Guided research course and community: Design a research plan for carrying out an investigation in your context.
Next course: March 2025 (dates TBC) [Registration opens in early February]
RILAE is offering the opportunity to join a research community. This is a chance to get together with like-minded people interested in carrying out a personal or collaborative research project or simply to learn more about research methods.
Course Details
- Course content and practical information
- Communication tools and protocol
- Eligibility, fees, and application procedure
Instructor
Course description
Continuing improvement of our advising can benefit greatly from the ability to observe, reflect on our efforts, and learn from those of others in a systematic way through research. This practical course will help you to design a sound research plan for carrying out an investigation in your own work context. At the end of the course you will have
- identified a research topic.
- written a brief literature review relevant to your chosen topic.
- formulated your research questions.
- identified and described the participants you will investigate.
- outlined the design of your study.
- developed the data collection instruments for the study.
- determined and described the procedures for collecting data.
- described how you will analyse the data you plan to collect to answer your research questions.
The course
- is open to anyone, regardless of level of prior experience in doing research,
- is open, whether you already have a (plan for a) project or are looking for ideas,
- is open, regardless of how much time you have available for your research,
- accommodates research in any language/education-related area (although most of the examples will come from the advising context).
Participants take this as a stand-alone course. It complements the other five RILAE courses on advising, but is not part of the Certificate program in advising. There will be a maximum of 20 participants in the course.
Course structure
- This course consists of live sessions, e.g., lessons, workshops, and 1-1 feedback sessions, tailored, to some extent, to participants needs, experience and interests.
- You are asked to complete a task before attending the first online session and read some introductory texts.
- The online live sessions are designed to be interactive and intentionally facilitate teacher-participant and participant-participant interactions.
- You will be expected to work on your research plan in between the live sessions and bring your ideas and questions to the classes.
- You are also required to participate in online text discussions via the online forum in order to discuss ideas related to the issues raised in the class and in the recorded/written materials.
Textbook
There is no set textbook. Course readings will be provided to you.
Schedule (subject to change)
Synchronous class meeting schedule for 2024 (all times Japan Time)
Class 1: Sunday March 17 (1:00 – 3:00 pm) * early start time to coordinate with the RILAE graduation symposium
Class 2: Sunday March 31 (2:00 – 5:00 pm)
Class 3: Sunday April 14 (2:00 – 5:00 pm)
The following schedule is based on the 2023 course and is provided for reference:
Before starting
Pre-course assignments
Forum tasks and reading on approaches to research and rationale for your study. To accommodate different levels of experience with research, the forum tasks and assigned readings offer a range of options so you can choose based on your comfort level and interest.
Week 1: Research interests
Live session: March 17, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
- Synchronous Q&A session to discuss your forum posts and your initial research interests.
- Forum tasks and reading on literature review and research question formulation.
Week 2: Research questions
Live session: Date and time TBD (plus optional individual consultations)
- Synchronous Q&A session to discuss your forum posts, literature review and possible research questions.
- Forum tasks on research question formulation.
Week 3: Research methodology workshops
Live hybrid sessions: (See abstracts here)
TBD
- Three daily synchronous, hands-on workshops on specific research methodologies (optional).
- Forum tasks and reading on research methodologies and data analysis.
The workshops and tasks are likely to include Action/Practitioner Research, Ethnographic Research, Case Studies, and Researching Emotions in Language Learning, but this depends on the interests and the topics that participants choose for their proposals. The instructor will try to make these workshops as relevant to these projects as possible.
Week 4: Methodology and data analysis
Live session: Date and time TBD
- Synchronous Q&A session to discuss your forum posts and methodology/data analysis.
- Create first draft of your research plan.
- One-to-one coaching and feedback session with the course lecturer and/or TAs
Week 5: Research plan discussions
Live session: Date and time TBD
- Group One Synchronous session to discuss your research plans
or
Live session: Date and time TBD
- Group Two Synchronous session to discuss your research plans
Final assignment (4 hours)
- You will receive a pass/fail grade, which is based on your participation in the course and your performance on the weekly tasks. It is also based on your final assignment, where you will design a sound research plan for carrying out an investigation in your own work context. More details will be provided during the course.
Summary of content
- Pre-course materials: 1 hour
- Live sessions: 9 hours
- Reading: 6 hours
- Tasks: 7 hours
- Final assignment: 4 hours
Total time: 27 hours