Consultation Hours

Other times by appointment

The course is designed to introduce students to the concepts, methods, and applications of research in education. The course will emphasize practical issues related to planning, conduct, and interperetation of research and its results. Further, it hopes to develop students' personal interest in research related to their particular fields of specialty or to research in general.  

Course Information 

Welcome to EDF 6481, Foundations of Research. The information contained on this page is offered as a course overview to help prepare you for the coming semester.  

This course will meet on an "as needed basis" during the semester. The meetings are listed in the syllabus

The course is organized in ten modules; the first four are to be completed in sequence. The modules involve online interaction and participation using a variety of technology-based tools and are designed to be similar in format, so that you will know what to expect from every module once you have completed the first. Each module will contain a list of objectives provided as an advance organizer. When the module is complete, review the objectives. If you have not met one or more of the objectives, review the related material. Each module contains notes, reading assignments, activities, and exercises. The activities will be checked and contribute to your overall grade. The exercises are provided to give you additional practice. The activities are to be completed in groups. The project and two reviews of articles will be completed individually.  

Some of the activities are to be posted on the WebBoard, some are to be e-mailed directly to me, and at least one may need to be faxed or hand delivered. Credit will only be awarded to those who submit the activity as directed. Activities and dates due can be found on the syllabus. Assignments are to be completed by midnight of the date due. Each day that you are late will result in a loss of 20% of the point(s) available for that assignment. 

Guidelines for the reviews of articles and study guides for any exams can be found as links on the syllabus. Questions concerning these or any other issue should be posted on the WebBoard. I will be monitoring the WebBoard and will respond as quickly as I can. Students are encouraged to respond to each others questions as well. 

Much of our communication will be done via e-mail. I will use a University-based distribution list frequently to send out notices. Therefore, you will need to take responsibility to check your University e-mail regularly or to request that the postmaster forward your mail to another site.