile learning	2,150,000	42,800
mobile assisted language learning	81,000	10,200
mobile assisted language learning + vocabulary	18,400	1,800
mobile assisted language learning + vocabulary + sms	1,250	180

 
Figure 1: google scholar search results - as of 1 December 2012.


The results returned by google scholar are however not just academic papers. It also includes presentations available online, websites, theses, books and abstracts. Interestingly enough, although "technology enhanced learning" is consider by many to be the generic term for any kind of learning using technology and mobile learning is a subset of this, more results are returned for mobile learning than for technology enhanced learning. Becoming more specific, the search term "computer assisted language learning" returned 312,000 results, whereas,as expected, the newer, more specialised area, "mobile assisted language learning" returned only 81,000 results. Adding "vocabulary" as an additional search term returns a more manageable total of 18,400 results with 1,800 from 2012. Becoming even more specific, adding "sms" as another additional term returns only 1,250 results in total and only 180 for 2012. This is a much more manageable amount but it would still not be possible to read all of them. This is where the process of sorting the wheat from the chaff, as discussed in my last post, really begins.

Turning to the academic databases available through the Napier library, the ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) database returns only 68 results for "mobile assisted language learning" and only thirteen with the additional term "vocabulary". Adding the final search expression used above "sms" brings the results down to only two! The British Education Index database returned a similar amount of results, only 36 for "mobile assisted language learning" which goes down to only 8 with the addition of the search term "vocabulary". When "sms" is added as a final search term there are again only two results!

This huge discrepancy between the results returned by google scholar and by these two educational databases leads me to wonder exactly where to start. The huge amount of results returned by google are definitely somewhat overwhelming whereas the results from ERIC and the British Education Index are definitely underwhelming. I think my technique of combining both sets of resources is probably the best approach. There are so many interesting pieces of research appearing everyday (handily emailed straight to me by a google scholar alert) that a literature review could definitely go on forever. Self-control seems to be the most important skill to have in coping with mountains of material!

Sources.

Kukulska-Hulme, A. & Shield,L. (2008). An overview of mobile assisted language learning:
From content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction. ReCALL, 20(3), pp. 271–289.

  

Seeing the wood for the trees!

Now that the deadline for the literature review is rapidly approaching I can definitely say that a literature review seems like something that could be a neverending story! In comparison to the research I did in my undergraduate days things have changed a lot. Back then we had Janet rather than the internet and journal articles were things you physically read from paper journals filed in dusty folders or found on tiny microfiche slides. In this sense the internet seems to me to be a blessing and a curse: having almost instant access to thousands of articles, papers and conference proceedings from all over the world is an amazing opportunity for any researcher. On the other hand, having almost instant access to thousands of articles, papers and conference proceedings from all over the world is an amazing challenge for any researcher. How do you decide what is relevant? How do you know if the findings are important? How do you cope with seemingly thousands of sources all on the topic you want to explore?

Trying to answer these questions reminds me of the quote by then US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld:

"[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know."

In searching for literature I think the results can be broken down into four distinct types, similar to those of Mr Rumsfeld:

Categories of literature

The first type of articles, those which are unavailable and irrelevant are no problem. They can simply be ignored. Articles which are available but turn out to be irrelevant are more of a problem. Often one has to begin reading to discover if they are perhaps relevant which is time-consuming and sometimes frustrating. A lack of a clear abstract often means you have to spend longer reading before it is clear what the actual core of the research or project is.  Articles which are available and relevant are a dream come true. Sometimes it is still necessary to read further before it is clear that an article is useful but at least when we find out that it is relevant we have something to show for the effort. The main problem with this category of article is simply that there are so many of them! The final category of article, unavailable but relevant, is perhaps the most frustrating. Certain journals only make articles available to association members or in exchange for paying a fee. Although many of these articles can be accessed through the Napier library or my own institutions databases it is hard to know if the money is worth spending without having seen the content.

As I said in a previous post, it seems like the literature review really does influence your research aims and that in actual fact it is impossible or at least extremely unwise to set your research goals too definitely before you get to grips with the literature. Having now spent several weeks exploring research on mobile learning I can confirm this is definitely the case. There are literally thousands of articles available on mobile learning, even when one restricts the search to just articles published in 2012. For that reason I felt myself forced to reduce my literature review to mobile learning using a specific technology, SMS. I will write more on my search strategies and search results in my next post.

Neil

Sources.

Rusmfeld quote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns [accessed 30/11/2012]

What is the point of a literature review?

