Exploring Theoretical Frameworks

In a recent assignment, we worked together to explore three theoretical frameworks. Here is the annotated bibliography that we developed, followed by a link to our Prezi, which hopes to provide further context to these frameworks.

The three theoretical frameworks we explored include (a) cognitive load theory, (b) motivation theory, and (c) gamification theory.

Cognitive load theory states that learning happens best under conditions that align with human cognitive processes, and studies the implications for design and delivery of learning. Cognitive load refers to the amount of mental effort expended, based on the combination of a limited working memory and relatively unlimited long-term memory, organized in multiple elements, or schemas, that make up an individual’s knowledge base. Motivation theory classifies motivational concepts and theories into four categories based on areas of influence, including attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS). The ARCS model, when framed as a problem-solving approach to E-learning engagement, assists in the development of learning interventions with the goal of increased learner success. Gamification theory deals with applying game-like rewards such as levels, badges, and points to non-game digital applications such as learning environments in order to have a positive influence on the motivation, engagement, and behaviours of participants.

Here are the three articles we explored that deal with cognitive load theory.

Kalyuga, S., & Singh, A.-M. (2016). Rethinking the boundaries of cognitive load theory in complex learning. Educational Psychology Review, 28(4), 831–852. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.3.558

Kirschner, P. A., Ayres, P., & Chandler, P. (2011). Contemporary cognitive load theory research: The good, the bad and the ugly. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(1), 99–105. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.06.025https://prezi.com/view/p00ucj034jM9xGCjGR2n/

Bradford, G. R. (2011). A relationship study of student satisfaction with learning online and cognitive load: Initial results. The Internet and Higher Education, 14(4), 217–226. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.05.001

Following from this study combining concepts from both cognitive load theory and motivation theory, we next consider motivation theory.

Keller, J., & Suzuki, K. (2004). Learner motivation and e-learning design: A multinationally validated process. Journal of Educational Media, 29(3), 229-239.

Huang, B., & Hew, K. F. (2016). Measuring learners’ motivation level in massive open online courses. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 6(10), 759-764. doi:10.7763/ijiet.2016.v6.788

Mohamad, S. N., Embi, M. A., & Nordin, N. M. (2016). Designing E-Portfolio with ARCS motivational design strategies to enhance self-directed learning. Higher Education Studies, 6(4), 138. doi:10.5539/hes.v6n4p138

Our final theory deals with the specific motivation techniques found in gamification theory.

Seaborn, K., & Fels, D. I. (2015). Gamification in theory and action: A survey. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 74, 14-31. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.09.006

Denny, P. (2013). The Effect of Virtual Achievements on Student Engagement. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 763-772). New York, NY, USA: ACM.

Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does gamification work? — A literature review of empirical studies on gamification. In 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 3025–3034). doi:10.1109/HICSS.2014.377

Check out our Prezi to learn more.

Huge shout out to my partners on Team Superstar, Donna Baker and Angie Maksymetz.

Should I blog this?

One task that I have struggled with throughout this program is implementing an effective way to track the concepts and ideas I uncover while completing research. My current system does catalogue the sources themselves, including any highlights or impressions that stood out for me. Despite this, when I sit down to write a blog post or assignment, I find myself second-guessing if the ideas I propose are my own, or simply an amalgamation of the ideas I’ve gathered from the work of others.

In reflecting on the content of Melanie Wrobel’s presentation, what I realized is that my system does consider the parameters around plagiarism, but perhaps does not have enough focus on copyright. What I missed to date is how copyright includes the author’s control of how the work is used. This consideration resonates with me as I realize now that I have likely unintentionally broken copyright rules already in this blog.

Although the numerous considerations around copyright are confusing and daunting, the practical tools and best practices reviewed by Wrobel buoyed my resolve to continue blogging and contributing to digital and research communities. The best practice that I will focus on is to ask for permission when referencing existing work. By starting a conversation with the original copyright owner, I will clarify expectations so that preferences are understood and respected.

Reference

Wrobel, M. (2016). A Guide to Copyright [MP4 Recording]. Retrieved from https://ca-sas.bbcollab.com/site/external/playback/artifact?psid=2016-06-21.1617.M.BDF488F0ABC6DC5A10966179DD9E5E.vcr&aid=213200.

Patterns and passions.

