PRP - First Artefact

Ok as I'm still organising the work with my school test subject I thought that I would get working on my first artefact. Being that my research is based on not only the children in schools but also how the teachers are affected by the continuous change in technology.

I need to get a grasp on what the teachers think as well as the children and so my first two artifacts are aiming to get their views and ideas which shall hopefully allow me to progress into my next artefact.

For the first artefact I have designed a questionnaire, consisting of only 10 multiple choice questions and have designed the questionnaire on surveymonkey.com. The main reason for producing my questionnaire in this format is because I not only want it to be easy for me to analyse the results but I want it easy for the user, they are the ones taking the time to help me and so making it as user friendly and easy for them will hopefully get me more results.

Danny Kaye gave us a lecture on questionnaires last term and so from the notes that I made from that lecture I have hopefully created I good questionnaire. The questions that I sent out are below:

1) What level of education are you currently teaching?
- Infant
- Primary
- Secondary
- No answer
- other

2)Do you think that computer games are just a form of entertainment or could they be a useful learning tool?
- Entertainment
- Learning tool and Entertainment
- Prefer not to answer
- other

3) As an educator yourself how much knowledge do you have on computer games?
(1 having good knowledge and 5 having little knowledge)
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- No answer
- other

4) Do you feel that if provided with more knowledge and understanding on computer games, educators would be more optimistic about using this new learning technique?
- Having more knowledge educators will be more optimistic
- No change in educators opinion, games are for entertainment
- No opinion
- Other

5) Are you aware of the different types of games, e.g. simulation, adventure, puzzle etc?
- Yes
- No
- No answer
- Other

6) Computer games are very popular for all ages, do you think that if computer games were brought into schools it would boost the individual students confidence because they are familiar with the concept of gaming?
- Boost the students confidence
- Will not make any difference
- Prefer not to answer
- Other

7) As you are aware we all learn at different paces. Do you think that computer games could teach children with a different method of learning and thus help their individual needs?
- Games could support individual needs
- Games could not support individual needs
- Games are just a form of entertainment
- Prefer not to answer
- other

8) Do you agree or disagree: When children start education they are not only learning literacy, numeracy, science etc but skills that will help them develop in the future i.e. social and group-work skills?
- Agree
- Disagree
- other

9) The government have pushed forward the idea of ICT (Information Communication Technology) in secondary schools and is proving to be successful, but do you think that this could be as successful in a infant/primary level?
- Successful
- Unsuccessful
- Other

10) There are many implications when using computers in a learning environment (chat rooms, online bullying, access by pedophiles) Do you think that this could be the reason for why using technology in infant/primary may not be so appropriate?
- Agree with this reason
- Disagree with this reason
- Other

As you can see for the majority of the questions I have given the user the option to either not answer or write their own opinion. I have hopefully made this questionnaire as user-friendly as possible but can also gather enough information for myself to gain an idea about what the teacher feels about computer games in a learning environment.

I have sent just over a hundred questionnaires out just over an hour ago and have already received three so hopefully this is a good sign. I intend to send out another hundred out on Sunday evening ready for the Monday morning start. The more I send out the more I data I can collect, meaning my research will be more thorougher.