ELPS 600 SYLLABUS

Administrative Credential Candidates: Each student should be an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by: 1) facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community; 2) advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth; 3) ensuring management of the organization, operations, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment; 4) collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources; 5) modeling a personal code of ethics and developing professional leadership capacity and 6) understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal and cultural context. ELPS Department Mission Statement: Our mission is to prepare and inspire educational leaders to maximize student learning and access, link theory to best practice, support collaborative partnerships, and promote culturally responsive leadership in a diverse environment.

CATALOG DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to provide students with the foundations of educational research so that they will be able to understand professional journals, evaluate educational programs and their own practices. This course is a core course for the graduate students in the Masters of Arts Program in Education. For ELPS students, this course is a foundational course for the capstone project that is part of the ELPS 688 field experience.

CSUN PROGRAMS AND POLICIES

ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY: Academic Honesty Policy: Plagiarism is intentionally or knowingly representing the words, ideas or work of another as one's own in any academic exercise. You must cite the source (Author, date) not only when you quote an author directly (within " ") but when you borrow their opinion or interpretation for your work, or when you summarize their main ideas in your own words. Plagiarism (including having others do your work for you) is grounds for failing the course and can lead to you being expelled or suspended from CSUN (see Section 41301, Title 5, California Code of regulations).

CSUN COMMUNICATION: CSUN sends all official communications by e-mail, including registration information. Check your CSUN e-mail with any Web browser, go to www.csun.edu/webmail. Enter your CSUN User ID and Password. To forward your CSUN e-mail to a preferred address, go to www.csun.edu/account, log in and select Mail forwarding. To remain informed, it is in your best interest to continue to check your CSUN e-mail account throughout the semester.

Writing Issues: Problems with writing can lower your grade if ideas are not conveyed clearly with correct writing mechanics. Students who have difficulty with written academic English should: 1) seek guidance from the professor during office hours and 2) seek writing tutoring from the CSUN Writing Center, 818/677-2033 or at www.csun.edu/lrc/writing/wcconference.php

Disabilities: If you know you have or think you might have a disability that could affect how you do in this class, please contact Students with Disabilities Resources (677-2684, Student Services Bldg. 110) for free, confidential help and information. You are welcome to share this information with me, if you wish; the sooner in the semester you let me know, the better I can help you with accommodations.

COURSE GOALS: Instructional goals are to help students learn to identify, analyze and become conversant with educational research techniques and methodological options. In particular, students are to become familiar with the basic constructs of quantitative and qualitative research, with an emphasis on action research. Students will gain skills that a) ask scientific questions and formulate research problems; b) identify and analyze alternative research paradigms and the role of research design in obtaining trustworthy answers to scientific questions; c) design, write, interpret and evaluate studies to empirically investigate scientific problems in a solid literature review; and d) prepare a research proposal that they can utilize in their own schools. Upon completion of course, students will:

Identify divergent aspects of major educational research designs and applications;

Describe diversity influences (ethnic, linguistic, gender, etc.) on research design

Address the potentials and limitations of educational research

Write a Literature Review based on a selected educational issue

Prepare a research proposal that applies dimensions of educational research to school settings;

Understand the theoretical and applications of action research as it relates to their future roles as educators and leaders.

Students who do accomplished or exemplary work:

1) Attend class regularly and on time

2) Come to class prepared, having done readings and assignments on time. THERE IS NO excuse for you not to do the readings

3) Participate thoughtfully and regularly in class without dominating discussion fulfill or exceed the guidelines for each assignment

4) Show clear understanding of topics and critical engagement in written and oral work

5) Write clearly using correct writing mechanics and good organization/logical flow respond to instructor feedback on assignments

Laptops: Use of laptops interferes with your active participation. I respectfully request that you not use a laptop in class because of the powerful potential for distraction and potential for abuse. Please also turn off all cell phones & pagers before class.

Recommended Resources

ELPS Department - APA GUIDE:

http://library.csun.edu/Research_Assistance/apacitationguide.pdf

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Free On-Line Survey Tools:

http:www.surveymonkey.com

http://freeonlinesurveys.com

Action Research Web-Sites

http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu043/welcome.htm

www.broward.k12.fl.us/HRD/actionresearchstudies/introduction/ar/steps.htm

www.ohiodominican.edu/library/help/knowhow/module_research/M0_A1c.htm

REQUIRED TEXT

John W. Creswell. (2015). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Merrill Prentice Hall (New Jersey) 5/E

REQUIREMENTS - TOTAL POINTS - 200

REQUIREMENTS - TOTAL POINTS - 200

The course is conducted as a seminar in which students are responsible for class and bulletin board discussions based upon assigned readings, lectures and videos. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the week's readings. Assignments stress critical thinking skills and emphasize concepts and ideas. Type all assignments and present them to the instructor BEFORE the conclusion of the class. Late papers will be deducted two points for each day late. Three unexcused absences will result in an automatic fail from this course.

