Research Projects in a Post Note Card World

Dr. Bernard Bullhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/reedinglessons/2238990839/

What is a Post Note Card World?

• What are the benefits of the traditional note card approach to research projects?

• What are the limitations to the traditional note card approach?

• What is the nature of research in the 21st century?

“Collaboration Across Networks”

Wagner, Tony. The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need--and What We Can Do About It. New York: Basic Books, 2008.

1990-2005 Concerns from Historians

1. Inadequate training for new historians on how to work with large data sets

2. Limited University support for the technical infrastructure necessary to conduct research with large data sets

3. Scholars worried about sharing their data sets with others

Steckel, Richard H. "Big Social Science History." Social Science History 31, no. 1 (Spring 2007 2007): 1-34. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 6, 2011).

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database

http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/about/index.faces

over ninety percent of documented slave trade departures from ports in Great Britain

International Macroeconomic Data Set

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/Macroeconomics/

1969-2011 exchange rates, per capita income, consumer price indexes, population data

Global Collaboratory on the History of Labor Relations in the

Period 1500-2000

http://www.iisg.nl/research/labourcollab

Global Collaboratory on the History of Labor Relations in the

Period 1500-2000• Researchers from 8 countries • Created a system for cataloguing different

types of labor • Collected data based on that system• Demographics from Africa, the

Caribbean, China, Ghana, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia/Eurasia, Spain, and Turkey.

http://www.iisg.nl/research/labourcollab

An EXAMPLE From the CUW M.S. In Educational Design and Technology program

Digital Storytelling as Collaborative Research

Digital Storytelling as Collaborative Research

• Started with a pre-existing lesson.• Added “expert” visits.• Created rubrics based upon each expert.• Cafe’ style classroom promoted informal

collaboration.• Focus was upon analytical and communication skills.• Collaborative creation of a content repository for

thematic projects. • Grandparent day film festival

What is different about this type of work? What is different about this type of research?

What skills are required for this type of research?

What skills are required for this sort of research?

1. Work entirely alone2. Work in diverse teams with limited direction from a single

authority3. Collaborate across networks with limited face-to-face interaction 4. Analyze large and diverse types and sources of data/information5. Transmedia navigation and creation6. Build upon the data collection of others7. Edit the work of others 8. Organize research findings in ways that are meaningful beyond

individual preferences

Three Steps to Cultivating a School Culture for Digital Age Research, Collaboration, and Creation

1. Surface the Current Practices of Students and Teachers

“Presearch”

http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_ProgressReport_2_2009.pdf

2. Help students and teachers get informed about the possibilities, but build upon pre-existing classroom practices.

4 Baby Steps

1. Collective annotated bibliography in Google Docs

2. Diigo group for shared resources with student reviews for each one.

3. Collective essay as a pre-assignment to an individual project, paper, or test.

4. Class “research projects” that extend over a quarter or semester.

3. Establish a supported toolbox, but don’t let the tools rule the projects.

Tool Switching

A Few Useful Tools

• Evernote• NoodleTools• GoogleDocs• Diigo• Wikispaces or PBWorks

Evernote

Video Introduction - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHeVZvnCjNA

NoodleTools

Diigo

Google Docs

Research Projects in a Post Note Card World

www.etale.orghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/reedinglessons/2238990839/