JISCMail - TEACHER-RESEARCHER Archives

Dear Sarah and All,

Just a brief response to your point about online resources for teacher-researchers - you may be interested in a web-site put together by a group of teachers/learning technologists (including myself!) working within the JISC Regional Support Centres (RSCs) : http://initialteachertraining.jiscinvolve.org/ . The purpose of the site is to collect together information on a range of technologies and resources that can be used for teaching and learning, and there is a page specifically for research. This site was designed primarily for teacher trainers/trainees in the post-16 sector, but hopefully would be useful for any sector.

I would be interested in any feedback you're able to provide.

Kind regards,

Christine Davies

e-Learning Advisor / Cynghorydd e-Ddysgu

RSC Wales / CCRh Cymru

www.rsc-wales.ac.uk

LIS, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP

Tel : 01792 602511; Mob: 07970 939

From: Teacher researchers' list for the British Educational Research Association on behalf of Sarah Fletcher
Sent: Thu 13/08/2009 22:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Developing teacher and student research

Dear Fatma and Everyone,

I have been searching for the review of the Best Practice Research Scholarships initiative and finally tracked it down - I think it has direct relevance to the funded research initiative that you describe, Fatma, and what strikes me in your account of why some teachers did not respond as positively as hoped is that mentoring as well as research training is useful.

Teachers appreciate the personalised attention a mentor can give by reassuring, listening, modelling research and offering opportunities for more one to one collaboration in research
so the teachers feel valued for their professional knowledge. I hope you will find Furlong's report gives some insights into how to motivate teachers as researchers - certainly in my experience, offering teachers research training is rarely enough. They need mentoring too.

Even those teachers who know how to research can work with a research mentor who can assist in data collection, in validating evidence to back up any claims to know something. A research mentor offers critical friendship rather than assessment with a complementary role to the research tutor. A research mentor needs to have awareness of a wide range of research approaches to assist the teacher to decide which is likely to be most useful to help them research a particular focus in school. The mentor may come from a university or a local/provincial education authority or perhaps be an independent consultant like me!

One thing that struck me as I read your fascinating email is that creating online resources for teacher researchers might be useful - so teachers who do not have access to a mentor could find some support in a web-based format. There could be video of teacher research and of research mentoring conversations. There could be a discussion forum maybe too?

Looking forward to hearing from you, Fatma, hoping the BPRS evaluation is useful for you,

Warmest regards,

Sarah

Sarah Fletcher

Consultant Research Mentor

http://www.TeacherResearch.net
Convenor for BERA Mentoring and Coaching SIG
Details at http://www.bera.ac.uk

--- On Sun, 8/9/09, Fatma AL_Hinai <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Fatma AL_Hinai <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Developing teacher and student research
To: "Sarah Fletcher" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sunday, August 9, 2009, 9:41 AM

Dear Sarah

Thank you for you also for sharing thoughts and ideas and i am more
than happy to share ideas in the discussion list especially in my new
career project. Here are the answers to your questions
Could you send me some details of the research curriculum ?

The research curriculum subject initiative.
Recently, senior school students were encouraged to enter a
competition to write a report about individual research projects on a
particular theme and were funded for that. Not all students agreed to
do it and some did not participate as they thought that it was not
compulsory. However, this year the Ministry has clarified the status
of this initiative by launching the research curriculum subject in
grade 11 as an essential component to pass the diploma after
post-basic education for all students. The rationale behind the
introduction of a new theme was to prepare students for their further
education, to build up their understanding of a specific topic of
concern to them and to train them for their long life learning. The
research curriculum aims to give students the chance to challenge
their potential through applying skills and concepts they have learned
during their studies. The expected general outcomes by the end of
their project are to support pupils in selecting a research topic,
defining the problem, establishing a plan, gathering information,
being aware of ethical issues, building good relationships with others
collaboratively, applying communication skills, knowing how to
organize data and analyze it to be presented graphically, thinking
critically and logically, testing ideas, solving problems, reflecting
on constructive feedback and appreciating the work of others.

The project was designed to ensure a continual process of data
gathering throughout the course. During the two year course
(2008-2009), only one session every two weeks is taught. The program
consists of 12 topics from which students choose their area of
interest. The course is taught in an ICT lab or the learning resource
centre to ensure the availability of printers, internet and digital
cameras, since it is required from every student to search and combine
the data cumulatively. The material of the research is available for
students to search through the internet with the aid and support of
their teachers.

2.6.1 Meeting the needs of staff working on this initiative.
It could be argued that the research coordinator’s role does not need
any training since some teachers did a research project as a core
subject in their higher studies. However, some teachers were given a
preparation course of two months in the Sultan Qaboos University
during the last summer, while other teachers received training from
those who attended the summer course by organizing workshops in school
time. Those teachers acting as research co-coordinators are
responsible for guiding their pupils during their studies while other
staff (teaching and non-teaching) are responsible for advising
students within their area of expertise. The topic experts can be
teachers from the school or volunteers from the community who are
experts in the research field. Both the research coordinator and
topic expert work together to help students. For example, the research
coordinator role is to explain the functions of the topic expert to
the students and in some cases the research coordinator can take the
role of the topic expert.
The research coordinator is responsible for the evaluation process
which is continuous during the two year course. Assessment for
learning will be measured by the end of the academic year 2008-2009
for the first cohort. The review of their work is based on the
completion of the research project which is an essential pre-requisite
for the diploma, although there is no specific and separate grade
added in the certificate. The portfolio of the research project counts
for 50% of the total grade and a final report will be finalized by the
end of each term. Students will then utilize the information in the
report to present their activities in the following year and 25% more
will be added for the remaining percentage. If any uncertainty in the
level of achievement is found, the student will be asked for an
interview to address any problems. Thereafter, the remaining 20% are
added to the total.

The final decision on the students’ work is prepared by both the
research coordinator and the topic experts. The outcomes are assessed
through classroom observation at different intervals in the term. Also
an evaluation form is used to overcome any difficulties in the
process. Students themselves assess each other’s work and give
constructive feedback. Many other ways are used in the evaluation
process such as interviews, research journals, classroom
presentations, self evaluation and peer evaluation. The interview is a
meeting between the teacher and the student or another student or the
parents in an informal discussion of the learning process together
with all principles and skills gained. After every meeting, notes are
taken for frequent review. All students need to keep a research
journal for their plans and implementations; the assessment is carried
out during the course.

The classroom presentation is another tool for evaluating students’
work in the project and it takes different forms. For example,
students should show the knowledge they gain, how they choose their
sample and what they have learned. The most effective techniques used
to assess students are self and peer assessment, where the former
deals with personal attainment in knowledge, skills and makes them
conscious about the deep learning, while the latter, is about adding
information of their peer learning and assessing each other (Ministry
of Education, 2007).

why some teachers did not like to teach it?
the evidence gathered from documentary analysis, questionnaires and
interviews underpinned the idea that teachers need support as they
seemed to suffer from lack of knowledge of educational research and
lack of research skills which has impacted on students who were also
new to this new idea of researching within their schools.

And regarding your question about if teachers were happy to do
research, actually i was not in contact with all teachers , yet some
of them like it, so what are your suggestion to make teachers be
interested in doing research, how to create resources, workshops and
to give them support. any suggested plan

Thank you

Fatma