Unit 5 - Blogging

Is blogging remediating academic and business communications? When I looked up the definition of remediation I found this definition (I think I laughed out loud), Remediating is defined as giving a treatment or remedy. An example of remediating is handing someone ibuprofen for their headache. And this is how I think of blogging – a band aid solution to communication. In this article, the author goes on to research how using a blog as a customer service tool to address customer issues. An interesting concept, but I have a hard time to see how a blog would satisfy this need, so I read on.

Fascinating – blogs for business, a content management system. The article states that there is a trend for businesses to use blogs for research and development. I really don’t see how a blog would ever work at my place of employment, anyone out there with me?

References:
Aselin, K. (2011). Blogging: The remediation of academic and business communications. Ann Arbor, Michigan: ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing. (UMI No. 1452706).

Unit 5 - Using animation/simulations in the classroom

I really appreciate this research as the time it takes to deliver material or as the article calls it ‘transience’, refer to the total amount of mental effort being used, and the platform used is so important. I may just use some of this information for a proposal at work, as it was one of the best experimental research executions I’ve read. In the experiment they used animation-based instructions and spoken information under audio-visual effects. It continues to argue that animations should be used instead of static graphics to relay short modules, and the opposite when relaying longer modules. The results rang true to the hypothesis; I want to perform this experiment at my work place as I see simulations fitting nicely into our curriculum.

Reference:

Wong, A., Leahy, W., Marcus, N., & Sweller, J. (2012). Cognitive load theory, the transient information effect and e-learning. Learning and Instruction, 22(6), 449–457.

Unit 4 - What is your opinion on distance learning?

This article resonates with me as distance learning has always been a challenge for me; I have learned that I don’t usually thrive in large online groups like MOOCS. However, with having the schedule that I have with work and kids it really was my only option. I had no choice but to adapt. This article explains that online learning is the new norm for study, and I will venture to compare it to remote workers as well. This study was conducted uses a mixed method which I agree with that chosen research method as it would capture the broad spectrum of participants and their experiences with distance learning.

Brown, M., Hughes, H., Keppell, M., Hard, N., & Smith, L. (2015, November 2). Stories from Students in Their First Semester of Distance Learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning.

Unit 3 - Explicit Focus on Technology:

The journal Technology in Society has been brilliantly split into several interdisciplinary areas that go as follows:

Technology assessment - is the study and evaluation of new technologies
Management of technology - management disciplines that allows organizations to manage their technological fundamentals to create competitive advantage. 
Technology and policy - nurturing those capabilities and optimizing their applications in the service of national goals and interests
The economics of technology - overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes
Technology transfer - the transfer of technology from the originator to a secondary user
Appropriate technology - that people can manage it directly and on a local level
Economic development - the various technological changes contribute significantly in the development of the economy
Ethical and value implications of science and technology - too definitions, but pretty much new ethical and regulatory challenges
Technology forecasting - attempts to predict the future characteristics of useful technological machines, procedures or techniques

All the above definitions were referenced from https://en.wikipedia.org/

Unit 3 - Explicit Focus on Learning

At my work right now the idea of using artificial intelligence, simulations in learning, and then evaluating the relationships between the learning platform and the participant, analyzing patterns within their learning has been a heated topic as we are dealing with two different camps – people who are behaviourist learning theory people, believing that repetition is the key to learning, and very much resistant to change; and the second group is the constructionists learning theory people, very much wanting to:

1. Create real world environments to make learning as relevant as possible
2. Solving real world problem
3. Trainer is a coach or facilitator
4. Learning objectives and negotiated not imposed
5. Provide tools and environments that help participants to interpret the perspectives or tasks

I found this journal, Learning analytics in massively multi-user virtual environments and courses interesting as it states that there is an emergence of a new field known as Learning analytics, that seeks, “learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs”, the journal continues to state, “This knowledge can be employed for a range of purposes, among which are to allow learners to reflect on their activity and progress in relation to that of others as well as to assist teachers and support staff in predicting, identifying and supporting learners who may require additional attention and intervention”.
I would like to implement at my place of work in the near future, so I may just use some of this for my proposal.

What is the importance of research and research ethics?

What is the importance of research and research ethics? Why is academic freedom important? This freedom comes with responsibility as it includes that the research meets high scientific and ethical standards. “Academic freedom includes freedom of inquiry, the right to disseminate the results of the inquiry, freedom to challenge conventional thought, freedom to express one’s opinion about the institution, its administration or the system I with one works, freedom from institutional censorship.”

