Alisa Bates' 'Learning to Design Webquests: An Exploration in Preservice Social Studies Education' was helpful but didn't really offer any theoretical explanations. I moved on to the second article only to find that there was no electronic copy available!! Frustrated, I went back to more trusted sources such as ProQuest.
Here I found an article an American article that discussed the use of technology in the classroom and specificaly the use of wikis.
Collaborative Learning the Wiki Way
Mary E Engstrom, Dusty Jewett. TechTrends. Washington: Nov/Dec 2005. Vol. 49, Iss. 6; pg. 12, 5 pgs.
The article highlighted the nature of the 21st Century learner and their preference for using technology to complete a research task. This was helpful as I intend to use technology with my Cultural Studies class. although they won't be constructing a wiki, they will be using Word or Publisher to construct a tourist information sheet. This information sheet will then be used by the rest of the class to decide which country they would like to visit. I have learned through my readings that I should be calling the assessment piece an "artefact" - it sounds so much more exciting!!
I am finding that my research is rather messy now - jumps all over the place depending on which link I click on. I think this model below reflects the messy nature of research. I prefer the neat and orderly. This one which I found in Google, follows the cyclic model displayed in Callison's Blue book on information age inquiry, instruction and literacy. The spiral in this diagram effectively highlights the important process of questioning and how new questions lead to new theories and the need for more research. Much like this model and Callison's, I'm finding that the questions are important for the refining process.If I find a dead then I ask myself what other combinations of search terms can I use to find relevant articles?
I am finding that my research is rather messy now - jumps all over the place depending on which link I click on. I think this model below reflects the messy nature of research. I prefer the neat and orderly. This one which I found in Google, follows the cyclic model displayed in Callison's Blue book on information age inquiry, instruction and literacy. The spiral in this diagram effectively highlights the important process of questioning and how new questions lead to new theories and the need for more research. Much like this model and Callison's, I'm finding that the questions are important for the refining process.If I find a dead then I ask myself what other combinations of search terms can I use to find relevant articles?
I think your research process also demonstrates your choosy selection of what is appropriate or not for your task. It may seem messy but you are fine tuning what you need. Perhaps you are also taking shortcuts because you are becoming such an expert searcher!
ReplyDeleteI haven't used Eric or Edna this semester as I spent such a long time working with them at the end of 2009 for Information Organisation. I will have to try ProQuest.
ReplyDeleteI too used Proquest and got some good results. I found it really hard to find subject specific results.
ReplyDelete