I had this wonderful idea to explore collaboration and community through online courses and to draft a proposal for the upcoming ISSoTL conference in the fall. It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

For a research method I’d considered opening a voluntary survey of online students. Knowing where I could find a few dozen who might be interested in participating (my fellow classmates), I started working on the survey instrument and contacted my instructors to notify them of what I’d like to do and ask permission. Profs are willing to allow me to request voluntary participation in the survey if it passes the Ethics Review Board. All human subject research requires ERB approvals so that was always the next step in the process.

This morning I downloaded the ERB forms and started reviewing them. Being a neophyte when it comes to research – this would be my first project as the lead researcher – the approval forms seem a bit like greek at the moment and I’m struggling to remember what my original “question” was. My survey instrument, which needs to be included as part of the ERB application, now seems to be completely flawed and I have to sit down, regroup, and try to reframe both the original research question and ensure that the survey questions are a good fit.

Remind me again why this was such a good idea?

I have a feeling that everything won’t be in place in time to complete the proposal application for ISSoTL but I’m still going to try and get my ducks in a row. If I can complete the project I’m certain I’ll learn lots. And if it’s not complete in time for ISSoTL, there might be a more appropriate place to present the end results.

School update: Paper #3 was submitted today. Keep your fingers and toes crossed.

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