Technology and the Theoretical Framework

What new insights have you gained?

With this chapter reading and my self-selected article (which I felt went very well together!), I have learned a lot more about the concept of “new literacies”.  Even as I am writing this I am participating in the new literacies that are emerging as the rule rather than the exception in education, using the Internet and technology to learn and communicate for professional purposes.  As a person who has grown up in the information technology age, I am so thankful that we have these resources at our disposal.  It is so nice to be sitting here in my pajamas on a Saturday morning doing my schoolwork! 

What have you learned that will make a difference to you as a researcher?

I have learned more about how a theoretical framework is important to a research study.  It seems to me that it will be very helpful to establish as much detail as I can about the perspective from which I will approach a topic as I start my masters project in the fall.  It helped to read about the many different frameworks surrounding new literacy research.  This reading broadened my framework concerning theoretical framework! (ha)   I am excited to put what I am learning in this class into practice.

 What do you understand about research, or components of research that you didn’t know before?

I think that reading about theoretical framework and thinking about the different ways a topic can be approached gave me deeper insight into what I need to consider when choosing a research topic.  I don’t think that I had thought about how deep issues can go and how many ways people can see them.

 What is bothering or disturbing you about research?

It makes me sad that most literacy is becoming digital and internet based.  I love ink and paper books and I am sad to see book stores closing (Bookstar, Borders, etc.) and Amazon.com taking over.  I have not given in to the Kindle craze yet and I order my pleasure reading books from half.com (I know, hypocritical since I hate that bookstores are closing…), but eventually I will probably have to make the switch.  Technology will always prevail in today’s society, no matter how much we fight it. 

What else do you want to learn about designing and conducting research?

I would like to learn more about choosing a topic for research.  I am not sure that I am confident enough in my knowledge base to choose a topic and stick to it.  I guess I will have plenty of time to think and read about it between now and when I actually need to do an action research project!

Research: What will make a difference, in the midst of injustice, and data collection

What new insights have you gained? / What have you learned that will make a difference to you as a researcher?
 I had really never thought about the difference that a word can make in research.  I thought it was interesting what Dr. Anderson had to say about her use of "explore" versus "examine" in her dissertation.  It is amazing how much of a difference there is between two words.  I am learning the value of carefully choosing my words and making sure that I am saying exactly what I mean.  

What is bothering or disturbing you about research?   
 It is hard for me to look at a research study where there is obviously a problem with one of the teachers (as with the case of Mr. Brown in Offering or limiting opportunities...) and imagine being the researcher just observing and not doing anything about the injustice being served to those ELLs.  I think it would be hard in a situation like that to be objective and not want to do something about it or at least mention it to the teacher.  Do the subjects of a research study like that usually read the finished article or is it anonymous? I would be really embarrassed if I were Mr. Brown.

What else do you want to learn about designing and conducting research?
 I do not know very much about the different methods of collecting data.  I know that there are many useful methods available, but I am not sure that I would really know where to start if I had to pick one!  I think I would be overwhelmed with making sure that I picked the right one. Hopefully, when the time comes for me to pick one, I will have my research questions in stone so they may function as a guide  to which type of data collection to use.


I am looking forward to conducting my Masters Project in the fall after taking this class!  I feel like I will be ready!

Collaboration is Key

As I have read the articles for this course, I have been thinking about how the researchers see the topics.  I assume that they are passionate about their chosen topics and it is interesting to see their findings as I wonder how they feel about them.  With the topic of ELLs in these particular articles, I get the feeling that these researchers are finding a lot of dead ends when it comes to ensuring the success of ELLs.  I started thinking about how this must affect them as they pursue methods and ideas to help these students.  It opened my eyes to the fact that, in research, there is not always a cut and dry answer.  This is a hard thing to realize that after you have potentially put in long hours and lots of work into a research study, the results can be inconclusive.  Someone very close to me was a researcher in a lab and he kept on and on with a research project and it kept coming up with inconclusive results.  He became frustrated and I saw how it wore on him.  Research is not always a glamorous as the published article can seem, it is hard and often frustrating work.  I guess the best way to look at it is (as we discussed a lot in our responses to Why Mei still cannot read) that we can work together with other researchers and slowly piece together the answers to problems in the realm of education.