IV. Revision and refinement of the content framework of distance education research
1. Revision and Refinement
1.1 Results of revision and refinement
The comprehensive organisation of scientific research within the RTVU system is the biennial application for research topics. In 2010, the CCRTVU and a total of 37 provincial and base-level RTVUs participated in the application and appraisal process for RTVU internal research topics. Applications were received for 312 topics, of which 35 were research topics relating to pure disciplines, and the remaining 277 were all related to distance education. These topics cover all aspects of distance education practice, reflecting the entire RTVU system's research content framework and research focus areas. Extraction and classification of the keywords in these research topics help us to check, revise and refine the content framework formulated on the basis of literature review from the perspective of actual distance education institution practices.
Based on keyword extraction and analysis of the 2010 RTVU system research topics, Table 1 was checked, revised, and refined. The result is Table 2:
Table 2 Content Framework of Distance Education Research after Revision and Refinement
|
Sub-domain
|
Research theme
|
Specific contents
|
Number of scholars
|
Number of topics
|
|
Theoretical research
|
Philosophy
|
Ontology, epistemology, methods and methodology
|
4
|
0
|
|
Sociology
|
Policies and regulations, culture and tradition, integration of conventional education and distance education, globalisation
|
7
|
2
|
|
|
History
|
Historical summary, comparison, assessment, etc.
|
6
|
2
|
|
|
System theory
|
International comparison, taxonomy, assessment, etc.
|
5
|
1
|
|
|
Theory and concept
|
Meta-research, basic impetus, basic concepts, basic theories, principles
|
9
|
0
|
|
|
Discipline construction
|
Special research, research methods
|
5
|
1
|
|
|
System construction and operation
|
System construction
|
System status, problems, function and orientation; education equality and learning opportunity; system construction and system accessibility and availability
|
5
|
7
|
|
System operation
|
Planning, organisation, management; policy and legal issues, administrative management, academic affairs (R&D), publication of teaching materials, enrollment, etc.
|
14
|
7
|
|
|
Industry and economics
|
Cost-benefit evaluation and control (equilibrium), competition and cooperation inside and outside the system
|
14
|
4
|
|
|
Research on development strategy
|
Higher education, elementary education, distance training, lifelong learning, rural education, community education, education for the elderly, open universities
|
3
|
30
|
|
|
Professional training
|
Practical guidance, training and professional development, such as faculty development, training, psychoanalysis, teamwork and professional development, etc.
|
8
|
16
|
|
|
Teaching management and quality assurance
|
Teaching management
|
Professional cultivation models; professional development, curriculum planning and learning objectives; teaching management methods and measures; teaching supervision models, operational mechanisms and system construction, etc.
|
5
|
9
|
|
Evaluation and accreditation
|
Measurement and evaluation, effectiveness of assessment approach and results
|
11
|
0
|
|
|
Quality assurance
|
Quality standards, quality assurance of teaching process, education quality assurance system
|
7
|
4
|
|
|
Credit transfer*
|
Connection of different levels of education, integration of degree and non-degree education, construction of credit bank, etc.
|
0
|
6
|
|
|
Teaching resources
|
Resource construction and management
|
Survey of resource construction and sharing status; research on resource construction and construction models; course delivery; learning resource construction and assessment standards; application, management and assessment of learning resources
|
4
|
10
|
|
Curriculum design and development
|
Curriculum theory, teaching design, presentation of disciplinary content, assessment and revision; application of technology; design and development of online courses, printed teaching materials, CAI resources and virtual laboratory resources
|
10
|
15
|
|
|
Other resource construction*
|
Construction and application of library resources, construction of mobile learning resources, construction of community education resources, etc.
|
0
|
8
|
|
|
Distance teaching and learning
|
Distance teaching
|
Teaching models, adaptation of teaching theories to different learning styles, survey of exploration of teaching models, practices and their success; strategy of teaching interaction, face-to-face tutorial
|
9
|
12
|
|
Distance learning
|
Learning models, strategies to boost interaction and proactive learning; research on autonomous, collaborative, mobile and virtual learning
|
8
|
6
|
|
|
Subject teaching*
|
Teaching content, methods and processes, teaching interaction, reform of teaching models, etc.
|
1
|
31
|
|
|
Practical teaching*
|
Practical teaching methods for the subject, teaching reform and quality control, etc.
|
0
|
20
|
|
|
Learning assessment*
|
Research on course assessment, pluralistic assessment, formative assessment, online assessment and assessment management, etc.
|
0
|
12
|
|
|
Learner support
|
Learners
|
Research on learner groups; environment and conditions; survey and description of enrollment, dropout and graduation, etc.; psychology research; attention to learner characteristics, especially to learning motivation and learning styles
|
10
|
19
|
|
Environmental support*
|
Course learning environment, platform support environment
|
0
|
7
|
|
|
Interactive support
|
Consultation, exchange and interaction with support organisations (teachers, consultants, administrators and other students), methods of teacher coordination and mutual assistance, etc.; learning communities, construction and application of call centers, etc.
|
15
|
6
|
|
|
Support guarantee*
|
Analysis of support effectiveness, operating mechanisms to guarantee effective learner support, etc.
|
0
|
6
|
|
|
Campus culture*
|
Construction of campus culture
|
0
|
5
|
|
|
Media technologies
|
Development of media technologies
|
Development of systems and tools (mainly the design, development and application of distance teaching and management platforms and their subsystems)
|
2
|
21
|
|
Application of media technologies
|
Technology, especially application of new technologies in distance education
|
15
|
10
|
|
|
Total frequency
|
177
|
277
|
||
(Note: “*” indicates newly added research topics based on statistical analysis of the 2010 RTVU system research topics)