Tips to get started on your research project
The very start is based on ideas… But, ideas that have no linkage to current trends or major developments in the field of distance education, might be hard to work on and find a reasonable research question.
- Start with some brainstorming, identifying areas of your interest and possibly associating them with the areas in DE that you have studied in your journey through the MDE.
- Read the Guidelines for the Capstone Project, and see which one of these ideas in fact will allow you to develop a final project that fits the expectation for the course.
- For those ideas that fulfill the expectations, working on writing one or two sentences that define your final contribution when you project is done. What is your aim? Who could benefit from your project (even if it is focused on solely expanding the knowledge-base). Some excellent pieces are work those that can integrate knowledge and information… these sometimes have the longest shelf-life
- Now you should work on a quick environmental/literature scan to make sure that you have material to work with and that your contribution is worthwhile.
- Share your ideas with instructors and peers as you move forward. Usually when people read about your ideas they are able to ask questions that you have not yet considered. They frequently serve the purpose of food for thought as you move forward.
- In many cases, the ideas are good, but the scope might be to broad and the work becomes unfeasible within the amount of time you have. Consider the limitations. Write them down. Reflect on how to overcome the limitations and possibly derive constraints for the scope of your work based on such limitations. It is important that you document this, because this is an important information when writing your final project. I
You might be ready now to start working on your proposal, and start shaping the project. Next step is your literature review, and this will certainly give you ammunition to better define your final deliverable.
