Reflections on the Nature of Work Based Research Project

My teaching and research experiences started when I was a research assistant in the

Department of Educational Sciences. As I am now a senior instructor and researcher in

both the Faculty of Education and Distance Education Institute at EMU, I have gained

a depth of knowledge and understanding by continuing my education and experiences.

After I successfully completed a broad-based Masters degree, covering education,

technology and communication in line with distance education practice, this project

provided a chance for me to specialize in a particular area. In this respect, these

experiences provided me with insights into my own learning management by

developing and broadening my understanding in terms of both the theoretical and

practical knowledge of distance education practice.

Being a senior instructor and a researcher provided me with many opportunities for

learning, and my academic background and position gave me great enthusiasm to

conduct the research project. On the other hand, my enthusiasm was tempered by the

situation of the country which is biased against new ways of learning and has a

centralized based education system. This restricts open minded people from conducting

innovative practices. Although there are restrictions in conducting research in this

small country, the EUA report about EMU practice became a milestone for me as a

researcher worker and the basis for my research project. As I was becoming aware of

report emphasized the importance of conducting wide ranging research and giving

importance to distance education practices. Therefore, I applied for a research project

that was funded by Ministry of Education in order to support the Distance Education

Institute’s as a worker researcher. This contributed to developing my management

skills and ability to allocate resources.

EMU set its vision and mission for continuous quality improvement according to the

report of the EUA. In this respect, the issue of online education gained importance as a

way of supporting continuous quality improvement in the university and in the

Distance Education Institute. Conducting research became important for university

policy and work based learning and projects provided an opportunity to pursue this

policy.

In line with this rationale, the Distance Education Institute at EMU provided access to

conduct research for change and development of the institute based on EUA norms.

Therefore, my project aimed to support an action plan for the Distance Education

Institute in EMU regarding online education practice and focusing on the role of tutors

in facilitating communication in constructing knowledge and developing professional

and organizational knowledge.

The intense need for the implementation of an action plan for the development of

Distance Education Institute, and the focus of my project validated my practical work

and the work I was conducting in the Doctorate in Professional Studies Programme.

In these respects, my project accomplished the following objectives:

To develop awareness of the relevance of communication and organizational climate in the Distance Education Institute and online

To provide training on the roles of tutors and create awareness of their roles in the online learning and teaching process

To enhance the online socialization of students by overcoming social barriers

To create an organizational culture in the Distance Education Institute by focusing on communication practices between tutors and among students.

In my project, inductive reasoning was used to focus on the experiences of online

tutors, and the meanings of the actions that they constructed through social interactions.

Therefore, a qualitative research design suited my research and the online tutors played

a great role in my project with their efforts, reflections and perceptions regarding the

research.

The action research approach adopted facilitated my practical work with the online

tutors and provided them with insights on how to teach their courses, considering their

roles in the Distance Education Institute. Choosing the research approach was a

challenging process for me, particularly in terms of interpreting the essences of action

research for implementation.

On the other hand, I felt excited and motivated by my experiences of the new approach

and the ways in which it provided new ways of learning to participants. Therefore, I put

a lot of effort into managing the series of actions in my research project in a planned

way. My project included a series of actions, including focus groups, in-depth

interviews, self-reports and training which were used as data collection techniques and

actions in order to reach the research objectives.

The training and the changes that resulted during the action research were the main

achievement, particularly in the enhancement of the knowledge of novice tutors about

preplanning and careful consideration in order to prevent dilemmas in the research

process.

As the online tutors were the key characters in the project, gaining access to research

participants was conducted strategically so that the online tutors became voluntarily

part of the project. Consent forms were prepared and signed by research participants in

order to reach a common understanding of the research project and its actions.

I established self-disclosure through having good communication, ensuring punctuality,

setting the right time and places for meetings and considering all details in every event.

I prepared research packages for each research participant that gave detailed

information about the research project’s aim, objectives, data collection techniques,

training information, project report, the roles of worker researcher as insider researcher

and the impact of my research project. This demonstrates how I paid attention to the

research participants within the action research process. As my project was funded by

the Ministry of Education, I was able to use resources in an efficient way. Expenditure

included buying incentives such as a webcam, pen, headphones and folder bags for

online tutors, preparing handbooks on how to teach online courses to online tutors and

other higher education institutions, and organizing focus groups and training sessions.

“Challenge” can be seen in every aspect of research. It is good to have challenges if

these challenges can be managed by researchers for success. As a worker researcher,

every challenge motivated me to produce better work. Persuading online tutors to the

part of the research project was the first challenge. Explaining to them the importance

of the research project convinced them to be research participants. This involved face

to face meetings, giving detailed information through the research package, and

tutors were well-informed that they had the chance to gain knowledge about online

pedagogy through the action learning process.

Conducting the focus group was another challenge. Getting participants to respond to

questions in front of group was difficult due to cultural factors. My communication

skills were very important in overcoming this cultural barrier and getting the

participants to open up.

Subsequent focus group actions were easier for me, and the in-depth interviews were

very fruitful as the online tutors expressed their thoughts on their changing roles and

became aware of not having enough knowledge about online pedagogy. Thus, they

realized how training was crucial to enhance their knowledge of their roles.

Finding the right time to meet online tutors was another challenge. My intellectual

flexibility and patience however enabled me to create mutual understanding among

participants. The words “Management”, “Pre-planned”, “Empathy”, “Enthusiasm”,

“Efficient”, “Critical Reflection”, “Negotiation”, “Mutuality” became keys to my

success. The project management required high responsibility, intellectual flexibility

and networking skills. These key skills enabled me to make positive contributions to

the outcome of the research project.