In reflecting on Weller’s discussion of educational technologies (2020), I strongly connected to the reoccurring theme of collaboration. Collaboration resonates with my own experiences as an educator, but it is also an interesting lens for the public criticisms of the online learning as we attempted to adjust education during a pandemic.
Weller refers frequently to how the collaboration of educators was influential in a technology’s adoption into education. Weller’s summary of bulletin board systems refers to the “use of academic real estate” (13). This is an effective term to refer to how educators need to selectively expend their time and energy. Through collaboration they can share this burden. Again, in the chapter on learning objects, Weller explains how elements of learning objects survived through consortiums of subscribed educators. This reminds me of the Western Canadian Learning Network (WCLN) on which our school relies for our own content and is what makes it possible for DL schools in BC to offer diverse courses. It seems from Weller’s summaries that those technologies that survived to be adopted into education were adopted because there was a collaborative effort to share information and thereby share the burden of time and energy.
As a firm advocate of Distributed Learning, I struggle with the criticisms of BC’s schools’ online model that was adopted after Spring break. I hear “well we know that that didn’t work” from colleagues, senior administration, and government officials. Rather than dismissing it as failure, we could all gain more from reflecting on why it failed. The primary reason for its assumed failure is that there was little opportunity for collaborative planning and a motivation driven by panic rather than sound pedagogical theory. I admit, that prior to this book, the history of educational technology was a self-centered one that lived within my own experiences. The history that Weller presents could have helped us all in the transition in response to the pandemic. Instead of reliving some of history’s mistakes we could have moved forward collaboratively with focus and support.
Image Source: The Hog’s Back by Shaylor Flickr.com CC
My greatest takeway from Clint Lalonde’s presentation (2018) is that open education and creative commons licenses encourage the fundamental traits of sharing, kindness, and respect.
As a teacher, I aim to model the qualities I want to encourage in my students. If I want to encourage sharing, I need to also share. In Lalonde’s presentation he shares a student’s experience whose professor made students purchase the book they authored. Through these actions, the professor portrays themselves as the sole authority on the topic and students will quickly lose respect.
This reminds me too of my experiences as a new teacher. In my quest to build a collection of resources some of the more experienced teachers would keep their resources or activities under literal lock-and-key. Now, as a teacher with more experience, I find that by sharing resourcing I also gain more knowledge and perspective through the professional dialogue that arises from discussing the resources and activities.
Along this similar vane, I appreciated learning about the share-alike request of the creative commons license. This is appealing as it again encourages the philosophy that seems to have spurred the orgination of the creative commons licence, to share knowledge. Through any journey, we gain by supporting the sharing of knowledge.
In our Introduction to Critical Research and Writing course we’ve briefly addressed the topic of research questions. However, it wasn’t until our session with George Veletsianos that I could briefly witness how the process of developing and responding to questions takes place.
The way in which he paused and asked for clarification after each question was a reminder to me to not rush into the search for answers. Particularly, I noticed that he used deliberate pauses to consider the phrasing and implications of the question. He also frequently responded to the orgininal question with more clarifying questions. These skills help to ensure that the correct question can be answered correctly. In hindsight, this makes perfect sense. Of course you need to understand the question to answer it!
In reflecting on this presentation, I realize that as a new grad student I’m so thrilled by the potential for learning and applying new skills or ideas, that I sometimes hurry past the question phase. I look forward to practicing this skill in the courses to come.
Reference
Veletsianos, G. (2020). Questions about Research for George Veletsianos [Audio recording]. Retrieved from https://bluejeans.com/playback/s/PES97xtVyEHk1N21CMu2Nf6cWuxkum7cyWE7yZV9PPdarszJA4QnOQtZNBqC2oid
As part of the Introduction to Research: Critical Reading and Writing course, we considered the importance of adopting a theoretical framework through which to conduct research. Then we created an annotated bibliography of articles that adopted these frameworks. We also created a presentation on selected theoretical frameworks. The theories our team worked on were activity theory, cognitive load theory, motivation theory, and personality theory.
You can view the presentation here.
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You can also view our annotated bibliography here.
References
Activity Theory
Coghlan, D., and Brydon-Miller, M. (2014). Activity theory. The SAGE encyclopedia of action research (Vols. 1-2), (pp. 22-24). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446294406
Kaptelinin, V., and Nardi, B. A. (2006). Acting with technology : Activity theory and interaction design (Ser. Acting with technology). MIT Press. https://royalroads.skillport.com/skillportfe/assetSummaryPage.action?assetid=RW$26870:_ss_book:18551#summary/BOOKS/RW$26870:_ss_book:18551
Cognitive Load Theory
Sweller, J., van Merrienboer, J. J. G., & Paas, F. G. W. C. (1998). Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design. Educational Psychology Review, 10(3), 251-296. https://10.1023/A:1022193728205
Motivation Theory
Cook, D. A., & Artino, A. R. (2016). Motivation to learn: an overview of contemporary theories. Medical Education, 50(10), 997–1014. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13074
Personality Theory
Kaushal, K.B., Leon, Y.W., & Chun-Yen, C. (2019). The impact of personality on students’ perceptions towards online learning. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 34(4). https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/4162/1569
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask.”
(Albert Einstein, as cited in Luo, Brancolini, and Kennedy, 2017)
In preparing for a research study, it’s important to carefully consider your research question. The research question is what determines your focus and is reflected throughout the entire research process.
Seeing as the research question is so vital, it should be a researcher’s goal to make not just a good research question but a great one. The key factors that I consider to be important in a research question can be narrowed down to the four ‘P’s’: previous research, purpose, process, and precision.
Previous research: A strong research question must be based on a thoughtful and thorough consideration of previous research findings in the related field. The careful evaluation of prior research also ensures that the research question leads to unique findings that contribute to the academic community.
Purpose: A research question should present a clear objective. If the purpose isn’t clear, the results may be too vague or unrelated to develop thoughtful conclusions. Presenting a clear purpose can be done by choosing precise vocabulary. I found Utica College’s “Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Action Verbs” (n.d.) helpful in offering vocabulary that addresses specific outcomes.
Process: The research question should also identify an appropriate scope for the length and methodology of the project.
Precision: As with most writing, clear and concise vocabulary is important. A precise question allows for readers to process the information and engage with the research more effectively.
An understanding of previous research, having a clear purpose and process in mind, and using precise language are four qualities that lead to a great research question.
Resources
Luo L., Brancolini K. R., and Kennedy M. R. (2017). Enhancing library and information research skills. Libraries Unlimited.
Utica College. Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Action Verbs. Utica College.https://www.utica.edu/academic/Assessment/new/Blooms%20Taxonomy%20-%20Best.pdf
(Revised June 8, 2020 to add resource for Einstein quote)
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