Researching Educational Technologies

Understanding the changes occurring in education as a result of technology involves engaging with the research processes used to study these changes. This course will explore the innovations occurring through Educational Technologies; support the development of a Futures lens in thinking about technology and education; and develop a range of research techniques used in Educational Technologies research to understand these processes.

Students will learn about the development of Educational Technologies, how such Educational Technologies emerge, and the predictive research strategies that can be used to become aware of which new technologies are likely to have a significant impact on mainstream educational practices: pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment. Through Self-Study Research, students will learn to articulate their understanding of these processes through philosophical, ontological,  epistemological, and pedagogical perspectives. To ground these perspectives, several small scale research studies will be conducted, including a Futures Study that explores existing trends and extrapolates these into a Future Scenario describing the implications of an emerging educational technology; a Consensus study that uses the Delphi Study and Conjoint Pairs approaches to gain an expert consensus on emerging technologies; and an Empirical Study on how an emerging technology is being implemented through a Descriptive Case Study.

This course engages with a range of emerging technologies and assumes competency with computer technologies and a positive attitude to exploring what can be achieved with Educational Technologies. While students have an opportunity to focus on educational issues in a range of contexts, the course assumes an understanding and interest in education as a field of study. While the course has a focus on Educational Technologies in western K-12 and higher educational systems, opportunities exist to study the application of Educational Technologies in other systems and countries through assessment tasks.

The course is best completed in conjunction with 7131EDN Creating Educational Technologies, which develops a set of Educational Technologies upon which research investigations can be based. The course complements the 7016EDN Understanding Research course that provides a more general introduction to Educational Research. 

Researching Educational Technologies aims to provide students with:

• a broader understanding of the trends, technologies, and challenges facing education; and

• experience with research methods to better understand and study the influences of Educational Technologies.

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

1. articulate a Philosophical Position on learning and Educational Technologies, detailing Ontological and Epistemological assumptions;

2. conduct Futures Research of Educational Technology consequences using Trend Analysis and Scenario Writing methods; 

3. conduct Consensus Research of Educational Technology trends using the Delphi and Conjoint Pair methods; 

4. conduct Empirical Research of an Educational Technology application using the Case Study method; and

5. demonstrate an understanding of a range of Educational Technologies research approaches. 

Each week you are expected to:

• • view recorded video (often in several clips or slide presentations);

  • complete online course work including an online quiz on this coursework and recorded video clips;

  • contribute to online discussions using Microsoft Teams; and

  • attend two-hour weekly online video-conference using Microsoft Teams. 

Log of Learning Activities (20%)

Each week you are expected to do completion activities that contribute towards your Log of Learning Activities assessment:

• • complete an online quiz, each weekly quiz contributing 1% towards your final grade; and

  • contribute to online discussion, each module (3 weeks) contributing 2% towards your final grade.

The Log of Learning Activities will comprise quizzes and discussion contributions that you complete during the course. While designed to scaffold learning and be completed progressively to support the development of Portfolio of Learning subtasks, students may complete Log of Learning Activities at any time during the course. The 12 quizzes may be retried as many times as you wish, and the best result by the Week 12 due date will be counted. While guided discussion with peers will be supported only during the three weeks for each module, full marks for each module can be achieved with 5 discussion contributions per module. These 5 contributions must be made during the three weeks of the module, however, evidence of these discussion contributions may be submitted up to the Week 12 due date but must have occurred in Microsoft Teams within the three weeks of each module. A discussion contribution must add substantively to the discussion by raising a new point, contributing a reference or resource, or making an argument. Simple questions, agreements or encouragements, while welcome in discussions, do not meet the requirements of a discussion contribution.

Marks for quizzes will be available on L@G immediately and finalised on the due date in Week 12. Marks for discussion contributions will be available on L@G within two weeks of the final due date in Week 12.

Portfolio of Learning (80%, 20% per portfolio subtask)

Each module (3 weeks) your are expected to complete an assessment task that contributes to your Portfolio of Learning. 

The Portfolio of Learning will comprise four subtasks that evidence learning throughout the course. Three Research-based subtasks where you will conduct mini research studies, and a final Presentation during the online video-conference or on-campus tutorial, where you will present the results of a Case Study on how an Educational Technology is being used in an organisation.

The Portfolio of Learning is designed to be scaffolded by learning activities and collaborative discussions, and completed in stages, with subtasks submitted in weeks 3, 6, 9 and 12. Collaborative discussion in online forums and video conferences (online) or tutorials (oncampus) will support the development of these subtasks during the 3 weeks each subtask is being developed. You may submit all portfolio items on the portfolio due date in Week 12, however, you have the opportunity to submit portfolio items throughout the semester and if submitted by the subtask due date in Week 3, 6 and 9, marks and feedback will be provided within 3 weeks, and if you fail the item, you will have 5 days from receipt of the mark and feedback to resubmit that item for re-examination. Items submitted on the portfolio due date in week 12 may not be resubmitted for re-examination (including the final presentation item) and marks will be available on L@G within 2 weeks of the due date in Week 12.

The four portfolio tasks for this course are:

While this course (7134EDN) focuses on research into Educational Technologies, if you are interested in creating Educational Technologies, 7131EDN Creating Educational Technologies (a Semester 1 course) explores the specific technologies of Educational Computer Games and AI applications in depth, with students proposing their own new Educational Technologies by the end of the course.

If you are interested in how to apply your understanding of Educational Technologies research within educational organisations, 7170EDN Transformational Educational Technologies (a Semester 2 course) explores the complex systems involved in successfully implementing Educational Technologies and the policies and processes that can result in transformational practice in educational organisations.