DAbraham


 * Research Interests**

I am beginning to form my research interests. As one who is actively engaged in teaching and public speaking, I would like to pursue aspects of leadership, communication, instructional design, curriculum development, and visual presentations. Obviously, I would need to narrow my focus as I progress in my thinking. Few of the questions I have asked in these areas are:

1. How does presentation technology influence the effectiveness of teaching and speaking to a bilingual audience?

2. Does the visual medium augment or diminish the impact of verbal explanations in classroom of tech-savvy high school seniors?

3. Should online instructional curriculum differ from an face-to-face one if both environments cater to similar students and similar technology resources? Would the learning objectives be different?

4. What is the impact of untruthful statements in a social networking context made by tech-savvy high school students on their offline social relationships with peers?

5. How do the foundational roots of a culture influence the acceptance of communication technology for its growth and development?

Just thinking?

​ ​ (This is my initial entry. I will be reutrning frequently to update my entry)
 * Theoretical Foundations**

Since language and learning are connected, many techniques and tools for expression and sharing of language are fundamental aspects of thinking and learning. Furthermore, methods of communications influence learning outcomes, and, consequently, influence how one designs, deploys, and evaluates instructional systems. Spector’s (2008) discussion on communications theory and instructional design and development could form the basis of my research if I were to pursue questions # 1, 2, and 3.
 * The chapters in Part 1: Foundations that are most relevant to my research interests are “Theoretical Foundations” and “Contextualistic Perspectives.” **
 * Spector (2008) identified four theoretical foundations for research in educational and communication technology: the psychology of learning, communications theory, human-computer interaction, and instructional design and development. Since few of my interests include instruction, presentation, curriculum, and communication, his chapter is relevant. **

Fox (2008) highlighted the concepts of contextualization and instructional design giving me the foundation to delve into their theoretical foundations in keeping with my research interests of communication, cultural influences, and social behavioral principles.

Fox (2008), referred to Pepper who advanced the notion that a root metaphor and a truth criterion characterize one’s philosophical worldview. Fox noted that root metaphors roughly correspond to ontological assumptions while truth criteria roughly correspond to epistemological assumptions. Keeping Pepper’s two points of caution, Fox surmised that one worldviews cannot legitimately determine each others adequacy and that worldview “eclecticism” at the level of philosophical assumptions is both perplexing and fruitless (p. 57). These principles lay the foundation with which Fox analyzes contextualism, the worldview with which I would need to become familiar if I were to develop Q #4 or Q #5 above for my dissertation research.

References

Fox, E.J. (2008). Contextualistic perspectives. In J.M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. Merriënboer, M.P. Driscoll (Eds.), //Handbook of Research on Educational Communication Technology,// (3rd ed., pp. 21-28). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Spector, J. M. (2008). Theoretical foundations. In J.M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. Merriënboer, M.P. Driscoll (Eds.), //Handbook of Research on Educational Communication Technology,// (3rd ed., pp. 21-28). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates