The following information is for the purposes of an assignment required by my doctoral course work:
Initial Statement of Research Interests:
My research interests include the impacts of Web 2.0 and open source technologies and resources on occupational education. More specifically, I am interested in how prominent incorporation of Web 2.0 technologies into the delivery of occupational training may affect the achievement of course objectives and subsequent levels of student and instructor satisfaction when compared with typical, on-ground occupational training. Community colleges will face unique challenges as they struggle to provide meaningful occupational education experiences on a lean budget to students with varying degrees of academic preparedness in an increasingly technology-driven educational environment. The open source community and Web 2.0 resources provide cost-effective, viable means for collaboration and the creation and distribution of educational resources. The question is will this delivery method and environment still achieve the same objectives and provide the same level of satisfaction as traditional training methodologies.
The Revision Process:
Matt Koehler assisted me in my revision thinking process. He pointed out that it didn’t work as a funnel, starting broad then growing specific. It was more like semi-broad, specific, context, broad, semi-broad. I thought the problem was that I had too many things that I was interested in and I wanted to leave the door open to explore them all. That wasn’t the case. The interests really do tie together, but I had to build the context for the specifics, which is how I (we) arrived at the revised statement that begins with a broad context, gets more specific, then offers variables for measurement. Cary Roseth provided valuable input on wording choices to decrease ambiguity. For instance, using the word “effective” instead of “meaningful” because effective is a term that will be easier to describe.
Revised Statement of Research Interests:
I am interested in how technology may help community colleges provide high-quality, cost-effective educational experiences to students with varying degrees of academic preparedness and technology literacy. More specifically, I am interested in how recent technologies, such as Web 2.0 tools, may be used to improve the course experiences of both educators and learners in terms of achievement, satisfaction, and engagement within the occupational education context.
Identified Experts:
- Rod P. Githens – Assistant Professor of Workforce and Human Resources Education at the University of Louisville. Rod’s research interests are centered around social and political aspects of learning and change within organizations and institutions. He is also a principal investigator for the NRCCTE (National Resource Center for Career and Technical Education) study titled “Online Occupational Education in Community Colleges: Prevalence, Context, and Organizational Approaches.” Relevance: Rod’s NRCCTE study, mentioned above, is the only of its kind studying this specific of a subject on this large of a scale. The results will assist in informing me of how widespread online occupational training currently is in community colleges nationwide and of the delivery models that exist.
- Matthew Koehler – Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University. Koehler is co-creator of the TPACK framework, describing the intersections of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge required for successful integration of technology in education. His research has included the affordances and constraints of new technologies, the design of technology-rich, innovative learning environments; and the professional development of teachers. Relevance: TPACK will be of noteworthy benefit as I attempt to assist occupational faculty in developing technology-rich delivery models that are specific to their content areas. We will need to understand the interactions between selected pedagogy, technology, and the unique content we are conveying to build an effective learning experience.
- Rand Spiro – Professor of Educational Psychology at Michigan State University. His work explores knowledge acquisition in complex domains and hypermedia learning environments, with a central focus on the development and testing of theory-based hypermedia learning environments designed to promote cognitive flexibility. Relevance: Cognitive Flexibility Theory is a Constructivist approach that deals with transferability of knowledge in complex and ill-structured domains (Spiro & Jehng, 1990). I believe that occupational education is a fitting context for application of this theory. Given that occupation education is geared toward work-specific tasks, it is especially crucial for students to be able to problem-solve and transfer classroom knowledge to new settings and various scenarios, particularly in fields like health sciences. Interactive technologies have already successfully been applied in some areas of occupational education such as military service, flight training, and various health fields.
Annotated Bibliography:
Annotated Bibliography (.docx 123KB) – This is an ongoing project.
My Thoughts Thus Far:
Though I have much more research to do, I think several things are clear. First, we have to put focused attention toward providing instructors with proper training and models for implementation of new technologies. Next, we have to ensure that we’re selecting technologies that are appropriate for the content, the delivery method, and the abilities of our student population. Additionally, we must put effort toward assisting students in building a social network to continue the informal learning and construction of knowledge that occurs after formal class sessions are over.
At this point, I am particularly intrigued by the idea of microtraining. I feel that the development of microtraining modules would be a cost-effective way for community colleges to harness recent technologies to decrease the amount of time that students spend in the classroom. I am also intrigued by TEFA and its Question Cycle as framework for instructors to guide learning with questions, allowing students to construct their own knowledge and summarizing and clarifying as necessary, rather than presenting content. I think proper instructor preparation will be a key element of my future research. My reading so far has shown that instructors tend to default to using technology for the presentation of content and class administration when not provided with a proper framework for its use. Lastly, I am intrigued by the idea of social communities of practice. Obviously, the cohort approach has proven to be effective in other areas of education. I believe this could be useful in the occupational fields as well.
Future Actions:
- Continue reviewing the literature, including the work of my identified experts, to gain further information on current incidence and practice, best practices and models, and related theory. Specifically, I feel I need to do more reading on the building of social communities of practice in education, teacher preparation for successful technology integration, and promoting the transfer of knowledge to various settings and scenarios.
- Survey Dean of Occupational Studies and Occupational Studies Faculty at MMCC to gain further insight into potential interest, field demand, faculty aptitudes, current plans, and so on for new models of online, hybrid, or technology-assisted occupational training at the College.
- By the end of September, I will attempt to identify a specific area of research possibility for my practicum research.
- Execute practicum research.
