Spring+2008,+G3

= Spring 2008 – Group 3  =  As graduate students currently enrolled in the English 7730 course at East Carolina University, pursuing a Master of Arts Degree in English (Professional & Technical Communication), each student becomes a member of a research group and is instructed to define a subject to research. The foundational research project provided a heightened awareness of the focus of current research and discussion within the field of technical and professional communications.  This report builds upon the foundational project by guiding the research group in selecting an appropriate topic within the field of technical and professional communication, in order to select an appropriate topic within the field. This, we felt, would enable us to conduct more in-depth research. Additionally, our group-based research project allowed the members to participate in activities as telecommuters, and to work with different software programs. It also enabled us to share the experience of leading the group during different phases of the course. The project’s design called for a two-part list to be produced: a list of key search words used by the group to look for appropriate resources, and a list of data sources that were found after conducting that research.   Based on a discussion of individual backgrounds, as well as areas that each member of the group was interested in researching, our group decided to research //the impact of e-learning on graduate level studies//.  From the lists of individual input that were produced during the brainstorming sessions of our topic, Jill suggested looking at graduate studies, while Emily suggested looking at the impact that e-learning has had on education. Tyler suggested combining the two ideas to focus the group’s research efforts into an area that had enough depth to provide good data, but not so large as to be overwhelming.  Each member of the group agreed upon a format for recording the research data, and agreed to conduct research independently in order to allow for the greatest freedom of thought possible. By an agreed upon suspense date, each member of the group provided their research data to the other members of the group. The data was then combined, redundant data eliminated, correlation completed, and final data was entered into the report format. The results follow.    Our combined research produced the following resources: <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'"> = Journals: = <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'"> = Articles: = <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'"> = Books: = <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">
 * Topic: **  Impact of e-learning on graduate level studies
 * [SS comments:** A beginning, but the first part of the background is wordy, only one possible narrowing for the topic is provided (instead of several possibilities), and articles presented do not have full bibliographical information to enable someone else to be able to easily find the article.]
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Background: **
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Narrowing of Topic: **<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Key Search Words Used: **
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Distance education
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Virtual classroom
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">The impact of e-learning on graduate level studies
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Graduate level e-learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning & graduate studies
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning’s impact on graduate studies
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Resources for e-learning & graduate studies
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Graduate students online learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Graduate students + e-learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Journals about e-learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Journal articles about graduate e-learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning + graduate
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Distance learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Remote education
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning + journal
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Graduate e-learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Journal Articles + Distance Education + Graduate
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Distance Education + Impact on Education
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">The Merlot Journal of Online Learning and Teaching
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Academic Medicine
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Electronic Journal of e-learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning Journal
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">The E-Learning Guild
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">International Journal on E-Learning (IJEL)
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learnspace: Everything E-Learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objectives
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">The International Journal of Excellence in E-Learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Interface: The Journal of Education, Community and Values
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">European Distance and E-Learning Network
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning Post
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">2007 E-Learning Symposium
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Distance Education Journal
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Journal of Distance Education
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Online Learning of Distance Education Administration
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Journal of Agriculture and Applied Economics
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">MLA Forum
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">United States Distance Learning Association
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">American Center for the Study of Distance Education
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning Search
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Instructional Design Principles in the Development of E-Learning Graduate Courses
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">About.com: Distance Learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Master’s Degrees (Encarta summary)
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Distance Learning
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Distance Learning Profiles
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Rural and Remote Education
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Remote Education using Media Streaming
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Linux Powers Remote Education System in Rural China
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Remote Education Sees Initial Success
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">The Impact of E-Learning in Medical Education
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning and Earning: The Impact of Lifelong E-Learning on Organisational Development
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Adapting to Changing Expectations: Post-Graduate Students’ Experience of an E-Learning Tax Program
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Face-to-Face or Cyberspace: Analysis of Course Delivery in a Graduate Educational Research Course
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Is Online Life a Breeze? A Case Study for Promoting Synchronous Learning in a Blended Graduate Course
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Testing an Experimental Universally Designed Learning Unit in a Graduate Level Online Teacher Education Course
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning. Written by Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard E. Mayer. Pfeiffer, 2nd Edition, 2007.
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'">Handbook of Online Learning: Innovations in Higher Education and Corporate Training. Edited by Kjell Erik Rudestam and Judith Schoenholtz-Read. Sage Publications, 2002.