As I have continued developing the Research Methods Review website over the past few days, I have thought increasingly about how I can best organize and present the pertinent information to visitors to best facilitate learning. While I do not intend for the website to be an entire online statistics textbook, I want for there to be enough useful information and resources to help students prepare for research methods classes.
Along those lines, I feel that I have to maintain a balance between making the website too choppy and brief on the one hand, versus creating a virtual information dump on the other. What I am also realizing by virtue of this course is that how I learn (and thus develop the site) may be entirely different than how others learn. As I continue developing the website, I will try to be more cognizant of this reality.
If I were to instruct others how to develop a learning resource such as this, I would suggest possibly consulting some books or other resources that examine various adult learning styles, and determine how they could incorporate as many methods as possible onto the site. What the website design challenging is not knowing fully what the users will want or need in the form of research methods review. Perhaps I should bring this up in class discussion and get fee
I really enjoyed reading the Kember et al. article on Reflection the other day for class. It was quite fascinating because in my teaching, I constantly stress the importance of reflection to students. However, few people (including myself) actually stop to really think about what that means. I also felt that the article had great bearing on my research project this semester.
Reflecting back on my initital learning experience in reserach methods (taking EDUC F65 in my first master's degree program around 2002/2003), I quickly realized that most of my time was spent in non-reflection. I simply tried to memorize theories, formulas, and terms with little thought towards their application or wider meaning.
However, now that I am older as well as a doctoral student, I have noticed that I am taking more time to reflect on my learning. I am currently reading the book How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education to re-learn introductory research methods and to essentially learn how to learn research methods. As I read the book, I find that it is much easier for me to reach reflection than it was in the past with my EDUC F65 course.
What helps to facilitate this process is that I can apply all of the material I am learning to my future dissertation topic. Thus, it allows me to apply the concepts I am learning in a way that was not possible when I was taking the course as a master's student. I will be interested to see if I can reach critical reflection at some point in this process.
In reading the research methods textbook, I have also noticed that I tend to absorb the material better as I read leisurely as opposed to having the stress of an impending quiz or test hanging over me. I would like to go into the adult learning literature to see if there is any research that deals with this dynamic. As I go into the more complex quantiative material, I will be interested to see if this trend keeps up or if I will not be able to absorb the more difficult material as easily.
I have spent the past couple of weeks developing the Research Methods Review website. I have searched the web for online research methods tutorials and have found some really good resources for use on the site. I also just contacted Dr. Kim, who teaches research methods courses for the W&M School of Education, to set up an appointment to discuss the project and obtain her feedback. I am interested to learn what resources she would recommend for use on the website as well as for my own personal preparation for research methods courses.
Recently, I also began reading an introductory research methods textbook called How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education (6th Edition, 2006) by Jack R. Fraenkel and Norman E. Wallen. I completed Chapter 1 last evening. I am very interested to see (as an adult learner), which type of resource works best for me in relearning introductory research methods. After I read the textbook, I plan on completing some online tutorials to compare and contrast which method (books or online resources) suited my personal learning needs the best.
Thus far, I have found that reading the textbook for my own self-directed learning purposes creates a quite different dynamic than reading the book as an enrolled student in a research methods class. In this SDL capacity, I can read at my own pace and do not have the prospect of quizzes and tests hanging over me. So far, I have found that I can retain the information better utilizing this SDL approach. However, I'll have to wait and see if that dynamic continues as I get into the more complex, quantitative material.
As I continue on with this project, I am also very interested in putting my own learning experience into the larger context of self-directed learning research that we have discussed in class. I plan on consulting the SDL articles we have read regularly to see how the themes, concepts, and research in those pieces compares with my own experiences. I will start posting more comments about that process shortly.
