Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Grant recipient: Peter Chow-White, School of Communication

Project Team: Stephan Struve, research assistant

Timeframe: July 2014 to February 2016

Funding: $10,000

Course addressed: CMNS 801 – Design and Methodology in Communication Research

Final Report: View Peter Chow-White's final project report (PDF)

Interim Report: View Peter Chow-White's interim project report (PDF)

Description: The goal of our project is to develop a fast-paced graduate methods course (CMNS 801) that utilizes NVivo as a knowledge management tool to facilitate a practical methods course in which students learn hands-on skills and have the ability to use software to enhance their own learning. By introducing NVivo as a central component early in the course, we want to support students to make lasting connections between literature, methodology and the dissemination of their research results. We hope to systematically investigate how this approach can enhance the teaching and learning experience.  The course we intend to develop has a more technology enabled and practical curriculum than the currently more theoretically driven curriculum.

Questions addressed:

• What would a student-centred and skill-based graduate research methods course using Nvivo as a knowledge management tool look like? What instructional materials, learning activities and teaching methods need to be developed to achieve the course goals?
• In which ways does a knowledge management tool affect the student learning/research experience? What are the benefits and challenges of such approach for the student? For the instructor?
• To what extend are students using the tool and incorporate various features into their own research project?
• How can we support students in making relationships between ideas from the literature and insights from their own data? To what extend does this approach to pedagogy challenge/reward the instructor?

Knowledge sharing: A poster outside Dr. Chow-White’s lab in CMNS and circulated via email across FCAT.  A publication of our project in a scholarly journal that focuses on innovative pedagogy or research methods.