Little Bitty Steps Toward a More Open Education Research

2019/04/18

There has been a lot of productive discussion around open education research (or science).

Lately, I’ve noticed some examples of what I think are good open education research.

Though I think of these as good examples and models for the rest of us to follow, I think some of them are not always appreciated as such. This matters because open education research can then seem like something that is not relevant or too onerous. But, perhaps individual, small steps are even more important than making one big one.

As a quick caveat, these are just a few examples I’ve come across and (partially selfishly!) want to record so I can return to them later, and others might have different, important examples that I have missed. As another caveat, some of these aren’t so little, but rather are simply good examples of open education research; I’m thinking about them in this context as good examples that are practical here and now.

Blogging

As someone not in but adjacent to computer science education, Katie Rich’s blog posts are my best source for the most recent developments in the field.

Here's a blog post about the #AERA19 paper I presented with @megbates_stemed, with links to the paper and slides. Short story: Time tracking may be a way to promote the speed component of fact fluency without any detrimental effects on accuracy. #MSUepet https://t.co/FPIKPQVFg0

— Katie Rich (@KatietheCurious) April 10, 2019

Sharing What Others are Presenting at a Conference

Because of Enrique Suárez’s live-tweeting of National Association for Research in Science Teaching, National Science Teachers Association, and American Education Research Association sessions, I felt like I was right there.

Very excited to see @educatordeb present on this work here at #NSTA19. I'm going to be live-tweeting the session. If you're still looking for a place to go, this is it! (Although good luck finding a seat coz it's packed!!!) #NGSSchat #EduColor #broadenaccess pic.twitter.com/py6wym8WL0

— Enrique Suárez 🇻🇪 (@SciEdHenry) April 12, 2019

Sharing One’s Own Conference Presentations

Again, helping with my FOMO, Phillip Bell and colleagues (including Enrique Suárez, again, and other collaborators) shared slides and resources associated with National Science Teachers Association workshops and presentations.

PLS RT #NGSSchat—Here are links to all slides & resources from my #NSTA19 sessions
Assessment https://t.co/pC2oJoy977
Teacher Resources https://t.co/XLjKJCl7I4
Equity&Justice https://t.co/pWq2qnuJxv
Family STEAM https://t.co/1RcWnCT745
Diverse Sense-Making https://t.co/tet8tLkg2U pic.twitter.com/vzxdt8pd5k

— Philip Bell (@philiplbell) April 14, 2019

Sharing a picture of a poster can be helpful to others interested in the topic (see Mark Warschauer’s response to Emily, and Emily’s response to Mark with a link to the file on Google Drive!).

I shared my #dissertation findings at #AERA19 yesterday and it was so much fun! Soon I will defend this project and be a #phd ! #msuEPET #AcademicTwitter #PhDChat pic.twitter.com/LX6VpJbWa1

— Emily Bovee (@ebovee09) April 9, 2019

Recapping a Conference

I mention this every chance: Leigh Graves Wolf sparked my interest in sharing one’s work publicly during my graduate program. Leigh remains an inspiration to me and a leader in open education research.

[New Blog Post] Returning from #OER19: Quilting together a short story on the power of being open https://t.co/bAGjDQgmGJ (h/t to @tech4teachers19 & @lbrechthermanns for helping me tell a story.)

— Dr. Leigh Graves Wolf (@gravesle) April 12, 2019

Bodong Chen shared a series of reports on the Learning Analytics and Knowledge conference that also made me feel like I was right there - and made me want to attend in the future.

#LAK19 Conference Report [Part 2]: Main Conference https://t.co/hi2cijKYWD #LearningAnalytics pic.twitter.com/198CQqkv8m

— Bodong Chen (@bod0ng) March 11, 2019

Spencer reeenhalgh flreected on his presentation at a new conference in a way that, I think, lent insight into the conferneen - and the experience of attending a new conference for the first time (and the anxiety that can be associated with doing so).

Recently, I had the chance to present some work w/ @matthewkoehler and @bretsw on int’l participation in the #ldsconf hashtag (associated with @LDSchurch’s General Conference) at the Decentered Mormonism in Bordeaux, France. Wrote about presentation here: https://t.co/9WhzbklM3M

— Spencer Greenhalgh (@spgreenhalgh) April 17, 2019

Sharing Lessons and Activities

Sharing lessons and activities for students that teachers (such as pre-service teachers in teaching methods classes) create makes it possible for others to use (and learn from) good examples of the kind of work that I want to do more.

Check out community STEAM activities from past groups of prospective teachers. https://t.co/vAXlMyTyEm #iteachmath #MTBoS #CommunitySTEAM

— Frances Harper (@worldmathprobs) March 29, 2019

Including Information in Presentations About How to Access Data

Sarah Karamarkovich and Teya Rutherford shared a link to their presentation that included information about who to contact to hear more about the study (including about the statistical code needed to carry out the analysis) and who to contact to request access to the data.

Loved talking and learning about the complexity of motivation! @DrTeyaR and I looked at patterns of motivation throughout the school year. Full poster: https://t.co/i5HFM4lY8Q pic.twitter.com/1k3TiuR1j7

— Sarah Karamarkovich (@SKaramarkovich) April 8, 2019

In addition to sharing information related to data analyses, many decisions are made while studies are in-progress. Lynn Hodge shared photographs, insights, and interpretation related to classroom research and interpreting students’ (very cool) work.

Data visualizations about 4th grade preferences: drinks and favorite way to spend free time. Thoughts from session 6: Additive and multiplicative reasoning; size, shape, and symbol considerations. @utkceems pic.twitter.com/ipd7E7DGYb

— Lynn Liao Hodge (@LynnLHodge) March 8, 2019