Reflection on Research course

Insights

Coming into this course, I knew that I did not have much knowledge of research. However after diving into the content of this course, I soon realized I knew very little and faced many challenges along the way. I soon learned how much thought has to go into creating just the right research question and that every detail must be planned out before beginning a research project. I now have a better understanding of how to read articles on studies and how to skim through the details that are above my knowledge base and focus on the conclusions and discussions. Learning how to read these articles is going to be very helpful in the future because reading research on early childhood education is a necessity in our field. I now realize how much time is spent in creating a study.

Lessons Learned

There are many details and issues to address while planning and designing research. First you much choose which research design best suits your topic and the outcomes expected if any. Ethics must be considered as well as validity and reliability. Also a decision must be made on how data will be collected and will there be equity in the process. As soon as I thought I had a good grasp on an issue in research, then the next week there was some other issue that needed to be considered. It seemed to be never ending.

Challenges

I had many challenges in understanding the assignments some weeks. I found understanding the difference between quantitative and qualitative research to be challenging. In my opinion both seemed to overlap in many studies. My personality allows me to see questions answered as black or white. I have a hard time understanding gray areas. Dr. Shephard gave out links in our discussions to read further on a topic and that helped me in ways that the text didn't. I had to email Dr. Shephard a few times about assignments which is something I had never done in any of my other classes. I was definitely out of my comfort zone in this class.

Fortunately with the help of my colleagues, Dr. Shephard, and the additional readings, I seemed to have made it through this course. I now look at researchers in early childhood in admiration. They are doing the difficult work that we as early childhood educators need in order to make our classrooms better and our children more successful.

Thank You!!

A huge THANK YOU to my colleagues in Group 3. Reading your posts helped me to understand the topics better and getting responses from you allowed me to know if I was on the right path. Thank You to Dr. Shephard for having patience with our questions and concerns and for guiding us through this course. Good luck to everyone! 

Research around the World

I chose to look over the Early Childhood Australia website. Most of the research topics on this website were the same that we have here in the United States. There is research and resources on topics such as:
1.brain development
2.quality standards
3.inclusion
4.parent engagement
5.compensation of early childhood professionals

This list is just a few of the many issues being discussed and researched. There is a huge parent engagement toolkit that has been put out as a resource to begin letting parents know how important their role is in the beginning of their child's life. There was a survey online in order to give feedback on the toolkit.

What surprised me the most was how advanced Australia is in terms of their early childhood initiatives. They are celebrating 75 years of The Australian Association of Pre-School Child Development’. They are so much more advanced in their research and work with early childhood care and education than here in the United States. About a year ago, National early learning standards were developed and implemented in the child care centers. The terminology of early childhood education came about in the past decade in the United States and is just beginning to be acknowledged by our National government in the past few years.

Australia's newest initiative is the Respect, Connect, Enact reconciliation plan. This plan calls "

For Early Childhood Australia, Reconciliation between

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the

broader Australian community is about transformation—

transformation that moves us from ignorance and racism

to respect, from inequity and prejudice to justice, and

from inaction and fear to hope. It is in this transformation,

both personal and organisational, that the promise of a

strong future for every Australian child is realised. Within Australia, there are cultural issues that need to be addressed in order to advance the well-being of all children. I was extremely impressed with this website and the work of the Australian government and organizations in improving the lives of young children.