research – Critical Skills 101

#crit101 v2 – Week Two

In week two #crit101 is turning its attention to research and enquiry. The week two page has been updated with the video lecture, preamble, reading material and information about this week’s assignments.Like last week there will be a Twitter discussion on Wednesday (20.03.13) between 7PM and 8PM (GMT). I hope that more of you are able to join in this week!

The main assignment in week two requires you to conduct research and work collaboratively with your peers using Google Docs. More information about this is available on the week two page and is explained in the video lecture.

Well done to all of you who submitted your first post. They made for interesting reading. I was also pleased with the quality of comments. To make this even more meaningful it is important for you to read and reply to the comments left on your posts. It’s all about the conversation!

Research and Enquiry Badges Awarded

The first badges have been awarded to participants who took an active role in their group’s research project. There is guidance about accepting your badge and setting up your Mozilla Open Badge Backpack in the slides from the week three lecture.

If you require additional suport in a accepting your badge and/or setting up your backpack please get in touch via Email or Twitter.

#crit101 Week Two: What is the best way to cook an egg?

This week I asked participants to collaborate on a short piece of research, addressing the question:

“What is the best way to cook an egg?”

The task was challenging, not least because of the ambiguity inherent in the task but also because of the short amount of time they had to complete it in. Moreover, for many of the participants additional challenges presented themselves because of the need to collaborate using a technology (Google Docs) that some of them had never encountered before. I am pleased to say that many of the participants not only demonstrated their ability to work collaboratively but also displayed the resilience many of them referred to as being integral to in(ter)dependent learning in week one.

As I write this, with one hour to go until the 6PM deadline, one or two groups are still editing and refining their articles. Others have finished and blog posts, reflecting on week two, have started to be posted. I will be reading and responding to both the articles and blog posts over the course of week three. Additionally, the first badges will be issued this week to those participants who took an active role in their group’s research project.

Published Articles: What is the best way to cook an egg?

#crit101 #egg Research – Advice and Guidance

With the tomorrow’s 6PM deadline being just around the corner, I thought it would be pertinent to offer some advice and guidance to help you complete your research and get it written up.

Today, you should continue collecting data and write up your introduction and methodology.

In the introduction you should discuss the ambiguity of the question and what you settled on in terms of your chosen line of enquiry.
In the methodology section you should explain your research approach and chosen methods. Do not discuss any findings.

Tomorrow, you should analyse and evaluate the data collected, then write up your findings and conclusion.

In the findings section you should present your analysis of your findings, triangulating your data sources.
In your conclusion you should reflect on and evaluate what you have learned.

Remember, I am just an email or tweet away. Your finished article needs to be published and a link to it included in your individual blog posts.

#crit101 – Week Two

In week two #crit101 is turning its attention to research and enquiry. The week two page has been updated with reading material and information about this week’s assignments.

Like last week there will be a live video lecture at 7:30PM (GMT) on Monday (28.01.13). Check the blog or Twitter around 7:25 for the link. Once again the slides will be made available prior to the lecture, and a recording will be made available shortly afterwards.

The Twitter discussion will be on Wednesday (30.01.13) between 7PM and 8PM (GMT).

On top of this, I wish to encourage you all to read and comment on each others blog posts from week one. You can find them here on the #crit101 blog. I have added an archive so that it is easy to access all posts published on the site. I will be adding my own thoughts to your posts, but commenting is a key component of the blogging process, and I think it would be useful for you to keep the discussion about in(ter)dependent learning going as the course develops.