 So, good morning to all of you for this and welcome to this workshop on Research Methods in Education Technology. I am Sridhar Iyer from the Department of Computer Science and this is my colleague Professor Sanna Murthy from the interdisciplinary program on Education Technology at IIT Bombay. What we will be doing is we will quickly run you through for the next 20 minutes or so on what you what we expect from you in this workshop and what you can expect from us because there is a slight difference in the format of the workshop from what you might be otherwise used to. So, the first session is about setting expectations and let us begin with seeing what is educational technology. Now, this abuse the term anybody who does a little bit of teaching things that they work in this area. So, let me define what exactly we mean when we talk about educational technology. So, it has two aspects, two main aspects one is technology for education. So, by for what we mean is we are creating and using technologies such as visualizations or virtual laboratories in the teaching learning process or we also create and use technology tools such as Moodle or this Aview tool that we are currently using for transmitting these lectures. So, these are the use of technology tools for the purpose of education. The other aspect of educational technologies is creating technology of education. So, the distinction between for and off is that in the case of off there is more emphasis on what to do with the technology rather than on the development of the technology. So, what we are saying here is that the technology for education aspect has created the technology. Now, you are going to take that technology and see how to use it effectively in the classroom what kind of strategies that we can use. So, some aspects of technology of education need not even involve what we commonly understand as ICT based technologies. For example, this strategy of peer discussion that is there on the slide does not involve any mobiles or any clickers you can simply execute it in the classroom itself. So, that is the those are the two aspects that we are talking about. Moving on what is research in education technology? So, I will give you a minute to just stare at this slide. So, we are trying to make a distinction between education technology practitioners and ET researchers. So, all of us are ET practitioners in the sense that we teach students, we do things to facilitate their learning, we get worried about things like when they do not learn and we work on improving their interest in the subject, we work on motivating them and we come up with ideas for doing all of these, sometimes we even try some of these ideas in our classes. So, we become ET researchers. So, we move from being a practitioner to a researcher when we scientifically investigate the worth of these ideas. So, it is not enough to say that I came up with this idea, I tried it in my class and all my students look happy. So, my idea is a good idea. So, that is not sufficient. So, we have to carry out systematic studies to get data about whether our ideas are working and we have to provide evidence to support our claims. So, when we do these additional activities over and above being an ET practitioner, that is when we become ET researchers. So, what is this workshop about? The workshop is about going from being an ET practitioner to becoming an ET researcher. So, that is the whole idea over these few days that you will be working with us, this is going to be the attempt. So, before we get queries, let me also add what the workshop is not about. So, this workshop is not about techniques for conducting research in core engineering and science topics. So, it is not about coming up with the next computer algorithm or the next VLSI design or whatever. It is only about how you are going to transact or teach that subject using the educational technology methodologies. Also, since it is about teaching and we are all teachers and we are all underpaid and overworked and all of that, this workshop is not about lamenting on the state of the education. So, often in the activities there is going to be a lot of conversation and you need to be very careful that we do not fall into this trap of saying that in our country this is what is happening, in our institute this is what is happening or in my class students are totally uninterested, what can be done and things like that. So, the workshop is only about how you solve this problem in your class. So, you might find that there is a problem of students not being engaged and you might have come up with some idea to solve that problem. So, the workshop is going to focus on solutions that you have come up with rather than problems that are there in the country or in your institute or in your class. So, how are we going to get there from being ET practitioners to ET researchers. So, the bad news is that there are no fast lanes, there are no shortcuts, there is a lot of hard work to do. So, we have to do activities, we cannot simply listen to lectures and expect to absorb the knowledge. So, those of you who are in use to that model will find this a bit strange where you will actually have to work in the class not unlike doing homeworks. So, the pre workshop assignment that you submitted is the first step in this direction. So, you have already done something, you will do many more assignments on this route and enthusiastic and committed participation is essential if you have to get anything out of this workshop. What is the workshop