Before reading this article I had a bias that ethical behaviour is pretty self-explanatory and common seneschal. However, this article covers ethics at such a granular level, I had no idea it was such a detailed subject. Some of the core principles are; respect for persons, concern for welfare, justice.

References:

Ethics – for Students

Panel on Research Ethics - The TCPS 2 Tutorial Course on Research Ethics (CORE)

Unit 2 - Introduction to Education Research continued…

Introduction to Education Research continued…

Research within research… wow there are so many different types of research methodologies out there – I admit it’s a little overwhelming. The one research method that I resonate with in this phase of the project at work is the Action Research method. This is where the researcher is focused on solving specific problems.

Some of my specific problems at work are as follows:

1. Hardware not meeting the capability of some of the platforms that we are using I.e. no audio to listen to the videos we are producing.

2. Firewalls and access to training material: We have external Ministries that are receiving training however they do not have access to the Network, therefore, we have to send them the videos which are very large (email attachment limitations), and zips are stripped.

I am currently using the Action research method where I have diagnosed several problems, and conduct a review to see if a answer already exists. Usually that results in an answer of ‘no’ an answer doesn’t already exist then I plan and carry out my own research study to create a proposal prior to implementing the changes or solutions. As the article states – this seems to be a never ending process, “because most problems are never fully solved.” (p.10)

References:

Johnson, R.B., Christensen, L. (2014). Chapter 1: Introduction to Educational Research. In Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches.(pp. 1-28) Sage Publishing.

Unit 1 - Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Research

Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Research

This article was very well written and laid out the difference between the types of research and also gave examples of when to use each of the research methods.

Quantitative Research depends on numeric data whereas Qualitative Research relies on non-numeric data I.e. images and text, Mixed Research is the amalgamation of the two.

The appropriate use of the type of research used or combination of research used depends on the question, situation, and environment. Quantitative Research uses hypothesis and theory testing primarily whereas Qualitative Research is used to describe what is seen usually resulting generating another hypothesis and/or theory. This method is successfully used when little is known about the subject matter. With all research methods the researcher uses either deductive or inductive reasoning when deciphering results. Inductive is when the researcher searches for patterns, on the other side of the spectrum deductive reasoning is when the researcher can see noticeable consequences.

Let me give you an example from my work as we provide evaluation surveys to calculate Quantitative results and we use inductive reasoning to decipher patterns within the responses to highlight areas that need improvement. We lay out the survey with an agreement scale as follows:

We ask a question and the participants reply within these categories. We then create a report that amalgamates all the responses and we calculate an average.

References:

Johnson, R.B., Christensen, L. (2014). Chapter 2: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Research. In Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches (pp. 29-55). Sage Publishing.

Unit 1 - Introduction to Education Research

Unit 1 - Introduction to Education Research

I was shocked to read in the journal written by R.B. Johnson, that in the New York public education system only half of the students in public school finish high school in 4 years! I guess it’s time for a reform plan; some ideas coming from the New York mayor were:

-          Establish a corporate board

Really? I giggled a bit when that was his reform idea, to implement a corporate board to provide management decisions, oversight and expertise. How about appealing to the audience to which the curriculum should be tailored to, the article does go on to say, “A uniform core curriculum should be established that focuses on basic skills.” (p.2)

“We contend that policymakers will benefit if they examine the findings of educational research studies comparing the outcomes resulting from implementing different ideas and approaches.” (p.2) When I read this line did it ever resonate with me working with my target audience in the industry that I am in. For any change there is so much red tape and policies/legislation to go through prior to any implementation. I am a true believer in any revamping of curriculum should be more concerned with what works best for the target audience without including any personal biases or vested interests in particular approaches.

I had to learn how to write effective proposals and I learned quickly how to design and conduct a defensible study as this journal states how important these skills are when conducting educational research. In addition, an evaluation or questionnaire, if done correctly enable you to “not have to accept something as true just because someone said it was true.” (p.5)

Evaluation Research:

This includes Needs assessments, Theory Assessment s, Implementation Assessments, Impact Assessments, and Efficiency Assessments. All of these assessments provide the client and researcher with important information like; is there a need for a change in the program, is this program conceptualized in a way that it should work, was the program implemented properly, what is the impact on the target audience, and is the program cost-effective.

References:

Johnson, R.B., Christensen, L. (2014). Chapter 1: Introduction to Educational Research. In Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches.(pp. 1-28) Sage Publishing.