UltraversityBlog

Word Limit

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:03:28 GMT

The fine for exceeding the word limit is 10 points.

There is a higher limit for the major project at Level 3.

Results July 2009

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:10:24 GMT

The Official Publication Date for results and decisions from the assessment process, available via e-vision, is 30th July 2009

https://e-vision.anglia.ac.uk

Your transcript is the interim official record of results until you receive your certificate, which is sent by post from the university (not the LTR team) - usually after completing your degree course. Students who withdraw from the course after completing Level 1 or Level 2 are also eligible for certficates and should contact Claire Tyler, our Student Adviser, for details of how to apply.

For fun, you could celebrate by designing your own certificate - there are templates available in Word and on the internet.

http://tinyurl.com/nf3ut6

One semester, Two modules

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:12:41 GMT

Plan
When the semester starts with two (or more) new modules, it's tempting to panic. Stop! Forming a plan will save you time later on. Read the module guide and all the resources, ask your first questions about the resources in the online learning community and draft a plan.
Do
Once you have a plan, decide on your first steps and start doing. What can feel like useful preparation is often putting off taking action. Draft your first task in outline.
Review
Focus on what you can change and influence and don't spend time worrying about what's beyond your control (what other colleagues and students are doing). Revisit your plan and see what you can do, what you need to ask about, where others (colleagues, tutors, other students) might be able to help.
Action is the key
If you read something useful, make a note about it and add to your module reference list. If you are stuck on a technical issue for more than ten minutes, ask in the Technical Support area. If you can't think what to write, try to write the questions instead - what, where, why, when, who, how. Then see which questions you can answer. By planning for two modules, you may be able to see where you can be more efficient.

New Job Titles

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:44:46 GMT

The first module in the course starts to investigate the job title and role. Taking cover supervisors as an example, this is a relatively new job title although the job role is not new. The job used to be done before, and it is worth continuing to explore the background as this will inform future modules. Some of the key phrases that may be useful for finding publications are from the role, rather than the job title:
cover (for absent teachers)
supply teaching
cover timetabling
substitute teacher
... keep adding to this list as you find out more useful phrases

New job titles, such as Cover Supervisor, should be compared to other jobs. Who did the job before? Who else might do it now in a different local authority? Who does similar tasks in another country?

tinyurl glitches

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:05:31 GMT

A student asked about tinyurls, as they do not link on some personal or work computers - probably because of the local setup.

Unsurprisingly, they work for me as I use them in the module resources, following a widely used convention that I first picked up from the David Pogue, the New York Times technology columnist. However, some people find tinyurls glitchy, so would have to use a search such as Google. Usually a search for the information provided with the tinyurl will be effective.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=+Cottrell%2C+S.+(2007).+Critical+and+analytical+thinking+skills

Data Collection Strategies

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:14:39 GMT

School-based researchers (and anyone else working with children) would not have time to apply for permission from the university to collect data from children. As the inquiries throughout the degree course are based on personal improvement, the apparent restriction should not be seen as limiting - the research is about you and your improvement, not about the children.

Data collection strategies

1) Reflections in your learning journal - show how you approach this in a systematic way, using one of the models you have studied. This is based on the good practice of evaluating each lesson - taking it further by introducing more depth for the purpose of the module.

2) Lesson observation using the school's standard form or a checklist. This provides the perspective of another member of staff. Adapt this approach for other settings - for example, in a family ask another adult to observe you, using a checklist found through desk research into your topic.

(1) and (2) are the most obvious choices, but you may also consider:

3) Self assessment using a form such as a national literacy strategy checklist. Select relevant sections - otherwise you would be attempting to collect more data than can be used to answer your inquiry question.

Finding Research Questions

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:02:59 GMT

In order to find appropriate literature, you will need to identify a topic and focus. Critical incidents often form the basis for an inquiry because the incident, artefact and reflection provide the rationale - the first part of a research (inquiry) proposal.

