Making Sense as a Research Project

This module provides pre-course information about the course as a research project.

Welcome to the course and thank you very much for agreeing to participate in this community learning experience. Before the course gets rolling on Friday, June 1, please read the following details about the course as a research project. If you are a post-secondary educator currently teaching a course anywhere in the world, I would deeply appreciate your consideration of completing a pre-course and post-course survey instrument. You are under no obligation to do so and you may fully participate in the course if you do not wish to complete the surveys. Here is a link to the pre-course survey instrument and the details of informed consent:

Pre-Course Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H875MHG

This course is part of a doctoral research study being conducted by Jenni Hayman under the supervision of Dr. Craig Mertler of Arizona State University. If you have any questions or concerns about consent or ethical issues, please contact Jenni, Dr. Mertler, or the Arizona State University Institutional Research Board (IRB) using the following information:

Dr. Craig Mertler at craig.mertler@asu.edu or (602) 543-2829 or Jenni Hayman at jlhayman@asu.edu or (226) 500-0845.

This research has been reviewed and approved by the Arizona State University Social Behavioral IRB. You may talk to them at (480) 965-6788 or by email at research.integrity@asu.edu if:

·      Your questions, concerns, or complaints are not being answered by the research team.

·      You cannot reach the research team.

·      You want to talk to someone besides the research team.

·      You have questions about your rights as a research participant.

·      You want to get information or provide input about this research.

The Researcher and The Study

The Researcher
photo of jenni hayman

My name is Jenni Hayman and this two-week learning experience is part of my doctoral research on awareness and use of open educational resources (OER) in Ontario, Canada. I am a doctoral candidate (currently collecting data) enrolled in the Doctor of Education in Leadership and Innovation program (Ed.D) at Arizona State University. I am a fully online graduate student. A core part of my identity as an Ed.D learner is my participation in the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN), a group of doctoral learners from across the global that collaborate and practice as open researchers working on studies in open education.

In addition to graduate learning, I work full-time as a Program Manager for eCampusOntario. eCampusOntario is a government-funded post-secondary service organization in Ontario, Canada. My work with my team focuses on learner success through technology-enabled and open teaching and learning. I have the privilege of building open community and exploring learning experiences with 25,000+ educators and administrators, and over 800,000 post-secondary learners at the 24 colleges and 21 universities in Ontario.

The Study

illustration of the three letter O E and R


This course is one element of my (Jenni Hayman) larger dissertation called Open is an Invitation: Sensemaking and use of Open Educational Resources. It is a mixed-method action research study (MMAR) and the purpose of the research is to increase awareness and use of OER among educators. The specific participants I seek for my research are post-secondary educators that are currently teaching a course (or courses). All others taking part in the MOOC are most welcome! Our collaborative learning experiences will definitely help expand awareness and practice in open education.

Participation, by completing both a pre- and post-course survey instrument, is not a requirement to engage in the course, but I deeply appreciate the opportunity to learn more about you in ways that inform and improve my practice going forward.

I will be collecting and analyzing data from the course discussion forum in the OpenLearn UK Moodle instance of the course, but no real names or personally identifying information will be used in analysis or published in the dissertation or any related articles or presentations. I will be aggregating responses through qualitative coding to find common themes and experiences. You can opt out of participation in the Moodle shell at any time without penalties or repercussions.

You are welcome to email me jlhayman@asu.edu and ask me to leave your data out of my analysis. I’m happy to respect your preferences. If you are a post-secondary educator (currently or recently teaching at a college or university), and willing to be a participant in this study, here is a link for the pre-course survey instrument which should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

Pre-Course Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H875MHG

Image Credits

Image of Jenni Hayman is an unpublished selfie taken in April, 2018 at the OE Global conference in Delft, Netherlands. The image is licensed with a CC BY NC 4.0 International license.

Featured in “The Research Project” section of this module: OER Programm Logo by Markus Büsges (leomaria) is licensed with a CC BY SA 3.0 Unported license


Last modified: Thursday, 31 May 2018, 3:11 AM