Research Project: nodo 

Research Methodology

 

Elements to consider

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Key questions.

• Are teachers competent in the use of technology in the teaching/learning environment versus traditional literacy?

• Are students competent in the use of technology in the teaching/learning environment in terms of enhancing the learning experience?

• Are administrators and support staff proficient in the use of technology in support of school management?

• Is technology integrated into the teaching/learning environment?

• Are technology competencies and measures incorporated into teaching and learning standards?

• Are technology competencies and measures incorporated into student assessment?

• Is technology incorporated into administrative processes?

• Are technology competencies integrated into the evaluation of faculty and staff?

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The research questions may be as follows:

• The research question will be refined after the literature review and the baseline study from the following:

• What are the main obstacles and opportunities faced by students when undertaking learning in an online context (especially given the emergence of student-managed and non-contact online learning approaches).

• What are the accessibility and usability issues of online learning systems?

• What are the training needs of disabled users to facilitate online learning (including motor, visual, cognitive and other disabilities)?

• How can access and usability issues be solved in practice?

• What are the implications of industry regulatory developments (e.g., the Web Accessibility Initiative) and legal legislation on accessibility and usability of online learning?

 

Methodology

 

It is envisaged that the research will include a practical research element to investigate the issues raised in the study, aimed primarily at users of online learning systems in the selected educational institutions. 

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Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing on subgroups such as gifted children and those with certain disabilities. Researchers and theorists are likely to identify themselves in the U.S. and Canada as educational psychologists, while professionals in school or school-related settings identify themselves as school psychologists. However, this distinction is not made in the UK, where the generic term for practitioners is educational psychologist.

 

There are several types of technologies currently available for K-12 students in Chile,

however they are not in use in all schools.

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The strong mentality of using traditional classroom tools v/s technological classrooms that will include:

 

Computer in the classroom: having a computer in the classroom is an advantage for any teacher. With a computer in the classroom, teachers can demonstrate a new lesson, present new material, illustrate how to use new programs, and show new websites.

One simple way to showcase your child's work is to create a web page designed for your class. Once the web page is designed, teachers can create assignments, student work, famous quotes, quizzes and more. 

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Class web page: In today's society, children need to know how to use the computer to navigate a web page, so why not give them one where they can be a published author? Just be careful, as most districts maintain strong policies for managing official school or classroom websites. In addition, most school districts offer teaching pages that can be easily viewed through the school district website.

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There are a variety of Web 4.0 tools currently in use in classrooms.

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Blogs allow students to maintain a dialogue. They are working on a tool to keep a journal of Blogs and wikis.

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WikiClass: thoughts, ideas, and assignments, as well as encouraging students to comment and reflect. Wikis are groups more focused on allowing multiple group members to edit the same document and create a truly collaborative and carefully edited final product.Blogs allow students to express their knowledge of the information they gather in a way that allows them to share their ideas and ideas.

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Hay una gran variedad de herramientas de la Web 4.0 que se utilizan actualmente en las aulas.

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Blogs allow students to maintain a dialogue. They are working on a tool to keep a journal of blogs and wikis.

WikiClass: thoughts, ideas, and assignments, as well as encouraging students to comment and reflect. Wikis are groups more focused on allowing multiple group members to edit the same document and create a truly collaborative and carefully edited final product.Blogs allow students to express their knowledge of the information they gain in a way they enjoy.

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Blogging is something students do for fun, sometimes, so when they are given the assignment to blog they are willing to do it! If you are a teacher and need to find a way to reach your students eager to learn, create and inspire them, assign them a blog. 

 

Sound amplification and wireless microphones: Noisy classrooms are an everyday occurrence, and with the help of microphones, students can hear their teachers more clearly. Children learn better when they hear the teacher clearly. The advantage for teachers is that they no longer run out of voice at the end of the day.

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Mobile devices: Mobile devices, such as clickers or smartphones. They can be used to enhance the classroom experience by giving teachers the ability to get feedback See also MLearning.

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Interactive whiteboard that provides touch control of computer applications.

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They enhance the classroom experience by displaying everything that can be on a computer screen. This not only aids visual learning

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• Whiteboards:learning, but is interactive, so that students can draw, write or manipulate images on the interactive screen.

• Digital video on demand: Replacing paper video (DVD, VHS) with digital video accessed from a central server (e.g., SAFARI Montage). Digital video eliminates the need for classroom hardware (players) and allows teachers and students to access video clips immediately by not using the public Internet

• Online media: video streaming websites can be used to enhance a class (e.g., United Online, Tube Maestro, etc.).

