Course Syllabus

Sixth Conference on Teacher Education: Curriculum, Research, and Practices in Context(s)

Mar del Plata State University, May 11, 2011

Pre-Conference Seminar: New Models of Educational Research

Nicholas C. Burbules, University of Illinois

Overview: The purpose of this seminar is to study and discuss the impact of new technologies and new sociocultural practices on the theory and methods of educational research.
The format is three, two-hour sessions, with breaks in between. Each two-hour session will include a first hour presentation and discussion of relevant articles. The second hour will include small group discussions and “break-out” sessions devoted to specific exercises and case studies in order to make the theoretical issues raised more concrete.
The goal of the workshop is to have a more “hands-on” experience in relation to themes raised by my lecture keynote the next day.

First two hours: New methods and mixed methods of educational research
Cobb et al. “Design Experiments in Educational Research,” Educational Researcher 32 (19): (2003).
Feuer et al. “Scientific Culture and Educational Research,” Educational Researcher 31 (84): (2002).
Johnson et al. “Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come,” Educational Researcher 33 (7): (2004).

Second two hours: New forms of collaboration in educational research
Noffke, S. E. “Professional, Personal, and Political Dimensions of Action Research,” Review of Research in Education 22: 305-343 (1997).
Clift et al. “Restructuring Teacher Education Through Collaborative Action Research,” Journal of Teacher Education 41 (2): 52-62 (1990).
Armstrong et al. “Collaborative research methodology for investigating teaching and learning,” Educational Review 57 (4): (2005).

Third two hours: New forms of publication in educational research
Nielsen, M. “Is scientific publishing about to be disrupted?” http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/is-scientific-publishing-about-to-be-disrupted/
Lefebvre, R. C. “The new technology: the consumer as participant rather than target audience,” Social Marketing Quarterly 8: 31–42 (2007).

Seminar Final Project (from class notes)

Collaborative community Web-based project: mash-up, essay, literature review, action research project, design experiment.

Contact: Dr. Nicholas Burbules burbules@illinois.edu