Jacqueline Batchelor

Streamlining Processes with Technology: The Research Ethics Committee

This paper reports on the conceptualization and design of a set of documents and procedures to streamline the task of ethical review by an Academic Ethics Review Board within a Faculty of Education at a South African University. The motivating factors for redesigning these documents and procedures include emerging societal problems that impact on the current educational space and the demands of academia for ethical research practice. To this end, a set of electronic documents were initially set up to address the four tenets of ethical research, namely respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. With reviewers uncertain about certain ethical issues and students and other researchers with conflicting opinions about these matters, it was decided to streamline the review process by including reasons why ethics applications are normally rejected by neighbouring university RECs and by then adding items related to research misconduct, vulnerability of participants, and researcher responsibilities. After a process of critical review and feedback by REC members, further items were added to the review documents that pertain to ethical research conduct. These include legal issues, procedural issues, issues of language and writing style, as well as the scientific basis for doing the research in the first place as poor science is in essence, inherently unethical. Five academic departments within the Faculty of Education then had the opportunity to add to the documentation at a series of ethics workshops. The review document, along with the procedural documents and the revised charter of the REC, has led to a more efficient review process largely due to more coherent and focused ethics applications as well as better informed and motivated reviewers. This paper and associated presentation will offer interested parties and REC members worldwide an insight into ethical issues and processes that may impact on all educational research done with human participants.

Cultivating lifelong learning: Pre-service teachers and their MOOCs

The South African Council for Educators (SACE) is in the process of implementing their Continuous Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) management system. Each teacher working in South Africa is required to sign-up electronically before they participate in their 1st CPTD cycle with each cycle repeated at three year intervals. With the increasing accessibility to online learning for pre-service and in-service teachers, access to CPTD is not limited to SACE endorsed programs and teachers are opting to enroll in less structured opportunities to enhance their own learning experiences through participating in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). With the advent of the MOOC in its many guises and the subsequent proliferation of service providers, there is a pressing need to provide some practical guidance to teachers planning to enrol in a MOOC for their own professional development purposes. This paper reports on pre-service teachers participation in their first MOOCs as part of their own journey in becoming teachers in the 21st Century. Online and open learning provides many challenges and opportunities for continuous professional development.