mite6025 Session2 task

SESSION 2 TASK

Methods of Research and Enquiry

Group 6:HelenMacroHelenDora

Our Task

Complete before next session Identify the best research oriented professional journal in the field

you plan to do research in. Review the table of contents for at least three recent issues of this

journal and for each issue identify a research based article you would like to review .

Read one of the identified articles of interest to you and answer the questions about it: What is the problem for the study? What procedures did the experimenter use for the study? What were the major conclusions for the study? How would you classify the study, according to the six types of

research studies we looked at in this lesson?

Finding Articles

Complete before next session Identify the best research oriented professional journal in the field you plan

to do research in. Review the table of contents for at least three recent issues of this journal

and for each issue identify a research based article you would like to review . Read one of the identified articles of interest to you and answer the questions

about it: As we have four group members, we decided to select different journals

individually and make further discussion after reviewing all the members’ journals and articles. We are presenting altogether three articles as following:

1. Harvey Mellar, H. and Kambouri, M. (2004) 'WebQuests, m-learning and CyberLabs', pp. 23-25 Reflect, Issue 1, October 2004. http://www.nrdc.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_320.pdf By Macro

2. Citation Searching: Search Smarter & Find More by Chelsea C. Hammond and Stephanie Willen Brown http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/may08/Hammond_Brown.shtml By Sunny

3. Antonio P. M., Aurora G. M., & Ana R., Factors affecting e-collaboration technology use among management students, Computers & Education. 51(2), Pages 609-623 By Helen

1. Harvey Mellar, H. and Kambouri, M. (2004) 'WebQuests, m-learning and CyberLabs', pp. 23-25 Reflect, Issue 1, October 2004.

What is the problem for the study?

WebQuests, m-learning and CyberLabs,

Harvey Mellar and Maria Kambouri describe some examples of their research into integrating ICT in teaching literacy, numeracy and language.


What procedures did the experimenter use for the study?

1. Defining research:● tutors should explicitly consider why they are using ICT and should match how they

use the technology to their teaching aims● teaching should address the changing nature of literacies in the digital age● a wider range of technologies should be explored● there should be more experimentation with a range of teaching styles, and in

particular more use of collaborative work around ICT● more attention should be given to the range of learning styles and how ICT might

be used to address these● the issue of how and when to teach ICT skills should be addressed more explicitly.2. Prepare:In the first year of their current project, they have been working with a team of nine

practitioner-researchers to implement these recommendations. Over the next six months they evaluated these examples in a series of trials. This article describes three examples of the work they have been doing, based on written accounts from the tutors whose work is described.

To be continued…


3. General purposes:Teaching should address the changing nature of literacies in the digital age.Introduce 3 different method( WebQuests m-learning and CyberLab)applying ICT in teaching

literacy, numeracy and language.4. Three cases respectively are:1. Introducing WebQuests with ESOL learners:Cathy Clarkson describes how she has used WebQuest at Entry Level 1 and Level 2. 2. Jo Dixon-Trifonov,a lecturer in ESOL at Southampton City College and a Learning Resource

Developer at CTAD, has been working with camera phones and desktop computers in her teaching. The inspiration for this work comes from her involvement with the m-learning project (3).Mobile phones make it possible together and record information outside the classroom, whilst wireless internet and picture messaging allow pictures, audio and text to be sent directly to a website, so that the information can be edited and developed later on a desktop computer.

3. Steve Harris and his colleagues at the Centre for Astronomy and Science Education at the

University of Glamorgan have been developing an approach to integrating digital technologies into basic skills teaching. "CyberLab is an experimental ICT -based course in which learners work to improve their basic skills in reading, writing, numeracy and ICT while exploring a series of topics in science, technology and mathematics. These topics are made relevant to learners’ lives through practical, technology-mediated engagement."


