1. Piecing together the research
puzzle: A blended learning approach
Cheryl Brown &
Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams

2. Our colleagues

3. The programme

4. Diverse Contexts
58 students, 2009 – 2012
Kenya 3
Mozambique 1
Cameroon 1
Namibia 3
Nigeria 7
Uganda 6
Zambia 3
Zimbabwe 8
Canada 1 Austria 2
Swaziland 1
South Africa 22

5. 2013 Cohort

6. Learning, Co
gnition and
Technology
ICTs in
Education:
Issues and
Debates
Educational
ICTs for
Developing
Context
Online
Learning
Design
Minor
Dissertation
& Advanced
Research
Design
1 2 3 4 5

7. Advanced
Research
Design
Compulsory
Write a proposal
for their minor
dissertation
No mark awarded. Only
a pass or fail
Successful completion enables
student to begin research

8. History of the course
Original course
• Students campus-based
• Taught F-2-F
• Two afternoons a week for 2
hours for 8 weeks = 32 hours
of contact
• Seminar based
• 1 Lecturer
• Students read and undertake
activities between each
seminar

9. Our hybrid model
Pre
course
task
Face to
face
block
Post
course
proposal

10. Challenge

12. Research as a story of
a complex puzzle
1. Trigger Problem:
Once upon a time ... I was concerned about … (some
problem) or I was intrigued by … (some possible
opportunity)
2. Context & Rationale
… because in my (context e.g. institution, country) there
is a real problem/possible opportunity because ...

13. Research
‘puzzle piece’
Storyline: Once upon a time
1. Trigger
problem
I was concerned about … (some problem) or I was intrigued by … (some possible opportunity)
2. Context &
Rationale
… because in my (context e.g. institution, country) there is a real problem/possible opportunity because
...
3. Concept &
Literature
At the moment other people are also concerned about … which they describe as … They think that …
because they found that …
4. Conceptual/
Theoretical
framework
Interestingly they used … theory to try and explain … and this has given me the idea to use … in my
study …
5. Research
questions
… to try and understand why /how /to what extent ...
6. Research
methodology
Interestingly they used … (approaches & methodologies) to find out what was happening and this given
me the idea to use … in my study. I will approach … to participate in my study.
7. Ethics
They will be happy to participate as I can assure them of … (anonymity OR confidentiality) as I will
conduct my research according to ...
8. Validity Other people will trust my research findings because I have ...
9. Referencing
& Appendices
... and I have identified all my resources accurately and honestly in my references in-text and in the list
at the end of my dissertation … and provided examples of salient documents.
10. Timeline So I am going to do … first, second, third …
11. Title and hand in my thesis titled … by …

20. “Dynamic lecture notes”
Students able to access
notes and COMMENT
Lecturers can update
notes, add new notes
Notes can be made
public as OER

22. Activity Groups
Light Dark
A B C D
Red Team 1
Group ii
Student 1
Team 2
Group iii
Student 2
Team 3
Group iv
Student 3
Team 4
Group i
Student 4
Green Team 4
Group iii
Student 5
Team 1
Group iv
Student 6
Team 2
Group i
Student 7
Team 3
Group ii
Student 8
Blue Team 3
Group iv
Student 9
Team 4
Group i
Student 10
Team 1
Group ii
Student 11
Team 2
Group iii
Student 12
Orange Team 2
Group i
Student 13
Team 3
Group ii
Student 14
Team 4
Group iii
Student 15
Team 1
Group iv
Student 16

28. Research Survival

31. Proposal drafting process
What? How? Who assesses? How?
1. Brainstorm
research
Paper-based puzzle
Flip-chart
presentations
Formative: Students & 2
lecturers
Verbal in class
2. Draft 1 Word-processed
document in
Dropbox
Formative: 1 lecturers Word-processed
comments in Dropbox
3. Draft 2 Word-processed
document in email
and/or in Dropbox
Formative: Allocated peer
Formative: 1 lecturer
Emailed word-processed
comments in document
or completed puzzle to
student, peer assessor
and lecturers
4. Draft 3 Word-processed
document in
Dropbox
Formative: Student Turnitin in Sakai
Assignments
5. Final Word-processed
document in
Dropbox
Summative : 3 lecturers Word-processed
comments in Dropbox
Communication
about process
Table in
Announcements
1 Lecturer Updated table in
Announcements

32. Peer comments in a completed puzzle

33. Value of peer-assessment
Reading through your
proposal has given me
insight into some of the
shortfalls and
weaknesses I have in
mine.
… otherwise a nice read. I
learnt a couple of things from
the paper that I will apply when
writing mine.
Excellent second draft, …
I lower my head in shame :-(
Felt a little unqualified to
provide feedback, but hey I
tried. Hope there is
something you can use.

36. Today I have a session with
them They were amazed
with the Research Metaphor
"Research is Complex
Puzzle", and I am taking
them through the process
and adopting some of your
presentations.
Students reusing and
remixing content already

37. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5
South Africa License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/za/ or send a letter to Creative
Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
Prepared by: Cheryl Brown & Cheryl Hodgkinson-
Williams
Contact:
cheryl.brown@uct.ac.za
cheryl.hodgkinson-williams@uct.ac.za
Presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/cheryb/twsia-presentation-final-
compressed