Something I hear a lot when speaking to faculty about research as “I don’t know where/how to start!” So, I thought that providing you with some examples of specific, testable research questions could inspire you to jump into research. If the topics/questions below interest you, go for it! I am here to support you if you want/need it, but I do not need to be involved at all if you just want to run with it! Since our Faculty is focussing on teaching, assessing, and transferring durable skills (under the direction of our fearless leader Dr. Jean Choi, Executive Dean), that is what I have focused on for these research questions which I am donating to you 😉 Notes: (1) These are not finalized research questions because I wanted to keep them broad enough to be applicable to many groups of people, but they can easily be refined into really good, specific, and measurable questions for your research study; (2) Some of them are a little similar, but they are tapping into slightly different questions, and might make you think about the same topic/issue in very different ways. Here are some examples of research questions you might consider investigating:
- Do students who are explicitly taught the transferable skill of critical thinking perform better/make fewer logical errors on a logic test than students who are not explicitly taught those skills.
- Does explicitly teaching students editing skills in a COMM class result in better (quality of writing/editing) assignments in another (e.g., GNED) class?
- Are students able to identify how they use the durable skills taught in their communication class to other classes in their program?
- Which teaching strategy/approach have the most impact on student learning (broadly defined or specifically as it relates to durable skills)?
- Do students report that they have gained specific durable skills in your course? Can they articulate those skills and/or the impact they have in their other courses?
- What isthe best way to develop metacognitive skills in students (direct instruction, active learning, experiential learning, post-assessment reflection/intervention, intensive training like a workshop, modeling, etc.) to improve their transfer of learning to novel situations or different contexts?
- How far can students transfer their transfer of communication knowledge after one semester (near transfer vs far transfer)? Does explicit training on the transfer of these skills to other classes (and beyond) facilitate the transfer of these skills?
- Does using case studies in a GNED course facilitate the transfer of knowledge beyond the context of the classroom?
- Does teaching metacognition help students to transfer their knowledge better than what is currently happening (or not happening)? (if you’re interested in metacognition, you may be interested in these videos – thanks Jean! – or this article)
For reminders of how transferrable skills align with the Strategic Plan, Academic Plan, and Business Plan, you can refer back to the Divisional slides from November 10, 2022. If there is anything I can do to support your research or if you have suggestions for me in my role as Research Coordinator, please reach out via email or pop in to my virtual “office hours” on Fridays from 12:30-1:30pm in my whereby room.
