Independent Learning

Independent Learning

TITLE OF YOUR ILP

An Independent Learning Project Presented by

Your Name

to

Professor Diane Harper

Faculty Advisor

Program Chair

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Master of Education

Cambridge College

Boston, Massachusetts

Anticipated Date of Submission of ILP

Leave blank

This is an unpublished Independent Learning Project

in which copyright subsists

© copyright by Your Name

Date of Anticipated Submission

All rights reserved

Since this manuscript is not intended for publication, some of the charts, graphs, photos,

pictures, and drawings were used without permission of the authors. This copy is not for

distribution to the public. Once you have completed the document, make sure you remove

any wording that does not apply to your specific ILP.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

If you would like to acknowledge and/or thank anyone who assisted and supported you as you

worked on your ILP, create an acknowledgments page. This is not required. People you might

wish to acknowledge include but may not be limited to tutors, family, friends, others.

DEDICATION

(Only if desired; this is usually to someone deceased, but there are exceptions. Speak to me

before constructing).

ABSTRACT

An abstract is a condensed version of a longer piece of writing that highlights the major points

covered, concisely describes the content and scope of the writing, and reviews the writing’s

contents in abbreviated form. The abstract should be very short, usually under 100 words.. An

abstract must contain key words about what is essential in the paper so that someone else can

retrieve information from it. An effective abstract has the following qualities: uses one or more

well developed paragraphs: these are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone; uses

an introduction/body/conclusion structure which presents the paper’s purpose, results,

conclusions, and recommendations in that order; follows strictly the chronology of the paper;

provides logical connections (or transitions) between the information included; and adds no

new information, but simply summarizes the paper.

See http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/bizwrite/abstracts.html,

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/writingcenter/handouts/abstract.html,

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html, and

http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/writecenter/web/abstracts.html, for more information. The

abstract MUST be written after the completion of the project.

Above prepared by Dr. Lyda S. Peters, Professor Emeritus

Make sure that your Abstract is no more than 2 paragraphs, no personal statements, no second person statements; use third person and use past or perfect tense. For instance, This ILP has analyzed/argued/theorized/maintained/illustrated/posited, demonstrated theorized, etc……..). Throughout the text make sure you use accurate, active voice, and appropriate verbs from the Text, THEY SAY, I SAY and from the Handouts which you can access from the main page of the course.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I page numbers on this side

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Problem Statement………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

History and Scope of the Problem ……………………………………………………………………………….

Rationale………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Anticipated Outcomes……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Actual Outcomes – complete at finalization of ILP…………………………………………………………..

Limits of the Study…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Research Questions…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Subject Matter……………………………………………………………..

Key Terms or Glossary of Terms……………………………………………………………………………………

Chapter II: Review of the Literature

Sample Subtitles Provided by Dr. Lyda S. Peters, Professor Emeritus

Labels: Definitions and Dilemmas

The Effect of Teachers’ Attitudes and Behaviors

The Teacher-Student Relationship

Assessing Social Competence in Students with Disabilities

Self-Perceptions of Students with Disabilities

Chapter III : Methods or Methodology

Chapter IV: Provide a Title

Chapter V: Provide a Title

Chapter VI: Provide a Title

Chapter VII: Conclusion and Implications/ Summary/ Recommendations/Statement of Learning. Chapter should be at least 3 pages with quotes from academic sources.

Construct as many Chapters as needed

o References in current APA – Caution: no Wikipedia, regular dictionaries, regular encyclopedias, web sites without authors, titles, and other copyright information. Vast majority of references should be no more than five years old. This will not be difficult if students choose timely topics, especially those of controversy.

o Appendices (where applicable—these can include charts, graphs, additional information. None of this counts toward the 50 pages of the paper). Includes any approved handbooks, projects, etc.

o Commitment Not to Plagiarize Form completed and signed; form can be found at the end of this Template. In the Comments section, cut and paste your abstract and fill out top

section with all of your vital information. Sign and date the form on day of submission.

o ILP/IRP/Capstone Evaluation Form. Complete top part, date, and sign. In the comment area, write your abstract; shorten it if you need to make it fit. Form can be found at the end of this Template.

o Current Resume

EXPLANATIONS

CHAPTER I

Introduction

Once you have settled on a topic and research questions, you begin your writing by introducing the reader to your topic. The purpose of the introduction is to clearly let your reader know what your topic is, why you think it is important, what led you to decide on the topic, what the product will be, and how you are connected to this topic Express your passion for the topic, the reason you are curious about it, and why you want to understand it at a deeper level. Make sure you include all subtitles and their pertinent information . You should have a minimum of 2-3 quotes in each section. No paraphrases.

Problem Statement

This section should be a 2-3 page summary of what led you to this project. The problem can be characterized in terms of a personal experience you have had, something you observed in a class, or an issue you became aware of from reading the literature. There are several ways to think about writing this statement. You might begin by thinking about an issue in your teaching that baffles you. For instance, you might think about a student you had trouble with or a lesson you attempted that just didn’t work. Another approach might be to think of an issue that your school is dealing with: Is parent involvement an issue at your school? What about professional development for teachers? Yet another approach to this section is to think of something that you do particularly well. How might you share your strengths with other teachers? What struggles will you be able to help them overcome? Use a journal to explore your options and don’t be afraid to write in a personal and friendly voice. Talk to others about this problem to gain a wider view of the issues involved. This helps you to see the proposed problems from multiple angles. Ask yourself the question, “What do I want to understand?” Say to yourself, “I have always wanted to learn more about x but never had the time.” Think about the classes you are taking or plan to take. Are there concepts you would like explore or strategies that you would like to use that would improve your work? (Make sure you incorporate 2-3 direct quotes from appropriate sources – Follow Lester only — dh)

Rationale

Once you’ve selected the problem you plan to study, you want to state your reasons for choosing it. Answer questions such as: Why bother doing this study? Who is it important to? Who might benefit from the findings? What are you trying accomplish and how will this research accomplish your aims?

