International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Muhterem DİNDAR 1
Işıl Kabakçı Yurdakul 2
Fevzi İnan Dönmez 3
1 2 3 Anadolu University
Computer Education and Instructional Technology Department
Reflections from a two-year Multimedia Learning Research Project
Research projects in the Academy require high levels of interaction, communication, commitment and synergy
among their members. Furthermore, there are several common challenges in the projects to be confronted by the
researchers. Concrete timeline, limited budget, outsourcing expertise, losing team members are some of these
grand challenges. Running research projects in social contexts, specifically in educational environments do not
decrease but increase the amount of challenges to be dealt with. The ever changing nature of individuals and
several differences between educational settings make it difficult to predict and control the extraneous variables
of researches.
In this paper, the experiences of our research team in doing a true experimental study in several Turkish
government primary schools were presented. These experiences include the issues faced with school
administrations, subject teachers, experimental settings, and- participants of the study- students. The two-year
research process was addressed with a narrative approach and the ways the researchers hurdled problems during
this period were elucidated. Further suggestions were made for the members of future projects in educational
settings.
Acknowledgement: This study was supported by Anadolu University Scientific Researches Department (Project
Number= 1204E063).
Keywords: Multimedia learning, project management, educational research.
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