Well, this weekend I am going to write my exploratory research proposal for the chair of my department and, hopefully, send it to him on Monday.I have several URLs that will help me do this. The main one I intend to use is Elements of a Proposal by Frank Parhares at Emory University (http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/proposal.html) Other information as to form of the proposal will be drawn from The Proposal in Qualitative Research by Anthony W. Heath from Nova University (http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-1/heath.html). These are for Doctoral Dissertation Proposals and since mine is just a tiny exploratory research proposal, the proposal I hand him will not be as complete as these documents recommend. I hope this is the right approach.
I also intend to include pertinent educational research including that regarding asynchronous communication versus synchronous communication (http://www.thejournal.com/articles/15513,http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ijet/v2n1/schoenfeld-tacher/index.html,http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/AsynchronousandSynchronou/47683) which suggests that synchronous communication increases immediacy and social presence to a greater degree than asynchronous communication; social presence and student satisfaction (http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi/Chongwony%20Lewis%20K.E.pdf?acc_num=ohiou1199472454, http://etec.hawaii.edu/proceedings/2008/Kiriakidis2008.pdf ) which suggests that a greater social presence increases student satisfaction; increasing social presence in synchronous and asynchronous formats
(http://learning.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cop/CoP_Recent_Research/LearningCOP&SocialPresecnce.pdf,http://etd.fcla.edu/SF/SFE0001236/Schullo-Shauna-Dissertation.pdf ); and synchronous and asynchronous communication tools (http://www.asaecenter.org/PublicationsResources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13572 http://www.astd.org/LC/2000/0600_swider.htm). This is a progression hopefully leading to the conclusion that SFC needs a synchronous tool that is indeed "in the present"; such as Elluminate Live!
I also need to include a survey with references. This is not going to be easy.
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I am eager to hear your results. I have taught a lot of on line classes where the students were often adults with jobs and families to deal with. For them the asynchronous format is perfect, in fact, it's the only thing that works.
ReplyDeleteBut despite message boards and a ton of email, something is missing and that is one-on-one contact. I hope your study leads to something. My own worry is that the students you survey will tell you how much they like the idea, and then when the college makes the investment, they never use it.
This fall/spring have been super swamped with all the budget cuts but I'd be happy to have a monthly chat with you.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that you were on the committee and have tried to be respectful of what must be a ridiculous schedule. I have spring break coming up the second week of April and plan to use the time to really hit it hard with the EdD. Perhaps we could schedule a brief phone chat sometime that week. Please pick a time convenient to you.