My MICM Thesis #5: Finalising my research proposal

Finally back with another vlog, I am now finalising my research proposal.  This is what my attic office floor looks like right now:

Over on the left I have my higher education theme, in the middle The Hague University of Applied Sciences, and to the right, elearning, study success and blended learning.  That is mostly my literature review and theoretical resources (also called desk research).  There is also a section for my field research preparation, being questionnaires (data collection) and a focus group.  And finally what I’ll call “Masters Admin” stuff, the manual for my MICM study programme, notes from the Research Methods lectures, examples and referencing notes.

It’s been a really challenging couple of months, and I’ve found that whatever time I thought I needed to work on a Masters needs to be quadrupled!   A lot of the progress is also not visible, there is a huge amount of reading, and much of this is actually discarded in terms of it’s either not relevant, or only a small part is – for now at least.  Plenty of thinking as well and every time you believe you may just have things sorted, along comes a new piece of relevant information that you need to incorporate somehow.

I now have my central research question being:

How can elearning enhance study success at The Hague University of Applied Sciences

Just coming to this one sentence took many hours!  For example a small change like “can” could also be “should” or “does” and it would change the direction of the research.

Elearning is something that I am familiar with but still have a lot to learn, especially bringing this into a higher education context.  Study success is a fairly new field for me to research, but will give an important aspect to my research for educators and decision makers to recognise the relationship and value.

There is a lot of talk about being “critical” in higher education and it feels like I’m constantly finding things to change and ways to improve – but at some point it has to be enough.

So by the end of this week I will submit this research proposal and then move on to the thesis!  I’m looking forward to feedback from my supervisor who will give me feedback to be able to incorporate into this.

Right now though, going for a walk outside to clear my head a little, it’s such a huge process, my brain needs a break.  Comments most welcome below.  For the remaining 3 months of my thesis, I’m going to aim to blog/vlog weekly, even if it’s brief.  There is something about sharing my process publicly that I think will keep me on track as well as put the option out there for others to learn from and commenting on my own experiences.

Renee