Measuring the development of eResearch by comparing technology skills engagement in the sciences and the humanities A content analysis of course syllabi Jeremy L. McLaughlin LIBR Fall 2015 November 29, 2014

What is eResearch?

eScience eHumanities Digital Ecosystems Scholarly Communications Digital Resources Digital Content eSocialScience Arts & Humanities eScience eInfrastructure Resource Typologies ICT

eResearch in the humanities Why are the humanities different? Disciplinary culture Research process Print v. digital Technology use and trust What’s needed? Education and engagement at a basic level Methodological commons Scholarly primitives

eResearch in the humanities Dru Bloomfield. Flickr.

Research Questions How do differences in tech skills development in sciences and humanities disciplines represent the development of eResearch applications over time? RQ1: how do we measure tech skills development? RQ2: what are differences in tech skills development in science and humanities syllabi (and over time)? RQ3: what are the implications of technical literacy on developing a digital culture in the humanities?

Methodology Quantitative content analysis “a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use” (based on Krippendorf 2004). Analytical constructs or rules of inference to move from text to context. White, M. D., & Marsh, E. E. (2006). Content Analysis: A Flexible Methodology. Library Trends, 55(1), Content analysis of syllabi Educational studies, course planning, information literacy “What’s being taught?” Assessment

Methodology – Sampling and Data Collection Analysis of syllabi (data collection) Source? 2002/2003 and 2012/2013 History, Linguistics, Philosophy Biology, Chemistry, Physics Sections of syllabus (unit of analysis) Course description Course objectives Course activities What to measure?? Demographics

Methodology – Sampling and Data Collection What to measure?? Computer technology skills Course description and objectives = explicit, implicit, or not at all states exposure to technology skills. Second section of instrument is whether a targeted set of skills are needed to complete activities. They also measured how each component was weighted based on the grade for each assignment related to a skill. Madson, Michael B; Melchert, Timothy P; Whipp, Joan L. (2004). Assessing student exposure to and use of computer technologies through an examination of course syllabi. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(5), 549–561. Basic/complex word processing WWW Database searching Synchronous or asynchronous communication Downloading files Creating website Basic/advanced presentation software YouTube or video content Database usage Developing multimedia files Software LMS

Methodology – Sampling and Data Collection What to measure?? Computer technology skills. Details of software, textbooks, journals used Details about professor Data literacy Wikle, T. A., & Fagin, T. D. (2014). GIS Course Planning: A Comparison of Syllabi at US College and Universities. Transactions in GIS, 18(4), 574–585. Brown, K. G., Rynes, S. L., Charlier, S. D., & Hosmanek, A. (2013). What Do We Teach in Organizational Behavior? An Analysis of MBA Syllabi. Journal of Management Education, 37(4), 471 Bower, M., Highfield, K., Furney, P., & Mowbray, L. (2013). Supporting pre-service teachers’ technology-enabled learning design thinking through whole of programme transformation. Educational Media International, 50(1), 39–50.

Methodology – Analysis What are the details and places for improvement?? Graduate v. undergraduate Disciplines Professors Primary v secondary Books v journals

Methodology – Timeframe Finish LIBR 285 paper Spring 2015 – identify source of syllabi and scope of project Begin collecting syllabi Summer 2015 – coding Fall 2015 – coding Begin analysis Complete analysis Write-up Spring 2016 – Complete write-up Submit thesis

Thank you! Questions?

Measuring the development of eResearch by comparing technology skills engagement in the sciences and the humanities A content analysis of course syllabi Jeremy L. McLaughlin LIBR Fall 2015 November 29, 2014