duration? So, we got many queries about how is it possible to learn something on two Saturdays. So, the point here is that the workshop duration is not two days. It began when you started working on the pre workshop assignment, it will continue through today and throughout next week and in the next session. So, all through this week you will be doing more activities and assignments. So, in the sessions you will be doing activities along with your peers and offline you will be doing assignments and the workshop will end only when you submit your post workshop assignment. So, let us come to expectation. What is expected of you? So, what is expected is that you sincerely participate in all the activities. So, like I said earlier the model is slightly different, it is not one of transmission from our side and reception from your side, it is one of suggestion from our side and doing from your side. So, you have to participate in all the activities. So, if you say find a partner and do this you have to take some effort to find the partner and do the activity. You also have to put in the effort required to complete the tasks and most importantly you want to challenge yourself to go beyond obvious ideas. So, when we were looking at the pre workshop submissions many of you have done this, many of you have actually gone beyond obvious ideas and have come up with new ideas which are really worthwhile, which are really worth investigating. On the other hand there are some who are who have clearly not put in any effort who have simply done the pre workshop assignment because it is something that has to be done. So, do not be in that mode of some work has been given, some submission has to be made and then we are going progressively towards the certificate. So, that model is really not going to be useful, challenge yourself to come up with good ideas, challenge yourself to come up with ideas which others may not have tried and that is when you can be successful. What can you expect from us is that we have spent a lot of time in carefully designing the in session, in class sessions and activities and the assignments. Beyond that you can also expect to get model based guidance from the instructors and the teaching assistants. So, these are our students, PhD students in the discipline of education technology and they are the ones who have been handling the moodle submissions and they will be the ones who will be working you through the assignment over the next week. So, what you can expect in addition is also that those of you who choose to stay with it even after this workshop is over, we will attempt to provide you with adequate guidance for taking your idea all the way to make a paper out of it. So, this again an important slide and do take a minute to read these. So, much of these are obvious actually. So, when you stand on the teacher side, you do expect all of these from your own students, but now in this workshop you are the students. So, it is my job to tell you these things and remind you that you do not want to sit passively and just expect us to lecture, just as you expect your students to actively participate in your lecture, we also expect you to actively participate in the activities that have been set up. So, do not be lethargic, do not put in half hearted effort into the assignments. See the point here is that there are 6000 of you and our TAs are putting in the effort to go through these 6000 submissions in order to identify the ideas that are really worth taking forward. So, only if you put in the effort will their effort be of any use and also do not turn the activities into off task discussions. So, if the activity is about discussing a paper, then only discuss that paper do not go off into other tracks and if it turns out that you are really not interested in the workshop or if you are not able to gel with the format of the workshop, it does happen sometimes that some people are not able to gel with this format of doing activities in the sessions. So, if that happens you are actually free to leave as long as you do not hinder those who are sincerely attempting to learn, you are also free to sit passively. So, what we do not want is distraction for the people who are sincerely attempting the activities and sincerely attempting to get ahead in this route of going from ET practitioner to ET researcher. So, having said all that what is it that you are going to get out of this workshop, what is the payoff? So, the payoff is that you will get a running start in doing ET research, you can get guidance on getting your paper accepted at the IEEE conference on Technology for Education. This is T4E2013, so I happen to be the program chair for that conference and Professor Sanamurthy was the program chair for the previous edition of the conference which was held in triple IIT Hyderabad. So, you can expect to get additional one to one mentoring for the top 200 assignments even after the workshop till the T4E submission deadline and the top 10 will actually be invited to spend a week at IIT Bombay for face to face mentoring and we may even find a way to pay TADA if it is really worth it. So, this is what you will get out of this workshop and moving on to why should you care, why bother with all these things, what is the point? So, the point is like this, you are anyway working on these problems which are arising in your class, you are anyway coming up with some solutions. So, why not go the few extra steps that are required for closure, so closure is an important term what this means