Research Methods in Educational Informatics (6 ECTS), J175614

NOTE: The course is primary intended for IMPDET students and for students studying in the IT teacher/Educational Technology master degree studies. Also students in the IMPIT programme (enrolles in UEF) will have the priority to partipate in the course. There will be maximum of 20 student positions available in the course. If you have already taken the Scientific Methdodology in Computer Science -course, you can't participate to this course.

Contents

• conducting and evaluating research in educational informatics
• developing meaningful and relevant research questions in educational technology and computer science education
• introduction to different research approaches in educational informatics (qualitative, quantitative, mixed, development research, triangulation)
• discussion about the challenges and opportunities of multidisciplinary research approaches
• introduction to various research methods, such as action research, design research, case studies, experimental research, controlled research, natural research, grounded theory

Goals

After the course, the students are expected

• to identify different research methods and their applicability in the field of educational informatics
• to create a plan for conducting research with 1-2 research methods presented in the course
• to critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different research approaches and methods
• to link the knowledge acquired during the course to their own MSc. thesis/PhD research

Course arrangements in Spring 2009

Start up lecture: January 28, 2010, at 12-14, room 2D106.

Please sign up for the course via Weboodi or by sending an email to Jarkko Suhonen (jarkko.suhonen(at)uef.fi). The 20 students are selected based on the order of the enrollement taking into account that following students will have be given priority in the selection process

1. IMPDET students
2. students in the IT teacher and educational technology master degree studies
3. IMPIT students at UEF

Evaluation

Details confirmed in the beginning of the course

Literature

• Fincher, S., Petre, M. (Eds.); Computer Science Education Research. RoutledgeFalmer, London, 2004.
• Creswell, J.W.; Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (2nd. Ed.), 2003.
• Yin, R.K.; Case Study Research: Design and Methods (2nd Ed.)., SAGE Publications, 2003
• Reason, P., Bradbury, H. (Eds.). Handbook of Action Research, SAGE Publications, 2006.

Additional information

Jarkko Suhonen firstname.lastname@uef.fi

Last updated: December 15, 2009