ELearning Research: Frustrations and Opportunities

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E-Learning Research Frustrations and
Opportunities
OECD/Canada/Alberta Conference onE-Learning in
Post-Secondary EducationPolicies, Practices and
Research 26-28 June 2005 Calgary, Alberta,
Canada
Terry Anderson, Ph.D. Canada Research Chair in
Distance Education
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Role of Learning Machines in a Net-Infused
Society
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Defining Research

• . . . the systematic study of materials and
  sources in order to establish facts and reach new
  conclusions . . . Oxford Dictionary, 1991.

The collection, analysis and interpretation of
information about any aspect of a program of
education and training, as part of a recognized
process of judging its effectiveness, its
efficiency and any other outcomes it may have.
(Thorpe, 1991)
Systematic, controlled, empirical and critical
investigation of hypothetical propositions about
the presumed relations among natural phenomena
(Kerlinger, 1969)
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Do We Really Need E-learning Research?

• Are there best practices for e-Learning?
• Are collaborative learning activities worth the
  costs and convenience charges to teachers and
  students?
• Are web based student support services as
  effective as real time interaction with students?
  
• What models of E-Learning are scaleable?
• Why do more men drop out of online courses than
  women?
• Do single mode, or centralized e-learning
  organizations provide better education then
  distributed and dual mode organization models?

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A Recent Canadian Educational Research Review
Found that

• Education research enterprise in Canada is small,
  narrow and fragmented,
• Education research is largely driven by
  university culture and reward systems.
• Most education research is small scale and
  short-term.
• Coverage of various areas of education is uneven
  and funding is quite limited especially in
  relation to the size of the education sector.
• (Levin, 2003)

http//www.cea-ace.ca/media/en/Helping_Research_i
n_Education_Matter_BLevin.pdf
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What ever happened toE-learning E-volution In
Colleges and Universities, Advisory Committee
for Online Learning (2001)?

• Canadian commitment to learning research and
  development does not measure up (p. 10).
• New research programming is essential and that
  this research should be broadly
  multidisciplinary and issue-orientated as well as
  problem and results-based (p. 10)
• Such research will require significant new
  research investments

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Education ResearchJust Dont Get No Respect

• Much research is not valued by either funders,
  other academics or worse, practitioners
• Not sufficiently funded

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Educ. Research in Perspective

• In 1999, International pharmacy giant Pfizer Inc.
  spent over 200 million U.S. in research related
  to treatments for animals
• 7X as much as the U.S. Government spent that year
  on educational research

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Barriers to E-Learning research

• Its nobodys job
• Negligible industry support
• No large scale focus on particular problems
• Nobody keeping score in meaningful terms
• Pervasive lack of trust in research efficacy
• In sum, lack of an effective research culture
• Burkhardt and Schoenfeld, (2003).

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Research Paradigms

• Quantitative discovery of the laws that govern
  behavior
• Qualitative understandings from an insider
  perspective
• Critical Investigate and expose the power
  relationships
• Design-based interventions, interactions and
  their effect in multiple contexts

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The Design-Based Research Alternative

• Related to engineering and architectural research
• Focuses on the design, construction,
  implementation, and adoption of a learning
  intervention
• Similar to Development Research
• Closest educators have to a homegrown research
  methodology
• Recent Theme Issues
• The Journal of the Instructional Sciences, (13,
  1, 2004),
• Educational Researcher (32, 1, 2003) and
• Educational Psychologist (39, 4, 2004)

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Phases of Design-based research
Bannan-Ritland (2003).
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Terrys 3-legged E-learning Research Agenda

Pan Canadian E-Learning Research Agenda
Educational Technology
Educational Technology
Business of E-Learning
Knowledge Management
Teaching Learning
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Common Features of Each Leg

• Mediated, therefore profoundly effected by
  information and communications technologies
• Cross Disciplinary
• Intervention Based
• Multi methodological research required
• Interventions field tested in multiple contexts
• Focus on dissemination and innovation in practice

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The Way Forward

• An integrated, global research agenda focusing on
  both basic theoretical and applied questions
• A distributed network of research/innovation
  clusters
• Focus on discovery, innovation/adoption
  refinement cycle
• Wide field trial and dissemination strategies
• Sustained funding
• Integrated with Masters and PhD accreditation
  opportunities

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Cider.athabascau.ca
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• A space to foster synergy for Athabasca and other
  Canadian DE researchers using social software)
• A website portal for
• v Resources/ knowledge repository
• v Sharing
• v Finding collaborators, research assistants,
  and coordinating distributed projects
• A community of support
• CIDERPress, an Open Access Publisher
• A capacity building organization

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Fellows and Grad Students Create a record of
yourself in the CIDER Research or Student
database
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Developing a Pan-Canadian E-Learning Research
Agenda

• Survey to 4 groups
• Researchers
• Student leaders
• Administrators and Policy Makers
• Teachers
• Piloted May 2005, implementation in Fall 2005

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What is your main vocational position?
Number of respondents 31
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Research into case studies of successful and
unsuccessful pedagogical or technical
interventions.
Mean 3.7 (Scale 1-5) SD .99
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Qualitative studies of individual e-learners or
e-learning teachers' experiences
Mean 3.8 (Scale 1-5) SD .99
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Critical studies of assumptions underlying
e-learning promotion, delivery, and development
models
Mean 4.6 (Scale 1-5) SD 1
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Experimental or quasi-experimental studies
assessing outcomes of various e-learning
interventions
Mean 4 (Scale 1-4) SD 1
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• Why have we failed to develop a vibrant and
  productive research culture in education?
• Do we really need a global research agenda for
  E-Learning?
• What could it do for you???
• I look forward to our discussions in the next
  session

Your Comments and questions most welcomed !