EDET 636 Impact of
Technology on Student Learning
Week 7 Blog
Essential Question: What are the most important things to remember when
observing your students?
What I find
as the most important thing to remember when observing my students is the fact that
I will affect the settings of the observation because I am involved with the
research and not a third party. This means that I will need to step away
(metaphorically) from the class by disengaging so that I can have an accurate
observation. This potentially might look like taking video of the class and
then watching it later so that I can record what I see accurately and still be
able to teach the class. In the observation of a social setting, the observer
needs to take note of the aspects connected to the theoretical framework, the
essential question, and the problem. (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) These
aspects might be the social setting, the physical environment, people in the
setting, events, time, individual behavior, activities, interactive patterns, language,
non-verbal communication, culture, goals, and human needs. (Whitehead, 2006,
pg. 7-8)
Resources:
Merriam, S. B.
& Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative
Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. San Franciso, CA. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Piktochart http://piktochart.com/
Whitehead, T. L.
(2006). Workbook for Descriptive
Observations of Social Settings. Ethnographically Informed Community and
Cultural Assessment Research Systems Workbooks. Retrieved from http://www.cusag.umd.edu/documents/WorkingPapers/SocSettings_Events_Act_Wrkbk.pdf
Mariah,
ReplyDeleteI so agree about the disengaging part; we have to have the unbiased mindset so that we have can true data for our research. Also, the note taking at moment’s the events are happening are key. I remember discussing this in other classes how we might not remember certain minute events later that it is always better to take notes as they occurring during observation if possible.
Josie