MA

I handed in the MA Dissertation a couple of weeks ago and I’ve now submitted the associated Journal Article summary.

My interest in student expectations upon learning technologies came predominantly from attending Jisc’s Digifest conferences over the last few years, and the research I’ve undertaken follows a similar patter to the recent digital tracker that education institutions have taken part in over the last few months.

Trying to crack on with coding this week. Went back to my initial notes and then chucked the key points and quotes into a spreadsheet, trying to attach common codes to things. I then hid the specific quotes and names and tried to form tags from here.

Braun and Clarke (2006) define thematic analysis as “A method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns within data.” (p. 79). It is a recommended approach for those new to qualitative research and one that is “accessible and theoretically-flexible”. Particularly as the study forms part of a one year MA, thematic analysis is relatively easy to understand and quick to apply.

I’ve been trying to get my head around the data analysis side of things. The Braun & Clarke (2006) diagram of thematic analysis helps and I will definitely use this approach. I have been taken of on a tagent a bit by use of the AntConc software. It’s really interesting to see commonality in data items, but it’s difficult to know how or if to interpret patterns that are more than a word count.

Had a first read through of my interview and focus group transcripts and made some notes, tried to connect some themes. It’s really interesting and affirming when you read back and common terminology appears.

Today I finished the last transcription of my interviews and focus group. It was hard and robotic work and I can see why people make use of things like fiverr to get people to do it for them. I tried using Google Docs voice to text facility too, but it only really works if you’re sat in front of the device talking.

On writing a literature review Baker (2000) considers the concept of the Expected Value of Perfect Information (EVPI) which balances the cost of acquiring new information against the value of the new knowledge acquired. Is it worth the time you are investing in research, if it’s already been or being undertaken by someone else. What are you bringing to it?

Reading Bird’s (1992) case study on Mixed methods research, who talks about the role of the insider research and frames the study in her own experience noting that “my theoretical viewpoint and frames of reference undoubtedly influenced the research”. Also that the experience of being a student/adult learner also led to understanding the impact of the research.

For the second phases of the study, the data collection method I am using is a semi structured interview/focus group. This is what Wilson (2006) calls “free format” conducted like “natural conversations”.

I’m particularly interested in Digital Wellbeing as part of the student experience. How do institutions and staff support our learners in considering the impact of technology on themselves? How do students support themselves in this regard? I’ve recently heard the term ‘Cyber Anxiety’ to refer to engagement with technology and I think this ties in with the Fear Of Missing Out(FOMO) and Jenkin’s Culture of Participation. I was reading the brilliant JISC/NUS Benchmarking Tool to give me some ideas for Focus Groups and Surveys and didn’t realise that towards the end there’s a section on Digital Wellbeing.

It’s 2016 already and I’ve lifted the lid on the research proposal again. I’ve revisited some of the texts to code and pick out key themes. I’m really getting in to http://refme.com for adding quotes and annotations, you can highlight text off the web and annotate your citations in browser, which is definitely how easy it should be to conduct research.

One of the key emergent themes from my pilot study was that of technology as a distraction or a means of procrastination and this having a perceived negative effect on our sense of wellbeing. Rosen et. al (2013) find a negative connection between looking at social media during lectures and academic performance and suggest using “technology breaks” in a similar fashion to a coffee break to mitigate this.

On with the show. After a summer full of family and friends visiting and work being full of project meetings, it’s time to return to the MA. For the first part of the module we’re encouraged to reflect on the previous module’s pilot study write up and the initial research proposal.

A few months ago I stumbled across Gitbook, a tool that allows you to publish content as Markdown/HTML and then access it in a range of formats appropriate to web, print and mobile. I’ve written about it in a post on inclusivity, but it really deserves it’s own post and some wider recognition

I’ve now received initial feedback on my research proposal and the key things that stand out are backing up examples and using proper Harvard referencing… seems RefMe can’t do everything for me. It reminds my of GCSE History and the need to distinguish Primary and Secondary evidence.

For the last few years, I’ve had the opportunity to present sessions to our BA (Hons) Fine Art cohort around digital capabilities and building up an ecosystem of tools that support their professional practice. I’ve always invited lesson observation from other staff members; partly because it’s a requirement of the MA, but also because I think it’s a really useful CPD opportunity to learn from other educators on things like use of resources, style of delivery, assessment of understanding etc. Most of the time, it’s an exchange and I can go and watch them and we compare and contrast notes.

I’ve recently been tasked with developing some mandatory training in enhancing learning through technology for staff at our institution. It comes as a result of an audit into student experience and I think it’s great that the institution is taking a holistic approach to the skills that educators need to support our learners.

p>This module focusses on educational policy and Visiting Lecturer Dr. David Brockington introduced our PgDip group to current and future thinking around Higher Ed. policy in the UK.

Having set out my research proposal, I’m now thinking of shifting the ‘focus’ from focus groups to questionnaires. There exist two great surveys in the field already from [UCISA(http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/tel) and ECAR, but in the UK we also have the JISC/NUSBenchmarking Tool, which promotes good practice regarding ‘digital capability’.

A question arose around “short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes and impacts regarding target audience behavior, awareness, attitudes and knowledge and whether there is anything in place at Falmouth University to track and observe these indicators that are specific, observable, measurable characteristics of changes that demonstrates progress towards the outcomes or impacts.”

Last week (11th-15th Jan), I had the opportunity to engage in the ‘open magic box’ that is Bring Your Own Device For Learning or[#BYOD4l(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/hashtag/byod4l&sa=D&ust=1453303644487000&usg=AFQjCNHg9L3H31y2dYqiN16EY1SbBGls1w) on social media. I had taken part in 2015, but this year I also volunteered as a community mentor and helped facilitate a tweetchat.