• Online study tools: Tools that motivate studying while making studying more fun or individualized for the learner (e.g., Cocoa Study)

• Digital games: The field of educational games and serious games has grown significantly in recent years. Digital games are offered as classroom tools and have many positive comments such as increased motivation for students.

• There are many other tools that are used depending on the local school board and available funds. They can be: digital cameras, video cameras, interactive whiteboard tools, document cameras or LCD projectors.

• Podcasting is a relatively new invention that allows anyone to publish files over the Internet, where people can subscribe and receive new files from people for a subscription. The main benefit of podcasting for educators is very simple. It allows teachers to reach students through a medium that is both "cool" and part of their everyday lives. For a technology that only requires a computer connection, a Podcasts: microphone and Internet connection, podcasting has the ability to further a student's education outside of the classroom. 

The central themes of the research may be:

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The student experience of accessing the technology of e-learning systems, versus the traditional learning curriculum. Systems may include particular features of the system, resource retrieval and other aspects of information access and how this dramatically improve motivation in students, engage with science, faster learning process, memory and knowledge use.

Current trends in providing access to technology ubiquitous e-learning systems among the traditional system.

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Other related issues that may arise:

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Levels of functionality provided by assistive technology to access e-learning systems (e.g., readers, screen readers.).

Guidelines for implementation of e-learning systems for disabled users by support staff (including disability support staff).

Demands for user training in the context of assistive technology developments and accessibility features.

 

Research methods may include

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• Case studies

• Conversation analysis

• Discourse analysis

• Factor analysis

• Factor experiment

• Focus group discussion

• Meta-analysis

• Multivariate statistic

 

Participant observation

 

Use of questionnaires based on a standard format (e.g., Likert scale model) to elicit mainly qualitative responses from users, supplemented by interviews and focus groups. Transaction logs can be inspected to see how students with disabilities have used an e-learning system, and compared with the records of students without disabilities. Where possible, validated questionnaires will be used, for example, to assess student perceptions of the quality of the learning experience, using, for example, the Course Evaluation Questionnaire developed by the OU and the Revised Study Approaches Inventory (RASI).  Any survey tool that is developed will be pilot tested before being used in the main phase of the study. Students' needs will vary by level of disability and type of disability, and this will need to be taken into account when selecting the sample for the detailed study. Demographic factors (age, educational experience, gender, home support) should also be taken into account.

 

Methods of analysis and evaluation may include:

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Standard statistical packages (SPSS) will be used to examine any cross-tabulations, or associations, or groupings that emerge (e.g., by factor analysis). For qualitative data, a qualitative data analysis software package will be used to assist in coding and deriving themes from the interview data.

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Results

 

The anticipated final outcomes of the research will be

evidence for the development of guidelines for students, teachers and support staff working in primary and secondary school curricula, information services and e-learning support staff in higher and continuing education institutions guidelines for students to enable them to make informed decisions about their approach to learning

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Sources of information

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The following range of information sources will be consulted:

Online gateways and databases.  

Policy and regulatory bodies (MINEDUC, INE, EDUCA etc.)

Online journals, newspapers, academic journals and blogs (e.g., Tony Wagner, Ariadne, Biblio-Tech Review, Trends, Library Review).

Government and other regulatory agency publications

E-books and books in the context of trends in education and technological learning.

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Statistics

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Reference texts, e.g., journals.

Internet sites

Workshops, Classes, Seminars (e.g. University of Chile, Educational Curriculum k12, EDUCA).

Interviews with Specialists and Experts from different fields: e.g. Research Center, Universities in Germany, USA, Chile.

Quantification, Qualification Survey with Students, Teachers, etc.

Usability Testing (Gold standard of Usability Engineering, but the most involved and method)

Interviews

Focus groups

Questionnaires/surveys

Cognitive walkthroughs

Heuristic evaluations

RITE method

Cognitive task analysis

Contextual research

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Think-aloud protocol, e.g. Protocol analysis Protocol analysis is used to study thinking in cognitive psychology (Crutcher, 1994), cognitive science (Simon & Kaplan, 1989) and behavior analysis (Austin & Delaney, 1998).

Thesis languages: English and Spanish

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Proposed development

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First year: research training, literature review, to help refine the research question, make contacts with support staff, e-learning staff at other institutions. Piloting of the tools to be used.

Second year: development of research techniques, main empirical phase, analysis, complementary literature review.