Jean McNiff's booklet, Action Research for Professional Development, is a useful source of advice for your first inquiry. McNiff suggests that an inquiry should begin with the question, How do I improve my work?

Develop a more specific specific version : How do I improve my work as an online facilitator?
or : How do I improve my facilitation of peripheral participants in online discussion?

The next step suggested by McNiff is to formulate a research question, such as:

How do I improve my management of incoming email for general enquiries?
How do I improve my use of technology to manage a project?
How do I improve my use of tools to manage work in Microsoft Outlook?
How do I improve my motivation of students at Key Stages 4 and 5?

Ask a real question about something that is important to you in your job, and how you might improve a small aspect of it.

A research question has to allow you to find relevant published research in the library. Think carefully about whether your question could be answered within three weeks - or less, if you find it difficult to keep to the suggested schedule.

If you restrict your topic too far, it may be impossible to find relevant research and you will have to abandon the topic. Action inquiry is used widely, so if you haven't already done a Google (or other) search, try something like:

parent action inquiry
mothers union action research
primary literacy action inquiry
secondary ict action inquiry
organisational change action inquiry
organisational management action research

The PDP is another good starting point for identifying research questions because you have already identified areas for development. It can be helpful to go back to either your critical incidents or your PDP and answer the two questions in the proposal template together:

What is the improvement you want to make? (50 Words)

First Action (50 words)

This could help to clarify the focus, so you can then locate some literature.

It may be helpful to do several things in parallel while developing the focus of your inquiry: look back at your critical incidents and PDP, look out for interesting published research that may inspire your own inquiry, look forward to the requirements for the proposal form.

Keep it simple!

Finding Topic-based literature

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:02:20 GMT

It is probably about time for me to collect together some of the many suggestions I have made to students for topic-based literature appropriate for course modules.

Intervention groups - Secondary
http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/secondary/intervention

Primary schools
http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/primary

Learning styles
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2007/papers/schaller/schaller.html

How do I improve planning for a range of abilities in an after-school drawing club for primary pupils?
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/art/teaching?view=get

How do I improve my ability to support KS2 pupils in literacy?
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/phonics/

How can I use ICT to reduce the amount of phone calls I make?
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=503376.503394

How do I improve classroom displays as a student resource?
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1164207

How do I improve the motivation of students through the use of classroom displays?
Much harder to find related literature - try
http://www.springerlink.com/content/l186063235727803/

How do I increase the time to work with individual pupils?
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Pubs/slavin.html
http://www.springerlink.com/content/v1r211v2021m4774/

Some extra sources from previous cohorts:

How do I improve peer mediation in a primary school?
http://ultraversity.blogdrive.com/archive/110.html

Finding literature on ICT in schools
http://ultraversity.blogdrive.com/archive/108.html

How to use ibid

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:00:01 GMT

There are widely accepted guidelines on how to use the term "ibid" when citing sources in the body of work. Click here for more information.

Ethics and Data Collection

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:11:33 GMT

In the type of action-led work-based inquiry undertaken during the degree course, the starting point is your job - something that you already know enough about to be able to identify areas for further development. Anyone involved in education or training probably already knows that there is a range of preferred learning styles including visual, aural and kinaesthetic styles.

Under the university ethics policy, you will not have time to get permission to collect data from students under 16. This applies throughout the degree course, as the university procedures assume that only graduates do research - and they have a much longer time scale.

The literature you have used already tells you the answers to some of your possible questions - and by using published research based on large surveys, you get much more objective views anyway. You don't usually need to carry out a survey to establish that there is a range of preferred learning styles in a group. It is useful to understand your own style, so that you can develop your weaker styles.

Possible data collection:
*keep a research journal - use one of the models of reflective writing to systematically record your observations.
*point a video camera at yourself (not students) to analyse what you do - but beware that analysis of video data is very time-consuming
*lesson observation targeted at your research questions

Don't be tempted to collect more data than you can use.
There is support for learning about ethics in the Plone site, workshops area.