A methodological framework for practice-based research in networked learning

This paper presents a methodological framework for practice-based research in the field of networked learning, based on the author’s approach to carrying out a case study evaluation of a networked professional development initiative for information services staff in higher education. The theoretical case for the framework is made with reference to principles associated with constructivist programme evaluation as well as with interpretivist and critical traditions in action research. The purposes and politics of this approach, and the question of validation criteria for claims about its effectiveness for building theory, as well as for evaluating and improving practice, are discussed. Issues to do with using computer-mediated communication as a medium for participatory research are also raised. An overview is given of the way this research approach was implemented in practice (including the use of a combination of online and face-to-face data collection methods) and some methodological issues that arose in the course of carrying it out are highlighted. The paper concludes by suggesting that as a methodology for evaluating, theorizing and improving practice, ‘networked action research’ also offers an approach to pedagogical design, most obviously in the context of networked professional development for educators and learner support staff.