An exploratory study into the experiences of technology enhanced learning at Key Stage 3 in England by children unable to attend school due to illness or due to exclusion
One of the first tasks is to write the research proposal. Here’s how mine is shaping up. I’m sure it will change a lot from this initial draft, but this is my thinking so far.
1. Working Title
An exploratory study into the experiences of technology enhanced learning at Key Stage 3 in England by children unable to attend school due to illness
2. Brief Description
Technology enhanced online learning is being used as an alternative to face-to-face tutoring for a number of children in England, unable to attend school due to illness. This small-scale pilot project thematically synthesises findings from a qualitative research model utilising questionnaire results from a sample of children at Key Stage 3 in England, unable to attend school due to illness; in relation to researching the experiences of technology enhanced learning in education and discovering what children identify as the positives and negatives.
3. Broad Aims
For Key Stage 3 children in England unable to attend school due to illness:
What are their experiences of technology enhanced learning in education?
What are the features of technology enhanced learning in education that children see as positive?
What are the features of technology enhanced learning in education that children see as negative?
What are the features that the research indicates as supporting children’s learning?
What are the features that the research indicates as impeding children’s learning?
4. Specific Course Tasks
To make contact with Education Welfare Officers with a view to recruiting a sample of children currently out of school due to illness to complete a questionnaire. It is hoped to recruit around 20 children given discussions with the Education Welfare Department which is responsible for co-ordinating out of school education by week 24
To complete a thematic analysis of the data from 16 questionnaire results by week 31
To identify the experiences of technology enhanced learning in the education of Key Stage 3 children in England who are unable to attend school due to illness by week 31
To identify the features of technology enhanced learning in education that children see as positive by week 31
To identify the features of technology enhanced learning in education that children see as negative by week 31
To undertake this small pilot project in a responsible and ethical manner with reference to the BSA statement of ethical practice by week 42.
To write up the above work in a dissertation according to the rules of assessment specified by the Open University by week 42
5. Background and Justification
In England, there are approximately 150,000 children who are unable to attend school due to illness every year (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010). Children of school age who are unable to attend school are entitled to a minimum of 5 hours of personal tuition a week through a Local Authority System (Department for Education and Skills, 2002) – but this is often face-to-face and all children are asked to attend the Alternative Education Centre whether they are out of school due to illness or because they have been excluded for bad behaviour; have a mental breakdown or have been bullied, or unable to attend school due to pregnancy. In some instances, children may be physically ill or disabled and unable to attend school and fall into attending Alternative Education Centres. There are a whole host of reasons for children unable to attend conventional school. Local Education Authorities can organise home tutoring, but this is an expensive option and may not meet needs, for example, children who can only focus for short periods of time or who need to attend regular medical appointments making timetabling difficult. There is a huge gap between the 30+ hours of face-to-face teaching, children receive at school and the five hours children receive if they stay at home.
This small study will explore the experiences of Key Stage 3 children using technology enhanced learning and what they identify as the positives and negatives involved. Studying how children learn in conventional face-to-face classroom teaching gives only a limited insight into education for the digital age and so this proposed study will make a useful contribution to existing knowledge. A sample of children (given discussions with the Education Welfare Department which is responsible for co-ordinating out of school education in England) will be asked to complete two short questionnaires in week 1 and week 4 of a four week period.
Key Stage 3 children have been selected for this small study due to years 7 – 9 being significant school years – year 7 is the first year of secondary school. Most children in year 7 sit CATs, which along with SATs, determine the form level that the children will be allocated. Year 8 is a time for children to achieve their personal best in the lead up to year 9 which is a very important year, where many big decisions are made. Most children in year 9 are CAT tested and are given National Curriculum levels for Key Stage 3 subjects and GCSE courses are chosen. Using children from this stage allows for a comparison to be made with other research carried out for this age group, for example, Futurelab (2010) is carrying out research on digital literacy and digital participation, in response to curricular reform at Key Stage 3. It involves understanding what skills young people need if they wish to participate fully and safely in an increasingly digital world.
Research that studies digital technology for education (Crook & Harrison, 2008; Sharples et. al., 2009; Vavoula et al., 2007), presents unique ethical issues – for example, participants may be carrying out mobile learning activities that they haven’t provided consent for (Traxler and Bridges, 2004), the protection of privacy and identity (Holland et al, 2008) and protection of minors in unmonitored online spaces (Blackstone et al, 2008), the attachment children gain to technology used within research (Anastopoulou et al, 2008) ; however, there is an incentive to conduct research in this area, as it may lead to contributing to innovations in educational policy and practice.
Studies in the UK and USA (Grunwald Associated, 2007 and Green and Hannon, 2007) highlight the increasing use of participatory digital technologies in the everyday lives of children and ask what this means for learning and stress how the use of technologies form a significant part of out-of-school worlds for children. Clark et al (2009) term the tension with web 2.0 technologies, being used for learning, as ‘digital dissonance’ and argue that more needs to be done to understand how the use of technology in informal learning can be transferred to formal learning. There is anecdotal and some empirical evidence (Crook & Harrison, 2008; Sharples et. al., 2009) emerging that suggests a lot of learning is carried out by young people through the use of technology, yet the use of mobile phones, Facebook and other web2.0 technology is prohibited in schools, because tension arises around what is considered appropriate and pedagogically useful in children’s formal learning.
