Stuart Berry

The following is an outline of my current doctoral research project

My research examines the nature of online learning environments and how we can capture, use, and reuse archives created as a result of the ongoing interaction of learners within networked, online learning environments. In terms of this research, an archive containing course artifacts is everything that is recorded and captured as a result of the interactions of all of the participants of the course This includes the teacher, learners, and all materials brought into the learning environment. These items can include threaded discussions, blog postings, files or other objects related to the course as well as synchronous and asynchronous conversations. The archive also includes items from previous sections of a course as well as those from concurrent sessions. Typically each section of an online or blended learning course begins afresh with all of the artifacts, conversations and resources from past sections removed. Each new section of a course is a blank slate in terms of any contributions from prior learners. I believe that this removal results in the loss of valuable insights, resources and traces of tacit and explicit knowledge. It is the current and future use and value of these resources, the artifacts, that I am focusing on and the potential impact of their repeated use in the process of knowledge creation within these networked, online learning environments.

This research project is based upon key elements of organizational knowledge creation theory (Nonaka, 1994; Nonaka, von Krogh, & Voelpel, 2006; Nonaka, Toyama, & Hirata, 2008). Organizational knowledge creation theory maps out different paths by which organizations create and capture the process of knowledge generation. As well, this theory examines the processes inherent in knowledge creation including the elements believed necessary to support the generation of new knowledge while ensuring that these knowledge processes become embedded in the organization to allow for continued knowledge growth and development. My research seeks to bridge the worlds of business and management with those of education and learning. “A central purpose of organizational knowledge creation theory is to identify conditions enabling knowledge creation in order to improve innovation and learning” (Nonaka, von Krogh, & Voelpel, 2006, p. 1185). The above is a key component of this research study: “to identify conditions enabling knowledge creation”. The course archive and its use by current and future learners is potentially an enabling condition for the development of knowledge and the related processes supporting knowledge creation in the online classroom. In most learning environments all that came before, the archive and all of the related learning artifacts, are ignored and discarded. Therefore, by examining ways that this archive can be used and integrated into the learning process, we may begin to find ways to alter learning environments to support knowledge creation in ways previous not imagined.

A possible model by which the above may be examined lies in the integration and use of Web 2.0 technologies as well as networked environments and social software tools in the online classroom. In doing so, it would be necessary to deliberately structure an environment whereby the teacher would integrate Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis, or even the use of a tool such as Twitter for learners to talk out their learning and engage others as they struggled to develop new knowledge. Networked learning environments, allowing for real-time sharing, may enable the development of dynamic artifacts for current and future use.

My research project focuses on the following three questions. In an online distance education setting, how can the process of knowledge creation be supported by the use of archived discussions, including blog postings, asynchronous and logged synchronous discussions? What perceived value do these archives offer current learners; what impact do these online archives have upon learner’s levels of persistence, motivation, and reflective practice; and what other effects surface as a result of having past and concurrent archived material embedded in the curriculum? Are there perceived barriers to the use of these archives? If such barriers exist, are these barriers seen to be as a result of the use and/or accessibility of the archives, the nature or dynamic of the current course, or other inhibiting factors?

My research is a qualitative, design-based project based on a research model proposed by Herrington, McKenney, Reeves and Oliver, (2007). This model supports interventions in existing environments with the intent of developing new theories and practices to influence learning and teaching in natural settings (Barab & Squire, 2004). Design-based research is a four-stage process, (Anderson, 2005; Bannan-Ritland, 2003), which in many ways replicates the cyclical nature of the knowledge creation model outlined in organizational knowledge creation theory. These stages are informed exploration, enactment, evaluation within a local context, and finally development of design principles. In my research, the intervention is the redesign of elements of an online Master’s level course to support learners as they engage the course archive and support each other within a networked learning environment. This intervention offers an opportunity to examine new approaches to distance education and ways that technologies can alter and support learning environments while enhancing processes by which learners engage each other both synchronously and asynchronously and do so across temporal boundaries.

This research is an unstudied area and by engaging others in this conversation I am hoping to find those who may have tangential interests and begin to develop a broader discussion on the use and value of online archives within networked learning environments.

Although this project has a primary focus guided by the key research questions noted above, the nature and value of learning within a networked learning environment is already pushing the bounds of the unintended consequences of this research project in the area of networked learning. While wishing to ensure the integrity of the primary focus of this project I also wish to ensure that sufficient time is spent during the analysis phase to attempt to capture learning issues and concerns beyond our current and still evolving online learning world. Design-based research encourages multiple study iterations in the belief that only through an examination of real-life messiness can we hope to find true solutions. My research is an attempt to open the door in this direction.