COURSE TITLE: Educational Research

EDUC 7741

PARIS, Spring 2005

I.COURSE NUMBER: EDUC 7741

COURSE TITLE: Educational Research

COLLEGE OR SCHOOL:Bagwell College of Education

SEMESTER/TERM AND YEAR: Spring 2005

II.INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Nita A. Paris

TELEPHONE: (770) 423-6636 (Office)

FAX:(770) 420-4334

E-MAIL:

Website:

OFFICE:KH 1013

OFFICE HOURS: M 3:00-5:00, TTh 11:00-2:00

III.CLASS MEETINGS: Monday, 5:00-7:45 pm. Kennesaw Hall 2001

IV.TEXTS:

Required: American Psychological Association (2002). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Required: Creswell, J. W. (2005) Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

V. CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION: Educational Research. 3-0-3.

Prerequisite: Admission to graduate study. This course is designed to help candidates develop an understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methods and designs, focusing on interpretation and application relating to classroom practice.

VI. PURPOSE AND RATIONALE: Professional educators of all levels need to understand research

methodology in order to make judgments about the research they read, their professional growth, and to

prepare them for conducting their own research. The primary goals of this course are to help the M.Ed.

candidate develop basic knowledge and skills for critically reading and understanding educational research and evaluation reports, and to become knowledgeable about the research process. Understanding the research process will also assist expert teacher-leaders in utilizing research to solve classroom and/or schoolwide problems. On a more personal note, my hope for you is that this course will assist you in becoming more comfortable with reading, interpreting and conducting research that impacts your own professional practices.

Expert teacher-leaders need to understand the research process for two main reasons: 1) to critique research they read in an effort to inform themselves as teachers, and 2) to plan and carry out their own research. Research has shown that teachers tend to base their conclusions about teaching effectiveness on many sources, including personal experience, tradition, the school culture--sources other than research. Although all these sources are valuable in different ways, teachers are likely to resist changing practice even when change is supported by research findings.

Teachers also need to recognize poorly designed research and to eschew practices based upon this research. Only through a thorough grounding with well-designed research and through an understanding of the nature of errors and threats to validity that characterizes all research with humans can teachers come to make informed judgments about the validity of the research they read. A thorough grounding in research also assists teachers in increasing collaborative efforts by contributing to the professional knowledge base on teaching.

KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY’S CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:

Collaborative development of expertise in teaching and learning

The Professional Teacher Education Unit (PTEU) at Kennesaw State University is committed to developing expertise among candidates in initial and advanced programs as teachers and leaders who possess the capability, intent and expertise to facilitate high levels of learning in all of their students through effective, research-based practices in classroom instruction, and who enhance the structures that support all learning. To that end, the PTEU fosters the development of candidates as they progress through stages of growth from novice to proficient to expert and leader. Within the PTEU conceptual framework, expertise is viewed as a process of continued development, not an end-state. To be effective, teachers and educational leaders must embrace the notion that teaching and learning are entwined and that only through the implementation of validated practices can all students construct meaning and reach high levels of learning. In that way, candidates are facilitators of the teaching and learning process. Finally, the PTEU recognizes, values and demonstrates collaborative practices across the college and university and extends collaboration to the community-at-large. Through this collaboration with professionals in the university, the public and private schools, parents and other professional partners, the PTEU meets the ultimate goal of assisting Georgia schools in bringing all students to high levels of learning.

Knowledge Base

Teacher development is generally recognized as a continuum that includes four phases: preservice, induction, in-service, renewal (Odell, Huling, and Sweeny, 2000). Just as Sternberg (1996) believes that the concept of expertise is central to analyzing the teaching-learning process, the teacher education faculty at KSU believe that the concept of expertise is central to preparing effective classroom teachers and teacher leaders. Researchers describe how during the continuum phases teachers progress from being Novices learning to survive in classrooms toward becoming Experts who have achieved elegance in their teaching. We, like Sternberg (1998), believe that expertise is not an end-state but a process of continued development.

Use of Technology : Technology Standards for Educators are required by the Professional Standards Commission. Telecommunication and information technologies will be integrated throughout the master teacher preparation program, and all candidates must be able to use technology to improve student learning and meet Georgia Technology Standards for Educators. During the courses, candidates will be provided with opportunities to explore and use instructional media. They will master use of productivity tools, such as multimedia facilities, local-net and Internet, and feel confident to design multimedia instructional materials, and create WWW resources. This course serves to provide a basic foundation for statistical analysis in educational research. With computer lab experience and assignments, students will:

* Understand and explore a computerized statistical package (JMPIn) used to complete simple data analyses.

* Learn to create a data file for statistical analyses.

* Learn to conduct data analyses with the computerized statistical package

(JMPIn). Analyses include: Frequency distribution, correlation, and t-test.

* Learn to interpret results from computer generated statistical analyses.

