Meeting New Challenges in Educational Research Training: The Signposts for Educational Research CD-ROM

Abstract

This article suggests that the professional educational research community is facing new challenges in the development of educational research training. In particular it argues that as the learning needs of the student population become more differentiated, there is a strong pressure to develop and evaluate the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to support research training in education. The article describes one response to this pressure: the development and evaluation of an interactive multimedia (IMM) resource, the Signposts for Educational Research CD‐ROM. The CD‐ROM is designed to be used by postgraduate students on a wide range of courses but is particularly aimed at those enrolled on part‐time and distance education programmes. Typically, part‐time students studying at a distance from their providing institution use print‐based materials in combination with occasional attendance at residential study schools; such residential schools frequently represent the only occasions on which tutors and students come together. Many distance learners therefore have limited contact with their tutors and peers, and only limited access to site‐based resources. At the same time, because of their different prior experiences of formal academic study, there is considerable diversity in the individual needs of students registered on part‐time and distance education programmes. This distinctive student profile indicates highly differentiated training requirements and thus the need for personal and customised support for research training. One of the reasons for producing the Signposts CD‐ROM was the perceived need to offer such students alternative modes of learning support. It is argued that the flexible structure of IMM materials may be effective in meeting the individual needs of students while the use of affective material (in the form of a ‘peer voice’) may help to build the confidence, and lessen the isolation, of the distance learner. The article concludes with a discussion of the impact on learning of IMM resources. In particular, it asks whether research students can ‘become critical’ in a multimedia environment, and attempts to assess some of the methodological difficulties involved in evaluating the use of IMM to support learning in this context.