HET202 Scholarship and Research in HE Assignment 2 Research Methods – pilot project proposal 50% weighting for the unit - Pass/Fail Recommended word count of 2500 words. Work required: Prepare a proposal for a pilot research project that would be undertaken by one part-time researcher over one year. This proposal will provide: • • •
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A rationale outlining the topic of investigation and why it might be important from an educational point of view (including who might be interested in it). An annotated literature review of the topic Your intended research strategy: o types of data that are required o details of particular research methods and data collection o approaches to analysis An indicative work plan for your research detailing a timeplan and key milestones Any problems you might anticipate (ethical, methodological and practical) and how these might be resolved.
RATIONALE New Media is an interesting area of pedagogy, which encompasses most of the digital ether, an amoebic shape shifter with an inability to sit still. The fast moving pace of the subject that makes teaching it a satisfying and rewarding challenge. The digital divide is a curious classmate; seated next to even the most intelligent of students it becomes a great distraction. Dr. Charles Quist-Adades observed that: “While Canadian communications scholar Marshall McLuhan put us all in a “global village,” the benefits of the village appear to elude a sizeable number of the villagers as the digital divide between the technology-haves and technology-have-nots grows ever wider and wider.” (Harper, D.G. et al., 2008. Education for a Digital World Education for a Digital World) The flow and success of classroom activities that involve digital technologies depends on the level of digital divide in the student cohort. The classroom has becoming saturated with technology such as web2.0 tools (Chapter 16 in section 3 Mayes, Terry; Morrison, Derek; Mellar, Harvey; Bullen, Peter; Oliver, M., 2009.), the inclusion of ubiquitous computing (iPads, mobiles phones, laptops, etc. Topping, K., 2012 ) and gestural driven interface such as whiteboards. As classroom education delivery relies more and more on digital technologies, the digital divide becomes an important and research worthy factor. The digital divide presents itself in an array of forms, class, geo-location, gender and age, to name a few (Warschauer, M., 2007). I am interested to observe the digital divide in all its facets but I am particularly interested in the gender incarnation. I have been a technical instructor for new media at University College Falmouth for three years now and in that time I have noticed a slight shift in the gender digital divide. The academic year just gone is the first year where the majority of classes I teach have felt balanced in terms of gender and technical, IT know how. Is this a global shift of just local to Falmouth? I wonder if the massive surge in ubiquitous computing combined with the fact that technology is now so cheap and accessible has played a part in reducing the gender digital divide. I am intrigued by computing’s hegemonic past, which is steeped in gender Inequalities. An astute observation by Diane Currie calls into question the phrase “tech wizard” in terms of somebody that excels at bending technology to do their will and the will of others, a term that embodies a preloaded, masculine gender mold for the computer expert to aspire to Currie, D., 1993. Thomas Haigh implies that the hegemony of masculinity in IT stems from computerization of corporations and the continuance of the punch card work force leading to a power struggle between women who were mainly users and the men who claimed the more masculine role of the engineer (Haigh, T., 2010.). I hope to engage in more poetic, biographical research, interviewing people male and female that have experienced gender inequalities on the path as digital migrant. I would love to be able to compare the differences for the digital native and digital migrant on a qualitive level, the path to an information technology (IT) vocation. Ubiquitous computing has spread like a fractal through our everyday lives allowing each of us to maintain multiple identities blurring the lines between the real and the virtual. It is no longer feasible to exist without technology affecting your life in some way. Doug Rush off said, “If you are not the programmer then you are one of the programmed”. He compares the computer revolution to that of the printing press and educational system. What use is the
book if you cannot read? What are the implications of becoming a citizen of the global village if you are not privy to its inner workings? I intend to base my workshops online content creation and web2.0 skills. I want to help students better understand their digital worth whilst observing the present situation in terms of digital divide.
Literacy review Attached please find the full-annotated PDF. Literacy review reference: Warschauer, M., 2007. A teacher’s place in the digital divide. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-7984.2007.00118.x/full [Accessed July 4, 2012].
Review summary In 2007 Warschauer still believes there exists a digital divide, though he acknowledges that it has been somewhat diminished. Five years later, I am curious to know if the divide has lessoned even more? Warschauer’s findings show an interesting gender divide in how computers are used within the school environment. In brief, Girls use computers to socialise and boys use them to play. His findings also show that girls have problems relating to subjects around the computer sciences due to the fact it is “too divorced from most academic content areas.” (Warschauer, M., 2007) Something I had not yet considered is the digital divide that sits between the teacher and the pupil. Warschauer refers to the teacher as a digital migrant, having to adapt old habits to fit new technologies. The students therefor, must be digital natives, raised on computer games, the Internet and ubiquitous computing. The digital natives have great expectations and assumptions over how content is presented and delivered. How then can a digital migrant create an engaging, interactive learning environment that fully immerses the digital native in learning? The level of CPD needed to bring staff technical levels to an acceptable level in 2005 was great, is this still true in 2012? It makes a lot of sense to extend the traditional notion of the three R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) for the digital age. Warschauer suggests 3 new categories, digital-age literacy, inventive thinking and effective communication. As much as I would love to see these categories embedded into the curriculum, I struggle to see how it is plausible to gauge such an abstract notion as ‘inventive thinking’. Warschauer believes that there are three underlying themes when it comes to technology integration within schools. Workability “Referred to the challenge of coordinating technology use, including scheduling rooms, arranging appropriate software, and maintaining hardware, software, and network connections in working order.”
