Video Conference with David Tosh

Our video conference with David Tosh took place on Monday, Sept 27th. It was an opportunity for the community to interact directly with David, ask him questions about his research project, and how UBC fits in. For those of you who couldn’t attend, I’ve posted a summary below. We also have a videotape of the event and it’s available for borrowing! Others who attended, please share your comments about the event.

David started off the videoconference by giving the group some background on how he started his PHD research. He comes from a developer’s background and initially became interested in e-portfolios as a way of creating learning communities. David found that there was a lack of data in the UK on e-portfolio use and beyond. A research project was born! He also saw the benefit of adding an international focus to his study. To date, he is working with 4 universities: UBC, UWaterloo, UNewcastle and UNottingham.

The day after our videoconference, David was presenting his research proposal to his review board. At UEdinburgh, the review board presentations happen at the 1st anniversary of the PHD. David said that many of our questions would be similar to those that would be asked by his board. So, this was a good rehearsal for him! David made the point that many of the group’s questions around the focus of his project would become clearer following his review board.

Our group had a number of questions for David. I’ve added a sampling of them below with a summary of some of David’s answers.

dl. **What will David get out of UBC for his research project?**:He sees UBC as advanced in e-portfolio work, as well as, in weblog and wiki use and development. He sees UBC as an early pioneer and feels that our environment will provide good data.
**What is he doing with the University of Waterloo?**:A pre-use survey has been made compulsory for 1400 students (in 1st, 2nd & 4th year). This is a pilot of the pre-use survey and it has been implemented in a course of study rather than on an individual level.
**How can the research accomodate different courses of study, student bodies and levels of sophistication? How can diverse groups be accomodated?**:This is a major hurdle for David’s project and he anticipates that this will be an area of focus for his review board as well. He is interested in pulling out the unique cultural and social contexts of the universities involved in the research. He’ll have a more complete answer for this question soon.
**What is the timeline for David’s research?**:David has a year to collect data. Looking to implement a post-use survey & focus groups with the AGSC pilot in Nov and a second UBC pilot in Jan ’05.
**What is the methodology?**:David wants to use a qualitative and quantitative approach. He will back up surveys (pre & post-use) with data collected in focus groups.
**Is David interested in a cross-discipline look at useage?**:The focus at Newcastle U is medical students and at UNottingham is english lit students. David feels that any discipline would do.
**What is the length of the surveys?**:At UWaterloo the pre-use survey is compulsory and will take the students 6-8 minutes to complete. Members of the CoP suggested a 4-5 minute survey. David replied that he could fit the survey into the requirements of whoever fills it out.
**Is David interested in the question of the student perception of e-portfolios, regardless of the field?**:Yes, and he’ll need to get a survey of different groups to understand the direction.
**What is the purpose of David’s research?**:The research will have a specific focus once he gathers data and starts to analyze it. Also, his review board will help narrow the focus.
He’s interested in what aspects of e-portfolios draw students in and what don’t. One of David’s questions is on student engagement. He feels that current e-portfolio tools do not fully engage and motivate the students. This is why he is exploring a wide variety of tools and working on a project to create a learning landscape; to try to engage students in various ways.
**The research questions are going in many different directions, what are the connecting pieces?**:David expects to have more of a focus later in the year. His data collection period is 24 months. The pilot questionaire that is currently being implemented at UWaterloo will provide a lot of data that will help focus the next iteration of his questionaires.