Part 2: Reflective Account

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This essay has accounted my reflection based on the formative and summative
assessments. This reflective essay has explored and examined my experiences,
actions, interactions, and ontological and epistemological perspectives based on
Rolfe et al.’s (2001) reflective model. Rolfe et al.’s (2001) reflective model is based
on three questions: ‘what?’ (descriptive level of reflection), ‘so what?’ (developing
level of reflection based on theory and knowledge), and ‘now what?’ (reflexive or
action-oriented level of reflection). The formative assessment was a 500-word blog
entry, wherein I have identified a research question, along with two potential
research methodologies, and research challenges. The summative assessment was
a 2,800-word critical essay that articulated a practical problem, along with the
research question, research methods, creative solution, and ethical considerations.
For both the formative and summative assessments, I have selected the topic
related to the issues and challenges that are experienced by the instructors when
they use the digital technologies as a means of teaching.

In relation to ‘what?’ aspect, I would say that as a student of DBA programme, I am

engaged in and with research as part of my professional learning. The idea of
identifying a research topic is always problematic, as the problem should be
compelling, will support multiple perspectives, and should have the research-ability
characteristic. While thinking about a practical problem, I found digital learning will be
a compelling and researchable topic, as it can be researched from organisational
behaviour of business management field, social sciences, and educational research
field. In fact, the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic helped me a lot to find
out the researchable topic, as higher educational institutions have moved to both
synchronous and asynchronous learning method rather than face-to-face teaching
method, which I found an effective way to learn while staying at home due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, this transition of digital learning from the traditional
face-to-face teaching also created some concerns in me when I think about the
readiness, accessibility, course-specific software, and assessment. Consequently, I
conducted some literature review, and it appeared to me that education practice
through digital technologies is highly complex and it consists a number of actors,
including the instructors and learners, with differing power and influence. A further
literature search revealed that instructors are at the centre of the education
environment, wherein teachers’ enthusiasms and worldviews determine the

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effectiveness of the digital technologies as a means of pedagogy (Salavati, 2016). I

also found that it is the instructors who have the ultimate influencing power to the
enhancement of the learners’ learning experience. Consequently, I have decided to
perform a research study on the issues and challenges that are experienced by the
teachers when they use the digital technologies as a means to pedagogy.

In relation to ‘so what?’ aspect, I found that my area of research is compelling, and I
found some difficulties to find out the practical problem, as I never thought of doing
any research in education due to my professional background, which is related to
business management. However, I found that this topic is researchable and very
interesting if I apply the systems thinking perspective. Due to professional
background, I had some conceptions on systems thinking perspective, wherein I can
first observe the distinctive functions and interactions among the elements that
operate within the wider environment. Based on this view, I think a number of actors,
such as instructors, students, administrators, institutions, learning objectives, and
digital contents, which interact with each other. If I can observe these elements, I can
also obtain data and information regarding their interactions, and using the data, I
can develop a system to find out the issues and challenges that are experienced by
the instructors. When I can identify the issues and challenges of the digital learning, I
can develop a model or system, which could be effective for all the actors in relation
to utility of digital technologies. Based on the systems thinking perspective, I have
also developed a research question, which helped me to develop the aim and
objectives of my study. Therefore, I think the literature search helped me developing
my research proposal. This also suggests that breaking up the entire research into
small parts is important in research.

The ‘so what’ section also describes my personal views on research perspective in
relation to ontology and epistemology of the study. Based on the systems thinking
perspective, I assume that examining the human nature in the educational
environment would be appropriate to find out the issues and challenges of digital
learning. Consequently, I have adopted a constructive paradigm rather than a
positivist paradigm, which is based on ‘the belief that society will become ever more
perfect as a result of advances in science, including social science’ (Wynn, 2001,
p.21). I believe that truth is contextual dependent, subjective, and values are

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fundamental to our social life, and therefore I will adopt the qualitative research
method for my study, as constructive paradigm fits within the qualitative research
method. In relation to the qualitative research method, I will adopt the ethnography
and participatory research methods as research tools for my study. During my
Masters dissertation, I have developed sound knowledge on the use of qualitative
interpretive research method, which will facilitate me doing the research at the
doctoral level. As qualitative research is subjective, I will also use interviews and
observations as my data collection tool. Additionally, researchers generally do not
start their projects as a tabula rasa – blank slate. Consequently, I also need to
consider the ethical issues of the research, as I will deal with human participants,
and their wellbeing of physical and mental health must be considered. Additionally, I
need to take their informed consent, and the study must be free from any kind of
deception while conducting the interviews. The participants’ anonymity and proper
data handling procedures will also be considered.

In relation to ‘now what?’ aspect, I think I need to develop a sound understanding on

the concepts of ethnography and participatory research, as I did not use these
research tools before. The ethnography needs to be adopted into a reporting style,
and I can assume either thick descriptions of setting and observations or reflective
reporting style. However, I have very little idea how to perform these fieldworks and
transform into report writing. Additionally, I need to develop a good understanding on
the nature of information I would require, and this involves in the data collection,
analysis, and reporting issues. I also need to develop a research framework on
which I will carry out my study. This is due to the fact that all research works are
driven by theories, which could have considerable influence over the researchers
when they are not conscious regarding the theoretical perspectives. Research in
education is frequently based on sociological and psychological approaches, and
social sciences generally look outwards, while psychological research works
generally tend to look inwards (Alderson, 2019). Consequently, I need to learn some
theories related to this research, such as systems thinking, soft systems
methodology, and analytical methodology. Finally, I think I need to develop my
interviewing skills, as I never performed any semi-structured and structured interview
before. Consequently, I need to study some textbooks on how to develop
interviewing skills.

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References

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., and Jasper, M., (2001), Critical Reflection in Nursing and
the Helping Professions: A User’s Guide, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Salavati, S., (2016), Use of Digital Technologies in Education: The Complexity of

Teachers’ Everyday Practice, Doctoral Thesis, Vaxjo, Sweden: Linnaeus University
Press.

Wynn, E., (2001), ‘Mobius Transitions in the Dilemma of Legitimacy’, In: E. Trauth,
(Ed.), Qualitative Research in IS: Issues and Trends, pp. 20-45, Hershey, PA: IGI
Global.

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