May/June/July Specials
 

Research Project (35% of your grade)

One of the more difficult tasks of becoming a Master in any field of study is learning to read, analyze, and synthesize research in that field. This is an essential task to learn for many reasons. First, it is imperative that you be able to do this in order to grasp and understand the current issues and trends within a field of study. Current research is one of the best indicators of the current happenings in a field. Second, you will not be a student forever (I hope) and in order to remain abreast in your field (IT) it will be necessary for professional development purposes to continue to read current research and be able to apply relevant findings to your work setting. IT is an everchanging field in which you can get behind fast if you do not keep up with current research. Because of the importance of this skill, part of the requirements of this course are to begin to build your skills in this area. Writing an entire research is often a daunting task for a new graduate student. To assist you with building these skills I do not require you to write a complete research paper in this class. The short time frame of this course as well as the novice level many new graduates feel they are at when entering the course makes such a requirement burdensome. Instead, I have chosen to concentrate building your skills in 3 areas critical to writing great research papers in your future classes. These 3 tasks are identifying appropriate empirical research articles, analyzing research, and synthesizing research. These 3 skill areas and how you will accomplish them are described below.

Identifying empirical research

First, each student will select a research topic related to emerging technologies and their role in instruction (e.g., IT in various applications, virtual reality, telepresence, hypermedia, cyberspace, and distance education). Then you will find four empirical peer-reviewed research articles on your chosen topic. You will be required to submit the references of these four articles during week 5 (Due 6/15) of the class to be reviewed by your instructor to insure they are appropriate. The content in the third week of class will assist you in identifying appropriate journals in the field, etc.

Analyzing empirical research

After approval from your instructor on the 4 articles, you will analyze each article for its significance to your topic, the methodology employed, and results. Each analysis will be submitted using this web-based form provided for you. Content within Week 5 will provide a discussion that identifies the critical elements for analyzing an empirical article. You will submit 2 analyses by June 29 and 2 analyses by July 13.

Synthesizing research

Finally, on July 27 you will provide a synthesis of all four articles using your previously submitted analyses and noting their similarities and differences, their contribution as a whole to the topic, and suggestions for further research. Again, a web-based form is provided. Your peers as well as your instructor will review your research project during the final week of class.