Class Discussion
Lars approached concerns some people expressed regarding last weeks blog topic, some people were uncertain as to whether they got their information right. He essentially said that it is open to interpretation due to the nature of the topic. The main purpose was to ensure that we think about the topic and form our own understanding of the theories presented to us.
Some students have expressed that it was too hard? I disagree here as I had fun learning about these concepts which are a welcome change to the normal IT technical information we learn about.
Credibility
Does the epistemology match the ontology?
Was the means of discovering the information suitable for the question being asked?
Was the method followed sufficiently rigorous?
Who did the work/research? Do they seem credible?
Bias?
Who paid?
Who do they work for?
Where and when was the work make public?
Is it still relevant?
Peer-reviewed?
Where/how did you find it?
Peer-reviewed?
Where/how did you find it?
An in-class activity in which we all individually rated the credibility of a wealth of information sources showed us that some areas are regarded as considerably credible than others, this lead into a conversation into some of the specific sources & the nature of credibility in general.
Group work
The next part of the class had us divided into groups to research a particular research method, our group was given action research, we are to make a presentation on this before next week which is proving to be a bit of extra work on top of our already existing blogs. This presentation has been given lower priority than this week's blogs due to it having no relation to marks.
Action Research
What is it?
Action research is any research into practice undertaken by those involved in that practice, with the primary goal of encouraging continued reflection and making improvement.
https://jalt-publications.org/node/4985/articles/5631-linking-research-action-simple-guide-writing-action-research-report (24/03/2019)
While action researched can be used in any field it is most popular in teaching, this is due to practitioners wanting to try different methods of teaching in their classrooms but remain unsure of their effectiveness. Action research allows us to explore the effectiveness of new techniques and continually develop the curriculum. Action research is self-reflective and built upon an iterative structure that has the practitioner continuously improving upon oneself.
Action research is a cyclical process made up of four essential steps.
1. Identifying the problem.
2. Devising an action plan.
3. Implementing the plan.
4. Observing and reflecting upon the process.
https://go.valenciacollege.edu/faculty/development/teaching-learning-academy/action-research/arp_softchalk/ (24/03/2019)
What kinds of questions/problems might it be useful for?
As I have already hinted, Action Research is most effective in a classroom type setting, although it is most effective here it may be replicated across other fields in which the environment is similar.
The easiest example to present of use of action research is teaching techniques deployed within a classroom setting, a teacher may structure a lesson in a particular way to try and get a concept across to their students which the intention of trying to teach but also to actively criticize the methods used and ready to implement others the next time around if suitable. This shows the types of problems that action research can be deployed in which is situations where the research practitioner is actively participating in the event that the research information is based off.
How could it be used in IT research?
The obvious use of this in IT is in IT education, In a way many of our tutors subtly employ this form of research themselves as they criticize their teaching methods and build upon their ways to aid in the development of their course over time, although they do this without adhering to the principles of Action Research and without seeking a very deep level of how one should go about it (to my knowledge anyway). If more tutors were able to focus further on Action Research for the courses under their wing it would lead to a great development of these courses, it is unfortunate that it does not turn out this way in this institute a lot of the time due to courses changing hands often. The courses that do get to age along with a tutor really do shine as the most valuable periods of learning at NMIT
Outside of education, I can imagine the concept of Action Research being deployed in software teams albeit in a more subtle way than classrooms. Considering that project managers control many of the tools, techniques and methods teams use to plan, produce and deploy software it is possible to criticize the results of the variables you are setting for your team. A certain planning method may prove less efficient at producing elegant software for your particular set of employees for example. I believe introducing too much change in a work environment like this also carries risk, therefore it is important to change a small number of variables at a time in order to not affect the overall predictability of the team's performance too heavily.
What are the strengths of the approach?
Applicable results!
When your research has yearned successful outcomes the effects are immediate and tangible. The benefit to the practitioner and the subjects is realized by all at the time of research.
Engaging!
Action Research involved the researcher themselves within the process, they are a variable within the environment at question. This increases engagement levels in the research which aid in keeping the practitioner motivated, can you imagine researching teaching techniques without applying them yourself?