Our response, as educators, to the transformational power of new media is dependent upon our awareness of the changes that are already having an effect upon learning and our students. A key debate is what educators can do to help children integrate technology into learning and open up education to be accessible from home when they are unable to attend school. Selwyn (2008) argues ‘education 2.0’ has implications for the kinds of educational goods and services demanded and the nature of education. Studying how children learn in face-to-face schooling gives only a limited insight into education for the digital economy. If technology is found to be effective with children who are unwell then it may also be effective in face-to-face schooling and prepare students for the digital economy (Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2009)
6. Method
The small-scale project thematically synthesises findings from a quantitative research model utilising questionnaire results from a sample of children at Key Stage 3 across schools in England, unable to attend school due to illness. The children will be asked to complete two short questionnaires in week 1 and week 4 of a four week period. The scope is restricted to meet the D845 course calendar.
A group of Education Welfare Officers will be telephoned and contacted in writing (initially four, depending on response). Education Welfare Officers will be chosen if they are responsible for schools found from the Becta website, who utilise technology enhanced learning in their school and have won Becta ICT excellence awards 2010 (Becta, 2010) and are already making use of technology enhanced learning for children unable to attend school due to illness. The contact information for each Education Welfare Officer for each school is available by ringing the main Education Welfare Service Office for the particular school area. The four Education Welfare Officers will be chosen so that they are geographically spread across England.
Contacting the Education Welfare Officers direct, will ensure that there are only four gatekeepers, rather than having to liaise with several stakeholders in schools. They are responsible for dealing with children who are unable to go to school due to illness and oversee the arrangements; responsible for ensuring that the children receive the five hours’ teaching per week. The secondary schools will be picked at random from the Becta website and their associated Education Welfare Officer will be asked if they would invite pupils at random to be involved in the research who are currently absent from school due to illness. As per the guidelines for D845, no research participants, schools or Education Welfare Officers have yet been contacted, due to waiting for ethical approval from the D845 Course Chair. Copies of the information sheets and consent forms to be sent by the Education Welfare Officers on my behalf are shown in Appendices A and B. The questionnaire to be issued is shown in Appendix D.
A structured questionnaire is a useful, cheap and quick method to administer across children and will be distributed by post via the Education Welfare Officer with a stamped addressed envelope for its return direct to the Researcher. Access to participants will be through the four Education Welfare Officers responsible for the children’s education. It is a convenient way to collate data from the sample children and allows for systematic and comparable data to be collated without having to speak to the correspondents direct. On the downside, it limits the range and scope of questioning and takes time and skill to design. I am unable to probe children further on the answers they provide but have included free-text questions to allow for some detail in the children’s answers to be provided. As a result of some trial testing, it is anticipated that the questionnaire will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Observation as a data collection method was dismissed because the research participants are ill at home and it would be inappropriate to be carrying out an observation activity in children’s homes whilst they are unwell and difficult to predict when they would feel like learning online and has numerous ethical and safety implications. It is also impractical in this pilot study due to the geographical distribution of students.
As I am undertaking research as part of a University course, I shall personally undertake the data analysis in my own home following the 15-point checklist of criteria for good thematic analysis created by Braun and Clarke (2006,p.96). A thematic analysis of the data will be carried out to allow for underlying themes, ideas and assumptions to be identified, analysed and patterns of meaning to emerge within the data. Thematic analysis can be a method that works both to reflect reality and to unpick or unravel the surface of ‘reality’(Braun and Clarke, 2006,p.81).
7. Safety, Ethics and Values
Consent processes will be conducted within a framework of general requirements which dictate that consent must be competent, voluntary and informed. As the Researcher, I will obtain written consent from all participants (see Appendices A-C). Consent forms will only be issued to the child concerned, once permission has been provided from the parent / guardian. Participation will be entirely voluntary and no pressure will be placed upon individuals to participate. Language used in accompanying information is designed to be invitational and not coercive taking care that individuals do not feel obliged to consent (Masson, 2004).
The proposed research is considered ‘minimal risk’ as defined by the RCPCH (2000). If the parent consents but the child is unwilling to participate it will be inappropriate and unethical to proceed. I have obtained up-to-date enhanced Criminal Record Bureau clearance. The research approach will be respectful and fair to participants. As the researcher, I will remain alert and responsive to potential risks.
Data will be anonymised. The information gathered will be subject to data protection regulations as it constitutes personal data. This legislation confers obligations about how the data is stored and who might have access to it. Under the Data Protection Act, the data collected will be classed as personal data ie. information about an identifiable living individual. To ensure confidentiality the information will therefore be pseudonymised ie. codes will be added to personal information so that it is only identifiable to myself as the researcher.
The proposed research is considered valid as it is anticipated that it will make a useful contribution to existing knowledge. A further point for consideration is that research should not be carried out with children, if it can be done with adults and results extrapolated to children. It is acknowledged that transfer of findings from educational technology research from adults to children is difficult as children respond differently. Similarly, adults’ views of children’s experiences are unlikely to be as reliable as the views of children themselves and the RCPCH (2000) has called for more research to discover how children are affected by experiences.
The notion of bias is an important aspect to consider. Bias can lead to errors which can arise if values and expectations colour the way the research is conducted. I must be self-critical and scrutinise all my own assumptions and ways of presenting findings. I am only linked to the schools, children and online learning through my research for the Open University Course. I do not have any former knowledge of the stakeholders involved. Keeping a research journal will be one way to guard against bias and make me aware of unwanted personal assumptions and opinions. Bias also arises as a result of the way subject populations are chosen. The children participating will be from schools that use online learning so may be more likely to exhibit some behaviour and thus self-selecting themselves. Insufficient sampling is a concern for this study, but could be seen as a pilot and developed into a larger project following the completion of D845.