For the past couple of days, I have spent time searching the internet for online research methods tutorials. I wanted to learn what resources were already out there for people who want to brush up on their research methods knowledge. I did this by doing Google searches for "research methods online tutorials." I was surprised to see several different options out there. In particular, there are several tutorials run by colleges/universities all over the country. I have started posting links to some of them on the Research Methods Review website.
Looking back, I could have done this differently by consulting faculty and student colleagues at the W&M School of Education. Faculty who teach research methods classes would be particularly useful resources in this area. Also, they would likely know the best/most effective online resources for such areas. As such, one of my next steps in this project is to contact faculty such as Dr. Kim to investigate other options for web-based research methods tutorials.
What I have seen thus far has strengthened my resolve that there needs to be a one-stop resource online (i.e. the Research Methods Review website) that offers a wide range of resources in one single location. One problem I have already encountered is that while there are already resources out there, they are scattered all over the internet and are difficult to find. When thinking about how I could help others in this area, I believe that offering several resource options for research methods review in one single website would be a significant first step. Based on my experience, I could help others learn by consolidating all of those tutorials and other resources in one place.
Today, I spent time reviewing current course syllabi from EDUC F65 (the entry level research methods course on the master's level) and EDUC 663 (the entry level research methods course on the doctoral level). I learned this material by studying the requirements for each class. My goal was to get reoriented as to how these classes are currently organized and taught. I also wanted to get a sense of what concepts were most important for inclusion on my online study guide.
The course syllabi were provided to me by classmates in my EPPL 714 class who have recently completed the courses or are currently enrolled. Both classes are currently taught by Dr. Kyung-Hee Kim. One thing that surprised me about each syllabus was how much they are focused on application of material, as opposed to just memorizing terminology and formulas. However, it makes sense since we will need to use these resources as we pursue dissertation research and other forms of research in the future. It also reinforced my belief that students would be benefited immensely if they had access to study guide materials and resources prior to taking the course.
In terms of how I could have learned this course requirements differently, it would have been useful to also consult Dr. Kim directly to discuss assignment requirements and preparation techniques for each course. I plan on doing this shortly and feel that it will better inform my planning for the website. For others, I think it would also be of greatest benefit to speak directly to research methods faculty members to get a sense of what is expected for each course.
My project this semester for EPPL 714 will involve designing an online study/reference guide for W&M doctoral students who are preparing to take the entry-level research methods course, EDUC 663. The recent use of mandatory pretests as a means of screening students for preparation level has made it more important that ever that students have access to the information they will need to prepare for the class. Therefore, my first task in this process was to create a website to contain all of the necessary information and resources for students. It will hopefully serve as a "one-stop shopping" experience for doctoral students who would like to brush up on thier research methods skills before enrolling in EDUC 663. Today, I learned how to build a website - www.researchmethodsreview.weebly.com to host this project. Over the course of the semester, I will add more content to it as I read textbooks, research websites, and interact with W&M School of Education faculty who teach research methods courses. I learned how to build this website by studying the instructions on www.weebly.com, a free web-site provider. I have had some experience with weebly (building a website about a year ago), so it was definitely an informative experience reintrocing myself to various elements of webdesign. I could have learned how to build a website differently by pursuing other educational strategies, such as reading an instruction manual or getting verbal instructions from a friend or colleague. However, the experience of building the website via trial-and-error was most effective for me, as it enabled me to learn as I went. I don't think I would have been able to comprehend a long set of instructions nor would I have had the time to read them. Instead, it was more feasible to just jump in and build it myself. The process was made easier by weebly's user-friendly design, where you can simply "click and drag" icons, instead of doing manual HTML coding. In helping someone else learn to build a website, I would advise them to pursue the same strategy as me. Find a free website provider online and play around with it until you have learned how to build a site. I think the advantage of first-hand application is what would make that a most desirable approach. However, depending on learning style, I could see where other techniques (i.e. instruction books) could also be useful to adults. Next, I plan on studying the course syllabi for EDUC F65 and EDUC 663 to get a better perspective on what content should be included on my website.
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