Complexity The challenge of integrating technology into the curriculum in terms of standardised testing, student preparation, emphasis on discovery and exploration and general inclusion within the classroom. Performativity Performativity refers to the challenges that arise from misuse of the digital toolset. How can you make sure that the technology is boosting the student performance and not encouraging them to be lazy? Warschauer gives the example of a student copying and pasting from the web to an essay and not taking the time to understand the content. This breakdown fits the remit of my research; I intend to wrap my methodology into these categories to better make sense of the data. Warschauer goes even further by categorising the benefits of technology in the classroom into ‘word’ and ‘world’. A beautifully simple notion, derived from technology as a toolset to assist the student in their communication of ideas (word) and the massive global village that the students can tap into for research (world). This is a convention that I intend to reference in my own research. I have only ever taught in a H.E environment so having to teach in schools is a daunting concept. The case studied that Warschauer referred to as “Project Fresa” was of great interest to me. Although the project is over five years old the activities are still quite relevant in todays digital environment. The question arises: Could I recreate something of a similar nature in today’s schools? It is certainly a good base to start from. •
Interview and survey questions.
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Spreadsheets and graphs of the data in various formats (analysing, for example, which types of graphs best display what types of information.)
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Slide presentations and web sites.
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Photos with quotations.
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Original artwork.
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Poetry.
Another really interesting part of the Project Fresa case study was the breakdown of the research. “Our research team conducted 650 hours of classroom observations; interviewed about 200 teachers, students, staff, and parents; surveyed 1,000 students and teachers; collected and analyzed the print and digital work from 60 students; and examined state test scores before and after the laptop programs were implemented.” (Warschauer, M., 2007) Until reading this, I had completely overlooked the usefulness of surveying the parents. Another eureka moment was when I realised that as long as I can get the right permissions, I can use existing students work to aid in my research. I am aware that the research behind this piece of literature was all based in the USA but the information within has been extremely enlightening. I now have a basic structure for the break down of my research, which lies in the categories, workability, complexity and performativity
and a clear understanding of the scope of ‘word’ and ‘world’ in terms of student activity. The underlying success of a technology-enhanced curriculum seems to rely on how these two scopes are linked and harmonised. Research Strategy I intend to apply a mixed research methodology, drawing from quantitative and qualitative data. For the quantitative research I intend to collect statistical data from existing sources such as the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), www.education.gov.uk and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Alongside existing data I will generate new data using surveys and interactive systems to monitor how different target groups use technology. My intention for the statistical data is to prove that the gender digital divide is closing up. The analysis of all the data collected will be approached from an unbiased viewpoint. Continually, through out the data analysis I will try to consider external factors that may have an affect on the results, for example: The capping of the student fees at £9000 in 2012 might hinder the applications to more arts based HE courses. Whilst generating new data I will consider my target, representative samples. My intention is to survey students, their teachers and their parents from three different age groups, secondary school (15-16), further and Higher education. Obviously I will not be able to survey all students in these categories but I will try to take a balanced, representative sample from each age group. The majority of my research will develop from qualitative activities. I intend to try and observe the gender digital divide in a variety of teaching environment’s, age groups and institutions to better understand its impact. I am intrigued by the masculine nature of computing and intend to converse anecdotally with people of different age groups about their technological edification. Through widening participation with schools in the area, I will conduct surveys and run workshops to monitor how 15-16 year olds are engaging with technology. I also have the benefit of teaching at a university so I will use UCF a lot in my research as well. I will keep the focus of my qualitative data flexible and continually reassess my findings. This side of my research will flow in an experimental and explorative manner. Some of the questions that I hope to answer are: Does a gender digital divide still exist in the classroom and if so, how much of an impact does it have and at what age does it begin to show? If the digital divide has been reduced, how much has ubiquitous computing, affordable technology and the Internet helped or hindered the progress? Is the global view of computing becoming less masculine?
Work Plan
Anticipated obstructions & ethics Planning is a major factor for widening participation. In order to get workshops built into school curriculum they must be submitted way before the first term. I might need to organise a CRB as soon as possible, although I would be content to always have a teacher in the classroom with me to assist with the activities and maybe join in the learning. My experience of school IT suites is that they are generally underfunded and grant access to limited software. I will have to make sure a long time before I carry out a workshop that the school I am in has the right equipment.
Reference Mayes, Terry; Morrison, Derek; Mellar, Harvey; Bullen, Peter; Oliver, M., 2009. Transforming Higher education through technology enhanced learning., york: HEA. Available at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/learningandtech/Transforming.pdf. Topping, K., 2012. Give children tablets to conquer the “digital divide.” deadline. Available at: http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2012/02/12/give-children-tablets-to-conquer-the-digital-divide/ [Accessed July 19, 2012]. Harper, D.G. et al., 2008. Education for a Digital World Education for a Digital World : Advice , Guidelines , and Effective Practice from Around the Globe S. C. and R. C. Paul Beaufait, Richard S. Lavin, Joseph Tomei, Kevin Kelly, Sylvia Currie, David Kaufman, Alice Ireland, Randy Labonte, Patricia Delich, Don McIntosh, June Kaminski, Madhumita Bhattacharya, Natasha Boskic, Nathan Hapke, Kirsten Bole, Dan O’Reilly, Niki La, ed., BCcampus and Commonwealth of Learning, 2008. Available at:
http://www.colfinder.net/materials/Education_for_a_Digital_World/Education_for_a_Digital_W orld_complete.pdf. Warschauer, M., 2007. A teacher’s place in the digital divide. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-7984.2007.00118.x/full [Accessed July 4, 2012]. Currie, D., 1993. The construction of gender at UBC computing service. , pp.3-7. Available at: http://www.digitalripple.com/compgend.html. Haigh, T., 2010. Masculinity and the Machine Man: Gender in the History of Data Processing.