is that you do not just start a study, you do all the steps that are required in order to complete the study also. So, you have already taken the first few steps why not go the extra steps, so that is the key thing. So, it is not like something very different from what you are anyway doing in the class. So, some of the benefits of closure which is doing a systematic study using ET research methods and writing a paper are, so one you get a publication to your name, so that counts in some institutes, it may not count in some other institutes, it may count for your promotion, it may not count for your promotion, so that depends upon your institute and the rules that your institute is working with. But more important than that and more useful than that is the fact that others become aware of your solution, so there may be other people who are attempting to tackle similar problems and they become aware of your solution and they can adopt your solutions for in their own classes, so that is the actual real benefit of taking your study to closure. And the third side effect as we call it or benefit because of this activity, but not direct is that your skill in applying the scientific method in other areas of research will also improve. So, the point here is that the scientific method is pretty much the same. So, to give you an example I used to work in computer science and do research in networking. About 3 years ago I moved to ET and all the skill that I learnt in doing networking research is useful here. Similarly, if you build some skill in doing ET research, you can translate that skill back into whatever discipline, let us say you want to invent the next edition of Google or whatever technology, the same skill, the same systematic study, the same way of setting up experiments, the same way of collecting data, doing analysis of the data, generating evidence, all these steps are the same in any scientific method. So, your skill in applying the scientific method in other areas of research will also improve. So, this was another query that we got during the coordinators workshop, is it mandatory to submit a paper? So, for some of you it may appear to be very daunting, what are these guys expecting us to do? So, it is not mandatory to submit a paper. To qualify for certification, it is only mandatory to submit the pre-workshop, in-workshop and post-workshop assignments. So, these are definitely mandatory and once again please give it your best shot and the more effort that you put into it, the more you are likely to gain out of this workshop. Only for the top 200 post-workshop assignments and only if you are keen on completing that study, we will provide the post-workshop mentoring for you to submit a paper to T4E 2013. So, let me recap quickly. What is this workshop about? It is focused on research in teaching and learning, provides an introduction to conducting research in educational technology, it is aimed at faculty who have used an innovative teaching method or integrated technology in their teaching in an innovative manner and are interested in conducting an educational research study around it. Important points about the assignment, there will be moodle-based assignments before, during and after the workshop. Submission of the assignments is crucial in getting benefit from the workshop and submission of assignments is mandatory for getting a participation certificate. Recap on the activities, there will be several individual and group activities today and next Saturday. Do all the activities with enthusiasm because that is the way to go from being an IT practitioner to an IT researcher. And not doing the activities will lead to boredom, insignificant learning and dissatisfaction. So, often we have conducted this workshop face to face for participants and usually the ones who are dissatisfied are the ones who have not participated. So, if you participate the chances are that you will not get bored, the chances are that you will learn something and you will be satisfied with the workshop. On the other hand, if you do not participate, then the chances are that you will go away feeling that you wasted your time. So, having said all that, let us go on to the first activity. This is the first activity that you have to do. So, you have to do this activity in pairs. So, give you a minute to read. This is basically the pre-workshop assignment where you talked about your idea. What is your idea to address a teaching learning issue? What will you do? What will your students do and how do you make your ideas working? So, many of you did upload fairly good ideas in this assignment. Some of you were not able to upload the assignment which is all right. You can take time now to think about these questions. And once you have thought about these questions, turn to your neighbor, describe your idea, listen to and understand your neighbor's idea. So, basically what we are going to do is that we are going to say first pick a partner and one of you is A, the other of you is B. Have you done that? Pick a partner, one of you is A, the other of you is B. So, I will give you a minute to pick your partner with whom you are going to do these activities. So, now assume that you have picked your partner, it is A's turn to first describe idea. So, all that B is going to do is listen and try to understand. So, do not get into a discussion mode right here. So, let A describe their idea and after 5 minutes or so, we will come back on to tell you that it is B's turn now. Please go ahead with the activity.