Eep! When I had to write a critical review early on in this course, one of the pointers given to us by a professor was to assess whether the research methodology was appropriate. I felt like quoting my younger son’s favourite expression: the what-now-who?

Then I learnt that I was going to have to adopt a research methodology of my own for my dissertation. Oh pants! How was I going to do that when I didn’t know what the blooming things are, let alone how they work? Well, gradually, things are becoming clearer. We do not yet have crystal, but we have moved away from mud!

We have spent time looking at each of a few different methodologies and exploring the extent to which they are practical (and even practicable) within the context of our situations. So I have diligently taken notes on positivism, interpretativism, case studies, interviews, personal construct psychology, experimental and quasi experimental design and observation. There are a few more methodologies to follow.

My current hot favourite thing at the moment, though, is Judith Bell’s book Doing your Research Project. I swear this book is going to save my hide. Not only does it have a lot to say about action research, it also has a lot of very accessible information about methodologies. I took the book with me on holiday recently (yeah, I know – it’s got sand in it, now!) and I found the section that will be the making of my dissertation, I reckon: Narrative inquiry and stories. I kid you not. Narrative. Stories. I can do that. I can so do that. I have done that all my life. I think in analogies and allegories. I have used them for 20 years as a teaching tool. I used to have my learners in stitches teaching absolute references in Excel by means of a story about ballet dancing toddlers. I am an (unpublished) author of several children’s stories and poems. My children used to beg me, “Read us a story out of your head, Mom!” Bell says: “narrative enquiry can involve reflective autobiography, life story or the inclusion of exerpts from participants’ stories.” I am a born story teller. And telling my own story, as I strive to improve my practice as a learning professional through the use of social media? Bring it on!

I read that section of Bell’s book on the plane going to Spain. The light went on for me. I read it again on the beach. The light stayed on. I know at least one person whose hair will stand on end if he has anything to do with a research project like this. I will just have to make sure that he doesn’t, I guess.

A few weeks ago, I spent a valuable half hour or so with my course leader, talking about the educational research project that is designed to lead me to the topic of my dissertation. Up in smoke went all my previous lofty ideals about games and simulations in learning and the balance between those immersive environments and the increasing trend towards just-in-time, learner driven, random access (call it what you will) online learning resources.

Rats! Although I realise the practical issues would have been difficult, because I have not yet had any direct involvement with a blend that includes these delivery media. Quizzes and the like are the closest I have come. So far….

What she suggested however, was that I opt for an action research project. This makes sense. I am constantly seeking to drive my practice forward, but I don’t work within the education system or an organisation that gives me access to information about a cohort of learners. She recommended the Action Research website, which has proved interesting, if counterintuitive in terms of navigation.

Some useful things I have found on the site have been:

• Jean McNiff’s booklet: Action research for professional development: concise advice for new action researchers. The document is free to download – isn’t it wonderful that some researchers are so generous with their stuff? But then, as she says in the introduction to the third edition “I have learnt from Jack (Whitehead) the power of sharing ideas to generate new ones”
• A whole raft of action research theses, which, even if they don’t help me with the content of my own dissertation, will certainly inspire me towards a title and help me get a clearer idea of how to tackle things.
• Margaret Farren’s many publications around action research as well as around the sort of areas that interest me.
• Jack Whitehead’s writings - wow, this guy is prolific!
• A list of living theory theses. It’s fascinating to see the sort of topics that make acceptable PhD theses. I was tickled pink by Eleanor Lohr’s thesis title: Love at Work: What is my lived experience of love, and how may I become an instrument of love’s purpose? I haven’t actually read the thesis yet, but wow! Just wow! It fills me with hope that this can be regarded as academic writing.
• Action Research expeditions, which uses “the expedition as a metaphor for the processes of action research”

I have been delighted with the level of enthusiasm and passion evident in the materials. I was so afraid of having to translate my labrador-puppy-with-oversized-paws type enthusiasm and lack of panache into something erudite and urbane and, well, dry and dusty.

What I haven’t been able to establish is whether any of these folks blog. I shall have to ask. Of course, I am now brimming with enthusiasm and keen to meet them all in person.

Two articles from Brandon Hall’s Janet Clarey:

The first is helpful in terms of criticality – identifying the money behind research.

The second deals with the use of Google as a research tool.

I think these will be of great help when I come to do my dissertation.

