Education Field Program: Learning and Teaching With Technology

This guide is designed to complement the 9 Challenge Workshop for Field Programs in Education. For more help, please contact the Education Liaison Librarians: Hope Power @ hpower@sfu.ca (SFU Burnaby) or Holly Hendrigan @ hah1@sfu.ca (SFU Surrey). 

Step 1. Analyse your research question:

Let's say you want to examine the following question:

How can educational technology be used to promote the development of literacy skills in primary students?

First, identify the main concepts: technology; literacy; primary

Next, brainstorm some synonyms or related terms for each concept:

• Technology: computers; Internet; online; virtual; web-based, etc. 
• Literacy: reading, writing, spelling, composition, etc.
• Primary: elementary, grade 1, grade 2, etc.

Step 2. Combine your search terms into a search "string":

Combine your concepts with AND: technolog* AND literac* AND primary

*Tip: use the * symbol to search for all related terms with alternate endings; for example, technolog* will search for technology, technologies, technological, etc.

Combine your related terms with OR: literac* OR read* OR writ*

Then combine them into a search string:  (technolog* OR computer*) AND (literac* OR read* OR writ*) AND primary

*Tip: use brackets around your related "OR" terms if there is only one search box

Now you're ready to look for journal articles!

Step 3. Search the ERIC database for journal articles on your topic:

From the library website, click on Journal articles & databases (listed under FIND) and select "E" (for "ERIC") from the alphabetical list. Scroll down and click on ERIC then choose ERIC (EBSCO) and click "Connect." If you are off-campus, you will be prompted for your SFU user name and password at this point.

Enter your search, e.g.,

technolog* OR computer*
AND
literac* OR read* OR writ*
AND
primary

will yield over 1100 results. Click on the "Refine search" tab and select "Journal articles." [Also try the "Documents" option; see steps 2 and 4 of the 9 Challenge Workshop.]

Step 4. Use the descriptors (or subject headings) to focus your results:

What we have done to this point is a keyword search, meaning that the database looks for your search terms anywhere in the articles, but the articles found may not be specifically about these topics.

Look at the terms in the yellow box to the left of the articles. These are descriptors, or official terms, in the ERIC database. Do you see any that match (more or less) the ones in your search? By clicking on one, you will add it to the search, limiting the results to articles that are specifically about that concept. Try it. You can do this as many times as appropriate.

For example, if you click on "Educational Technology", then "Primary Education", and limit your results to journal articles, you will narrow down your results from 1100+ to just 25+! Be careful not to limit yourself too much.

You can use descriptors in another way. From your original search results, choose one good article, click on the title, and click a suitable descriptor from the ones assigned to that article. You will see a list of results specifically about that one topic. You can then add in more terms as you see fit. [See Step 5 in 9CW.]

Step 5. Use the ERIC thesaurus:

Follow Steps 6 and 7 in 9CW. For a sample search, enter "technology" in the Browse box. Click on "Technology Uses in Education" to expand it. Then tick both "Educational Technology" and :Computer Uses in Education" and click the ADD button. Do the same for the second and third concepts - i.e. literacy and primary). Then combine the searches. You should get 30-50 results.

Step 6. Save the articles you like:

Click the ADD button next to each article that you like. Then click on the "Folder has items" link at the top of the results on the right. Tick each article you wish to save/email, then save them or email them to yourself by clicking the link and filling in the required information.

Step 7. Look for books in the library catalogue and have them mailed to you:

From the library website, select "Books, journals, ..." under FIND and enter a search. Keep it fairly simple to start, e.g., literacy and technology

Click on any titles you like to see if the book is in and where it is located. (Note the subject headings for further searching.) To take advantage of our Telebook service, click on the REQUEST button at the top of the page, fill in your information and, under "Choose a pickup location" select "Telebook."

Step 8. Beyond ERIC--other Education databases:

Follow Step 8 in 9CW. CBCA Education is a good database for Canadian information. Academic Search Premier is an excellent multidisciplinary database.

For other databases specific to educational technology, go to the Journal articles & databases page (listed under FIND on the library home page) and check the subject listings for Education and Technology.

And don't forget to ask for help if you need it. Click on Ask a Librarian on the library homepage to see your options for research help via online chat, email, and phone -- or contact your Education Librarians directly: Hope Power @ hpower@sfu.ca (SFU Burnaby) or Holly Hendrigan @ hah1@sfu.ca (SFU Surrey).