Research trends in educ.technologyMart Laanpere, head of the Centre for Educational Technology

Let’s discuss What is one research problem you would like to

study in the domain of educational technology?

How would you collect the data?

Comparative studies Research question: kas õppimine X vahendusel tagab

paremad õpitulemused kui õppimine ilma X-ta? (X = radio, TV, video, transparencies, e-learning…)

Research design: experiment, experimantal and control group, pre- and post-test

T.Russell: No Significant Difference Phenomenon, 355 studies, resulting with: no difference

How to interpret this result?

The great media debate Was launched early 1990-s, still active

Richard Clarke: “Media will never influence learning!”, medium is merely a transport vehicle, which influences the learning no more than delivery truck changes the taste or nutrition quality of fruits it transports to shop

Robert Kozma: this is wrong approach, we should rather ask: what are the actual and potential relationships between media and learning? Can we describe and understand those relationships? And can we create a strong and compelling influence of media on learning through improved theories, research, and instructional designs?

Contemporary view: each tool have different affordacnes, selecting a tool affects; A.Maslow’s the Law of the Instrument: "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"

Alternative research approaches

Norm Friesen: there are more option on methodological side From cultural studies: narrative research Post-cognitivist turn: action research, distributed

cognition Phenomenology: interpreting experiences Critical and historical research: myths of e-learning,

influence of military funding on e-learning

From computer science: data mining, simulations, development research

Estonian studies Tiger in Focus (2001)

ICT and school culture (2003)

Tiger in Focus 2 (2004)

IEA SITES (2007)

ICT and other cross-curricular themes (2008)

Laptop schools (2009)

OECD PISA (2009)

Vt. http://www.tiigrihype.ee/et/uuringud-ja-monitooring

Examples form PhD topics Kai Pata: Scaffolding of collaborative decision-making on environmental

dilemmas

Piret Luik: Efficient Characteristics of Educational Software in the case of electronic textbooks and drillsl

Margus Pedaste: Problem solving in web-based learning environment

Terje Väljataga: Learner Control and Responsibility: Expanding the Concept of Self-direction in Higher Education

Kairit Tammets: A cross-border knowledge-management in teachers' lifelong professional development

Mart Laanpere: Pedagogy-driven design of virtual learning environments

New trends in educ. technology research

E-portfolio, competence management

Open Educational Resources, e-textbook, MOOC

1:1 computer use (incl. BYOD, m-learning)

“Serious games”, gamification

Learner models and recommender systems

Digital learning ecosystems

Learning analytics

Examples

Assignment Now, re-define your research problem and method

for a study which would interest you personally in the domain of educational technology!