As I watched George Veletsianos’s presentation, two things stood out for me. First, I was inspired when he shared that his research topics have many years of thinking behind them. In my experience, when ideas resurface and become patterns, they catch your attention and you begin to question them. Now at the very beginning of my research career, I find myself revisiting the patterns I have uncovered in my work to date. These are the ideas that I’m passionate about exploring, with the goal of uncovering tangible answers to anecdotal evidence collected from personal observations.

The second piece that stood out for me was Dr. Veletsiano’s description of breaking down a big idea to tease out what you are really working to answer. A key takeaway for me was the value of researching the work of others with similar questions to your own. By exploring the research published to date, you collect insights that work to strengthen and refine your original question. Moving forward, I plan to be mindful in recognizing, reflecting upon (and perhaps developing a system to map?) the connections and patterns I uncover, regardless if they align with or contrast my topic of interest.

References

Veletsianos, G. (Author). (2017, August 10). George Veletsianos on Research [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from 

What makes a good research question?

Your research question provides a path to follow when you start to conduct your research and describes the desired outcomes of your study. This question, in combination with your chosen approach, helps to narrow the focus of your topic of interest and guides the structure of how you choose and analyze data.

To start, ensure that your topic can be studied. Ask yourself if there is enough research available to draw from or if you will need to design a study to collect the needed data.  From there, you develop your question to narrow your focus. For example, if your research will use a quantitative approach, then your question will focus on the relationships between the variables in your study data.

Next, ensure that your question is clear and simple. Clear, simple questions help to focus the discussion and to provide various viewpoints to consider. A key component of effective questions is that they help to narrow your topic. Here are some resources that help you to narrow your topic so that you build effective research questions:

  1. A great video which explores the use of mind maps when breaking down your main area of focus into sub-topics.
  2. Another resource that I would recommend can be found here. It describes both narrowing your focus and developing clear, focused and simple research questions.
  3. Lastly, the RRU Writing Centre has lots of resources on writing thesis statements. One resource I found especially helpful was Research Questions and Hypothesis by John Creswell.

Reflections on APA citation and academic writing

In conversations with my MALAT colleagues and through reading their blog posts, a recurring theme that resounds is an unfamiliarity and lack of confidence with academic writing. Most lament the points lost due to incorrectly formatted submissions or improper citations. I have experienced a similar journey, learning many valuable lessons along the way. Please join me in sending our LRNT 521 Professor a hearty shout out for her detailed and helpful feedback. Thanks, Elizabeth!

For about the last five or six years I sat on the proposal team as a labour market research expert and would estimate that I participated in writing over fifty bids. Feedback from my section always garnered top marks and became a key component in our leading practice success criteria. In fact, based on this success, I was tasked to lead a project that helped to provide structure and support to other leaders in our organization who needed to complete research. As I began my MALAT journey and reviewed our evaluation rubric, I found myself thinking that the toughest part was going to be the content, not the format. Boy, was I wrong.

What I now realize is that I have forgotten a lot of the bits and pieces that drive the structure of academic writing over the years. Our responses to the requests for proposals described above did always have criteria, but the criteria were based on a selection criteria rubric, and didn’t specify any formatting criteria, other than the maximum length of the document and preferred fonts.

In this assignment we were directed to review two resources from the Royal Road University Writing Centre, including: how to write an academic paragraph and writing using APA style. Although I have reviewed both before, I enjoyed digging in a bit deeper this time, armed with a critical lens based on feedback from my LRNT 521 assignments.

Another resource that I uncovered this time and would recommend that all MALAT students bookmark is the APA Help Guide. I am excited to leverage this tool when I’m searching to discover the correct way to cite different types of resources. Since I have had recurring feedback from my assignments recommending that I place more emphasis on transitions, I found a great resource on the topic of transitions. If you have experienced similar feedback, I would highly recommend that you give it a review.

Twitter has also been a fulsome source of inspiration and information for me since starting the #RRUMALAT journey.  If you are not already leveraging Twitter, I would highly recommend that you start. A couple of great hashtags to get you started are:  #phdchat, #academicwriting and #acwri.  From there, you can find your favourite contributors and see where your journey takes you.

Primary vs. Secondary Research: which should I use?

How can you decide which type of research to include when you are working to answer a research question? Is one better than the other? Read on to review a short overview of what I think are the core differences between the two.

New or existing data?

Primary research involves gathering new information directly from a participant group, thereby working to generate new data. Secondary research involves gathering data from existing research and does not generate new data. In comparison, primary research is based on raw data, whereas secondary research uses existing information that has already been analyzed and interpreted.

