(Please forgive the male pronouns in this post… the individuals featured in it all identify as male and prefer make pronouns, so I used that convention.) A school leader who is working on his dissertation asked me to give him some feedback on his project. He was defining his research question which focused on Read More
Category: Using Data
Triangulation
“Data” and “research” have been recurring themes in this blog: The Problem with Data On #Data and the Quality of Data On the Ethics of Data Collection in Education Data versus Evidence This post continues the theme, and is focused on one of the fundamental ideas of those who seek to use “data’ or “evidence” Read More
#Edtech for #Edleaders: Managing Users, Resources, and Data
95: Edtech for #Edleaders: Managing Network Resources Once IT infrastructure has been installed, IT professionals hired by the school adjust the configurations of devices installed by the engineers and technicians so the network is secure, robust and reliable. They configure settings to authenticate users; give them access to servers, printers, and other devices; and adjust Read More
The Problem with Data
Data is atopic that has been addressed on this blog previously: Being Data Driven is Nothing to Brag About Data versus Evidence If you read those posts, it is going to become clear that I am not a fan of the fascination educators have developed for data. It can be a part of how we Read More
Reflexivity: Teachers and Technology
In a previous post, I presented reflexivity as a phenomenon that we can observe in schools. The concept is grounded in the mutual feedback and feedforward influences that exist between humans and the technologies they use (especially the information technologies they use). Reflexivity can be extended to other observations in schools as well. For example, Read More
On #Data and the Quality of Data
Appropriate Proper Reasonable As an undergraduate science major, I came to understand quantitative data; we measured what we observed in the laboratory and in the field and we summarized and evaluated it to draw conclusions about the world as we saw it. Patterns in numbers were our window into the systems we studied. As a Read More
Experience in Education: A Lesson on Consistent Thinking
Twenty years ago, I was working towards my master’s degree at the local state college. Several fo the faculty were qualitative researchers, and they shared that part of their work with their graduate students. As a “science guy,” I had experience with quantitative data, so the methods unfamiliar to me. Over time, I explored the Read More
The Application of Technology Acceptance to Educational Design
83: Technology Acceptance and Educational Design In 2016, I delivered this paper at the Annual Conference of the New England Education Research Organization. Abstract Despite a long history of computers in schools, many educators continue to struggle with the problem of creating effective technology-rich learning environments. In this exploratory research, documents collected as several K-12 Read More
What Stephen Jay Gould Wrote about Change
Scientific discoveries are deep, difficult and complex. They require a rejection of one view of reality (never an easy task, either conceptually or psychologically), in favor of a radically new order, teeming with consequences for everything held precious. One does not discard the comfort and foundation of a lifetime suddenly or lightly. Moreover, even if Read More
On the Ethics of Data Collection in Education
Appropriate Proper Reasonable I stumbled across this selection from a work iI wrote about five years ago…. it still seems to apply: A part of all education research is recognizing one’s responsibility to proceed in a manner that respects the subjects, the process, and the community. Ethical researchers do not endanger the physical or emotional Read More