Quality of the Practices Applied for facilitation of the completion of the research project in undergraduate degree programmes

Faculty of Education

28^th March 2019

Background

• Faculty of Education of Open University of Sri Lanka conducts Bachelor of Education Degree programmes with the aim to provide skillful professionals from diverse areas into the teaching profession.
• At present the Faculty conducts three Bachelor of Education (B.Ed ) programmes namely B.Ed Honours in Drama and Theatre, B.Ed Honours in Natural Sciences and B.Ed Honours in Special Needs Education which are four academic years Programmes.
• One powerful form of professional development for teachers is the use of action research. Therefore, the Faculty of Education included a research project as a main compulsory course of these programmes which comprise 8 credits where all students are supposed to conduct an action research project in the period of teaching practice.
• As we look to the future of our undergraduate students, we always pursue opportunities to improve the quality of instruction and mentoring provided to our students with the hope that this will enrich the research experience for our students which is an essential need of 21st century.
• Therefore, strengthening the current research project component of the B.Ed Degree Progeammes is critically important and this study will explore the ways and means to improve research project component by investigating the strength and weaknesses of the research project component.

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Objectives of the Research Study

1.To identify the existing practices of the Departments in facilitating the completion in the research project

2.To examine the strengths and weaknesses of existing practices

3. To assess the quality of the research projects in undergraduate degree programmes in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of the practices.

4.To make suggestions to improve quality of the practices and quality of the research project component through open and distance mode.

Methodology

Research design

This research consists of two phases. The survey design will follow to conduct the phase I of the research study.

Sample of the study

Student sample: All the B.Ed students (no. 100) of B.Ed Honours in Natural Sciences, B.Ed Honours in Drama and Theatre and B.Ed Honours in Special Needs Education programmes who qualified to award in 2019 convocation.

Academic staff: Programme coordinators of B.Ed Degree programmes (03) and all the supervisors of B.Ed research projects (15)

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Data collection Instruments:

• Documentary analysis of Marks and feedback given for projects
• Check list
• Questionnaire
• Focus group discussion
• Interviews will be used for this study

Data Analysis Procedures:

Quantitative data gathered from checklists, questionnaires will be analysed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS for windows, version 21.0). Qualitative data will be analysed by using content analysis.

Expected outcomes

At the end of the phase I it is expected to identify a proper mechanism for further enhancing the quality of research project component of the undergraduate degree programmes through open and distance mode.

Based on the findings of the phase I it is expected to conduct an action research in phase II to prepare an intervention to implement the identified mechanism in order to further enhance the quality of research project component.

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Limitations of the research study: The sample of the present study consisted of only B.Ed undergraduate students (no. 100) of B.Ed Honours in Natural Sciences, B.Ed Honours in Drama and Theatre and B.Ed Honours in Special Needs Education programmes who qualified to award in 2019 convocation.

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Ethical consideration:

• Consent of all the students and academic staff members of the sample will obtain after explaining the purpose of the study, expected outcomes and benefits to them and to the Faculty, how privacy will be protected and the time period of the study.
• Participation is voluntary and participants are able to withdraw at any time without prejudice.
• Research team will get the permission from the university authorities before conducting the research.

Time Plan:

Thank you