Research for e-
learning; research
about e-learning
Richard Andrews
ticEDUCA2010 conference, Lisbon

2
Contents
1 For and about e-learning
2 Existing research in the field
3 Working toward a new model for research
4 What does this mean for teachers and researchers?
5 Some examples
6 New thinking about e-learning
7 The future for teacher research: dissertations in the digital age
8 References and websites

3
Research for e-learning, research
about e-learning
Most research for e-learning we don’t see; we use the applications,
software, hardware later, e.g. the development of word processing
programs. This is research for e-learning.
• Another form of research for e-learning is the pattern-searching that
goes on that subsequently affects social networking/patterning
– “Research is the seeking of harmony that, once found, is rehearsed
and played in the piece afterwards” (18th century definition)
• Research about e-learning is what most academics do: they evaluate
what has happened; they engage in ex post facto research; they look
for effects, impacts and other after-the-event traces

4
The Impact of ICT on Literacy
Education (2004)
A number of studies, using systematic research review techniques, of
the impact of ICT on literacy education in the early 2000s
• Most studies found a small positive effect
• Controlled (let alone randomised) experimental studies were hard to
find
• More interesting were the gaps in research
• More interesting still was the fact that we appeared to be asking the
wrong question: instead of ‘What effect or impact does ICT have on
literacy development?’ we should have been asking ‘What is the
relationship between the development of new technologies and the
development of literacy or of learning in general?’

This model assumes the impact or effect on x
on y. It assumes that, although y is affected by
x, x remains unchanged.
x y

This model assumes there is some kind of
dialogic relationship between x and y. In other
words, although x may affect y, it may also be
the case that y affects x – perhaps to the same
degree, or perhaps to a lesser extent (or even
possibly, to a greater extent). In studies in
literacy development, the relationship has been
described as ‘symbiotic’ by Haas (1996)
x y

ICT 1
ICT 2
Literacy 1
Literacy 2

ICT 1
ICT 2
Literacy 1
Literacy 2
ICT 3 Literacy 3

ICT 1
ICT 2
Literacy 1
Literacy 2
ICT 3 Literacy 3

ICT 1 Literacy 1
ICT 3 Literacy 3
What factors
affect literacy
development,
irrespective of
ICT?
How do
individuals
relate to
communities
of learning
(family, school,
street, clubs,
societies etc)?
What factors
affect the
development
of ICT?
What kinds of
e-
communities
are created
and how are
they
sustained?
What are the determinants of
longitudinal growth?

What does this mean for teachers
and researchers?
We should move on from a notion that new information and
communication technologies are ‘causing’ change in the teaching
and learning of literacy – or change in learning in general
Instead, we should think of learning and the development of ICT as
reciprocal and co-evolutionary
For researchers, this means new questions, methodologies and
methods
For teachers and lecturers: you are as much at the forefront of
innovation and change as researchers, or indeed as ICT developers,
because ‘the social is prior’
11

An example of a web-based resource
Teacher Training Resource Bank: www.ttrb.ac.uk
Set up initally with government finance, this website:
was originally intended for teacher trainers
it now has a large number of hits per month from teachers, students,
researchers et al.
is peer-reviewed
has an e-librarian service
See entry on ICT under ‘Curriculum’
12

Another example
Every classroom in South Korea has a large high-definition TV screen
In the UK, pretty much every classroom has a smartboard or interactive
whiteboard: flexible but low-definition.
Functionally, they are not much different; but in terms of display,
readability, harmony with computer or phone screens, HD-TV
screens in classrooms are a wonderful advance.
HD-TV screens also make the link between the world outside the
classroom and the world inside the classroom very much closer
Bringing the world into the classroom; and making the classroom a
space for exchange about the world…
13

14

New thinking about e-learning 1
What I’ve just shown – large-size digital TV screens in classrooms – are
controlled by laptop-size computers (managed by teachers and/or
children) and are also accessible/compatible with hand-held phones
So learning is ubiquitous – everywhere
Schools no longer have the control over what is learnt/what is
researched
Very young children can research online
Perhaps we, as teachers, need to help our students to be better
researchers, thinkers, managers of information, designers...
15

New thinking about e-learning 2
Multimodality and digitization (see Kress 2010)
Classrooms become social forums for exchange, discussion,
presentation etc.
What seems important is to recognize is that new social networking,
afforded by and in relation to new ICTs, changes the nature of
teaching and research:
- social informatics
- co-creation of new knowledge
- learner as active agent
The whole nature of research is changing – cf. Handbook of Digital
Dissertations and Theses
16

17
Identifying gaps in
research
Identifying gaps in
transfer
Primary
research:
projects
that
generate
new
knowledge
Research
review
and
synthesis:
embracing
a range of
methods
Knowledge
transfer:
packaging
of research
for
different
audiences
Application:
in practice
and/or
policy fields
Evaluation:
testing and
working out
strengths
and
weaknesses
of initiatives

Coming back to research for and
research about...
“Research is the seeking of harmony that, once found, is rehearsed and
played in the piece afterwards”
Research for will seek out new patterns of social engagement; new
forms of software, hardware (media) that can facilitate
communication; and new kinds of knowledge and theory.
Research about will continue to look, after the event, at the relationship
of new ICTs to learning; it will need to be responsive to new activities
and not depend on slow, traditional methods. The use of video,
digital recording and storage and new forms of analysis will
increase...
18

Handbook of Digital Dissertations and
Theses
The result of a two-year seminar series on the topic
We are now editing a collection to help students, supervisors,
examiners, universities, archivists, librarians et al. cope with the
digital impact on advanced research
Joint project with British Library, the Centre for Electronic Arts
(Middlesex University), typographers (Coventry University) and New
York University
The case of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where
digitization of the process has meant a rapid rise in the reading of
dissertations and theses by students, teachers…
19

20

Summary
Research is more than an ex post facto, ‘after the event’, ‘after the horse
has bolted’ activity
It can operate before activity, in technological and in social, pedagogic
innovation and pattern-seeking: research for learning
Research about learning is also changing to include new modes and
media, new forms of recording and representation
Communities of learning – school, family, street, societies – need to be
recognized and to be linked to each other
Learning then takes on a transformational identity: transforming minds,
feeling, spirit, individual lives…with social and political implications
21

References
Andrews, R. (ed.) (2004) The Impact of ICT on Literacy Education London:
Routledge
Andrews, R. (forthcoming) ‘Does e-learning require a new theory of learning?’,
submitted to Journal of Education Research Online, August 2010
Andrews, R. And Haythornthwaite, C (eds) (2007) The Sage Handbook of E-
learning Research London: Sage
Andrews, R., Borg, E., Boyd Davis, S., Domingo, M. and England, J. (eds) (2011)
The Sage Handbook of Digital Dissertations and Theses, London: Sage
Haythornthwaite, C. and Andrews, R. (2011) E-learning Theory and Practice
London: Sage
Kress, G. (2010) Multimodality: a social semiotic approach to contemporary
communication London: Routledge
22

Websites
www.ttrb.ac.uk
www.eep.ac.uk
www.newdoctorates.blogspot.com
http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk
http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-
articles/literature-reviews/
http://www.lkl.ac.uk/cms/index.php
23