Australia - ETEC 580

I never knew how important learning about conducting research in ETEC 500 last year would be for me until nearing the end of my journey.  With so many changes being implemented in my school division, I was intrigued and curious about how to put my new found knowledge to work.  I found out this past January (2011) that there was a ETEC 580 course that I could take as a personalized course but there were a few hoops to jump through including writing a proposal to Dr. Falk. 

I wrote a short proposal of my idea to Dr. Falk in February 2011.  I envisioned a 300 word max proposal – as Dr. Falk has taught me well in ETEC 500 & ETEC 512 – that one should be able to say what they need to say in that many words.  As such, I learned to choose my words carefully and created a proposal for a case study of the technology integration in my school division as the new changes have been implemented the past few years with more changes to come. 

Dr. Falk approved it in theory as long as I could get a professor to mentor me through the process and supervise the project.  Dr. Falk suggested Dr. Feng.  I contacted Dr. Feng immediately and he agreed to take this journey with me.  We officially started collaborating on the ETEC 580 Case Study Project in March of 2011.  Dr. Feng and I have been meeting weekly via telephone and will continue to do so until project completion.  This is my second of three courses with Dr. Feng and his guidance and support has been instrumental in my growth along this MET journey!

This Case Study Project is a longitudinal study and as such the process and final analysis is still yet to be complete. 

So far I have:

• Developed the context, idea, scope of the project

• Created an expert panel of educational technologists and district staff

• Gathered background data on the school divisions’ technology integration policies

• Developed 3 different types of surveys while chiselling them down into two – one for staff and one for students.  (I had differentiated the staff primarily as: District staff vs school staff but combined the two after discussing with the expert panel.

• Conducted preliminary data gathering:

o   Interviewed subgroups including expert panel

o   Piloted the three surveys – after responding to feedback, combined the two staff surveys into one for a total of two surveys instead of three and adjusted questions and added questions also according to feedback

o   Piloted new surveys to subgroups & expert panel

I’m currently in the next phase which is final data gathering in the fall (September & October 2011) based on the feedback from the second group. 

Estimated completion date is this fall between October to December 2011 at which point Dr. Falk and Dr. Feng and I will investigate publishing and possibly presenting at conferences.

Artifacts:

Gold Coast Australia - Case Study

Great Barrier Reef - Survey Monkey Surveys:     

                              Teacher Survey          Student Survey

Great Barrier Reef & Survey Reflection:

The Great Barrier Reef is truly spectacular!  Scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef is one of my best and most favourite experiences.  I panicked the first time going down and had to come back up.  The skipper (boat captain) had a perfect scuba teaching record and wouldn’t let me chicken out so he went back down with me one-on-one.  His support and feedback helped create one of the most amazing memories of my life!  The unbelievable colors and types of fish are amazing – it seemed like I was truly in a movie!

Similarly, creating these surveys was a remarkable experience!  I learned how to use a new program, Survey Monkey, and I learned the value of feedback in data collection!  I created these surveys from the proposal and from feedback from my expert panel.  Feel free to take a look! 

I created these surveys from the proposal and from feedback from my expert panel.  Feel free to take a look!  I initially started with three different surveys: one for students, one for division office staff and one for school staff (teachers, support staff, etc.).  However, I found it confusing to have two adult surveys as they were almost identical except for some of the wording.  As a result, from feedback and personal choice, I adjusted the surveys and combined the two adult ones and kept the student one but changed some of the wording of the questions due to feedback received.  The pilot student group #1 wondered why they were not asked certain questions.  As a result, from their feedback, I added these questions to the student survey. 

A third round of surveys will be administered this fall for data collection #3 so analysis and comparisons can be made. 

Reference

Survey Monkey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/

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