Do you like your learning in lumps or as a journey?

We've spent a lot of time discussing the structure of the course. We want students to engage in the questions How is ICT in education researched? And How is technology changing the way educational research is conducted? But what is the best way into these questions?

The "learning object" approach has been fashionable in online courses in recent years. For research methods courses, meanwhile, a "foundations - paradigms - techniques" kind of narrative approach has become fairly traditional.

But this is a practice-based course, and the "practice" is that of researching with and about ICT. So we think an approach based on the critical study of original empirical research might offer a refreshing alternative pedagogy.

In this "spiral structure" (inspired by Bruner), you journey through a sequence of readings and activities, with key themes being revisited at a progressively higher level of sophistication each time.

The course themes are:

• epistemological issues
• theoretical frameworks
• the changing nature of research
• ethics and unintended consequences
• relationships between research, policy & practice

Perhaps this spiral approach makes it a harder job all round: you have to read original research papers rather than a finely sieved narrative; and we need to create materials and activities to help you to read each research paper critically, while simultaneously drawing out these themes.

But we think it's worth it for the benefits of getting you engaged in the reality of actual research literature from the start, set in their original context, without the predefined filters of an artificially-generated "grand narrative". Of course such narratives have their place...

And the winner is...

We asked the OU's educational research students to vote on our final shortlist of three titles. Their overwhelming recommendation was for "Practice-based research in educational technology".

Many of them also provided very useful comments and additional suggestions. The new ones that most caught my attention were:
"New technologies for educational research" and "Technology-rich methodologies for educational research".

We had been worried that "practice" was too academic-y a word, but this wasn't a concern expressed by our respondents. One commented:

'Practice' and 'practice-based' are very powerful words for people working outside academia: it provides reassurance that what you find is going to be some practical use – eventually. Also helps with employers, e.g. getting funding or at least time off from work or co-operation in access to data."

Some noted that the title doesn't mention the cutting-edge technologies that the course will draw on. This is a fair point, and perhaps indicates something to be highlighted in the blurb.

Title suggestions

Thanks for all the suggestions. Here's a selection of them, in no particular order:

• Researching technology enhanced learning
• Researching elearning [suggested three times!]
• Researching ICT
• Researching Practice in e-learning
• e-learning: Researching Practice
• Research and Practice in e-learning
• Researching and Studying eLearning
• New directions in practitioner inquiry using e-research
• Practitioner Inquiry using e-research methodologies
• Researching technology-rich practice
• Technology enhanced research
• Practitioner Research and technologically supported methodologies
• Practice-based research in educational technology
• Researching in eLearning
• Foundations in eLearning Research
• eLearning Research - a practitioner’s course
• Using e-Research in e-Learning
• The eLearning researcher
• Prepare for research in eLearning
• Thinking beyond the boundaries: eLearning research and evaluation
• Methods of Practice-Based Research for Distance and E-Learning

The ubiquity of "e-learning" is quite a surprise, because it's not a word we've used in relation to the course very much. It's probably because the word appeared in a departmental email inviting suggestions. Friends with fingers on the pulse of the zeitgeist tell me that its days as a fashionable buzzword are numbered, so we'd be interested in views on this.

A rose by any other name?

We've been mulling over titles.

Our working title is accurate but not catchy: "Practice-based research and evaluation in technology-rich environments".

We know that titles matter: some of our older course titles have been said to be too wordy, or to tell you very little about the content of the course.

Some colleagues have suggested we put "eLearning" in the title, and that "practice" is a off-putting "academic-y" word. Others like the word "practice" because of its connotations of practitioner enquiry, practical reasoning, and social practices, and because it doesn't restrict the audience to teachers and lecturers.

Another issue for the title is that the course is supposed to be not just about researching technology-enhanced learning but also about the use of technology for educational research.

What would you call it? There's a small prize for the suggestion we like the best.

Permission to shout "Woo Woo Woooh!!" incredibly loudly, sir?

After months of work on the business appraisal, H809 has been approved. :-) Full steam ahead!

Did you think this was going to be one of those infamous one-post blogs? Well, I was discouraged from posting during the appraisal. And I still need to keep flagging up that details contained herein are subject to change before the course goes live.

Mind you, if the blog posts reach double figures I'll be surprised...

What's this blog about?

At a time of high demand for “evidence-based” policy and practice, some of us believe that technology is dramatically changing educational research processes.

A small team at The Open University is planning a 20-week online postgraduate course on educational research and evaluation in technology-rich environments.

The course isn't approved yet, so anything you read in this blog is tentative and subject to change. If approved, the course would be part of the OU's MA in Online and Distance Education (MAODE). But until then, this blog is unofficial. ;-)

The idea of the course is that students get to learn about cutting-edge methods of data collection and analysis by engaging in the critical study of original empirical research. There'd also be a look at philosophical assumptions underlying educational enquiry, and ethical debates. The course would draw on the loads of excellent educational research resources out there on the web. Instead of an exam, a short project.

There's no title yet (suggestions welcome!), but a provisional code - H809. Hence the name of the blog.

If you're interested, there are three immediate ways you can help us:

1. Let us know what you'd want from such a course.
2. Point us to web resources that might be useful.
3. Subscribe to the blog - it'll encourage us to post our progress.