As the first course in my MET program, ETEC 500: Research Methodology in Education opened my eyes to a whole new level of student learning in higher education. Gay, Mills and Airasian (2009) point out that “The goal of educational research is essentially the same as the goal of all science: to describe, explain, predict, or control phenomena—in this case, educational phenomena” (p. 6). At the graduate level, the importance of this course is comparable to the trunk of a tree, as the knowledge gained from this course formed the material required to support the tree itself and the network of branches and twigs above – the framework of my understanding in the field of Educational Technology and the necessary skills required for its construction through research and study.
Artifact: ETEC 500 Research Proposal & Literature Review: The effects of incorporating a classroom Wiki for students at the grade four level
The purpose of the final assignment for this course was to help graduate students gain the skills to design a proposal for research and conduct a review of the literature relevant to the research topic. At the time, I wondered why student usage of wiki-based sites as a source of information was frowned upon in academia if one of the most important skills to be learned in education was collaboration. As I reviewed the literature I realized that rather than limiting student usage of such sources of information, educators should help learners gain the collaborative skills that will enable them to take action to improve the validity of the information they find online so they can bring about change toward a better knowledge-based society.
In retrospect, I now see that the study could have been enhanced by an additional activity in which the learners worked together on improving their media literacy skills in order to assess the validity of digital content. Such skills will enable them to critically analyze the information from multiple perspectives and provide the learners with the affordances they need to create contents that are more reliable and unbiased.
From this assignment, I was able to go through the process required to transform my interest for any educational topic into an action plan that will enable my colleagues and I to further our understanding in the subject matter. I also realized that one of the most important steps in creating a proposal for research study is centered on the collection and synthesis of relevant literature to support the significance and validity of the study. As well, the method chosen to carry out the study also affects the generalizability of the results. Not surprisingly, careful planning and time management reflect the quality of any product.
The particular set of research skills I learned from this assignment includes:
- Identifying the issues or problems for research
- Narrowing down a researchable topic and discussing its significance and rationale
- Formulating research questions or hypotheses
- Conducting a review of literature through analysis, synthesis and critique
- Determining the appropriate research method and data collection process
- Following ethical guidelines and gaining entry to research sites
References
Chen, J. (2012). The effects of incorporating a classroom Wiki for students at the grade four level (Unpublished graduate essay). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Gay, L.R., Mills, G.E., & Airasian, P.W. (2009). Educational research: Competencies for analysis and application (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
