I have been hoping to find a way to make the research process more meaningful and engaging for my 1001 and 2000 students without straying far from the traditional research methods that many of us use and students need to practice. Students often become frustrated with research when they “can’t find anything” on their topics, and teaching students how to research a topic creatively–to explore multiple platforms and approach a topic from multiple angles–is difficult, especially when I can’t see how they’re approaching research on their own. Leah Schafer and Lisa Patti created this assignment sequence, which they title “Extreme Searching,” in an attempt to lead their students to participate in collaborative and reflective research.
The assignment sequence would fit easily into the standard expectations for 1001 and 2000 classes at LSU. It includes 4 parts: a research question, an annotated bibliography, a video reflection, and a research screencast.
I already require my students to write a research question, but it often seems that they, or I, forget to return to their specific and interesting questions once the class is deeper in the paper-writing process, probably because the research question was only one sentence of a much longer annotated bib. Schafer and Patti ask students to provide their original research question, as well as their revised question and possible questions they decided not to pursue. Students also write a short paragraph explaining why they chose their question. I like that this part of the assignment requires students to consider and discriminate between multiple paths. Furthermore, students would be working in groups, so they would have to collaborative discuss, combine, revise, and reject ideas while forming one complex but cohesive question.
The last two parts of the assignment are the more digital aspects–a video reflection and a screencast. I am particularly intrigued by the research screencast assignment, which asks students to provide a narrated re-enactment of their research process, allowing the viewer to see their process by literally following the path of their online search. If you, like me, aren’t sure this means, here’s an example from one of their students. In order to complete this part of the assignment students would have to keep track of and reflect on their research methods. I am excited by the idea of leading students to think about their own search habits, not as random or based on chance, but as research methods–habits that can be thorough or cursory, thoughtful or careless.
In my class, research can become a very isolated experience for students. I show them how to use databases and how to discriminate between sources, but they do most of their research outside of class where they encounter inevitable frustrations. Consequently, students often become more focused on finishing the final project than on going through the process of reassessment and problem-solving. I predict that using technology such as screencasting to turn research into a more visible narrative will lead to more engaged and thoughtful methods. Of course students will still encounter frustrations, but perhaps these frustrations will become fruitful points to work through in a research narrative, rather than roadblocks to ignore.
