A short talk for the NSF Early Career Development Symposium on defining and crafting a research agenda.

1. AECT Conference, November 2015
Indianapolis, IN
Crafting a Research Agenda
George Veletsianos, PhD
Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning & Technology
Associate Professor
School of Education and Technology
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

2. What comes to mind when you
hear the term “research agenda?”

3. What is it?
At its very basic:
• Research agenda = A program of study
Beyond that:
• Research agenda = A plan and a tool
• To communicate your interests
• To help you focus

4. Some
examples
• My research agenda focuses on
understanding individuals’ experiences
and practices with emerging forms of
education and scholarship. I specialize
on Networked Scholarship and digital
learning.
• Others?

5. How do I define my Research Agenda?
What are you passionate about?
What do you want to be studying/
researching?
What is the one theme that describes your
research?

6. What does a “liberating” Research
Agenda looks like?
It is specific, but flexible.
It balances breadth, depth, and focus
without being too broad.

7. What does a “liberating” Research
Agenda looks like?
Examples of Research Agendas that are
nebulous and unfocused
- “I research educational technology”
- “I study how universities use technology”
- “I aim to understand how people learn”

8. Refining your focus
A topic? A method? An approach? A
participant group?
Examples:
Open Textbooks (within which one may study:
adoption, impact, experiences, etc)
Online learning experiences (within which one
may study: students, faculty, early adopters,
over time, etc)

9. Refining your focus
Improving STEM education (within which
one may conduct d&d, DBR, etc)
Sidenote: Broad enough à e.g., Studying
Engineering or Math fits within the research
agenda

10. Refining your focus
A step-by-step example (broad à specific)
“I study open textbooks”

11. Refining your focus
A step-by-step example (broad à specific)
“I study the use of open textbooks”

12. Refining your focus
A step-by-step example (broad à specific)
“I study the use of open textbooks in
higher education”

13. Refining your focus
A step-by-step example (broad à specific)
“I study the integration of open textbooks
in higher education”

14. Refining your focus
A step-by-step example (broad à specific)
“I study the integration of open textbooks
in higher education”

15. Online
learning
Refining Exercises
#1 Venn diagram
Self-­‐regulated
learning
Big
Data

16. Refining Exercises
#2 Concept map

17. Some additional suggestions
• Don’t focus your agenda on a particular
technology (e.g., Twitter, LMS, Radio,
etc)
• Refine, refine, refine
• Share your research agenda with others
• Consider defining research strands

18. Thank
you!
Research
available
at:
hAp://www.veletsianos/
publicaEons
This
presentaEon:
www.slideshare.com/veletsianos
Contact:
veletsianos@gmail.com
@veletsianos
on
TwiAer