What were the major conclusions for the study? WebQuest :The learners found the building of a WebQuest a very motivating experience. Attendance improved, students were getting to class early to get started, and there was a great deal of interaction between learners. m-learning:There were some teething problems with the technology, but learners found the use of state-of-the-art gadgets engaging and motivating. The activities gave them opportunities for meaningful goal-oriented interaction in English, through which they encountered and learnt new vocabulary, gained confidence in asking questions in English and worked together to write for an audience on the website.CyberLab:CyberLab maintained a high level of involvement from its learners, with no-one dropping out. Learners showed evidence of gains in literacy, numeracy, and ICT as well as developing skills such as planning, stepwise problem-solving, and self-evaluation.


How would you classify the study, according to the six types of research studies we looked at in this lesson?

Current Event: Case Studies

2. Citation Searching: Search Smarter & Find More by Chelsea C. Hammond and Stephanie Willen Brown


How citation searching help researcher to perform a better search, by improve their ability to search for articles that cite a particular article and ability to search for articles outside the primary field of interest.


What procedures did the experimenter use for the study?

The research is operate by the Elsevier Student

Ambassador Program (SAmP) take place from March 2007 through March 2008. The program coordinator first train graduate student to learn about citation searching using Scopus and Web of Science and then these graduate student trainer train their colleagues. There are 38 classes offered by these graduate student trainer and totally 350 student have been taught.


What were the major conclusions for the study ?

Taught graduate students:

a. know how to do broad, interdisciplinary searches.

b. know how to chain from the original article to the backward citation in that article and to the forward articles that cited the original.

c. use citation database to find information about who's citing their articles


How would you classify the study, according to the six types of research studies we looked at in this lesson ?

A case study research

3. Antonio P. M., Aurora G. M., & Ana R., Factors affecting e-collaboration technology use among management students, Computers & Education. 51(2),

Pages 609-623


This paper describes an exploratory study of 225 management students in a medium-sized university in southern Spain.

The influences of gender and previous experience as determinants of technology use were analyzed.

A modified Technology Acceptance Model, using SEM, was applied to explain the influence of perceived computer self-efficacy on the intention to use Internet-based e-collaboration technologies in the learning–teaching process.


Pages 609-623

What procedures did the experimenter use for the study? Description of participants: The participants in the study were students of an

advanced management course – a subject held in the third year of the Administration and Management degree (four years) at the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies in a mid-sized university in southern Spain.

Description of measures or instruments: The purpose of the sample was to study people in a context where a technology related to their learning/ teaching process is being introduced. As a consequence, management students were chosen as the sample and a questionnaire administered in class was used as instrument to collect the data.

Data collection: For the data collection the questionnaire was given to the students in the normal classroom, without any previous notice. Two hundred and twenty five valid questionnaires were collected from the students attending a normal class on a normal teaching day. As 597 students were registered on the course, the response rate was 37.69%. Based on this sample size and with a reliability of 95.5%, the maximum sample error is 5.26%. Additionally, an unstructured interview-based study was conducted with 10 students.

Analyzing data: These qualitative data were important to find out why the students did not declare an important use of the web-based course, and will be used in the analysis


Pages 609-623

What were the major conclusions for the study ? The results suggest that the students have a poor perception about

the availability and value of the IT infrastructure at their university.

Surprisingly, they express a general negativity towards the incorporation of technology in the curriculum, and there is a divergence in perceptions of the new system’s importance between administrators/professors and students.

Students think that the computer room opening times, available positions and the overall availability of IT on the university’s premises are insufficient for them.

With respect to the use of e-collaboration technologies, the Spanish students surveyed generally make very little use of e-mail, and do not take particular advantage of the university’s IT access points even to access the Internet.

To be continued…


Pages 609-623

The results also show that their Internet experience tends to involve relatively simple activities such as search, news updates or music/film downloads. Furthermore, respondents’ use of e-learning tools is very limited, with only 3% of students indicating they were enrolled on an Internet e-learning course during the previous year.

The current study finds there are no significant differences between the genders with respect to the place of access to the Internet.

Subjective feelings and beliefs about computers are found to have a strong impact on computer competence or computer self-efficacy.

Findings about the importance to students of the perceived incentives to using the system, significant similar incentives (included in the perceived usefulness) are found.


Pages 609-623

How would you classify the study, according to the six types of research studies we looked at in this lesson ?

Descriptive research

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