E-Learn Las Vegas and Semester End 594

At the beginning of November, Robert shared his summer research project with the class. This inspired me to think about conducting my own research interest when possible. As a future educator and researcher, it’s very important for me to continue and strengthen my profession through the research study. Through Robert’s research project presentation, I have come to realize that even though you are conducting your own research, it is important to share ideas with others. This will allow you to receive the suggestion from the different angles which will help you make a better research. Evidence can also be found during Yu-Chang’s pilot study presentation. Some of the items may still be questionable and overseen by the author.

I had a great opportunity to attend an “E-Learn” international conference at Las Vegas. The topic that I was one of the presenters is titled “Unobtrusive Measure of Attitude in Online Discussions: Implications for Crafting Discussion Triggers”. Throughout the process of preparing for the presentation, I learned various ways of data analysis. First, I learned about our questionnaire to measure Students’ Attitude Toward Astronomy (SATA) which was developed by Zeilik and Morris (2003). I believe that I can adapt this five-point Likert scale questionnaire into my research that calls for the attitude analysis.

Secondly, Newman, Webb, and Cochrane (1997) have provided useful protocol in analyzing / assessing critical thinking development. It is very interesting to learn how critical thinking can be measured through what is called “Critical Thinking Ratio”. The ratio is based on numbers of positive and negative coding. I also learned to adapt this model into our presentation. By using the positive and negative coding of ASTRO discussions and applying to ratio model; the difference between positive and negative attitudes divided by sum of positive and negative attitudes. As a result, we were able to compare the finding of qualitative data (attitude ration) and quantitative data (SATA). Interestingly, the result from qualitative analysis is comparable to the result from quantitative analysis.

Looking back at my personal goals at the beginning of this semester, I have partially accomplished most of my goals. One thing that I have not done this semester is to participate in the teaching opportunity as a presenter. I hope there will be the teaching opportunity available next semester. I will definitely take advantage of this opportunity in the next semester.

Throughout the class, I have had an opportunity to apply my knowledge that I learned from qualitative and quantitative research courses in the discussion. Having discussion regarding educational research in this class allows me to map the knowledge from other research classes to the actual educational research practice. In return, this allows me to have a better understanding about the educational research and its practice. My understanding about the research becomes clearer to me that it once was a semester ago.

Working with Eugeniu and others in the E-Learn presentation gave me an opportunity to learn an important tool in qualitative research. Having initial experience with NVivo will surely empower me in becoming a good researcher. In addition to using NVivo to analyze the data qualitatively, having such a great opportunity to present and learn from other educators during the E-Learn international conference will broaden my vision and strengthen my knowledge in becoming an effective educator and creative researcher.

With the winter break to come and reviewing my reflections for this semester, I have come to realize that I should take advantage of the break by learning more about educational research. Throughout the teaching opportunity, I got a very good sense of each topic. However, I also realize that I still need to learn more. So, my plan is to through some of the topics presented this semester and find out more about them over the break.

I hope I am being reflective. Have a very happy holiday.

Putting what I know in action

At the beginning of October, Dr. Grabowski gave us an opportunity to look at the ASTRO model we had created. We were asked to pick variables we would like to find and study the relationship. I chose Attitude toward Science and Course, Students’ Performance in Astronomy, and Students’ Degree of Engagement. If I were to study these variables, I would like to find the answers for these questions:

• Is there correlation between Attitude toward Science + Course and Astronomy Performance?
• Is there correlation between Attitude toward Science + Course and Students’ Degree of Engagement?

In addition to the relationship of variables, we were also encouraged to use existing data to run our research questions. I found this activity very helpful and useful for me. This activity gives me a chance to practice analyzing the data. I am hoping to have my first statistic finding before the end of this semester.

In October, my team and I spent most of our time analyzing ASTRO discussion and preparing for the E-Learn conference in November. From trial and error, I have learned a lot about how to use NVivo to do the data mining for qualitative analysis. I have completed the analysis and am waiting anxiously to see what others’ findings would be. One thing I found when running queries on NVivo is that it doesn’t seem like I would be able to run the report in the statistic data, such as comparing the number or percentage of Positive Attitude toward Course and Negative Attitude toward Course. This is probably one of the issues that I am planning to do more research.

Our plan for this analysis is to compare every rater’s findings by using the process called “inter-rater reliability”. From this activity, I expect to learn how this “inter-rater reliability” can be done. I believe in my heart that this will strengthen my research skill and empower and help me when I am doing another, as well as my, research.

