Introduction to Analysis

Hello,

This week I want to think deeper about my research question. This has helped me to understand the importance of right research question. Otherwise, it is very hard to analyze the data according to discourse analysis or conversation analysis. So, first of all I would like to share my research question.

RQ: How does an instructor discursively construct his core judgments when developing online teaching?

My concern is not the action of “online teaching,” instead I am interested in the development of online teaching. Core judgment is a type of design judgment, which is related to the designers’ values, beliefs and thoughts that is more personal to the designer. Therefore, I consider the instructor as instructional designer. Actually, it is very interesting for me to see that I am focusing on online learning because when I did my mini literature review for this course, I realized that almost all the studies in my field focused on online environments. I hope I will both contribute to the field by conducting studies using discourse analysis and increase my understanding about it. So, I would like share some of the initial points that I found interesting and useful. Any of your feedback will be great for me before my presentation next week.

Excerpt One

(P is the participant, R is the researcher)

R: Yeah, how did you decide on the, the teaching online, you know, like what was your consideration when I when you, you know, think about that

P: Okay. Umm:, so, when I started out, umm:, before I was even teaching, <I was helping a lot of students with their portfolios>, and, umm:, they would come see me in my office, and I thought, you know, I'm able to give them a lot of, you know, good one on one instruction because they don't, um, they're not strictly bound by time, when they come to see me, you know, and it's very much ah: one on one(.) and so I started thinking, if I could offer that same level of um, you know, service to more than one student at a time, and make into like a formal thing, that, that students would learn a lot, and so, um:, I had the idea for the online course I suppose because I was uh, working on coordinating online courses for the school, and I started thinking, you know, wow, it's be really nice to teach online, umm:…

My interpretation: I think the researcher is directly asking the question in order to catch the instructor’s core judgments. At this point, the instructors’ selections of the words, such as “thought” and “I started thinking” “I had the idea”, show his core judgment. Also, I think it is important to emphasize the instructor’s self-confidence about teaching online because he indicated his intentions towards teaching online even before his started online teaching.

Excerpt 2

P: … And so, um, when I started thinking about the assignments, for umm:, the course, at first I started and I wanted to make it, like very open, because everyone's portfolio is different, and I realized that, um↑, I didn't want it to be, I wanted it to be technical but not too technical. So I, um, allowed them to each start with their own template that they would choose, and then umm:, develop it as they saw fit, and then, come to me when they needed help(.)

My interpretation: I think the instructor’s previous experience contributes to his consideration about online teaching. He is trying to take the students’ needs into account. Therefore, I want to say that the students’ needs shape the instructor core judgment, especially the decision of assignments and tools.

 

Thanks