E-learning Research methodological issues Gráinne Conole University of Southampton ELRC workshop, Manchester, 3 rd May 2005

Impact of e-learning Organisational level Tutor skills & changing roles Virtual learning environments Interactive & engaging materials Unintended consequences

ICT as mission critical Increasing impact of ICT National initiativesICT catalysts - VLEsFunding drivers Drivers Organisational structures Roles, skills and practice Teaching, learning and assessment Impact

The holy grail of e-learning To what extent is this true? What is the link between the pedagogy and the technology? New forms of learning Pedagogical re-engineering A global connected society Learning anywhere anytime Rich multimedia representation Smart, adaptable, personalised

Patch use of communication tools Stilted collaborations VLEs for admin and as content repositories Information overload Not pedagogically informed -ve Negative aspects

Critical mass of mediating tools and resources Shift from individual to socially situated Learning in context or through problem solving New innovative uses of e-learning +ve Positive aspects

Pros and cons Access to wealth of resourcesInformation overload, quality issues New forms of dialogueLiteracy skills issues New forms of communityLearner identity and confusion Speed of access, immediacyLack of permanency, surface Virtual representationsLack of reality, real is fake

Research Research philosophy & impact consolidating Professional practice informing Practice improving Resources developing Theory enhancing Learning shaping Policy guiding Strategy building Networks

Feeder disciplines Wealth of methods No shared language Tension between quantitative & qualitative Lack of rigour, anecdotal & case based Methodological issues Methodological innovations Theoretical frameworks

Bibliographic tools Endnote New discourses Chat, Wikis, access grid Data collection Online, multiple sites Data analysis New powerful tools Impact on research Publishing JIME, e-Prints

Communication , discussion forums, Chat, video conferencing Interactivity Wikis, Web logs Collaboration Grid-technologies, sharing tools Data analysis SPSS, NVIVO Research opportunities Data mining Portals, databases

Discussion forums Early research Initially focused on analysis of content Analysis mainly via pre-defined codes Problem Didn’t capture the complexity of the event Lack of contextualisation Codings too rigid Current focus Shift from analysis of content to multimodal approach Richer interpretation Use of grounded theory, critical recall events etc.

Web logs and tracking Early research Easy to collect Assumed to give simple access to what users are doing Problem Didn’t capture the complexity of the event Lack of contextualisation Easy to misinterpret Current focus Shift from analysis of content to multimodal approach Richer interpretation Use of grounded theory, critical recall events etc.

Communities of PracticeActivity theory Dialogue Systems thinking, modelling, metaphor Theoretical frameworks Distributed cognition

Learning Community Practice Identity Meaning Learning as experiences Learning as doing Learning as becoming Learning as belonging Wenger’s Community of Practice Social theory of learning Learning as social participation Legitimate participation Rarification

Mediating artefacts Literature Subject Me Object Central issues of activity theory Outcome Text Focus on individuals negates social aspects Idea of ‘activity’ as an object-orientated and culture formation that has its own structure Mediation by tools and signs Activity theory

Mediating artefacts Relevant literature Conference material Subject Group of academics Object Central issues of activity theory Rules Conventions of conference Community Academics interested in activity theory Division of labour Compartments based on disciplines etc Outcome New intellectual tools and patterns of collaboration

Other theoretical perspectives Distributed cognition and Person-Plus (Salomon, Pea, Perkins) Intelligence distributed between mind and surroundings ‘Effects with’ and ‘effects of’ technology Dialogue (Vygotsky, Mercer, Laurillard) Language as a tool, Joint construction of knowledge “Inter-thinking”, Conversational framework Systems thinking, metaphors modelling (Senge, Beer, Morgan) Capturing organisational and cultural aspects Offer different perspectives

Methodology and method Method –techniques through which data are collected and analysed (interviews, questionnaires, observation etc.) Methodology –determines whether the implementation of particular methods is successful or credible –the ‘systems of methods and principles used in a particular discipline’ –Codifies particular beliefs and values about the world and how it works

Researching organisational change Review a selection of research positions Each with particular assumptions about the organisation Explore implications for methodology and different approaches adopted

A positivist approach Assumes that there is an accessible real world that we have access to, and that science Belief that the inductive-deductive process of inference from and to empirical data is the best way to study the world in order to understand how it works Might propose that organisations exist and therefore can be studied in their own right Unit of analysis might thus be a system (including material components such as buildings, policies and staff) as bounded by its status as an identifiable legal entity Generates hypotheses which can be applied to other organisations

An open systems approach Involves creating models that allow us to understand how the world works Typically such models involve analogy to living organisms, stressing (for example) response to changing environmental conditions Position might still be that organisations exist, but instead of treating them as entities (‘black boxes’) they are developed as systems within which people are located Researchers would look for evidence of how the organisation (system) responds to changes (feedback) in order to cope or adapt Generates a model which has better explanatory potential

A phenomenological approach Does not assume that things exist as such Concerned not with the qualities of the organisation per se, but on people’s experience of the organisation Study the relationship that people have with the use of e-learning within an organisation Seeking a greater understanding of what it means to experience e-learning within the organisation

A social constructionist approach Concerned with meaning rather than ‘things’ Look at how people define and talk about e- learning Concerned with meaning, but assuming that researchers have no privileged access to ‘in the head’ understanding Look at the things people say and do about e-learning Focus upon ‘discursive practices’ – conversations, policy documents and other ‘texts’ in which the meaning of ‘e-learning in the organisation’ is constructed and contested

A socially situated approach Seek to identify the practices that people engage with and the reifications of that practice that they produce (such as documentation, descriptive terms, artefacts, etc.) Seek to identify and describe such practices, reifications and groups or analyse the implications of ‘boundary crossing’ Organisations exist as aligned constellations of collective practice Identifying and describing forms of practice, studying how such groups form

Conclusion Considered the link between theory and method in e-learning research Importance of establishing the credibility of research findings, in relation to the assumptions that the researcher has made Need to identify the various positions that researchers hold Need to develop a philosophy of e- learning

E-learning Research methodological issues Gráinne Conole University of Southampton ELRC workshop, Manchester, 3 rd May 2005

References Oliver and Conole (2005), ‘Methodology and e-learning’ ELRC research paper series Conole (2002), ‘The evolving landscape of learning technology research’, ALT-J, 10(3), 4-18 Conole, Dyke, Oliver, and Seale, (2004), ‘Mapping pedagogy and tools for effective learning design’, Computers and Education, June 2004 Conole and Dyke, (2004), ‘What are the affordances of Information and Communication Technologies?’, ALT-J, 12.2 Conole (2004), ‘Report on the effectiveness of tools for e- learning’, report for the JISC commissioned ‘Research Study on the Effectiveness of Resources, Tools and Support Services used by Practitioners in Designing and Delivering E- Learning Activities Conole and Warburton (2005), ‘ A review of computer-assisted assessment’, ALT-J, 13(2), 19-33