What are the weaknesses of the approach?
There is an inherent level of risk associated with changing teaching methods, it is possible to stumble and try something worse than what you used before. In the short-term, this creates trouble but as long as the practitioner stays the course the benefits will become apparent over many cycles of the process.
It can be said that the weakness is in the need for iteration before significant positive changes can be realized.
It is also heavily time-consuming and is typically only applicable to small-scale studies. This is why it is primarily found within the classroom where the cycle of iteration is manageable & the size of classrooms suits the small-scale nature required for this type of research to be most effective.
Thanks for reading.
Action research is any research into practice undertaken by those involved in that practice, with the primary goal of encouraging continued reflection and making improvement.
https://jalt-publications.org/node/4985/articles/5631-linking-research-action-simple-guide-writing-action-research-report (24/03/2019)
While action researched can be used in any field it is most popular in teaching, this is due to practitioners wanting to try different methods of teaching in their classrooms but remain unsure of their effectiveness. Action research allows us to explore the effectiveness of new techniques and continually develop the curriculum. Action research is self-reflective and built upon an iterative structure that has the practitioner continuously improving upon oneself.
Action research is a cyclical process made up of four essential steps.
1. Identifying the problem.
2. Devising an action plan.
3. Implementing the plan.
4. Observing and reflecting upon the process.
https://go.valenciacollege.edu/faculty/development/teaching-learning-academy/action-research/arp_softchalk/ (24/03/2019)
What kinds of questions/problems might it be useful for?
As I have already hinted, Action Research is most effective in a classroom type setting, although it is most effective here it may be replicated across other fields in which the environment is similar.
The easiest example to present of use of action research is teaching techniques deployed within a classroom setting, a teacher may structure a lesson in a particular way to try and get a concept across to their students which the intention of trying to teach but also to actively criticize the methods used and ready to implement others the next time around if suitable. This shows the types of problems that action research can be deployed in which is situations where the research practitioner is actively participating in the event that the research information is based off.
How could it be used in IT research?
The obvious use of this in IT is in IT education, In a way many of our tutors subtly employ this form of research themselves as they criticize their teaching methods and build upon their ways to aid in the development of their course over time, although they do this without adhering to the principles of Action Research and without seeking a very deep level of how one should go about it (to my knowledge anyway). If more tutors were able to focus further on Action Research for the courses under their wing it would lead to a great development of these courses, it is unfortunate that it does not turn out this way in this institute a lot of the time due to courses changing hands often. The courses that do get to age along with a tutor really do shine as the most valuable periods of learning at NMIT
Outside of education, I can imagine the concept of Action Research being deployed in software teams albeit in a more subtle way than classrooms. Considering that project managers control many of the tools, techniques and methods teams use to plan, produce and deploy software it is possible to criticize the results of the variables you are setting for your team. A certain planning method may prove less efficient at producing elegant software for your particular set of employees for example. I believe introducing too much change in a work environment like this also carries risk, therefore it is important to change a small number of variables at a time in order to not affect the overall predictability of the team's performance too heavily.
What are the strengths of the approach?
Applicable results!
When your research has yearned successful outcomes the effects are immediate and tangible. The benefit to the practitioner and the subjects is realized by all at the time of research.
Engaging!
Action Research involved the researcher themselves within the process, they are a variable within the environment at question. This increases engagement levels in the research which aid in keeping the practitioner motivated, can you imagine researching teaching techniques without applying them yourself?
What are the weaknesses of the approach?
There is an inherent level of risk associated with changing teaching methods, it is possible to stumble and try something worse than what you used before. In the short-term, this creates trouble but as long as the practitioner stays the course the benefits will become apparent over many cycles of the process.
It can be said that the weakness is in the need for iteration before significant positive changes can be realized.
It is also heavily time-consuming and is typically only applicable to small-scale studies. This is why it is primarily found within the classroom where the cycle of iteration is manageable & the size of classrooms suits the small-scale nature required for this type of research to be most effective.
Thanks for reading.
Great! Good content and easy to read - looking forward to the presentation :)
ReplyDelete