Title: CIDER Session I Overview
1CIDER Session I Overview
- Introduction to the CIDER Series by Terry
Anderson, Director CIDER - A word from our host Roger Hanley
- Todays Presentation DE Research and the CIDER
Solution Terry Anderson, Director CIDER
2CIDER Session I
- The presentation will begin at 1100 AM MST
- While you are waiting, please set your
connection speed as follows - Click Connection speed on the Session menu.
- Select the modem or line speed that your computer
uses for your Internet connection.
3For Polling
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Talk
4Elluminate Offer to CIDER Participants
- Elluminate and The Canadian Institute of Distance
Education Research (CIDER) have a special offer - Try out the Elluminate Live! eLearning and web
collaboration solution on your own for 14 days. - Your personal virtual office space will seat up
to FIVE participants at any time during your
trial, and is available to you 24 x 7. - Sign up for your free 14 day, 5-seat trail
today!! Simply follow the link below.
http//www.elluminate.com/demo/cider.jsp
- Roger Hanley RogerH_at_elluminate.com
5Research for Effective Online Learning
- Prof. Terry Anderson
- Canada Research Chair in Distance Education
- Director Canadian Institute for Distance
Education Research
CIDER Session March 11, 2005
Terrya_at_athabascau.ca
6Session Overview
- Problems of Distance Education Research
- Methodology Debates
- Design-Based Research
- The CIDER Solution
Research
Cross-Canada Checkup
7Qualities of Research
- . . . the systematic study of materials and
sources in order to establish facts and reach new
conclusions . . . Oxford Compact Dictionary,
1991. - Characterized by
- clear goals
- adequate preparation
- appropriate methods
- significant results
- effective presentation
- reflective critique
- Glassick, Huber Maeroff (1997).
- Are such descriptions exclusionary?
8What Makes Educational Research Effective?
- Can you think of one research result that has
made a difference to your practice? - Why does this particular research result make a
difference? - Question
- context
- methodology
- clarity of presentation?
9Educational ResearchJust Dont Get No Respect
- Much research is not valued by either funders,
other academics or worse, practitioners - Not funded financially
10Put 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
11Assessment of DE Research
- Many experimental research projects do not
display rigour in their design - Many generalize inappropriately
- Cultural, linguistic and environmental factors
often not taken into consideration - Few concerned with teacher and tutor support
- Few studies based on current learning,
pedagogical or psychological theories - Olugbemiro Jegede (1999).
12Barriers to Educational Research
- Its nobodys job
- QUESTION? How many people at your institution
spend 50 of their time on research related to
your core business of teaching and learning? - 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).
13How do we Build a Culture of Research in
Distance education?
14Research Paradigms
- Quantitative discovery of the laws that govern
behavior - Qualitative understandings from the inside
- Critical Investigate and expose the underlying
power relationships - Design-based interventions, interactions and
their effect in real practice
15Do either qualitative, quantitative or critical
methods meet REAL NEEDS of practicing distance
educators?
The findings from this study cast doubt on
virtually every argument for the superiority of
any particular research genre, whether the
criterion for superiority is persuasiveness,
relevance, or ability to influence practitioners
thinking. Kennedy, 1999
16- In any dispute the intensity of feeling is
inversely proportional to the value of the stakes
at issue that is why academic politics are so
bitter. - Wallace S. Sayre, 1905-1972
- Quoted in Issawi's Laws of Social Motion, (1973).
17Design-Based Research
- Related to engineering and architectural research
- Focuses on the design, construction,
implementation, and adoption of a
teaching/learning intervention - Related to Development Research
- Closest educators have to a homegrown research
methodology
18Design-Based Research
- Recent Theme Issues
- The Journal of the Instructional Sciences, (13,
1, 2004), - Educational Researcher (32, 1, 2003)
- Educational Psychologist (39, 4, 2004)
- See bibliography at http//cider.athabascau.ca/CI
DERSIGs/Design-based/dbrreferences
19Integrative Learning Design
Bannan-Ritland (2003).
20Design Studies
Design studies are . . .
- Iterative
- Process focused
- Interventionist
- Collaborative
- Multi-leveled
- Utility oriented
- Theory driven and generative
- Shavelson et al., (2003).
21Building the Research Culture
- More funding and support
- Better dissemination within combined research/
practitioner communities - Better tools
- Less fighting!
CIDER as a solution???
22Research
23cider.athabascau.ca
24Fellows and Grad Students Create a record of
yourself in the CIDER Research or Student
database
25- A virtual space to foster community amongst
Canadian DE researchers - A website portal for
- v Resources/ knowledge repository
- v Sharing
- v Finding collaborators, research assistants,
and coordinating distributed projects - A community of support, discussion and debate
- CIDER Press, an open access publisher
- A capacity building organization!
26Online Journals
- International Review of Research on Open and
Distance Learning www.irrodl.org
27The Net Shares Knowledge
- v Open Source Solution
- v Dissemination of research results
- v 4,200 PDF print document downloads in the
first 2 weeks - v Peak of 12,464 PDF print document downloads in
April, 04 - v Currently over 40,000 copies downloaded
- Averaging over 4,000 combined HTML/PDF downloads
per month
28CIDER and You
- CIDER Needs
- Plone, Python Open Source programmers and
developers - Cider Web Master Dan Wilton dwilton_at_k12connect.
ca - SIG Owners
- Instructional design
- Evaluation
- Design-based research
- Others ??
- Panners Filtering Gold from the Net
- Research Tutorial Builders and Linkers
- Special Events Animators
- Virtual World builders
29Conclusion
- v E-Learning research is grossly under-resourced
to meet the magnitude of opportunity and demand - v Design-based research offers a promising new
research design model - v CIDER designed to enhance and support Canadian
Distance Education Research
30(No Transcript)
31Possible Discussion Items
- What are the biggest barriers you find to being
an active DE researcher? - What is the most critical contribution CIDER
could make? - Should non-Canadians be allowed to register as
CIDER Fellows?
32Stay Tuned! CIDER Session II
What? Research on Formal Virtual Learning
Communities in Higher Education Who? Richard
Schwier and graduate students Ben Daniel and
Heather Ross Why? Research Matters! When?
March 24, 2005 1100 a.m., MT Where? Online
at Eluminate!
- Terry Anderson, Ph.D. terrya_at_athabascau.ca