ALL PROPOSED PROJECTS MUST

1) What you PLAN in ELPS 600 is made into an Action Project in ELPS 688.

A) During ELPS 688 you must conduct 10-15 hours of data collection

B) Proposal and Action Project must include Action Research Cycles of Inquiry,

Investigation, Action and Reflection; and Leadership Components

2) Involve original work which means collection of NEW data - not just analyzing pre-existing data.

3) Get permission from your Principal for project no later than October 5

CRESWELL: readings out of the Creswell Book with pages noted

HOMEPAGE: readings are on the Class Home-Page. Find the last name and click for the readings

MOODLE readings are on the Class Moodle Page.

WEEK TOPICS READINGS ASSIGNMENT

I Aug. 27 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH & GETTING STARTED: a) Qualitative/Quantitative; b) Research Designs; Action Research NONE

II Sept. 3 LITERATURE REVIEW - PART 1: Library/Research Skills - How to Read a Research Article;

RESEARCH FOUNDATIONS & DESIGNS

a) Research Types: Historiography; Ethnographic, Action, Descriptive; Correlational; Evaluation; Experimental Homepage: Slayton & Llosa

Moodle: Heyneman

Creswell: 2-78 Bring Topic to Share with Class

III Sept. 10 MEET IN CSUN LIBRARY: LAB B at 4:00

Constructing Research Proposals: Part I & II

a) topic - "what's new" and "why important"; b) how is your topic related to student learning and ‘leadership.' Moodle: Marsh (Optional) Creswell: 79-108

IV Sept. 17 CONSTRUCTING RESEARCH PROPOSALS: Part III

a) article & field notes; b) using literature as guide;

ETHICS, RELIABILITY, VALIDITY

a) Reliability, Validity, Ethics; b) Legal Considerations; Moodle: Powers & Glass

Moodle: Bloom

Homepage: Hammack Creswell: 109-138 DUE:

PARTS 1 & 2

(topic; rationale; and RQs)

V Sept. 24 NO CLASS: ROSH HASHANAH

Work on your Literature Review Moodle: Barajas

Moodle: Daly Moodle comment on the 2 articles

Creswell: Note: the following 4 chapters have application to Weeks 6, 8, 11, 12

Quantitative: Collecting: 139-172; Analyzing: 172-202; Qualitative: Collecting: 203-234; Analyzing: 235-265

Note: the following readings detail specific types of research:

experimental: 293-337; correlational: 338-378; grounded: 425-464; ethnographic: 465-502; narrative: 503-535

VI Oct. 1 SURVEY/QUESTIONNAIRES/INTERVIEWS

a) Choosing Subjects; b) Informal to Formal; c) on-line survey instruments; d) cultural boundaries; e) stereotyping and ethnocentrism; f) In-Class Survey Part 1 Moodle: Fergus

Moodle: Järvelä & Järvenoja

Creswell: 379 - 424 Permission from Principal due

VII Oct. 8 PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

a) Participant Observation Skills; b) Individual Consultations Moodle: Stillman

Creswell: 211-231

VIII Oct. 15 CODING

Coding from readings; categories and patterns; coding from student testing; coding from faculty evaluation

In-Class Survey Part 2 Moodle: Garcia & Tierney

Homepage: Cahnmann-Taylor OBSERVATION ACTIVITY DUE

IX OCT. 22 NO CLASS:

Note: please use Moodle for on-line discussion of Web reading Homepage: Wang

LITERATURE REVIEW DUE (Parts 1, 2, 3)

X Oct. 29 ACTION RESEARCH, and PRAXIS

a) action research; b) Quality of Data; c) Detecting Inconsistencies; d) taking proposals into action & leadership Moodle: Riding

Moodle: Stecz

Creswell: 579-602

XI Nov. 5 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: How to get your data; how to analyze your data; how to evaluate data

In-Class Survey Part 3 Merchant & Zurita

Creswell: 265-293

XII Nov. 12 EVALUATION, QUANTITATIVE, AND MIXED METHODS

a) Evaluating Data and Projects; b) Quantitative Analysis - Survey, Tables, Statistics; c) ANOVA; d) mapping Moodle: Grissom

Moodle: Berends & Penaloza Creswell: 531-578

XIII Nov. 19 NO CLASS - CCLC Moodle: Lewis

Homepage: Teranishi & Parker (optional) INTERVIEW ACTIVITY DUE

XIV Nov. 26 PROJECT REPORTS

XV Dec. 3 PROJECT REPORTS

Last Day of Class: NO LATE PAPERS ! RESEARCH PROPOSAL DUE

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