Tag: research

Activity Theory, Authentic Learning and Emerging Technologies

Oct 20, 2014

in Research

activity theory, authentic learning, book, case study, denise wood, e-learning, education, emerging technology, Jan Herrington, networked learning, pedagogy, research, Situated learning, transformative learning

For the past few years I’ve been involved in an NRF-funded research project looking at the use of emerging technologies in higher education. One of the products of that collaborative project was an edited book that has recently been published. Professor Denise Wood, one of the editors, describes the book on her blog: This edited…
“I offer this to you”

Oct 6, 2014

in Research

creativity, epistemology, Ontology, personal trouble, research

Last week I shared a post that followed from a comment made by a colleague share some ideas on research. She began her presentation saying “I offer this to you…”, which I thought was a wonderful way of sharing her thoughts. Here are the notes I took during the session. Research is not linear, clean…
Mixed methods research: John Cresswell seminar

Jul 28, 2014

in Research

Data analysis, Evaluation methods, john cresswell, methodology, mixed methods, Multimethodology, qualitative methods, qualitative research, quantitative methods, Quantitative research, research, research methods, scientific method, triangulation

For me, mixed methods research (MMR) is about using qualitative and quantitative data to strengthen an argument that is difficult to support with only one type of data. It’s about bringing together the numbers (quantitative) and stories (qualitative) to gain a more complete understanding of the world (research problems and questions). We often think of…
Publish or perish: A nifty little research tool

Apr 2, 2014

in Research

analysis, citation, publish or perish, research, software

“Publish or perish” is a great little research tool that retrieves and analyses your citations. It uses Google Scholar for the raw data and is then able to calculate the following: Total number of papers and total number of citations Average citations per paper, citations per author, papers per author, and citations per year Hirsch’s…
Postgraduate student supervision workshop

Dec 4, 2013

in Research

postgraduate, research, supervision, workshop

A few weeks ago I attended a seminar on postgraduate supervision, presented by some of the more experienced research supervisors on campus. While I couldn’t stay for the full session, I did manage to see two of the presenters. Here are the notes I took. Introduction (Prof. Ramesh Bharuthram) All academics will be required to complete…
Writing a research proposal for T&L

Aug 9, 2013

in Research

denise wood, project, proposal, research, teaching and learning

Writing a research proposal for teaching and learning Prof. Denise Wood (18 July, 2013) Here are my notes from a presentation by Prof. Denise Wood on developing a research proposal for projects looking at T&L. Understanding the funding body is important when it comes to applying for funding. Disciplinary specific proposals may not be successful…
New South African online T&L journal (CriSTaL)

May 22, 2013

in Research

cristal, critical studies in teaching and learning, publication, research

We’re really happy to announce the launch of CriSTaL (Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning), a new South African online journal on the scholarship of teaching and learning. From the home page: Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes scholarly articles and essays that describe, theorise and reflect on teaching…
Alternative ways of sharing my PhD output

Apr 15, 2013

in Conference, PhD, Research, Technology

academic publishing, beyond the pdf, force11, open access, phd, publication, publishing, research, research communication, research dissemination, scholarly communication

“Online journals are paper journals delivered by faster horses” – Beyond the PDF 2 I’ve started a process of creating a case study of my PhD project, using my blog as an alternative means of presenting and sharing my results. Most of the chapters have already either been published or are under review with peer-reviewed journals, so…
Storytelling for academics

Mar 25, 2013

in Conference, Research

academic presentations, research, stories, storytelling

In 2012 I gave a short presentation on a few elements of giving a conference presentation, using images from Pixar movies (see bottom of post). I wanted to convey the idea that sharing academic research needn’t be boring, a problem that I think is rife among academics. That’s why I was delighted to come across…
Using Google Translate for international projects

Mar 4, 2013

in Education, Research, Technology, Workshop

gmail, Google, Google Docs, Google Drive, google groups, google sheets, google translate, research, thunderbird

In preparation for the FAIMER residential session in Brazil, the coordinators spent months sharing documentation and ideas, and discussing every detail that goes into planning something like this…and they’ve been doing it in Portuguese. Initially I thought that this would mean I’d have no idea what was going on until I got there, but then…
Design principles for clinical reasoning

