Community-Based Research

About this course

Community-based research means involving a community in all stages of a research process – this kind of research can give people the power to transform their lives.

In this course you will learn the basics of community based research by examining the citizen science methodology used by the RELIEF Centre in Lebanon. You will learn to construct your own research questions to find out community needs and how to meet them. You will develop research skills to carry out local research projects sensitively and ethically, using examples from Lebanon to support you as an aspiring researcher.

What You Will Learn

• Discuss the uses of community based research
• Assess the varying perspectives of different stakeholders in community based research
• Reflect on the sensitivities and ethics of community based research
• Identify a research question for community based research and appropriate research methods to answer it
• Develop research skills appropriate to community based research
• Produce a proposal for a community based research project

Institution

Edraak

Edraak, is a massive open online course (MOOC) platform, that is an initiative of the Queen Rania Foundation (QRF). QRF is determined to ensure that the Arab world is at the forefront of educational innovation. As such, QRF has capitalized on regional Arab talent to leverage technology developed by the Harvard-MIT consortium, edX, to create the first non-profit Arabic MOOC platform. The new MOOC platform will present the Arab world with unique and vital opportunities that can be part of a necessary revolution in education and learning.

First, the platform will broadcast the best Arab professors to the region, offering original Arabic courses – developed by QRF – to further enrich Arab education. Through its partnership with edX, the platform will also give Arab learners access in Arabic to courses taught and developed at top tier institutions like HarvardX, MITX, and UC BerkelyX. All courses are delivered at no cost to the learner.

Second, QRF envisions the use of the platform to showcase Arab role models by broadcasting short online courses by practitioners and professionals from a variety of fields spanning the arts and sciences.

Finally, QRF believes that the platform will enable the Arab world to take advantage of the international interest in regional affairs to tell its own story to the world. Arab university professors and regional experts can use the platform to give courses in English about the region and its history. This will serve to inform a global audience that is interested in the region’s development.

University College London

UCL is London’s leading multidisciplinary university, with more than 13,000 staff and 38,000 students from 150 different countries. Founded in 1826 in the heart of London, UCL was the first university in England to welcome students of any religion and the first to welcome women on equal terms with men.

Instructors

Diana Laurillard

Diana Laurillard, Professor of Learning with Digital Technologies, UCL Knowledge Lab Developing the Learning Designer and Course Resource Appraisal Modeller tools for teachers. Projects: MOOCs on Blended Learning Essentials for teachers; The transformational Potential of MOOCs; Future Education in the RELIEF Centre; Neural-informed game-based interventions for low-progress learners with Learning Sciences Lab Singapore; Teacher Community Knowledge with the AICFE, Beijing. Formerly Head of the e-Learning Strategy Unit at Department for Education and Skills (2002-5); Pro-Vice Chancellor for learning technologies at the Open University (1995-2002); member of the Dearing Committee. . Book: Teaching as a Design Science, Routledge.

Eileen Kennedy

Dr Eileen Kennedy Eileen Kennedy is a Senior Research Associate in online learning with the Centre for Global Higher Education, and the RELIEF Centre, and is based at the UCL Knowledge Lab, UCL Institute of Education. Her research explores ways of enhancing and supporting the online learning experience and sharing practice in online and blended learning. This has involved developing learning design tools (with Diana Laurillard), creating teacher communities online (e.g. through MOOCs) and researching the experience of learning online. Formerly: taught sociology at various universities for over ten years.

Rym El Moussaoui

MOOC Content Coordinator – Center for Lebanese Studies- RELIEF Project. Rym is a educational technology specialist. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Center for Language Sciences and Communication at the Lebanese University. She is currently finalizing her master’s degree in Curriculum and Educational Management at Balamand University. She has worked with many local and international organizations on educational programs for marginalized children. In addition, she co-designed several online training courses in order to support teachers.