Field Based Activities: While completing your graduate program at Kennesaw State University, you are required to be involved in a variety of leadership and school-based activities directed at the improvement of teaching and learning. Appropriate activities may include, but are not limited to, attending and presenting at professional conferences, actively serving on or chairing school-based committees, attending PTA/school board meetings, leading or presenting professional development activities at the school or district level, and participating in education-related community events. As you continue your educational experiences, you are encouraged to explore every opportunity to learn by doing.

Professional Portfolio Narrative:A required element in each final portfolio for the Graduate Program is the portfolio narrative. The purpose of the portfolio narrative is to ensure that every candidate reflects on each of the proficiencies on the CPI with regard to what evidence the candidate has selected for his/her portfolio. In your portfolio, you need to include a narrative which includes descriptive, analytic and reflective writing in which you reflect on each proficiency and how you make the case that the evidence you have selected in your portfolio supports a particular proficiency, using the Portfolio Narrative Rubric as a guide. The narrative should be comprehensive, documenting research-based best practices. Included in this narrative should be a reference to your Action Research Project and your analysis of impact on student learning which are required elements of this course.

VII. POLICIES:

Diversity: A variety of materials and instructional strategies will be employed to meet the needs of the different learning styles of diverse learners in class. Candidates will gain knowledge as well as an understanding of differentiated strategies and curricula for providing effective instruction and assessment within multicultural classrooms. One element of course work is raising candidate awareness of critical multicultural issues. A second element is to cause candidates to explore how multiple attributes of multicultural populations influence decisions in employing specific methods and materials for every student. Among these attributes are age, disability, ethnicity, family structure, gender, geographic region, giftedness, language, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. An emphasis on cognitive style differences provides a background for the consideration of cultural context.

Kennesaw State University provides program accessibility and accommodations for persons defined as disabled under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. A number of services are available to support students with disabilities within their academic program. In order to make arrangements for special services, students must visit the Office of Disabled Student Support Services (ext. 6443) and develop an individual assistance plan. In some cases, certification of disability is required.

Please be aware there are other support/mentor groups on the campus of Kennesaw State University that address each of the multicultural variables outlined above.

Professionalism- Academic Honesty:

KSU expects that graduate students will pursue their academic programs in an ethical, professional manner. Faculty of the M.Ed. in Adolescent Education program abide by the policies and guidelines established by the university in their expectations for candidates’ work. Candidates are responsible for knowing and adhering to the guidelines of academic honesty as stated in the graduate catalog. Any candidate who is found to have violated these guidelines will be subject to disciplinary action consistent with university policy. For example, plagiarism or other violations of the University’s Academic Honesty policies could result in a grade of “F” in the course and a formal hearing before the Judiciary Committee.

Professionalism- Participation, and Attendance: Part of your success in this class is related to your ability to provide peer reviews and feedback to your editing groups regarding their research and their writing. Furthermore, responding effectively and appropriately to feedback from your peers and the professor is another measure of one’s professionalism. In addition, since class meets only once a week, failure to attend class will likely impact your performance on assignments and final exams. Please be prepared with all readings completed prior to class. We depend on one another to ask pertinent and insightful questions. Finally, please turn off all cell phones. A ringing phone and the resulting conversation is a nuisance and an unprofessional interruption in the flow of the class.

VIII. COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: The Professional Teacher Education Unit prepares expert

teacher-leaders who understand their disciplines and principles of pedagogy, who reflect on practice, and

who apply these understandings to making instructional decisions that foster the success of all

learners. As a result of the satisfactory fulfillment of the requirements of this course, the student will be

able to:

Course objective / CPI Outcome/
Proficiency / Experience/
Assignment
Identify characteristics of valid educational research relating to a content area and student age-group. / 1.3, 2.3, 2.7, 3.2 / Quizzes
Readings
Class discussions and lectures
Conference critique
Understand quantitative and qualitative methodologies and analyze which approach is most valid for certain conditions and purposes; / 3.1, 3.2 / Quizzes
Impact on Student Learning Analysis
Understand and apply basic quantitative, statistical analysis including measures of central tendency, variability, correlation, and group comparisons to a research problem. / 2.6, 2.7, 3.2 / Quizzes
Class discussions and lectures
Impact on Student Learning Analysis and/or
Action Research Project
Understand and apply techniques and strategies of qualitative data collection, analysis and interpretation / 2.6, 2.7, 3.2 / Quizzes
Class discussions and lectures
Impact on Student Learning Analysis and/or
Action Research Project
Conduct a literature review and literature critique related to the research topics; / 2.3, 3.2 / Action research project
Design, conduct, and present research ( applied- action, or basic- quantitative, qualitative or mixed model) which has as it’s intent to impact student learning and/or to contribute to knowledge in the field. / 1.3, 2.3,2.5, 2.6, 2.7,3.2 / Action research project
Adolescent Education
Impact on student learning analysis
Apply qualitative or quantitative methodologies to assess one’s impact on P-12 student learning. / 1.3, 2.3,2.5, 2.6, 2.7,3.2 / Action research project
Impact on student learning analysis
Describe, analyze and critically reflect on one’s teaching and how it impacts P-12 student learning in one’s own classroom or school. / 3.1,3.2 / Action research project
Impact on student learning analysis
Follow accepted professional and IRB guidelines with regard to conducting and reporting research. / 3.2 / Human Subjects/IRB training
Action research project
Action research presentation
Conference Proposal

IX.COURSE REQUIREMENTS/ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Human Subjects and Institutional Review Board Training: Completed online prior to engaging in action research project data collection. You must submit certificate of completion as evidence that you have fulfilled this course requirement. Go to this link for training:

2. Action Research: This is a field based project which involves selecting a topic for research related to the candidate’s teaching assignment, posing research questions or hypotheses, conducting a review of related literature, designing appropriate methods for data collection, collecting data using appropriate methods and analyzing and reporting the results.