A provocative question to start this post: "What is the point of a literature review?" The slightly less confrontational wording would be "What is the purpose of a literature review?". Before beginning this module it seemed obvious to me that without looking at the existing literature I would't know where to start my research but the experts confirm there is far more to a literature review than that.
According to Swetnam and Swetnam (2009), a literature review serves four main purposes:

• "It shows that you have read widely around your chosen topic.
• It demonstrates your critical understanding of the theory.
• It acknowledges the work of others.
• It informs and modifies your own research."

In other words, it should define the current state of research in your chosen area and critically analyse it.

Bell (2010) takes Swetnam & Swetnam's points further and states that the literature review is paramount to becoming, and demonstrating that you are becoming, an expert in your chosen field. For Bell this task not only informs you about current research but also helps to define the parameters of your study. The literature review should also make clear any gaps in the existing research and point out any unresolved controversies.

Arthur et al. (2012) confirm the above but add perhaps the most important (and most difficult) point: a literature review should demonstrate how your research will contribute to the pool of exisiting knowledge. For someone who is really just starting in research this seems like quite a lofty goal.

Nevertheless, I hope that over the next week as I finish writing my literature review I will be able to meet all of these expectations.

Sources

Arthur, J. et al. (2012), Research methods and methodologies in education, Thousand oaks: Sage.

Bell, J. (2010), Doing your research project (5e), Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.

Swetnam, D. & Swetnam, R. (2009), Writing your dissertation (3e), Oxford: howtobooks.

mobile learning inspiration.

Reading books, journal articles and blog posts is great but for getting real inspiration I think there is nothing to beat attending a conference and experiencing live what the experts have to say. Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the 4th mobile learning day at the Fernuniversität Hagen, about an hours drive from my own institution. The mobile learning day takes place every November and consists of a range of guest speakers, a podium discusssion and a choice of workshops on various mlearning-related topics. Previously the conference was soley German but last year it became international with Agnes Kukulska-Hulme from the Open University making a presentation  on "Learning from learners". This year there were two international guest speakers, Mohamed Ally from Athabasca University in Canada and Diana Laurillard from the Institute of Education in London.

Mohamed Ally's presentation "Reaching out to students by implementing mobile learning" on the state of mobile learning in general, and in Canada in particular, was particularly thought-provoking.  I had been especially looking forward to this talk anyway, as Ally is the editor of one of the books I have previously relied on in my studies, "Mobile learning: Transforming the delivery of education and training". Athabasca University Press, who published this book, also receive extra kudos in my eyes for being brave enough to make the entire book available for free as a pdf - you can download a copy here. 

In his lively presentation, Ally tried to answer one of the big questions in mobile learning: why? Why should we use mobile learning and how is it going to benefit us? Prof. Ally's conclusion was partly that the way the education system works has to change, from being teacher centred to learner centred. In addition he argued that mobile learning matches well the preferred study methods of modern students.The technological push should also not be forgotten. In my institution it seems that nearly everyone has a mobile phone, if not a smartphone, and I fully expect this tendency to continue.

After his presentation I was lucky enough to be able to spend five minutes talking to Prof. Ally and his enthusiasm and excitement about mobile learning inspired me and make me even surer that this topic is an ideal choice for my Masters thesis.

Sources.

Ally, M., (2012) Reaching out to students by implementing mobile learning. Powerpoint presentation from Mobile Learning Day 2012, Fernuniversität Hagen. Source: http://mlearning.fernuni-hagen.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ally.pdf [accessed on 24/11/2012]

 

 

Grey literature: handle with care?

This module continues to teach me new terms and expressions for things I previously never really thought about. The latest of these is "grey literature". The recommended articles and my further reading show that the definiton of grey literature seems to still be evolving but the following characteristics are usually mentioned:

• Grey literature is not published for commercial purposes.
• Grey literature is not always easy to obtain.
• Grey literature is not necessarily quality controlled through a peer review process.

These points could lead one to question what the actual value of grey literature is. I attended a conference last week where some very interesting points were made in Powerpoint presentations - if I were to quote from these this would then qualify as grey literature. Another potential source of grey literature I can see also being useful for me is my own previous unpublished research.

I think that depending on the topic it is more or less likely that grey literature will play a role. If a research area is still relatively young or not formally organised then a reliance on grey literature would seem more likely as there may be a lack of professionally published material.

The factor of quality is something that also concerns me. Grey literature is not subjected to the same checks and controls as journal articles or books. Is it safe to take grey literature at face value or should we, as researchers, be extra sceptical about using it?

