So what have I learned?
I’ve learned that everything takes a lot longer than expected.
From my research and reading?
From my research during this Action Research Cycle I have found that Ethics in research is incredibly important – something that I hadn’t really considered as an academic before. Particularly in relation to focus groups where the ethics surrounding disclosure, anonymity and the ability to withdraw consent all become quite muddy when there is a collective opinion involved and multiple participants in one room. Then how important it is to communicate with clarity to the participants what they are consenting to, and the challenges that come with agreeing.
I found recruiting participants, particularly when they are students, is not a straightforward and easy process; and that a multi modal approach is the most successful with both passive and active methods to recruiting.
Data analysis is a lengthy process and took longer than I was expecting. Using Braun & Clarke’s (2021) Reflexive Thematic Analysis 6 step prompts really helped me to break it down into digestible chunks, and make sense of what felt like quite an overwhelming amount of data for someone that hasn’t done this before. The process of coding and themeing data is laborious but vital for being able to talk about the data succinctly and and holistically.
From my primary research and doing a focus group?
Actually doing the focus group I found that UAL is logistical nightmare for room bookings. Even in the new East Bank campus, in it’s shiny newness, there is not enough space. Trying to find a room to book out for my focus groups that wasn’t already being used for teaching in term time was challenging and consequently I had to shorten the length of my focus groups from 1hr30mins to 1hr in order to fit them into the allotted time window. This meant I wasn’t able to spend as long on the last idea generation activity as I had hoped. It also meant that despite putting a sign on the door that a recording was in process, I was frequently interrupted by technical staff asking if students could come in and use the space, which interrupted the flow.
Having more than more person to facilitate a focus group would have been helpful. As I was unable to facilitate and take comprehensive notes, I resorted to audio recording which I would then transcribe. Something I now realise might be fantastic when doing a 1-1 interview but less successful when in larger groups. The AI struggled to pick out different voices, particularly when people were talking at the same time, or a conversation was happening. I also provided snacks and beverages as an incentive and chose things that had crunchy wrapping which didn’t help. This meant I had to spend a lot longer on audio transcription and cleaning up the file ready for analysis, and for future I could consider this more carefully. Less crunchy snacks, making a point that people need to talk one at a time and potentially having someone to make notes at the same time to catch all the data.
I also found that students have a lot to say, and a lot of valuable things to say in relation to their student experience and the structure of their education. If you give them the space and the platform they are happy to speak up, and inevitably to change the course and the teaching for the better. Whilst this full ARP process has been heavily involved admin wise and I won’t be repeating often, micro versions of this project where I spot an issue and get a group of students together to discuss it will be beneficial and I am keen to implement more. I need to keep the conversations going.
As a result of the focus group?
You can see in more depth my process and notes of the outputs of the data analysis on a miro board here:
However to summarise my findings, I discovered 4 overarching themes:
- COMMUNICATION
- TEACHING & SUPPORT
- CONTENT
- INDIVIDUAL STUDENT EXPERIENCE
A lot of the sub themes within each of these themes cross over and feel relevant to multiple larger themes. Which works nicely as a coherent output for my research.
The themes of ‘Communication’ and ‘Teaching & Support’ seem to be the most prevalent of the themes and go the furthest in being able to answer my research question.
How can relationships between staff, students and asynchronous resources be built and nurtured to ensure the legacy and interaction of those resources?
There is a direct correlation between the lack of in person teaching and support around digital skills and the lack of engagement with resources to help them in these areas.
There is also a lack of communication about the resources, students don’t know about them! They need to be more frequently signposted and the timing of this signposting in relevance to their projects is also important.
There were other key themes around ‘Content’ and the ‘Individual Student Experience’. Whilst content suggestions are good and will be useful in the planning for future content – it doesn’t seem that the content itself is a barrier to student engagement. There were also a lot of individual thoughts, feelings and opinions around participants student experience which again while important to hear and can go towards improving the resources – are not the collective opinion and might not be the answer to my research question around engagement.
Part of that theme however arose quite a succinct point that encapsulates all themes:
Digital aspects of the student submission are not a priority for them.
Priority is linked to enjoyment, and enjoyment is linked to knowledge.
Knowledge comes with teaching, support, exposure and practice.
A lack of the above has resulted in a lack of engagement.
It doesn’t come as a surprise to me that students want more contact time with tutors, and to know that when they are engaging in their studies that support is there and easy to get to – not hidden.
Research shows that ‘engagement strategies that support interactions with instructors were valued more than strategies that aimed at interactions with learning material and other learners. Instructor presence is very important to online learners. They want to know that someone “on the other end” is paying attention. Online learners want instructors who support, listen to, and communicate with them. As some of the participants mentioned, they appreciate frequent updates from their instructors and want to have an instructor who is not only responsive but supportive.’ (Martin & Bolliger 2018)
What next?
As a result of the focus groups the following ideas and suggestions were born from both the minds of the students and myself in the focus group, as well as from me analysing the data:
To continue the Action Research Cycle into its next spiral, I need to plan which of the actions are most important and achievable and then put those into action. Both from a course and more structural point of view, and also stuff I can quickly and easily action as a member of staff on the course.
From there I can assess what if the suggestions are working and see how engagement is affected before implementing more suggestions.
References
- Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2021). Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. London: Sage Publications.
- Martin, F. & Bolliger, D. (2018) Engagement Matters: Student Perceptions on the Importance of Engagement Strategies in the Online Learning Environment. Online Learning Journal, 22 (1) 219