3. Impact on Student Learning Analysis:It is our assumption that you are already assessing the influence of your instruction on your students’ learning and that you are considering what factors, such as student diversity, might affect your students’ achievement. For this assignment, you will select a lesson, activity, unit, or skill that you plan to teach this semester and analyze how your teaching impacted your students’ learning. Then, using the “Impact on Student Learning Analysis” Rubric as a guide, you will write a narrative about the impact your teaching had on your students learning, addressing in part, how the differences that every student brings to the classroom setting may have influenced learning (see definition of “every student” at the top of the Impact on Student Learning rubric. The length of the reflection is up to you, but it should be concise and address all aspects of the assignment as outlined in the Directions for Impact on Student Learning Analysis

4. Conference Proposal OR Critique: For this assignment, you have two options:

A. Submit a conference proposal to an education related state, regional, or national conference. You will submit a duplicate copy of the proposal to me at the time you submit the proposal to the conference.

B. Attend a local, state, regional, or national conference. You may not count regularly scheduled “inservice activites” required by your district as a way to meet this requirement. You must provide a copy of the conference program and a critique of at least 3 sessions which you attended. The sessions may be general sessions or concurrent sessions. Format for the critique will be provided.

5. Quizzes: In-class, open-note, multiple choice, short-answer formats involving application of quantitative and qualitative research principles.

6. Adolescent Education Research Roundtables: College-wide research forum organized, advertised and conducted by M.Ed in Adolescent Education Candidates. Each candidate will present his/her research to small groups of colleagues, professors and undergraduate students. Candidate will prepare appropriate materials for presentation, either electronic or poster session style and will present findings in professional conference roundtable style.

X.EVALUATION AND GRADING:

ASSIGNMENTPointsGRADING SCALE

Action Research Proposal 40119-130 points A Impact on Student Learning Analysis 20 105-118 points B

Human Subjects/IRB Assignment10 91-104 points C Quizzes 50 78-90 points D Conference Proposal 10 Below 78 F

Total Points Possible130

NOTE: Candidates must make a “B” or better in the Educational Research class. If they fail to make a “B” or better, candidates must schedule a meeting with their advisor prior to the beginning of the next semester to devise a plan for continuation in the program. Candidates must score an “S” on each section of the Action Research Project to successfully complete the educational research course with a “B” or better.

XI.COURSE OUTLINE -- TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (Subject to change WITH ample notification):

January 10Introductions, Course Overview, Standards of writing, academic honesty, APA guidelines. Framing the research process within the context of the M.Ed. in Adolescent Education program—linking to Graduate Outcomes and proficiencies on the Candidate Performance Instrument.

January 17Holiday-No class.

January 24Creswell, Ch. 1 & 2 Nature, characteristics and types of quantitative and qualitative research.

Validity and reliability, identifying problems, posing questions and hypotheses.

January 31IRB Human Subjects form Due

Creswell, Ch. 18. Action Research

Computer Lab- Computer search and preliminary work on literature reviews.

February 7Creswell, Ch. 11. Quantitative research designs- Experimental, Quasiexperimental

February 14Creswell, Ch. 12 Quantitative designs continue- Correlational

Creswell, Ch. 13Survey Designs (Quantitative and qualitatively focused designs)

February 21Conference Proposal due.

Creswell, Ch. 6 & 7. Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative data.

Data Analysis Lab- Descriptive statistics

February 28Impact on Student Learning Analysis Due

Data Analysis Lab- Inferential statistics

Data Analysis Lab- Extension and application of descriptive and inferential statistics.

Quantitative Q & A

March 4Last day to withdraw without academic penalty

March 7KSU SPRING BREAK (No class)

March 14Quiz- (Quantitative and Action research- 30 points)

Creswell, Ch. 15. Qualitative research designs-Ethnographic designs

March 21Creswell, Ch. 16. Qualitative research designs- Narrative designs

March 28Creswell Ch. 8 & 9. Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative data.

Data coding and theme identification

April 4Draft of Part 1 of Action Research Project Due

Draft of Introduction: Statement of the problem, purpose of the study (should include self-reflection and description) , research questions or hypotheses

Draft of Review of Literature and related topics/themes

Draft of Methods and Procedures (Action plan for collecting data)

Peer Review Session

Computer lab- quantitative data analysis and/or qualitative data analysis/coding.