Data sources:

Primary is based on raw data, whereas secondary is information that is analyzed and interpreted from original sources. Primary research can include any originally made artefact, such as diaries, photographs, questionnaires, observations or interviews, whereas secondary research focuses on the findings of other researchers. Primary research does not include review articles, as they are summaries of existing research literature or articles which analyze existing data through meta-analysis.

Which should you use?

Primary research is conducted if no existing data exists for your research question, leading you to design a study to create the data you seek. Usually researchers of primary data usually have some preexisting information about the subject, which has made them curious and causes them to explore further. The data collected in primary research is specific to the needs of the researcher, whereas in secondary, it may or may not be specific to the needs of the researcher. The amount of time and cost invested is a key factor to consider when choosing which research you will use.  Primary research tends to be very involved and so has highs cost and is time consuming.  With secondary research, the costs are lower and the time commitment is shorter, which may be appealing if the researcher aims to gather a broad understanding on a topic.

Ethical approval required?

Since human subjects may be directly impacted by the study, primary research often requires ethical approval. Conversely, secondary research does not involve interacting directly with human subjects, ethical approval is not required.

When deciding which type of research to use, perhaps you can consider completing a systematic literature review to explore existing thoughts and theories related to your subject.  Then, if your question remains unanswered, you can build out a plan to conduct primary research of your own to gather the data required.

Comparing quantitative, qualitative and mixed method research.

Trumpet vine, year 3. How would you describe it? Would you use qualitative or quantitative data, or both?

There are various approaches to consider when completing research, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed method. Depending on the purpose of the research, coupled with considerations of capacity, research design could follow a purely exploratory approach, a purely confirmatory approach, or one which incorporates both approaches to varying degrees, known as a mixed method approach.

Quantitative research uses a confirmatory approach, where the researcher states a hypothesis, often based on existing theory. Statistical analysis helps to interpret the measured numerical data and tests the hypothesis. Based on objective interpretation of the data collected, the researcher would then either accept or reject their hypothesis.  The results, gathered through structured interviews, questionnaires and tests, are often generalized to broader situations.

The confirmatory, top-down approach, is deductive, as it starts with a general theory and then tests specific data. If your research aimed to answer a cause-and-effect relationship, such as the hypothesis that industry members with more than five years of experience value on-going education less than those with less than five years of experience, then a confirmatory approach may be a good fit.

The exploratory approach, used in qualitative research works to make meaning of the experiences of people in their environment and also follows three stages. Here, the researcher starts by making an observation based on something they’ve noticed, which they then study, searching for patterns in the data they collect. The data, collected through unstructured interviews or focus groups using open-ended questions, is comprised of detailed descriptions of events, people or observed behaviours and often includes direct quotations from research participants. The result is a tentative conclusion or generalization about the patterns uncovered, which is narrow in scope and is not generally applied to broad situations.

Also known as a bottom-up approach, the exploratory method is inductive, as it starts with an observation and works to consider the patterns that result from further study. Instead of testing an existing hypothesis, like with quantitative research, qualitative research leads to the development of a theory. Qualitative research requires the researcher to collect and interpret data collected from participants, so subjectivity can play a role.  If your research aims to explore the observation that those from baby-boomer and millennial generations have different views of on-going education in their industry, then an exploratory approach may be favoured.

As with most things in life, it can be challenging to choose just one of the above methods. Some researchers may choose to use both exploratory and confirmatory approaches, known as mixed method research. In the example of understanding the perceived value of on-going industry education above, perhaps a researcher starts by employing qualitative research, using unstructured individual interviews and open-ended questions. The information uncovered could then lead the researcher to decide to then employ a quantitative approach to gather feedback from a larger sample size of industry members. Using a mixed method approach would allow the researcher to leverage key observations uncovered through the qualitative interviews to build a meaningful, quantifiable on-line survey that is distributed to a much wider audience.

Source:  Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches. Sage.

Reflections on starting a movement.

Wow!  I cannot believe that we are done our first course, LRNT 521.

If you’re interesting in hearing my reflections about working to become a digital participant and content creator, please follow the link below. I chose to use Screencast-o-matic to capture my Prezi. 

If you want to watch the Derek Sivers’ original TED Talk, you can see it here.

Hope you enjoy,

Karen.

Impact of Digital Learning Environments, Networks, Communities

Our team (Bobbi, Steve, Krista and Karen) chose to consider how digital learning has impacted racism in our society.

We used Thinglink to present our findings and have included our list of references in the two yellow bullets on the bottom, left corner.  Each of the other four images represents a subcategory – please hover over the coloured bullets on each image to view our supporting materials.

