edna.edu.au

Research Training for Teachers

RT4T

The Prospective Students' Office and the School of Education, The University of Adelaide are presenting a seminar series for South Australian teachers and school library staff which is intended to provide an update or booster shot of professional learning about doing research, as we start preparing students taking part in the new SACE Research Project.

Slides and video are available of Professor Tania Aspland and Meredith Coleman, School of Education who presented the first sessions.
(Presentations are not labelled as Creative Commons, but presenters stated that these could be re-used at school for further presentation to staff meetings).
I can recommend Stephanie Hester's enthusiastic pitch for humanities research when it becomes available. A couple of great messages from Stephanie:

To do HUMS research you need to be human or at least have access to a human

Qualitative research is all about you

Details of the remainder of the series at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/schools/training

As well as being very useful and timely professional learning, here's hoping that some participants get inspired to get involved in some research themselves.

Tags: sa.edu.au university of adelaide research project research
Posted at 03:14PM Jun 20, 2010 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]

What is desktop research?

Having been involved in several projects recently that required a desktop scan, I was a little surprised when asked to define it, that finding an authoritative definition has consumed almost as much time as doing a desktop scan on the original topic. So perhaps if I write my own definition it will save others facing this problem in future.

'Desktop scan' seems to be synonymous with the term desktop research, described by Delaney Woods (2005) as 'secondary research' (ie using secondary sources) that involves "the accessing of information from published resources and non-published sources."

When is desktop research appropriate?

As a method of investigation that involves use of predominantly freely-available online sites and documentation, desktop research can be used to gain an overview of a current or topical issue. It may be used prior to conducting market research, or other quantitative or qualitative research, to identify key issues, inform research questions, or in some cases to select potential research subjects. Desktop research is particularly relevant in situations where:

• academic research literature on the topic is limited
• the most recent and relevant material is likely to be published by government or commercial organisations
• reference to trends in very rapidly moving fields of study is required, eg ICT, government policy or business analysis
  
• collation of publicly available but unstructured information is required and where it is held across diverse organisations
  

What are the advantages of desktop research over other forms of research?

• It can be less expensive and less time consuming than original research
• It takes advantage of documentation and research already undertaken, and should add to that body of knowledge on completion
  
• It ensures that key research subjects or government departments are not constantly being contacted for similar research questions
  
• It is particularly suitable to online publication as most of the sources will be website links which can be hyperlinked, but it can also be produced as a printed report

What format does a desktop scan report take?

In a desktop scan from the Delaney Woods research service you can expect to find the following sections:

• Executive summary
• Scope
• Sources searched
• Full report with the information referenced, categorised, summarised and evaluated
• References listed and documented 
  

 I would welcome any other questions or answers about desktop research, and perhaps some links to examples (that aren't under embargo)!

Tags: research projects writing
Posted at 11:07PM Jun 05, 2010 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]

Research Project Questions

A very challenging today spent with Ross Todd and school executives learning about Guided Inquiry. Many of the senior schooling teams attending are grappling with the Research Project component of the New SACE, and there were plenty of questions and discussions throughout the day.

This post is a collection of notes I made at odd stages of the day. Very incomplete, but hopefully a starting point for the ongoing conversation. Like the PLP there is potential for the Research Project to provide some significant changes to school culture, and to learning if we can address the structural and professional development challenges it presents in the short term.

Q1: New knowledge:  Is there a requirement for students to create new knowledge per se, or does is it mean new knowledge to that student?
It's not an expectation that all students will create unique knowledge or contribute original research findings, but don't assume that they are not capable of it. Encourage students and let them surprise you.

Q2: Time: Doesn't Guided Inquiry (like constructivist learning) take longer? We are already stretched to get through syllabus requirements in time allotted.
If our goal is learning and knowledge construction, the total time to reach deep learning is much the same even though the process stages are different over the course of a research cycle. How often do teachers have to re-teach concepts AFTER assessing students' work.

Q3: Initiation: How do I start research off?
Teachers and teacher librarians need to provide students with structures for building background knowledge. Perhaps project management skills need to be part of instructional interventions required for SACE Research Project? It is critical to allow personal choice in research project.
The collection stage of research project should include some active, authentic collection of data, not just use of secondary sources. Inquiry is built around questions When establishing questions ask: does it matter if they never, ever know this? Make real world questions.

Q4: Structure: Doesn't the plan stage of the SACE Research Project comes too early in the process?
Ross says yes! This timeframe doesn't accommodate the early stages of Guided Inquiry process. Need to find ways to do this earlier on. Question about how much students can change/modify their plan once they work out what their questions are?

Q5: Load: Isn't this all too much for Year 12 in the time available?
The 4,500 total word count for the Research Project through the proposal and presentation stages is very ambitious requirement for a 6 month process. Some schools are doing RP over 12 months, but that requires a sustained effort over a longer period than students/teachers usually retain. Personal commitment, personal engagement and hard to maintain momentum over even 6 months. Consider the total load on Year 12 students, and the stress of adding RP to an already huge load. Other Stage 2 subjects have Directed Investigations. Is the goal to replace these?
**Recommendation: to move RP to Stage 1 so students are prepared properly (and to provide a safety net for those who don't get it first time)

Q6: Documentation: How are we going to document the journey of researching and learning from it?
Recommend make it online with public audience, at least of peers for powerful learning experience, ePortfolio. Follow on from the PLP if this is done in electronic form. Feedback loops required from peers, mentors, teachers, etc

Q7: TER requirements: How can schools deal with the two strands of students doing the Research Project, ie those counting for TER and those not?
For use towards TER, there is a 1,500 word requirement which restricts students into a single mode of presentation. Possibility of streaming between those using for TER vs those without this requirement.