In my literature review I definitely will not ignore grey literature but I think I will be considering all of my sources more carefully in the future to ensure the reliability is as high as possible. One thing I will definitely keep in mind is that if I publish any of my thoughts or writings online (like this blog) and they were quoted by someone else that would also qualify as grey literature. Does that mean that my writing is of any lesser quality? Hopefully not.

Sources:

Coad, J. (2006). Searching for and using grey literature.
http://www.nursingtimes.net/searching-for-and-using-grey-literature/201505.article [accessed 13.11.2012]

Knopf, J.W. (Undated). Doing a literature review. http://cas.buffalo.edu/classes/psc/fczagare/PSC%20504/Knopf.pdf [accessed 13.11.2012]

Tyndall, J. (2008). How low can you go?: Toward a hieracrchy of grey literature. http://cas.buffalo.edu/classes/psc/fczagare/PSC%20504/Knopf.pdf [accessed 13.11.2012]

Deciding a research focus.

Having last week managed to whittle my ideas down from five to only two, this week much reflection and research along with the excellent Elluminate session with Dr Karen Aitchison helped me to come to my sole research topic:

Mobile-assisted language learning: Exploring student attitudes towards the use of mobile learning in English as a foreign language. 

The important points Karen raised which helped me to reach this conclusion related to finding a realistic research topic and making it specific enough. As with all objectives Karen reminded us that a research topic should be SMART -

Specific

Measurable

Achievable 

Realistic

Time-based

Whether or not a project idea is achievable remains to be seen but I think with careful planning all of the other points can be clarified  before the project begins as follows:

Specific - this research project will examine the attitudes to mobile learning of undergraduate students of business and engineering degrees at the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences. In particular, mobile learning techniques will be implemented to aid in the learning of English grammar and vocabulary for second semester students attending the Business English: Professional and Professional English: Engineering modules.

Measurable - Rather than using a statistical measure, such as exam results, to quantify the success of these mobile learning measures, student attitudes will be collected through the use of semi-structured interviews. As there are so many variables at play duing exams it is felt that any differences in performance cannot be reliably ascribed to a change in teaching technology. Student feedback on their feelings regarding the mobile-assisted language learning can however easily be recorded. 

Realistic & time-based - A three-month period, from January to the end of March 2013 will be assigned to the development of the tools for use in this study. In the following summer semester, from April to mid-July students will be surveyed and interviewed. As there are no additional financial resources available for this study all of the material created will be made using existing commercial tools or open-source or free tools. This approach will also mean that it is easier for others to attempt to emulate the research afterwards if they so wish. This hopefully means that a realistic base for the study is established.

The next step is to conduct a literature review to establish a base for my project.

 

Shaping up my research ideas.

We are now on unit 2 of the module and it is time to really shapen up our research ideas. I don't know if everyone else has this problem too but the more I think about an idea for my research, the more new ideas pop into my head. At the moment my rough list looks like this:

• An evaluation of blended and online education in secondary schools.
• A comparison of the use of blended and online education in higher education in North-Rhine Westphalia.
• A concept for BYOD m-learning at the Fachhochschule Südwestfalen.
• A concept for the integration of online education with a new textbook.
• Development of a blended learning concept for students learning with franchise partners.

 Keith's initial advice was to consider which topic interested me most. They are, of course, all interesting, otherwise I wouldn't have put them on my list. Looking at them  logically though, I think it is possible to see some pros and cons in each one:

External

1. An evaluation of blended and online education in secondary schools.

This topic relies on the cooperation and permission of secondary schools to do the research. Just obtaining this permission could take a long time which might be beyond that available for a Masters dissertation. Education in Germany is also not a federal issue which means each state can do (more or less) what it wants, this would therefore also limit the generalisability of the results.  In addition, the German secondary school system includes five different school forms. Including all five in the study in any sort of representative way would also surely exhaust both the time and manpower available.It would therefore seem necessary to restrict the research to just one school form.

On the other hand, as I have a child who is going to start secondary school next year I am very interested in exploring the blended and online education offered in schools. If it is not possible to do this as my dissertation next year I will get the chance to experience it first-hand as a parent.

2.  A comparison of the use of blended and online education in higher education in North-Rhine Westphalia.

This topic is similar to number one with the distinction that higher education in North-Rhine Westphalia is only split between two forms - universities and universities of applied sciences. Nevertheless finding the correct person and gaining permission to do such a study could take time and carrying out the research in addition to a fulltime job could be difficult.

On a positive note, this kind of study would allow me to compile best practice examples from the institutions involved. It could also supply useful examples of what to do and what not to do in order to improve our own system.

