Blogging to develop a research focus (ARHT5908)

From Elearning

ARHT5908 – The Business of Art (2006) Designer – Dr. Jennifer Milam Unit co-ordinators – Dr. Jennifer Milam and Dr. Julian Pefanis

Contents 1 The educational challenges 2 Jennifer’s design solution 3 The design in context 4 What the design facilitates 5 Adapting the design to your context 5.1 Technical considerations 5.2 Management tips 5.3 What Jennifer would do differently next time 5.4 Ideas for other contexts 6 Cite as 7 Add a comment

The educational challenges

To:

• Introduce students to research and being part of a research community.
• Capture the most up-to-date information and debates in a rapidly-changing subject.

Jennifer’s design solution

1. Get students (individually) to devise and research a contemporary topic.
2. Limit their choice to one of four broad areas covered in the unit of study so that students have enough background knowledge to comment on each other's work.
3. Ask them to start with web sources to capture the latest information and later move to print sources to obtain a historical perspective.
4. Break the research process into stages with defined outcomes (to assist novice researchers).
5. Create a research community by making student work public and available for future students to use.
6. Model research practice to the students by making their work part of the academic unit co-ordinator's research.
7. Get students to present their research-in-progress in a public medium to introduce them to the idea of presenting academic work for comment by colleagues.
8. Use the student research outcomes as source material for future students and as a model of how to complete the activity.

The design in context

1. Students start by researching their contemporary topic on the web *
2. They gradually build up a critical review of web literature related to the topic via four blog postings delivered bi-weekly. The public nature of the postings introduces students to the idea of sharing their research. Feedback is given in a face-to-face context.
3. Students can see each others' work in development and in completed form. They know that the research that they produce will be viewed and used by students who study ARHT5908 in later years and also forms part of Jennifer's own research. This allows them to situate their work within a broader research context and acts as a motivator.
4. Next, students create their own ‘webpage’, synthesising the problem, outlining the current state of the research (including gaps) and indicating possible directions for future research. The webpages were presented in the Student Homepage tool in WebCT (but see #What Jennifer would do differently next time).
5. Finally, they write a research essay on their topic, incorporating traditional academic sources.

View the assessment details.

Read the student blogs

Browse examples of student homepages

What the design facilitates

Support for the development of research skills

• The work of providing the final research outcome (the essay) is broken into stages so the students learn how to develop their ideas.

A more authentic research experience for students

• Student research is referenced and extended by other colleagues (student and academic) rather than being limited to a single unit of study iteration and semester.
• Students experience presenting their work-in-progress in a public forum for comment from colleagues
• Students can see and learn from, the work of other students.
• Students are encouraged to consider their work in the context of the wider community.
• Students get to participate in the unit coordinator’s research and gain a better understanding of the working life of an academic researcher.

Up-to-date unit content in a fast-changing subject area

• Because the task is forward-looking and indicates directions for the future, students leave a body of materials in the unit that can be reused the next time it is run. This information may be used both as subject content and as a starting point for further research by other students. Because the content is student-created, the academic’s workload is reduced.

Student experience of writing in different genres

• Traditionally, students experience only the research essay but this design allows them the freedom to repurpose their content for different audiences.

Examples from past students that model how to complete the activities

More consistent work from students over the semester

• The research task is broken up into intermediate stages, each with deadlines
• Student work is publicly accessible and this gives students added incentive for care with content and presentation of their writing.

Increased student motivation

• Public access means students are able to show their research to colleagues at work and others outside the University
• Students get to read the work of their peers and others can comment on their work
• Student work has a purpose beyond the limits of the semester.

Adapting the design to your context

Technical considerations

You can obtain a USyd blog by going to http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/support/getblog.shtml and filling out the online application form.

Management tips

Model the blog postings so students understand what is expected

• The initial blog postings were modelled by Jennifer. Next time the unit is delivered, the past students’ postings will form the model.

Provide feedback and support for the ongoing student research

• Jennifer provided this in a face-to-face context but it could be done in various ways.

Plan for the time needed for students to get comfortable with working in what may be a new medium

• Jennifer was flexible about deadlines to allay student anxieties about technical skills.

Hear Jennifer on:

The importance of trialling any new design Why she didn’t encourage comments on the blog entries How she handled the issue of external comments made to the Blogs

What Jennifer would do differently next time

• Get the students to present their ‘webpage’ synthesis of their research in a public medium. One of the aims of using a blog was to acclimatise students to presenting research in public, so it was a retrograde step to present their more polished research in the non-public form of a student homepage in WebCT that they could not show to their colleagues. It is also difficult for the unit co-ordinator to make their work available to next year’s students through WebCT.
• Perhaps drop the research essay as it didn’t make enough of a contribution to the research outcome in this case. Print sources could still be incorporated into the ‘webpage.’
• Develop a protocol for referencing sources when presenting research in electronic media such as blogs.

Ideas for other contexts

• Give feedback to students via a marking rubric.
• Incorporate peer-review of student work into the assessment.

* Recorded during a discussion with Sue Atkinson from USyd eLearning in December, 2006.

Cite as

Milam, J. (2006). ARHT5908 - The Business of Art. Sydney: University of Sydney http://wiki.arts.usyd.edu.au/elearning/index.php/Blogging_to_develop_a_research_focus_%28ARHT5908%29

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