Q8: Timetabling: Are we meant to timetable this? Isn't it independent research?
Independent does not mean unguided, but it means personalised, not whole class approach. This change is demanding a flexibility not so far required of schools.  In large schools (eg 185 or 250 Year 12s) this will require a major structural change: timetables, allocation of teacher mentors. Need to share creative models.

Q9: Staffing
How is staffing allocated to this 'subject'. DECS staffing trying to decide whether to describe this as a subject or a skill code.
Team-based approach required. Teacher Librarians needed more than ever, working with SACE Coordinators, school leadership and teachers.
Staff changes can disrupt relationship with mentors. 

Q10: Special needs: What is possible for non-mainstream learners, and how do schools go about supporting students with lower literacy, and disengaged students, Adult re-entry and disability? Can we share modified plans?

Q11: Assessment and moderation: What issues are we going to face in evaluation of the research process as well as the product? How are we going to measure the performance standards? We are expecting depth of study/learning.

Q12: One size doesn't fit all: Doesn't this give the wrong impression that implies there is only one, preferred research model?
This may not suit teacher or students purposes, beliefs or the topic being researched.

Q13: Pedagogical basis: What is the pedagogical basis underpinning this research project?
Doesn't seem to be defined in the documentation.

Q14: R-10 curriculum: What are the implications for curriculum in the years preceding senior secondary?
Building a Guided Inquiry culture and program across whole school from Reception. Policies need to be across the board.  Lower secondary always saying they can't change pedagogy because of requirements of senior school curriculum, thus Middle Schooling has not achieved what it promised.

Q15: PD: What about Teacher Professional Development?
Schools reporting frustration that there has been no PD about the Research Project thus far. A role for SLASA here?

Q16: Parents: What about parents and the community?
Parents have no idea about this Research Project. How do we inform parents and support them?

Q17: Ongoing conversation: How do we continue the conversations started at this workshop?
Can we influence anything at this stage? Timelines seem too tight, eg funding reporting due by October 2009. Model needs to be sorted by early 2010.
SACEBoard forums, slasa_net, Guided Inquiry Ning

Ross reminded participants about the power of this initiative to develop creative, socially responsible students turned on to inquiry.

[Feb 2010: Sue Spence and I have collated this for publication in Access.

Tags: rp sa.edu.au research sace
Posted at 06:27PM May 13, 2009 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[2]

How to write a conference paper

[Relocated post: Originally published on 30 June 2007]

• Do a thorough literature review - comprehensive for Australia and your sector, and at least checking international papers and key documents from other sectors, or complementary fields. There is no point presenting what others have already written, but building on their work benefits everyone.
  
• Pull together relevant work and themes from existing presentations by colleagues
• Set up [del.icio.us/diigo] tags and let people know what you are researching so others can contribute relevant material and follow your research.
  
  
• Draft an outline of the paper, and organise collected quotes, documents, readings, links and ideas under key headings. At this stage I find it best to keep the references firmly attached to quotes as footnotes, even if this is not the final format required.
• It is not enough to just collect material. Remember to make time to actually read and note these.
  
  
• At least four weeks before the paper is due, take a writing day away from the office, (and may be even offline!) to write a first draft from the material collected.
• Create a 'to do' notepad document where you note gaps that require further research, quotes to research or references to follow up.
  
  
• Blog the big questions/issues you have identified at this stage and invite comment.
• Continue to collect, read, think, follow up on the 'to do list' and clean up the paper.
• Remember to check back to the abstract and the conference requirements to ensure you have not strayed too far from the original submission.
  
  
• At least one week before the paper is due, do the final cut including correct referencing and styling and give it to at least one proofreader. You need to leave time to make the changes that they will suggest, and follow up any leads they provide to key references.
  
  
• Submit the paper in the required manner and ask for confirmation that it has been received. Find out how and when the paper will be published, and whether you are permitted to publish online either before or after the conference.
  
  [If it is a refereed paper, you will need to re-work it in line with the comments received back from the reviewers, and resubmit. There may well be a very short turnaround for this process.]
  
  
• SAVE a copy of the final paper clearly labelled as such in your official personal repository/file space. Then back it up.
  
• Provide a copy of the final version of the paper to the editor of your organisation's document archive/repository and website if appropriate, and advise of any embargo on publication.

Note: Sometimes the paper is not required until after the conference in which case you have the luxury of including any feedback, comment or issues raised by participants in the final version. The paper will also be more up-to-date.
However, by this stage you will quite probably never want to look at this paper again and will wish you had finished it before the conference.

Tags: research how to writing events papers conferences
Posted at 01:57PM Feb 01, 2009 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]