In the question mark you will see a green bullet.  Clicking on it will bring up a one question poll – “where do you think racism is most pervasive in today’s society?” Please take a moment to answer our poll; will post the results later on in the week.

Click here to be directed to our Thinglink. Thanks!

Leverage today and engage tomorrow.

Where I began:
Starting in 2009, I began to consider my strategy and purpose in participating in online communities. My personal and professional online worlds were beginning to collide and I found that I was hesitant to use online platforms. I was unsure where I would present the professional side of my life and where I would present my personal side. There were a few occasions where I had contacts from both sides and I wanted to make a clear delineation between these two groups. Since these online platforms were accessed by people from around the world, I began to reflect on how my images and comments could be perceived by users who didn’t know me, and thereby didn’t understand the context of my contributions. It became increasingly difficult when my learner groups began to send me friend requests on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, as I had professional responsibilities around confidentiality and privacy. Additionally, in my work at the time, I sat on multiple committees and task forces so I wanted to ensure that my digital footprint didn’t negatively impact my professional growth. It felt complicated.

Since I was working in a medium that was unknown to me, I read Start with why: how great leaders inspire everyone to take action (Sinek 2013), and determined that I wanted to choose a few tools, all of which had a clear purpose and desired audience. I was inspired by Sinek’s “Golden Circle” concept (Sinek 2013), and determined that my purpose, my “why”, was to participate in a community of professional trainers who were dedicated to developing their ability to engage and support learners. Based on this preliminary work, I decided to focus my efforts on LinkedIn to develop and leverage relationships with fellow trainers, participating on Facebook to keep in contact with personal connections, using Twitter for research around training and development and, later through Instagram to explore my interests and community connections. In the following sections I will outline my online presence as it exists today and reflect on how I can refresh my approach. I aim to better engage my intended audience and to encourage myself to participate as a resident, as opposed to a visitor (Le Cornu & White, 2011). 

My digital technology presence today:
To date, the tool that I have purposefully spent the most time developing is LinkedIn. I update my LinkedIn presence more mindfully than any other tool, thereby making my profile one that I am confident to share. Being a passionate Career Developer, I understand the value that LinkedIn allows in providing the online community with a snapshot of my background. Currently, LinkedIn is a practical application that I use to research companies and key players, to follow the careers of past and present colleagues and to connect with groups of people with professional interests similar to my own. I recently joined a new industry am keen to uncover new connections; LinkedIn provides a robust source of contacts which are easily uncovered. I particularly enjoy reviewing the profiles of people that I plan to meet at conferences or other networking events.

The overwhelming access to users that Facebook provides keeps it in my life.  Having 1.94 billion monthly active users in March 2017, (Facebook Newsroom, March 2017) Facebook commands my attention. It is the place where I can cultivate connections from all aspects of my life. Originally, I earmarked Facebook as a place where I could keep in touch with my personal network. However, I quickly found myself curious as to how I could leverage Facebook Pages in my professional life. In my experience, the most challenging part about building out Facebook Page presences is generating and continually populating a fulsome content calendar.  Engaging users, often in concert with a paid campaign, takes time, but has been consistently effective in practice. Now that I no longer leverage Facebook professionally due to a career shift, I find that my participation has reduced dramatically, other than to connect with friends from my past.

I have been absent from Twitter since 2013, with periodic contributions in 2016.  I remember when Twitter was my favourite source of information; I loved how I could join tweet-ups or participate at conferences virtually by following hashtags. In 2013 I faced a 30-minute commute to work each day and I leveraged this free time to explore Twitter. When building my presence, I decided to use a 3:2 ratio for those I followed to those who followed me. My theory was that I could keep abreast of the tweets of those I followed, while still working to cultivate a network with greater breadth and depth.  As I review my outdated profile, I realize that approximately 60 per cent of those who I follow are still relevant today, buoying my commitment to re-prioritize this tool.

When I critically examined my contributions in Instagram’s space, I determined that I connect with my existing community frequently, but my message is dilute. Currently I leverage this platform for inspiration and to uncover local news in my community. As I walked through the exercise of exploring my current online presence, it became clear that my preferred tool is Instagram, likely because I choose to follow users who feed my creative side. Upon reflection, I realize that I feel good every time I launch Instagram, causing me to decide to continue leveraging Instagram as a source of inspiration, but to include a focus designed to help expand my community of contributors who are passionate about open learning.