Internal

The remaining three ideas all fit together in relation to projects that can be completed within my own institution.

3.  A concept for BYOD m-learning at the Fachhochschule Südwestfalen.

At the moment the Fachhochschule Südwestfalen where I teach does not have a written policy on either e-learning or m-learning. This project would be a chance to address that by producing a concept for m-learning using the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) method. As I have already completed a couple of smaller projects within the MSc BOE program in this area, doing more work on m-learning would be a natural progression.

On a less positive note, although many institutions now have policies on e-learning I am not sure how many have extended that to m-learning so it may be that there is little existing research to draw on.

4.  A concept for the integration of online education with a new textbook.

This idea is a project which I am already involved in although it is still just at the planning stage. This means that the research would be work-related and valuable to my job as well as my studies. We use our own textbooks at the Fachhochschule and I have just been given a contract to update the existing book on Technical English written by myself and an ex-colleague. It is the wish of the professors in charge that as a pilot project three books which are being revised should include links to additional content online. My idea would be to include QR-codes at the appropriate points in the book which wold link to mobile-friendly resources, such as audio files, videos, apps or quizzes.

The positive aspect of this project is that I am already involved in it and the outcome (in the form of the new book) will benefit my students directly.

Without having done much background reading I fear a negative aspect could be finding enough basic research on this topic to provide a foundation for my own work.

5.    Development of a blended learning concept for students learning with franchise partners.

This is an idea which I also touched on in a previous module.  As well as our normal, fulltime students on campus, we also indirectly offer the opportunity to study elsewhere through franchise partners. These students live in a "parallel world" to the regular students which includes their lack of access to the e-learning resources  provided by the Fachhochschule. The idea behind this project would therefore be to create a blended learning concept for use by the franchise partners in their own institutions and elearning systems.

Providing a concept for an entire degree programme would surely be outwith the capabilities of a Masters dissertation. It is also unclear how happy, or unhappy, the partners might be about someone from "head office" coming to them with a new teaching concept.

The positive aspects of this project would be the creation of a (workable) blended learning concept for the partners as well as advice on implemtation.

Conclusions

Having reflected on my ideas before and during the writing of this post, I can say that topics 3 and 4 now interest me the most and seem most doable. I look forward to my discussion with Keith and any comments from other course members about which idea they find best. In the meantime, I will carry on with the latest tutorials and hope they help me to make my ideas even more concrete.

Key concepts in educational research.

The first readings and tutorials in this unit introduced the central concepts of ontology, epistemology, methodology and methods. In my Bachelor studies I had at least two, if not three, modules on research methods and I am certain that the words ontology and epistemology were never even mentioned. The small scale research I did then, and have also done so far in this degree, was therefore carried out without knowingly considering the philosophocal viewpoints I was taking in constructing and carrying out my research.

Having now watched the tutorials and read the texts it is clear that these issues are important and have an impact on what you research, how you research and how you interpret your results. The definitions I will be building my work on for the rest of this module can be summarised as:

Ontology - the study of reality or being.

Epistemology - the study of knowledge. 

Methodology - a combination of techniques used to research something.

Methods - an individual technique for data collection or analysis. 

The question now is, what do these concepts have to do with educational research?

Ontology

For the researcher an ontology is how you view the world. This includes ideas about what exists, how it is made up and how different parts interact. Your personal ontology will therefore obviously influence what you choose to research and the questions you choose to ask. For example, if in your ontology there is one "true" reality shared by everyone then quantitative, empirical research is all you will need to understand society as a whole. If, on the other hand, you believe that every individual creates their own reality then qualitative methods such as interviews will be required which allow each subject to describe their own personal reality.

Epistemology

As the study of knowledge your epistemological viewpoint will influence both what you already know, or think you know, and what you think you will be able to find out. Epistemology covers issues relating to ideas such as the validity of knowledge and the sources of knowledge. These viewpoints have been defined by theorists on a scale with Positivism at one end of the scale and Constructionism at the opposite end. A postivist would for example believe that there is one reality external to us which we can understand through observation. Also known as the scientific method, this knowledge is gained through methods such as experimentation and statistical analysis.

The constructivist viewpoint holds that each individual constructs their own reality and it is therefore not possible to define one all-encompassing theory. Constructivist research therefore concentrates on individuals and on recording their own personal opinions and attitudes to an event.     

