I cannot believe six weeks have passed since I first logged onto this edX course and amazed how many new topics I have learned in this growing field of Educational Technology. Well, this being the final week, we explore what type of research that is being studied in Ed Tech and look at design based research. First, we are asked to explore educational technology products and think how these tools might be researched, what one might learn from the research, etc..I notice that there are endless possibilities on research topics in Ed Tech tools. For example, Scratch has a research team focused on researching various aspects of this program, CLICK HERE to see what has been published by this team. One type of research methodology we now focus on is (DBR) which enables the creator of the tool to find out what improvements are needed to make a better tool. designed based research
In one video we hear from Barry Fishman of the University of Michigan who describes DBR as as a research methodology that requires you to intervene in order to better understand the objective of your research or improve on whatever you are trying to study, i.e. be it a learning tool, or a learning goal, etc..What I understand based on Dr.Fishman's examples and explanation of this methodology (that is new to me), is that it provides more "real" life examples and opportunities to really see how people are using these Ed Tech tools in a real world setting and developing interventions to test your theory. Dr.Fishman then goes onto compare DBR with Design Based Implementation Research (DBIR) whereby the research being conducted using DBR is actually able to be implemented in the real world and not only in reaserch settings/academia. I really like the example given about science literacy and whereby Harvard researchers were able to develop a way in which the students improved their "science language" in order to better understand science concepts. This is the importance of DBIR, we need to ensure that the research findings in Ed Tech need to be implemented in school settings or other educational environments that benefit the STUDENTS!
So.. does this mean DBR/DBIR is the way forward in research methods in Education I think it all depends on what you are researching and your objective. There are so many other methods as well, see below:
In one video we hear from Barry Fishman of the University of Michigan who describes DBR as as a research methodology that requires you to intervene in order to better understand the objective of your research or improve on whatever you are trying to study, i.e. be it a learning tool, or a learning goal, etc..What I understand based on Dr.Fishman's examples and explanation of this methodology (that is new to me), is that it provides more "real" life examples and opportunities to really see how people are using these Ed Tech tools in a real world setting and developing interventions to test your theory. Dr.Fishman then goes onto compare DBR with Design Based Implementation Research (DBIR) whereby the research being conducted using DBR is actually able to be implemented in the real world and not only in reaserch settings/academia. I really like the example given about science literacy and whereby Harvard researchers were able to develop a way in which the students improved their "science language" in order to better understand science concepts. This is the importance of DBIR, we need to ensure that the research findings in Ed Tech need to be implemented in school settings or other educational environments that benefit the STUDENTS!
So.. does this mean DBR/DBIR is the way forward in research methods in Education I think it all depends on what you are researching and your objective. There are so many other methods as well, see below:
Reference:http://www.education.com/reference/article/research-methods-an-overview/
An example of DBIR that is highlighted this week is a program called which is tying to improve the biological science curriculum at the high-school level. I am just thinking back to how I was taught biology/science in high-school, there was no Ed Tech tools used, it was hands on lab exercises and mostly alot of lecturing by the teachers/experts. I really am impressed by these new technology tools in learning and more importantly how programs like Biograph, Genoverse, etc.. that we see this week and in previous week's in this course aim to provide student's with simulation exercises that will enable them to use what they learn in the real world. They put the students into environments whereby they can collaborate with their peers, work on real life science situations and most importantly learn something useful. I can see how DBIR is an important methodology that needs to be considered when trying to improve on Ed Tech tools and not even only for that reason but for the future of Ed Tech tools in learning, in order to do more with these Ed Tech tools we need to study how they are used in the actual classroom environment and importantly how the teachers and students adapt to the technology and what type of feedback from educators and students can we obtain to improve on their uses. Biograph
Lastly one last thing I would like to mention that I appreciated was the teacher's perspective that was provides on programs like Biograph that are trying to be implemented in the highschool curriculum. A Boston teacher mentions that Professional Develeopment (PD) does help in getting the educators on board in using these new tools and how to use them properly, also this teacher mentions how the Biograph program changed the way in which he taught Biology. In that he was lecturing less or passing information on to his students in a different way,a more activity based method, whereby the students are actively involved in the learning process. Also, his comments are being used to improve the Biograph program. Another component is also imprtant to improve this program or any other tool, the students. We see this week how DBR/DBIR actively involves many stakeholders in the reaserch and the students are very much involved in improving the system.
Well, the final week has come to an end...wowowowowowow! As I mentioned above, I have gathered so much information on Education Technology, and I have used this information to start the draft of what I would like to call my Product Pitch. Unfortuantely, I did not have it critiqued by the online users in this class, so if you want to provide me feedback please e-mail me at [email protected]
An example of DBIR that is highlighted this week is a program called which is tying to improve the biological science curriculum at the high-school level. I am just thinking back to how I was taught biology/science in high-school, there was no Ed Tech tools used, it was hands on lab exercises and mostly alot of lecturing by the teachers/experts. I really am impressed by these new technology tools in learning and more importantly how programs like Biograph, Genoverse, etc.. that we see this week and in previous week's in this course aim to provide student's with simulation exercises that will enable them to use what they learn in the real world. They put the students into environments whereby they can collaborate with their peers, work on real life science situations and most importantly learn something useful. I can see how DBIR is an important methodology that needs to be considered when trying to improve on Ed Tech tools and not even only for that reason but for the future of Ed Tech tools in learning, in order to do more with these Ed Tech tools we need to study how they are used in the actual classroom environment and importantly how the teachers and students adapt to the technology and what type of feedback from educators and students can we obtain to improve on their uses. Biograph
Lastly one last thing I would like to mention that I appreciated was the teacher's perspective that was provides on programs like Biograph that are trying to be implemented in the highschool curriculum. A Boston teacher mentions that Professional Develeopment (PD) does help in getting the educators on board in using these new tools and how to use them properly, also this teacher mentions how the Biograph program changed the way in which he taught Biology. In that he was lecturing less or passing information on to his students in a different way,a more activity based method, whereby the students are actively involved in the learning process. Also, his comments are being used to improve the Biograph program. Another component is also imprtant to improve this program or any other tool, the students. We see this week how DBR/DBIR actively involves many stakeholders in the reaserch and the students are very much involved in improving the system.
Well, the final week has come to an end...wowowowowowow! As I mentioned above, I have gathered so much information on Education Technology, and I have used this information to start the draft of what I would like to call my Product Pitch. Unfortuantely, I did not have it critiqued by the online users in this class, so if you want to provide me feedback please e-mail me at [email protected]