A Framework to Guide Educational Technology Studies in the Evolving Classroom Research Environment

ABSTRACT

Despite the drastic change to school environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still important that educational technology researchers conduct school-based research to understand the impact of technology in an authentic learning context, even remotely. However, the transition to remote research has made it challenging for researchers to collect classroom data, observe teacher-student-technology interactions, and facilitate study sessions. To explore how researchers can effectively plan and conduct technology-based educational studies in the new, evolving classroom research environment, we interviewed seven US teachers, investigating their perceptions of participating in remote classroom studies. Based on the findings and the authors’ experience of running classroom studies, we propose a framework that educational technology researchers can refer to when planning and conducting research in the evolving classroom research environment. Specifically, the framework informs researchers of several types of questions they can explore with teachers, students, and researchers themselves to be better prepared to address potential confusion, unexpected issues, and practical benefits in remote classroom research. Our work contributes by providing a practical guide for running technology-based research remotely, which may remain as a means of classroom research in the future. Some of the findings and the framework would also be applied to in-person classroom research setting. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.