On October 27th, 2008, it was the day of the first teaching opportunity. Yu-Hui presented her teaching topic in “Data Screening”. This is, once again, a very interesting and fascinating information. I have learned a lot, in details, about four different concepts of data distribution: (1) normal distribution, (2) Skewness, (3) Kurtosis, and (4) Outliers. More interestingly, Yu-Hui thoroughly delivered the key information of the processes for data screening that researchers should keep in mind: (1) ways to inspect the accuracy of input, (2) check for missing data, and finally (3) how to deal with the missing ones. This will absolutely help me in the future when I am analyzing the data.

Getting Started in Fall'08 (September'08 Reflection)

I started this semester with a great expectation and goal that I would be able to contribute more into this class. We started with the reports on the summer project. Even though, the project ran into some obstacles (dropping out off members and Scott’s new position), that didn’t stop the project from going forward. Each member seems to learn a lot from investing his/her time on the project. Due to my personal circumstance, I really regret that I was not able to work on it through the end. I, however, have learned a great deal from assessing ASTRO’s lessons (Lesson 3 and 4). I had a chance to realize that as a future instructional designer, it is very important to ensure that not only your lessons are mapped to Learning Cognitive, but also the lessons given match your learning objectives.

As a required part of the class, I set my research goals for this semester. There are four goals I would like to succeed.

• Collaborate with Eugeniu and other members to complete and present a paper at E-Learn.


• Apply the knowledge learnt from Quantitative and Qualitative research classes in E-Learn paper and class participations.


• If possible, contribute and share knowledge with class members through teaching opportunity.


• Develop research topic idea(s) from other member experiences.

At E-Learn conference, Eugeniu and I are expecting to present the best practice’s paper on “Unobtrusive Measure of Attitude in Online Discussions: Implications for Crafting Discussion Triggers”. Since we had a couple of meetings with suggestions from Dr. Grabowski, this presentation becomes much clearer than it did in the past. Special thank to Khusro who contributed his NVivo expertise, I have learned new sophisticated software, NVivo, that I strongly believe it would empower me in the field of qualitative research. As part of what Eugeniu and I would like to find from ASTRO’s thread discussion, we use NVivo to code attitude toward sciences, attitude toward course, and engagement.

From my course work this semester, I hope, as INSYS594’s participant, I will be able to apply the knowledge and resources from EDPSY475 (Quantitative Research) and ADTED550 (Qualitative Research). In addition to applying knowledge, I would like to share it with other members.

Through out the conversation regarding learning theories and E-Learn paper, I have come to realize that there are various topics being discussed that I need to start getting familiar with. Those topics include: MSLQ, SEM (Structural Equation Models), Attitudinal Instruction, Gagne’s 9 events, Merrill’s First Principles, Socio-cultural Theory, self-regulate learning, community of inquiry, etc. As I am working toward the educational research and instructional design fields, I need to pick up my speed in learning or getting to know this knowledge. I am very confident that I would learn a lot about these subjects through the team discussion and my research.

Apr. 08's Reflection Journal

Due to the conflict schedule and conference, we didn't meet at all in the March. I had an opportunity to attend the second part of Hien's presentation regarding assessing online discussions. I found “A Flowchart for the Typical Process of Content Analysis Research” and “Interaction Analysis Model for Examining Social Construction of Knowledge” given during the presentation are very useful when I need to do the qualitative analysis.

Another presentation was from Natalia in the topic of ANOVA and Regression. This topic was very new to me. However, Natalia's presentation had given me a jump start in terms of learning or researching more about this topic. Her presentation also brought everyone into the discussion of the significance value. I'm very sure that Natalia's presentation would help me in this program, especially in other Statistic courses that I have to take in the future.

Toward the end of April, I had a great opportunity of meeting in a small group with Eugeniu and Dr. Grabowski. Eugeniu had generously brought 2 excellent books regarding qualitative research / assessment. I found these books very interesting and would be very helpful in preparing for assessing / reviewing ASTRO's discussions. Those two books are:

(1) Creswell, J. W. (1997). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Traditions. Sage Publications, Inc.

(2) Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2006). Educational Research: An Introduction. Allyn & Bacon.

