H809-2. TMA 01

I worked on this from 11.00 to 22.30 yesterday and knocked out 1992 words, which means I can actually partially enjoy Sunday. Not entirely, though, because a) I am also doing an online MA in Translation Studies through University of Portsmouth and b) without intense studying I feel bored and strangely empty.

I'm quite happy with the paper. I do not call it a first draft because I don't do first drafts - I draft and redraft and edit and re-edit as I go. All that remains after that long process is final minute polishing.

Research question

What challenges do students face when they blog?

Justification

-Kerawalla et al. (2008): the first phase of their iterative research into blogging behaviours, carried out in an OU course (one of the ones I will be taking as part of the Diploma), stresses the need for further research in other contexts. My context differs significantly from theirs, so it will be interesting to compare the differences.

-Beetham (2005): discusses emerging issues in e-learning research. Of particular interest to me are the JISC strands which investigate learning from the students' perspective. Since Beetham acknowledges that many important issues are likely to fall outside the remit of JISC, it is up to action researchers such as myself to take up the slack.

-Laurillard (2008): goes into detail about the value of reflective practice and disseminating the results to a wider community of practitioners. I need to check on the LAMS sharing project she mentions.

-Oliver and Conole (2003): critique "evidence-based practice" as resting on unsuitable epistemological grounds and stress the empowerment of practitioners.

-Williams and Jacobs (2004): offer some questionnaire data on students' responses to blogging, some of which coincides with Kerawalla et al. (2008) and some with my own preliminary questionnaire data from last semester. A picture of blogging behaviours is emerging, but is not yet complete.

Methodology

-A broad discussion of quantitive versus qualitative approaches, bringing in Pring (2000) and his insistence that there is a "false dualism" between the two; some criticisms of the Hiltz and Meinke (1989) study; a dash of Oliver et al. (2007) and Wegerif and Mercer (1997) for good measure in the discussion on data analysis considerations. My data collection tools: Likert scale questionnaires, interviews and artefact analysis of my class blog.