Department of
Secondary Education
College of
Education
University of
South Florida
Ref # 14765 EDG 7937-901
Ref # 10944 EME 7939-901
Research Seminar in Secondary Education
DEPARTMENT COURSE SYLLABUS
Spring 2009
INSTRUCTOR(S):
| James A. White, Ph.D. |
Office: EDU302U Phone: (813) 974-1629 |
Office
Hours: By appointment Email: jwhite@coedu.usf.edu |
CLASS MEETINGS: Monday, 5:15 - 8:00 p.m., EDU305
CLASS WWW SITE: http://www.coedu.usf.edu/jwhite/SecEdSeminar/
PREREQUISITES: Doctoral student status
READINGS:
Readings vary with the student's field or program status:
All Students
Labaree, D. (2003). The peculiar problem of preparing educational researchers. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 13-22. Available labaree.pdf
University of South Florida, Institutional Review Board, Application for Initial Review, Social & Behavioral Research Involving Human Subjects. Available http://www.research.usf.edu/cs/irb_forms.htm
COURSE
DESCRIPTION:
Doctoral-level
research seminar in secondary education. Research seminar students focus on
discipline-specific research
designs, methods, and instruments. The course is designed to engage students at
the highest cognitive levels, requiring extensive independent literature
evaluation, conceptualization, writing, and instrument development. Students must be able to deliver, to
receive, and to apply constructive criticism.
Appropriate mainly for doctoral students in the department of secondary
education, but doctoral students in other
education disciplines who possess the prerequisite competencies may inquire.
COURSE
OBJECTIVES:
1.
Student will understand the scholarly literature base pertaining to
interdisciplinary research paradigms and
methods.
2.
Student will be able to synthesize
scholarly literature pertaining to the application of
discipline-specific research methods.
3.
Student will be able to identify and
describe the research methods appropriate to a
discipline-specific research question or
paradigm.
4.
Student will be able to evaluate
research instruments and designs.
5.
Student will be able to employ
scholarly processes to develop research instruments and designs.
6.
Student will be able to develop
specific instantiations of research instruments and designs.
7.
Student will be able to produce a
publication-quality research proposal that articulates an appropriate research design.
8.
Student will be able to present to a
group of educators a paper that articulates an appropriate research design.
STUDENT
ASSESSMENT:
List
Of Course Products:
Evaluation of the student will be based on successful
completion of the following products and activities:
1) A research Concept Paper
2) Two incremental drafts of a Research Proposal, with revisions based on feedback and further study.
3) Written Faculty Advisor/Mentor (MP) approval of Concept Paper (Especially important for those students whose work is intended to provide basis of actual dissertation. Not required if MP is also course instructor.)
4)
A
"Final"
Research Proposal.
5) Various written feedback on the work of other students, as assigned
6) Various written evaluations of published documents and completed dissertations (graded students only - see Syllabus Supplement)
Grading Criteria:
General Seminar (7937) - Students enrolled in the General Seminar can only receive S/U grades.
"S" - satisfactory and timely completion of all course products and activities
"I" - satisfactory and timely completion of at least 60% of all course products and activities
"U" - satisfactory and timely completion of fewer than 60% of all course products and activities
Graded Courses (such as EME7939) - See Supplemental Syllabus
Dissertation (7980) - Doctoral candidates will
be expected to complete all course products and activities, but can receive
no grade.
ADA Statement: Students
with disabilities are responsible for registering with the Office of Student
Disabilities Services in order to receive special accommodations and services.
Please notify the instructor during the first week of classes if a reasonable
accommodation for a disability is needed for this course. A letter from the USF
Disability Services Office must accompany this request.
USF Policy on Religious Observances: Students who anticipate the
necessity of being absent from class due to the observation of a major religious
observance must provide notice of the date(s) to the instructor, in writing, by
the second class meeting.
Academic Dishonesty: The University of South Florida has an account with an automated plagiarism detection service which allows instructors to submit student assignments to be checked for plagiarism. Assignments are compared automatically with a database of journal articles, web articles, and previously submitted papers. The instructor receives a report showing exactly how a student's paper was plagiarized. I reserve the right to 1) request that assignments be submitted to me as electronic files, 2) to electronically submit assignments for evaluation, and 3) ask students to submit their assignments for evaluation.