We had discussed what Rubric group was supposed to and would be doing in the summer. During the discussion, we reviewed our research questions as well as initial MARS models to decide on what we were looking for from the ASTRO discussion boards. In the conclusion, we came up with six items; (1) Students' Engagement, (2) Students' Attitude in Course, (3) Students' Attitude in Science and Astronomy, (4) Students' Knowledge Acquisition, (5) Students' Higher-order Thinking, and (6) Students' Lower-order Thinking. I learned that during the research process, it is very important to keep the research questions and the initial model in mind. By not following this, researchers might waste time reviewing unnecessary or unrelated information.

Finally, we, Rubric group, were interested in attending eLearning conference in November 2008. The topic that we are planning to present is “Unobtrusive Measure of Attitude in Online Discussion: Implication for Crafting Discussion Triggers.” I am very excited in being part of this presentation. I hope that I could contribute to the presentation as much as possible.

Feb. 08's Reflection Journal

There were only 2 meeting scheduled in February. We were assigned tasks based on our team's responsibilities. As a member of the Rubric Instrument team, we were responsible for researching on literature reviews for the discussion rubrics. Eugeniu had provided many useful and insightful studies regarding the discussion assignment. With an access to the online program, I could contribute some rubrics that are currently used. From the discussion about team's progress, I have found that in order for me to work on the rubric part I would need to have a background on the qualitative assessment. Learning about the qualitative assessment is now one of my high priorities for MARS research project.

I have only had a chance to attend one meeting on February 23 rd , 2008. It was another great opportunity to listen to Hien's proposal presentation. I found her research area very interesting. From her presentation, I have learned that when it comes to working on my dissertation or research project, I need to be very resourceful in order to setup the research problems and methodology.

Another great experience I had in that meeting was to participate in Hyeon Woo's senior student teaching opportunity. I think this is an excellent idea and method to allow senior students to share their knowledge and skills as well as to practice their teaching methods and strategies. Hyeon Woo's teaching topic was the SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). Some of the terms presented during his session were the statistic terms I have never used. However, his teaching and presentation had made them easily understandable. Though I didn't entirely understand, it would not be too hard to learn more about this topic by using the knowledge and understanding I obtained from his teaching session.

Throughout the end of the meeting, Dr. Grabowski introduced the term “Publish or Perish.” This term refers to the pressure that academic profession is required to produce many publications as one of the criteria for career's promotion. The issues being raised during the discussion was about the “Authorship.” This seems to be very unclear topic to discuss. For example MARS research project, whether or not an individual member can fully / partially use the research data / findings; whether or not member who graduates be the completion of research can have a credit / be listed in as a researcher; whether or not I, as a member of the Rubric team, can use the data from other instrument teams; etc.

The discussion focused mostly on “Authorship” and “Contribution.” Looking at a publication of the research team project as a profit of organization, it seems unmotivated for unknowledgeable or inexperience members not to receive a credit, if the authorship is solely based on the contribution. On the other hands, I found it reasonable to say that the more you contributed the more you should own the publication. The question is how authorship can be motivatedly and fairly recognized.

Jan. 08's Reflection Journal

January 2008 is not only a beginning of the year 2008, but also a beginning of my fist challenge in my doctoral degree in Instructional Systems at Penn State University . Having received a great opportunity from Dr. Grabowski, my advisor, to attend the last meeting at the end of fall semester, I am enrolling in this course, INSYS 594 – Research Apprenticeship, with an initial expectation in learning more about the research process and perhaps hoping that my background and experience would be benefit for our research team.

Coming to meet for the first time as an official and a new member was not easy for me. I really appreciate warmth welcome and friendly atmosphere from Dr. Grabowski and other members; Meltem, Yu-Hui, Eugeniu, Yu-Chang, Natalia, Khusro, Hyeon Woo, Kyu Yon, Rucha, Hien, Stephen, and Hsin-I.

Having met 3 times with the team; 2 on-site and 1 on-line, I have learnt about how research projects are conducted and most importantly how to work collaboratively as a team. In addition, I have come to realize that our meetings are not entirely about the research project we are conducting, but, equally, concerning other team members' research/dissertation project where everyone learns/teaches each others. For instance, very thank to Meltem for sharing her excellent prospectus, I have learnt about how research question(s) can be set up. Reviewing various similar researches and related literatures help researchers set up questions and/or hypotheses. I strongly believe that this valuable experience would significantly benefit me in constructing the effective research projects.

Our project for this semester is titled “MARS.” My first task is to work closely with Eugeniu in the Rubric Instrument team. Although this is my very first time being part of such a project, I am, little anxiously, hoping and wishing to do my best to provide as much contribution as the team requires.