1a.+Major+Shift

//The problematic I would like to investigate is as follows: // How do secondary students believe they develop independent learning skills, what role does the secondary school system play in this development, and what design principles or approaches could guide the development of an online learning environment to facilitate and support the development of these skills?
 * The topic mid 2009 was: **

[|Mind Map] of Key Words for Literature Review Search //(to all visitors, any more suggestions to add to mind map, would love to hear from you at// //info@enhanced-learning.net////)//

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Between the reading I have been doing, and my poster presentation at FASS conference, I have started to think that really I have 2 complete research projects in the above research question. I really do want to understand about online spaces for developing study skills, but when I started looking at how I would actually investigate this I realized a number of things: - ‘How do students develop effective learning skills?’ When I started thinking about how I would research this and what methods I’d use, I realized that this is not something that can be easily determined. It is a number of factors that will contribute and many people are not even aware of how these skills developed. What I can investigate is experiences, attitudes and beliefs towards effective learning skills, how do people think they develop these skills what experiences have they had with them.
 * Change in thinking **

- I also realized that in order to move to what was the second stage of the research (ie developing the online space) I was making a lot of assumptions in which skills were important and which skills needed to be developed. I realized that before I can look at developing an online space, I need to understand more about effective learning skills, how they are defined, what they encompass in the modern world and how technology is being used by students and teachers in this area and what could be done. Also what attitudes the school community has towards technology use to develop these skills – have they found it useful?

- So I think in order to design an online space to develop these skills, I first need to understand what the attitudes are towards these skills (had a surprise at a staff session the other day to find that 50% of the teachers at this school believed it is the parents responsibility to develop these skills not the teacher or school). I need to understand how technology is being used for this and how successful students and teachers believe this use is. Also look at other potential uses and see what the reaction is to these.

- So even though I resisted this when it was suggested to me at the FASS conference, I think the first part of the research question at the top of the page is a actually whole topic in itself. Once I have researched this area, then I can use the findings of this research to look at designing an online space based on what I have discovered. But I do not think this can happen in this project – I see it as perhaps my next research project after completing the PhD! I originally thought the first part of the research question would be a quick investigation prior to the development of the online space, but the more I think about it the more I realize this first investigation needs to be done fully and completely to make the design of an online space successful.

- The other factor is how little this topic has been investigated in the context of the skills required for today’s students and the nature of digital generation learners. I thought I could just review the literature to help move through this first stage quickly, but there is very little that has been done that is recent and from this perspective. I am struggling to find research to review on this area that takes into account the breadth of skills required by the modern student. This is something where there has not been much investigation in secondary schools– most of the research seems to be by people like Biggs, Weinstein, Laurillard and Entwistle and in higher education. This means that for this research project anyway, I am going to move away from design based research (well put it on hold really and do the second half of my original research question as a separate project post-doctorate, shame cause I have done lots of reading in this area!). Instead I will be looking more at a case study approach with a mix of interviews, questionnaires and hands on workshops focusing on the first part of the research question above. Basically I want to go much more in-depth in the first part of the previous research question and leave the second part (although still look at it from a technological perspective). So this is what I am thinking now for the wording of my topic: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What experiences, attitudes and beliefs does the secondary school community have towards skills that contribute to academic success in secondary school and the use of technology to develop these skills? //Skills that contribute to academic success: Commonly referred to in schools as ‘study skills’, ‘effective learner skills’, ‘learning to learn skills’, ‘independent learning skills’ ‘meta-cognitive skills’, ‘self-regulating skills’. These are skills that are not subject specific, but are skills that help students improve the way they approach and manage their schoolwork and ultimately their results.// //Secondary school community: students, teachers, school executives, parents.//
 * RESEARCH PROBLEMATIC**

> See next page for continued evolutions of research topic...