Jan 14, 2013

in Physiotherapy, Research, Social media, Technology

blended learning, capability, clinical education, clinical reasoning, critical thinking, design, design research, learning spaces, online learning, phd, physiotherapy education, principles, research

Clinical reasoning is hard to do, and even harder to facilitate in novice practitioners who lack the experience and patterns of thinking that enable them to establish conceptual relationships that are often non-trivial. Experienced clinicians have developed, over many years and many patients, a set of thinking patterns that influence the clinical decisions they make,…
Social media and professional identity: Part 4 (ResearchGate)

Dec 12, 2012

in Research, Technology

academic identity, Online identity, professional identity, research, researchgate, social media, technology

Over the past few months I’ve been working towards my final PhD submission, and so haven’t had much opportunity to continue my my series on using social media to develop a professional online identity. Now that I have at least a little bit of time again, I’m going to try and finish it up over…
PhD project using design research

Oct 21, 2012

in PhD, Research

design research, design-based research, phd, research

I’m supposed to be submitting my thesis in about 3 weeks time, so obviously I’m getting distracted by anything that means I can avoid that nightmare. Which is why I spent about an hour this morning making this nice flowchart. Putting complex things into pictures makes them easier for me to understand, so making this…
UWC “Scholarship of teaching and learning” colloquium

Jun 14, 2012

in Assessment, Conference, Curriculum, Education, Learning, Research, Teaching, Technology

colloquium, innovations in teaching and learning, research, teaching and learning, teaching and learning practices, university of the western cape, uwc

I presented at the UWC scholarship of teaching and learning colloquium last week. Here is the presentation I gave, which is essentially a progress report of my PhD research project. I posted my own presentation a few days ago and here are the notes I took during the colloquium. Can universities be caring? A meditation…
Blended learning in clinical education

Jun 4, 2012

in Education, PhD, Physiotherapy, Research

blended learning, clinical education, phd, research, teaching and learning

Later today I’m presenting a progress report on my PhD, at the UWC “Innovations in Teaching and Learning” colloquium. Here is the presentation: Blended learning in clinical education View more presentations from Michael Rowe.
Blogging taking a back seat for now

May 22, 2012

in PhD, Research

articles, blogging, phd, research

I’m in the process of writing up the final parts of my PhD and am hoping to submit a first full draft in August, in preparation for a final submission in November. I’m doing it by publication and so am focusing my attention on the last 2 articles I need to complete. I’ve published two,…
Results of the first round of my Delphi study

Apr 4, 2012

in PhD, Physiotherapy, Research

article, Delphi, research, wordle, writing

I’m away on a 3 day writing retreat where I’m trying to put together a full draft of the Delphi study that I’m busy wrapping up. I thought I’d take a break from writing and do something different (from writing, I mean). I took the full text of the open-ended responses from the first round…
The Delphi method in clinical research

Apr 2, 2012

in PhD, Research

clinical practice, delphi approach, delphi method, delphi study, research

Thank you to Conran Joseph for his contribution to this post. We began developing this content as part of another project that we’re working on (more to come on that later) and then extended it as I made notes for a paper than I’m writing for my PhD. Introduction The Delphi method was developed in…
Workshop on facilitation techniques using the Conversational Framework

Jan 20, 2012

in Learning, PhD, Physiotherapy, Research, Teaching

adaptive, clinical education, conversational framework, discursive, facilitation, interactive, laurillard, phd, reflection, reflective, research, rethinking university teaching

How do we get students to think more deeply about learning in an academic context? I’m giving a workshop later today. The idea is that we’ll get all of the facilitators who’ll be working on the module we’re designing (and which I’m evaluating for my PhD) and help them get a grip on the approach…
Challenging students’ conceptual relationships in clinical education

Jan 13, 2012

in Assessment, Education, PhD, Physiotherapy, Teaching

academic learning, applied physiotherapy, clinical education, clinical learning, concept mapping, conceptual relationships, conversational framework, laurillard, phd, pht203, research, rethinking university teaching

I just wanted to share a thought while preparing our case notes for the Applied Physiotherapy module we’re developing. One of the designers made a note of the “guideline answers” for facilitators to some of the questions that we might use to trigger students’ thinking. I wrote the following as a comment and didn’t want…