Research Methods & Reflective

Practice in Education
Report on the Preliminary Investigation

Hessa Obaid Al Ali

Submitted for: Dr. Mindy Colin & Ms. Paulien

Introduction

The purpose of making this research is to see and measure the

influence and the change that will occur on level 4 foundation
student course grades when the style of delivering the materials
for them changes from a boring old typical style to a more fun
and attractive way which is by using interactive animations to
teach them. My study will be conducted in Sharjah HCT in Al
Taalum center where I noticed that foundation students come
with no interest on doing their exams in the OLZ and they dont
care about the results and all what they care about is finishing the
test as fast as they can and leave which is effecting negatively on
their course grade.
As a result of what I have seen their I came up with a research
question to examine my idea of changing the online teaching
style and the question is, How does using interactive animations
affect level 4 foundation students' course grades?.
To give my research question a try to see if it will work effectively
or not in this particular group of students I decided to coop with
the level 4 foundation English teacher to make my research on a
small group of her students (5 girls). I will insure the teacher and
her students that their names and identities will be unknown and
nobody rather than my MCT, MST and I are the only people who
will be viewing the information.
Literature review
Key concept: Data collection- survey- online learning- visual
learning- interactive learning- animation- discussion board- online
learning methods- findings.
Education have become a strong tool to build great powerful
countries because students are the builders of the future. So, in
the UAE education have changes as we have online learning these
days which makes it easier to deliver the ideas and different
topics to the learners which makes them able to learn a lot of
useful things in a short time. One of the best ways to teach new
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generations is to use technologies that we can find everywhere.

Using interactive online courses are useful resources for students
to learn the new way rather than the old face- to-face learning.
Having Online courses allow students to have the access to the
materials all the time which is more effective than the old ways of
teaching where it gives the student the freedom to go back to the
course whenever they want.
In this semester I have chosen to practice in the online learning
zone which is located in Sharjah higher colleges of technologys
library. After being there for a week and observing what are they
doing and how does the work goes there I have decided to make a
research about how does using interactive animations and
discussion boards affect foundation students' academic
performance. Based on the way they teach in the online learning
zone and to support my research I have searched for several
articles in the internet.
For developing and enhancing foundation students academic
performance there are many online tools that can help a teacher
to reach that goal. Mansureh Kebritchi, a researcher mentioned in
his research that one of the ways is using interactive activities
such as discussion boards and interactive animations as they are
a major factor of allowing students to develop their understanding
and thinking skills. It also engages them in the process of learning
and this will affect their academic performance taking it to a
higher level, (Kebritchi, 2014).
Ramona A. Hall mentioned in his article that using discussion
boards as an effective tool to enhance students learning because
it allows them to think and write their ideas then get feedback
from others, they also have the chance to interact and discuss
their ideas with others either responding on peers comments or
leaving feedback on their friends discussions. This process
develop students critical thinking and higher order thinking, this

helps them to link to the subject and the things that they have
learned, (Hall, 2015).
Devi and Chandra have agreed with the use of discussion boards
and added that in order to reach the goal of developing the
academic performance of the students in our college we have to
follow a process to create the best online courses that suites
students levels. There is an instructional design to track the
following stages of analysis, design, development,
implementation and evaluation. These stages will be considered
when we are making any kind of interactive activities including
discussion boards to make sure to deliver the right materials and
skills to the learners through these online courses, (Devi &
Chandra, 2004).
A research was done in a Malaysian classroom have created an
online-based course followed these steps of the instructional
design and it shows great results and it worked effectively on
developing students cognitive and understanding skills. They
have made assessments for the students to test if they have
developed academically and it shows really good results, (TEOH,
Tse-Kian, & Soo-Phing , 2007).
In order to have successful research results, there are some
models that I can follow in order to create the best online learning
materials such as the SAMR model and the ADDEC model. Using
good designed learning courses helps on scaffolding students
learning as Bruners scaffolding theory stated, by providing
enough support and useful materials for the students they can
scaffold their understanding and learning skills, (Firestone).
Research methodology
My research will combine between quantitative and qualitative
where I will be conducting some statistics to analyze students
course grades before and after. In addition, it will be qualitative
because my focus will be to understand how does the use of
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interactive animations develop students performance and

therefore raise their grades after using it.
My research will maintain confidentiality, where I will protect the
collected data in a secured folder that have a password.
Furthermore, their name wont be written in the research because
I will be using fake names.

I will be following the ADDIE model to create the best and most
effective learning materials. (Check appendix 1)
Analysis

Design

Developme
nt
First, Im
I will take
Next Im
going to
the
going to
choose the content
start
participant and design developing
s, see their activities
the course
capability
that are
materials.
and know
interactive
their needs and
and
appealing
requiremen for the
ts to
students.
develop.

Implementati
on
Here I will
start
implementin
g and using
the materials
that I have
created and
developed
with the
students.

Evaluation
At this
point I will
be
collecting
information
by
observatio
n and
using
others
ways to
collect
information
.

During the time that I will be applying this cycle I may face some
difficulties like not meeting students needs and requirement
every time.
Research methods
The methods that Im going to use for this research are interview,
observations and surveys.
Interview
Im going to make
an interview with
the teacher and ask
her some questions
about her students
grades and levels
and interest if she
knows.

Observation
I will be observing
the students during
the OLZ sessions
and see if they are
more integrated with
the course or they
are still the same.
After each
observation I will
write a journal on
how things were and
if I noticed any
change or
development.

Survey
I will make a survey
at the end to know if
the students have
gained knowledge
using this method or
not.

Findings
During the observation I found that foundation students are not
interested in the materials that are provided with in the OLZ so,
they wanted to finish and leave as soon as possible and I thought
that the problem behind that is the poor materials that is given
for them to learn from. As a result, I decided to create and
implement an online interactive course for them and see the
results.
Action plan
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Weeks
Week 1

Week
Week
Week
Week

Interview
Observation
At the first
week I will
make an
interview with
the teacher
and ask her
about her
students and
we are going
to choose five
of them to help
me with my
research.

2
3
4
5

During this
I will meet the period of time I
teacher again
will be
to ask if there
observing the
is any
students while
development
they are
or
having their
improvement
exams and I
on their grades will write
after their first journals about
experience on what I have
using the
noticed and if
interactive
there are any
animation
point that
course.
requires
development.
A final
interview with
the teacher

Week 6
Week 7

Survey

and the five

students to ask
them if there is
any positive
change on
their grades
and
understanding
skills.
Week 8

After finishing
the period of
examining
these students
Im going to
give them an
open ended
survey to know
their opinions
about this
experience.

Week 9
Week 10

References
Devi, C. (2004, Feb 25). Selecting tools for e-learning needs. Business Times Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/267611447?accountid=1215

Kebritchi, M. (2014). Preferred teaching methods in online courses: Learners' views. Journal of Online
Learning and Teaching,10(3), 468-n/a. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1650488991?accountid=1215

Hall, R. A. (2015). Critical thinking in online discussion boards: Transforming an anomaly. Delta Kappa
Gamma Bulletin, 81(3), 21-27,43. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1678107649?accountid=1215

TEOH, B. S., & Tse-Kian, N. E. O. (2007). Interactive multimedia learning: Students' attitudes and
learning impact in an animation course. TOJET : The Turkish Online Journal of Educational
Technology, 6(4) Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1288361333?
accountid=1215

Mary Firestone. Jerome Bruner: Scaffolding and Constructivism Theories. Retrieved from study.com:
http://study.com/academy/lesson/jerome-bruner-scaffolding-and-constructivism-theories.html

Appendix

(Appendix1)