And so, I move in closer to the focus of my research. I decided to go with Doc Amy's advice because I think she saw some sense in my initial ideas and we went even as far as saying that we can merge topic 1 and 2 =)
This should be a good sign. Now I have this: Investigating School Community Readiness: Towards a Framework for Curriculum Planning and Implementation of eLearning in Secondary Schools
I ended up reading lots today only to get confused. For one, readiness for online learning has been around since about early 2000. Earlier works were done by Chapsnick, Rosenberg(burg?), Gold, etc. Most measures of readiness and research are done at the higher ed. There are about 4-5 out there geared towards organizational readiness, tons on student/learner readiness but again for higher education level. Then there are interesting studies done in Turkey, Palestine, Bangladesh--but more countrywide and not as specific to secondary schools
Though there are only about 2-3 research related to readiness for online learning geared towards basic education level, I now hesitate. Well, for one, I do not want to develop an instrument which will most likely predispose schools not to go for online learning. I would like for the instrument to be empowering, meaning it should be able to facilitate schools to move towards this direction of elearning, and more importantly, it should be able to recommend in which forms it will most likely succeed.
Hence I should look for a model which would not be in the form of a checklist or set of indicators which will only tell me the obvious---I would like for the instrument to generate quantitative and qualitative findings. It should be able to illuminate strengths and weaknesses; areas of capabilities and predict possible deficits and most importantly workarounds.
This instrument, once developed and tested, then utilized will lead me to findings from which to draw out a framework which shall....I don't know...., maybe provide for a means to recommend how to facilitate e-readiness in curriculum planning and implementation.
Can an instrument lead to a framework instead of the other way around?
I need to make a drawing.
This should be a good sign. Now I have this: Investigating School Community Readiness: Towards a Framework for Curriculum Planning and Implementation of eLearning in Secondary Schools
I ended up reading lots today only to get confused. For one, readiness for online learning has been around since about early 2000. Earlier works were done by Chapsnick, Rosenberg(burg?), Gold, etc. Most measures of readiness and research are done at the higher ed. There are about 4-5 out there geared towards organizational readiness, tons on student/learner readiness but again for higher education level. Then there are interesting studies done in Turkey, Palestine, Bangladesh--but more countrywide and not as specific to secondary schools
Though there are only about 2-3 research related to readiness for online learning geared towards basic education level, I now hesitate. Well, for one, I do not want to develop an instrument which will most likely predispose schools not to go for online learning. I would like for the instrument to be empowering, meaning it should be able to facilitate schools to move towards this direction of elearning, and more importantly, it should be able to recommend in which forms it will most likely succeed.
Hence I should look for a model which would not be in the form of a checklist or set of indicators which will only tell me the obvious---I would like for the instrument to generate quantitative and qualitative findings. It should be able to illuminate strengths and weaknesses; areas of capabilities and predict possible deficits and most importantly workarounds.
This instrument, once developed and tested, then utilized will lead me to findings from which to draw out a framework which shall....I don't know...., maybe provide for a means to recommend how to facilitate e-readiness in curriculum planning and implementation.
Can an instrument lead to a framework instead of the other way around?
I need to make a drawing.
Colleague Pat, an expert in DE, articulated what I kinda sensed...and more, she recommended good reads. As follows are comments on my evolving ideas.
ReplyDeleteHi Aleta.
Am glad to hear about the progress you are making with your adviser. The idea of measuring school readiness for online learning is interesting and it should prove very useful given the e-learning trends in basic education. Three comments below:
1) I suggest that instead of developing this instrument at the outset, any such instrument should be the outcome of your dissertation research. That is, your research focus should be developing the "instrument" based on an empirical study of actual e-learning programs at the high school level (preferably a range of types, from blended to fully online) as well as open high school programs in the Philippines.
2) I think you should aim to develop not just an instrument but a school readiness framework.
3) I suggest you benchmark not against "correspondence mode" secondary programs, because strictly speaking this is not what exists in our high schools that are engaging in DE mode and alternative delivery modes, but against all types of ICT-supported secondary schooling that exists in the Philippines today. Note that there is a whole range of such programs, from those with very minimal use of technology to ICT-dependent programs.
With regard to comments 1 and 2 above, the idea is to avoid the trap of an instrumentalist/evaluative and ultimately reductive approach to measuring readiness, and instead allow for a developmental and progressive approach. The former is part of a narrow quality assurance (QA) perspective and the latter is part of a quality enhancement (QE) perspective.
While I can't refer you to literature that is specific to measuring readiness for online learning for basic education, the perspective/approach I am referring to above may be seen in the UNESCO-Bangkok 4-stage ICT integration model that is discussed in Chapter 4 of the attached reading. Also attached is a reading on QA vs. QE at the higher education level -- the ideas may be transposable to the basic education level.
I hope this feedback is useful. We can discuss further any time you feel the need to.