Near-term priorities:
Dissecting my current digital technology presence helped to align three near-term priorities, all of which will be completed in May 2017:
     1. Support my online identity (or brand) through consistency,
     2. Leverage my blog as a landing page,
     3. Refine my participation in each community.

Support my online identity (or brand) through consistency:
What stood out me the most when reflecting on the exercise of reviewing my profiles was that I had different user names, contact information and profile pictures throughout the various platforms that I use. To help support consistency on my chosen platforms, I will align my user name, contact information and profile picture on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. I will continue to use Facebook for fun and won’t include it in my near-term priorities, but will continue to consider how I may leverage Facebook Pages in the future, based on my past successes and experience.

In Larouche, Habibi and Richard’s article (Larouche, 2013), they found that social media platforms can result in increased loyalty and trust from community participants. I aim to facilitate information sharing among the members of my online communities with my newly unified online identity (or brand). I aim to garner trust and loyalty from my online community through active and meaningful contributions and shared connections.

Leverage my blog as a landing page:
Another key learning was that I do not have a clear direction of information-flow to connect my various profiles. My blog will provide me with an opportunity to intentionally connect information from one conversation to another and from one group of connections to another. For example, I will intentionally drive traffic to my blog using #RRUMALAT on Twitter. The idea of having an online space where I am in charge of the content is both harrowing and exciting. My biggest challenge will be to have the confidence to contribute meaningfully and consistently to my blog. My goal is to contribute at least twice per month throughout the duration of this program, with posts designed to describe my journey of developing a place where I explore the e-learning community and develop deeper relationships with key stakeholders.

Refine my participation in each community:
My LinkedIn profile is well-developed, so I will continue to leverage it as a repository of my professional experience. Having been a visitor in most LinkedIn groups to date, I plan to mindfully shift to the resident zone (LeCornu, 2011).  First, I will join the conversation through the comments sections, and ultimately, I will contribute fresh content.  To help shift my focus and expand my reach, I have chosen five new groups to explore, all of which focus on trends and leading practices in learning, focusing on e-learning. In addition, I will commit to commenting on at least one article per group in the first three months of joining.

I have not prioritized any changes to my current Facebook use. As described above, I know that Facebook provides access to data, tools and users, so I will continue to consider how I can build in the use of a Facebook Page in my new role. There are opportunities to leverage a group of 1,200 active industry users in my community, but I will first need to define why and how we can engage these users with meaningful content. We are currently working to refine our communication strategy and I will purposefully include Facebook as a tool to consider,

During our virtual symposium, I was inspired by Dr. Roland vanOostveen’s discussion around Developing a Fully Online Learning Communities (FOLC) Model (vanOostveen, 2017), where he used the analogy of a derailment of dangerous goods. The role that each person plays in a situation is partially defined by their perspective, leading me to decide to better define my role on Twitter. After all, if I don’t define my role in this community, I won’t be able to participate authentically, which will lead to a lack of a clear perspective and may break the trust of community participants. My priorities include self-identifying as a Royal Roads University MALAT student and participating using #RRUMALAT. In addition, I will review my current list of those that I follow and prioritize following at least 10 new profiles per month, with the goal of adjusting the ratio described above to 2:1 (following to followers). These simple steps will help me to expand my scope and to define my role as someone who strives to expand my knowledge and connections in the online learning community.

As described above, I participate in Instagram as a form of self-care and will continue to do so. One commitment that I will make is to make my profile public, as opposed to private. Perhaps taking a less closed position will help to expand my “digital sandbox” (vanOostveen, 2017) so that I may encounter unexpected learning. As it stands, I only allow certain tools (users) in my sandbox, which is likely reducing my potential learning opportunities.

My next blog posts will focus on the actions I took in each platform, including any outcomes uncovered.  Look forward to my journey on LinkedIn next!

References

Facebook Newsroom. (2017, March). Retrieved May 10, 2017, from https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/  

Laroche, M., Habibi, M. R., & Richard, M. (2013). To be or not to be in social media: How brand loyalty is affected by social media? International Journal of Information Management, 33(1), 76-82. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.07.003

Le Cornu, A., & White, D. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement.  First Monday, 16(9). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049

Sinek, S. (2013). Start with why: how great leaders inspire everyone to take action. London: Portfolio/Penguin.

vanOostveen, Roland. (2017, April). Fully Online Learning Community Model.  In Elizabeth Childs (Chair), MALAT Virtual Symposium, Symposium conducted at the meeting of Royal Roads University, Online.