Today I attended a workshop on serious games. It was hosted by two organisations who are becoming an increasing presence in the field, and was addressed by the chairman of the serious games institute.

We were given a hands-on demonstration of a product developed by the host organisation, while another showed us the use they have been making of Secondlife as a space for delivering learning.

It was very interesting. However, I am increasingly concerned that the learning design of serious games has taken a backward step, with the control being in the hands of the designer, and the learner having reduced ability to target specific learning requirements that he has identified for himself. This is against the flow of developments in online learning.

However, the opportunities within Second Life or similar environments are enormous. I will post more on this another day when I have more time.

It’s high time someone decided to address this issue head on. Kids are moving confidently about in a space which many adults don’t understand. Some are frightened by it, others are blissfully unaware of the potential risks. Here is an 80 page overview for those who would like to gain a better understanding of the world of the digital native.

Last night we had another Educational Research session. I find that I am finally beginning to have some ideas.

My field is adult learning, in the corporate/workplace context. I have an interest in JIT learning, but I also have an interest in games and simulations in learning. So here’s me thinking that the steady move towards JIT learning in the corporate environment increasingly places the control in the hands of the learner. The learner identifies a gap in his knowledge base and uses available resources to address that lack at a time that suits him.

So how does this fit with games and simulations where the learning is often serendipitous? By playing the game or entering the simulated environment, the learner will plot a path through a series of scenarios which may or may not relate to his current learning need.

Hmm. So how do I get a starting question out of this to launch my research for my dissertation? And what will the research look like?

Second Life is getting “voice”. It already has a university campus. Sweden is opening an embassy there soon. Teachers at distance learning institutions are already running sessions within this virtual world. The pedagogical potential is enormous.

Sony seems to have realised this and jumped on the bandwagon.

The resources available to teachers today appear to be limitless. But availability isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. It doesn’t help for things to be available if people don’t know about them, or are afraid or suspicious of them.

How do we cross this great divide and combine the knowledge that teachers are able to share, the value that they have to add, with the technology that their learners know how to use? Perhaps teachers need to spend some time being learners for a bit, and allow their classes to teach them. As a joint exercise, it must surely be achievable?

I’m not a language teacher, but these 3D worlds built with a specific view to support teachers of literature strike me as being a great idea. I haven’t explored them but I support the concept wholeheartedly. As my friend Vicki Davis puts it: the future of the web is 3D. I’d be interested to hear whether anyone has explored these or similar simulation environments.

Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) turns his astute eye on curriculum in this post on his blog.

What a pretentious title! Increasingly I’ve been thinking about this subject lately. One of my lecturers pointed me towards a game called the Peacemaker. I won’t duplicate the content of my post on Karyn’s Blog about it, but it also put me in mind of the Darfur is dying game, although the latter is far less sopohisticated in construction. Both these games seek to inform the player/learner of the challenges facing a group of people in a wartorn situation. On their own, these games may not stand out from the many other games about war, and they may even suffer by comparison. However, used as a teaching aid and placed in context by teaching and discussion about the situation before embarking on the game, the situations must surely become more real to the user than a pure theory lesson. This is a way to make history come alive. It is a way to present history as something other than a sequence of inevitabilities (which is my own view of how it is taught in far too many schools).

I also recently encountered this game (I wish I could remember who gave me the link!) which allows players to take charge of a country and re-enact WWII. The outcome is not predetermined as the defeat of the axis powers by the allies, and players have the opportunity to explore alternative courses of action through to their conclusion.

Now this is history as a study of decisions taken by people, decisions with alternatives. I once read a book called Fatherland by Robert Harris, set in the 60s and written from the perspective of a detective in a victorious Germany. It is a thought-provoking read, and one I would recommend to a high school student studying second world war history, since it serves the same purpose as these games in that it allows the exploration of alternative hypotheses. What if…?

I have lost count of the number of British people who have told me that, if it hadn’t been for their grandfather/father/uncle, we would have been speaking German today. This shows a groan-inducingly unimaginative approach to the possible outcomes of the war. Let’s face it, speaking German is hardly the worst fate that could befall a person – it doesn’t seem to have hindered people in Germany a great deal! I am always tempted to respond, “Is that the best you can come up with?”

But of course, a book presents only one view. A game allows the user to explore several different alternatives. What if the assassination plot against Hitler (or indeed Churchill) had succeeded? What if the Americans had not joined the war? What if Switzerland and/or Sweden had not remained neutral? What if? What if?

The possibilities are endless.