Re-Thinking E-Learning Research: Foundations, Methods, and Practices (Counterpoints) - Hardcover

Friesen, Norm

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 143310136X ISBN 13: 9781433101366

Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers, 2008

Synopsis

In the rapidly-changing world of the Internet and the Web, theory and research struggle to keep up with technological, social, and economic developments. In education in particular, a proliferation of novel practices, applications, and forms – from bulletin boards to Webcasts, from online educational games to open educational resources – have come to be addressed under the rubric of «e-learning». In response to these phenomena, Re-thinking E-Learning Research introduces a number of research frameworks and methodologies relevant to e-learning. The book outlines methods for the analysis of content, narrative, genre, discourse, hermeneutic-phenomenological investigation, and critical and historical inquiry. It provides examples of pairings of method and subject matter that include narrative research into the adaptation of blogs in a classroom setting; the discursive-psychological analysis of student conversations with artificially intelligent agents; a genre analysis of an online discussion; and a phenomenological study of online mathematics puzzles. Introducing practical applications and spanning a wide range of the possibilities for e-learning, this book will be useful for students, teachers, and researchers in e-learning.

About this title

About the Author

The Author: Norm Friesen is Canada Research Chair in E-Learning Practices at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. He has been developing and studying Web technologies in educational contexts since 1995, and is the author of several editions of books on the effective use of instructional software and on the implementation of technical standards for online collections of learning resources. He is co-editor of Phenomenology & Practice, an online peer-reviewed journal (www.phandpr.org), and is a member of the Canadian delegation to the International Standards Organization (ISO) Subcommittee for Learning, Education, and Training. Dr. Friesen holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Alberta.

Review

«For many years, e-learning has been characterized by a lot of hype and relatively little thorough theorization and empirical research. In this context, Norm Friesen’s book provides us with a refreshing theoretically and methodologically grounded approach to rethinking e-learning research (...). He draws on and adapts a broad set of ideas and theories that were originally developed in areas such as cultural studies, discursive psychology, phenomenology, and critical research. In the process of unfolding his perspective on e-learning research, Friesen critiques some of the still-dominant paradigms such as cognitivism and its constructivist variants. He assists readers to focus instead on ideas and understandings coming from ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, and discursive psychology, which all emphasize how human beings make and remake society in and through their actions and interactions. This book is a must-read for all who want to unleash the real potential and possibilities that e-learning media provide to teachers and learners.» (Wolff-Michael Roth, Lansdowne Professor, University of Victoria, Canada)

Edition details

• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 143310136X
• ISBN 13: 9781433101366
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 265