E-Research Practice in the Context of Educational Research, and Its Possible Challenges
The term e-Research refers to the use of information technology to support existing and new forms of research. eResearch involves working with multidisciplinary knowledge and multidisciplinary teams.
eResearch practice is very effective in educational research. School students should be modern knowledge- builders, school curriculum should be based on knowledge, ways inquiry, and tools of investigation that are relevant for present day and future society / science / economy. Students and teachers should have easy access to the same data, methods and tools for conduction scientific investigations as modern research communities do. In order to make learning relevant and engaging for school students, we need to make knowledge generated by eResearch as well as eResearch methods and tools available for schools. In other words, we need to integrate eResearch in education.
Learning and teaching practices should be informed by knowledge about how students learn and how effective pedagogies look like, and how one can supports students learning and teachers teaching. Some aspects of education increasingly cannot be explored without eResearch methods and tools anymore. For example, to improve online learning we need research methods that can help to make sense of online learning traces and logs, to improve classroom practices we need methods and tools that can help to analyze classroom interaction at a great level of precision and detail, to support students' progress and we need methods that can help to analyze longitudinal administrative data and provide information about students profiles and trajectories. In other words, we need to create and use new education eResearch methods and tools for improving education.
eResearch practice is very effective in educational research. School students should be modern knowledge- builders, school curriculum should be based on knowledge, ways inquiry, and tools of investigation that are relevant for present day and future society / science / economy. Students and teachers should have easy access to the same data, methods and tools for conduction scientific investigations as modern research communities do. In order to make learning relevant and engaging for school students, we need to make knowledge generated by eResearch as well as eResearch methods and tools available for schools. In other words, we need to integrate eResearch in education.
Learning and teaching practices should be informed by knowledge about how students learn and how effective pedagogies look like, and how one can supports students learning and teachers teaching. Some aspects of education increasingly cannot be explored without eResearch methods and tools anymore. For example, to improve online learning we need research methods that can help to make sense of online learning traces and logs, to improve classroom practices we need methods and tools that can help to analyze classroom interaction at a great level of precision and detail, to support students' progress and we need methods that can help to analyze longitudinal administrative data and provide information about students profiles and trajectories. In other words, we need to create and use new education eResearch methods and tools for improving education.
Possible Challenges Of eResearch:
Every research is conducted to address particular issues. This is to be done in a precise and systematic manner to look for new knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, or for the re-interpretation of existing knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. In conducting research, researchers must be cautious. They must allocate plenty of time to complete each stage of the activity. The researchers need to add some more hours or weeks before the scheduled deadline because there are some things that take more time than they planned, and there are some stages in research work that are more difficult than what the researchers expect. The expansion of research tools means not only employing new research instruments and techniques but also exploring new ways to do research and, indeed, new ways to be a researcher. Whether employing online and digital tools such as social media, virtual reality, mobile apps and digital games in educational research has directly led to the emergence of new ethical challenges.
The proper use of digital tools for research in educational context, which includes both software whether handheld, or desktop has been the current challenge in educational research. Besides these, learning to handle complicated tools , internet connection between researchers and participants when using online tools and digital technologies, project that involve crossing boundaries such as those between home and school, work and social life, or informal and formal learning contexts, conduction of original workshop and digital research are the significant challenges in educational research.
Along with these, educational researchers now have to grapple with other challenges. Time and money, lack of computerization, confidence in the researcher, lack of materials for research work, gap between the university research department on one side and research institutions on the other side, the lack of a scientific training in the methodology of research, the difficulty of timely availability of digital data from the related sectors are the biggest problems and challenges that a researcher has to face during the eResearch. Here, we can conclude that e-Research not only offers diverse incentive, opportunities but also various challenges for different research communities.
Every research is conducted to address particular issues. This is to be done in a precise and systematic manner to look for new knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, or for the re-interpretation of existing knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. In conducting research, researchers must be cautious. They must allocate plenty of time to complete each stage of the activity. The researchers need to add some more hours or weeks before the scheduled deadline because there are some things that take more time than they planned, and there are some stages in research work that are more difficult than what the researchers expect. The expansion of research tools means not only employing new research instruments and techniques but also exploring new ways to do research and, indeed, new ways to be a researcher. Whether employing online and digital tools such as social media, virtual reality, mobile apps and digital games in educational research has directly led to the emergence of new ethical challenges.
The proper use of digital tools for research in educational context, which includes both software whether handheld, or desktop has been the current challenge in educational research. Besides these, learning to handle complicated tools , internet connection between researchers and participants when using online tools and digital technologies, project that involve crossing boundaries such as those between home and school, work and social life, or informal and formal learning contexts, conduction of original workshop and digital research are the significant challenges in educational research.
Along with these, educational researchers now have to grapple with other challenges. Time and money, lack of computerization, confidence in the researcher, lack of materials for research work, gap between the university research department on one side and research institutions on the other side, the lack of a scientific training in the methodology of research, the difficulty of timely availability of digital data from the related sectors are the biggest problems and challenges that a researcher has to face during the eResearch. Here, we can conclude that e-Research not only offers diverse incentive, opportunities but also various challenges for different research communities.