Methodology

How you carry out your research is obviously influenced by your view of the world and the nature of knowledge. If you are a positivist and believe in one true reality then you will be interested in received as much statistical data as possible which confirms your hypothesis. Typical tools for this are experiments, questionnaires and statistical analysis. A constructivist is more interested in individuals and will therefore favour instruments like participant observation and diaries. A combination of these different methods will form the methodology of your research.

Methods

The methods you choose in your research will influence the type and amount of data you receive as well as the time it will take to collate and analyse it. The statistical methods favoured by positivists, such as experiments and questionnaires, can be fast and economical but do not offer in-depth knowledge. In comparison, constructivist tools like unstructured interviews, and observation can be time-consuming and expensive.   Methods from both ends of the epistemological spectrum are however sometimes combined in an attempt to get the best of both worlds.

Now that these concepts and their importance in educational research have been clarified it is time to move on to consider epistemology in more detail. That will be the topic of my next post. 

Sources

Chinn, C. (2009) Epistemological beliefs,
http://www.education.com/reference/article/epistemological-beliefs/ [accessed 20/10/2012].

Darlaston-Jones, D. (2007) Making connections: The relationship between epistemology and research methods. in The Australian Community Psychologist, Volume 19 No 1 May 2007.

Freimuth, H. (2009) Educational research: An introduction to basic concepts and terminology,
http://www.education.com/reference/article/epistemological-beliefs/ [accessed 4/10/2012].

Mack, L. (2010) The philosophical underpinnings of educational research,
http://r-cube.ritsumei.ac.jp/bitstream/10367/1887/1/1-Polyglossia19_The Philosophical Underpinnings of Educational Research.pdf [accessed 20/10/2012].

Epistemology versus ontology.

So, just finished the first Elluminate session for the trimester and had a discussion about epistemology and ontology with Julia, Nicky and Marty. I have to admit that as I haven't done any reading yet I wasn't really sure what to make of these two concepts or what importance they will have in the coming weeks.

Now I know that epistemology relates to knowledge and understanding and asks questions like "What is knowledge?" and "How is knowledge acquired?". Ontology, or as it used to be called Metaphysics, relates to the nature of being, existence and reality. Questions examined in this field include "What can be said to exist?" and "What categories can these things that exist be placed into?". After discussing these two topics we moved on to a discussion of truth and if there is just one truth or many different "personal" truths. My own instinctive feeling is that there are of course many truths because everything sees things from their own perspective and experiences them based on their own prior experience, prejudices, stereotypes etc.

I'm not sure yet how all of this is going to have an impact on educational research but we did confirm that how you see the world will obviously affect how you conduct research: in the questions you ask, in the results that you want or expect etc etc.

I did find what looks to be a very good introductory paper on this topic by Hilda Freimuth (2009).  I'm going to read this now and see if it makes things any clearer for me.

Neil

http://www.ugr.uaeu.ac.ae/acads/ugrujournal/docs/PEER.pdf

What is educational research?

Before I begin any of the first video and reading activities I decided to reflect on what I think educational research is (or should be) before I hear all the expert opinions. I'm interested in seeing if my instincts are right or not and what differences there are between what a layperson expects and what the experts say.

My first thought is of course that educational research is research about education but obviously we can be much more specific than that. I assume that this kind of research will not be interested in how humans learn, which I suppose is more of interest to psychologists, but rather in how we try to influence learning in our roles as teachers, lecturers etc. Obviously, there is also informal education which happens outwith the confines of a set curriculum and this is surely the subject of such research too.

I think what we are really going to be interested in as educational researchers is:

What methods can we use to teach or learn?

How can we measure the success of these methods?

How can we best support different learning styles?

How can we deal with educational difficulties caused by social or economic issues such as children who are not native speakers?

How can we motivate students to learn for themselves and find the joy in learning?

I'm sure there are lots more central questions in educational research but those are the ones that spring to my mind now. Once I have watched the videos and read the articles I will come back and see how close I am to the expert opinions on educational research.

Neil  

Welcome to my Educational Research blog!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my new blog to accompany "Educational Research Methods and Practice" which is the final module of the MSc in Blended and Online Education at Edinburgh Napier University.

I will be regularly updating this blog to document my learning, allow reflection, ask questions and hopefully inspire myself and others to really think about educational research.

I haven't really done any academic research myself since my Bachelor degree many years ago but I did  some small-scale quantative research over the last year for other BOE modules. I enjoyed that so I hope I can build on that whilst trying out some new research methods. If everything goes well I will be a real research expert by the end of this module and ready to put it all into practice doing my Masters dissertation.

Comments on all posts in this blog are, of course, very welcome.

Cheers,

Neil