Thread 1 - What do I want to study?
In this, my first real journal entry, I will respond to the question:
What do I want to study? Why?
I will touch on the following while trying to answer those questions: summarize the problem/question at issue; present my own perspective, hypothesis, or position; identify and discuss my assumptions; and state conclusions, implications, and consequences.
I would like to learn more about how web-based communications effect students' decisions to attend a college or university. I know that web-based communications effect students' decisions, I'm just not sure in what ways or to what degree. Those are the things that I would like to learn more about! The basic question at hand is "How do web-based communications (such as blogs, instant messaging, emails, and web pages) affect how a student views a school? Do these web-based tools help lure students to a school? "
I believe that web-based communication tools are becoming a necessary tool for universities and colleges to use to reach out to prospective students, educate them about their school, and convince them that their school is the right one. If a university/college does not use web-based communications tools they will miss out on a large proportion of the prospective student population.
I assume that the more web-based communication tools that are readily available and accesible for prospective students, the more inquiries a university/college will receive and the higher proportion of initial applicants they will receive. I also assume that students may immediately stop considering a school if they cannot easily find web-based tools to learn more about the school.
The web has become an integral part of our world, including the college/university selection process for students. Universities/colleges will need to put more time, funding, and energy into web-based tools and IT offices so that they can stay visible on the web.
posted by Jaclyn @ 11:02 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
You have a very interesting study ahead of you. A human resource (in Thread I: Your Research Topic Content) for you is Nils Peterson at the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. He is familiar with student use of technology and how they view its use. He may be able to point you to some recent work in your content area.
Critical Thinking Rating
1. Problem/question-Developing +
2. Own perspective-
Developing +
4. Assumptions-
Developing
7. Conclusions-
Developing-
I think you have clearly stated your research question. You also present your perspective and talk about your hypotheses (we will have to discuss whether there is a difference between assumptions and hypotheses). However, I think your conlcusion does not come back to the question of what you want to study. Here you want to state implications for your study and how you might bring that study about in light of your own perspective and assumptions (and other CT criteria when we get to them).
Overall I think this is a great start for your research project. Now you will want to think about how important is this to your discipline (Criteria 3 in the CT Rubric).
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