See: http://research.sedl.org/ocr-em/rationale.html

(Consider incorporating 2-3 quotes from appropriate sources – dh)

Anticipated Outcomes

Speculate about possible findings/outcomes resulting from this project. They can be written as objectives. This can highlight exactly what you think will happen with your target group (students, teachers) when the ILP is completed. Think about answering the following sentence, “As a result of my project, I anticipate that this will happen …”

See: http://www.antiguapublib.org/anticipatedOutcome.htm

Research Questions

Pin-point specific questions that you want to understand by doing this project.

Read these:

http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/writerscomplex.nsf/0/f87fd7182f0ff21c852569c2005a47b7

http://www.lib.washington.edu/uwill/research101/topic03.htm

Prepared by Dr. Lyda S. Peters, Professor Emeritus

OTHER

Actual Outcomes

Add to final draft – what did you really find out? These may be in a list format. One -2 pages.

Limits of the Study/Project – what did you find problematic? Studies provide what their limitations were – provide some of these. You may also consider whether the studies you used included enough participants from all demographics, if the studies were funded by special interest groups and therefore not likely to be applicable to other groups, and so on. One -2 pages.

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Subject Matter – can be in bullets

Key Terms or Glossary of Terms — definitions of key vocabulary

CHAPTER II

Literature Review: An Older Sample follows .

Please be sure your sources and your discussion/analysis/explanation:

· are current,

· use current APA rules as Lester outlines in his text,

· use direct quotes instead of paraphrases,

· use accurate and appropriate verbs as in They Say, I Say,

· construct full paragraphs of 5-7 complete sentences – no fragments or run ons

· employ a minimum of 2 transitions per paragraph to connect ideas and to provide unity, coherence, and fluency. Note also that 3 transitions will likely provide the reader with much better understanding of what you are trying to convey. You can find excellent college level transitions in They Say as well as google many more. Transitions can be more than one word and are often complete sentences. Do not keep repeating the same transitions.

· maintain third person; do not use first or second person pronouns which you can google and then eliminate from your discussion.

Literature Review: An Older Sample that I prefer you do not use as it is more of an annotated bibliography than a lit review. You can google sample lit reviews. The problem with providing templates is that they are too brief to show how something should really be done. Further, to save paper, this is single rather than double spaced; your paper is to be double spaced and use direct quotes only. Do not use paraphrases.

Multimodality: A Paradigm Shift

Literacy pedagogy has traditionally meant teaching and learning to read and write page-bound, official standard forms of language. This tradition has led to carefully restricted, project-restricted, formalized monolingual, monocultural, and rule governed forms of language (New London Group, 1996). With technologies of meaning changing so rapidly, there can no longer be one set of standards or skills that constitute the process of literacy learning, no matter how it is taught (New London Group, p. 64) We must address the current learning needs of students and rethink the traditional model of literacy pedagogy of writing and reading text on paper. Students in the 21st century are multimodal. Rapidly changing technology has become their primary method of communication and that communication often occurs instantly and universally. Students must be prepared to manage and intelligently cope with the advent of new technologies, information from the internet, photo dependent social networks, video saturated media, and graphically sophisticated entertainment and gaming (Metros, 2008). Highly qualified teachers find themselves struggling to effectively engage with their students who interact and communicate with each other through a rich and complex language in which knowledge is presented in many different forms.

Multimodality – the practice of making meaning by combining various semiotic resources – has captured attention of literacy educators. In 2012, Marjorie Siegel, professor of education at Teacher College, Columbia University, wrote “It is increasingly rare to open a professional journal or attend a conference without encountering the argument that multimodality is central to literate practice everywhere except schools.” In addition, she suggests that, “this is the time for multimodality: A time when the privileged status of language is being challenged by the ease with which youth can access semiotic resources or all varieties – visual, aural, gestural, and spatial – to assemble meanings.” (Siegel, p. 671)

In 1996, a group of 10 authors from Australia, Great Britain and the United States who would later become known as the New London Group, published a document entitled, A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures, in which they coined the term “multiliteracy.” The group conceived of the term “multiliteracy” after much consideration of the need for a new theoretical approach to bridge the connections between the changing social environment facing students and teachers and a new approach to literacy pedagogy documented a theoretical overview of the connections between the changing social environment facing students and teachers and a new approach to literacy pedagogy (New London Group, 1996). It is the assertion of the New London Group that when technologies of meaning are changing so rapidly, there can no longer be one set of standards or skills for teaching and learning literacy (New London Group, p.64)

The New London Group emphasized the use of multiple modes of communication, languages, and multiple forms of English to reflect the impact of new technologies and linguistic and cultural diversity, instead of developing competence in a single national language and standardized form of English (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009). A pedagogy of “multiliteracies” requires that the enormous role of agency in the meaning-making process be recognized and that literacy teaching is not about skills and competence, but rather it is aimed at creating a kind of student who is an active designer of meaning, open to diversity, change and innovation (Cope & Kalantzis, p. ____). According to the model of “multiliteracies” set forth by the New London Group, there are six elements in the meaning-making process: visual, audio gestural, spatial and multimodal meanings. (See Figure 1 in Appendix). It was the assertion of the New London Group that these design elements, or modes of meaning-making are necessary for students to successfully navigate the diversities of texts, practices and social relations that are part of their working, public, and personal lives (New London Group, p.83).

It has been more than two decades since The New London Group met to address the need for educators to rethink their pedagogical approach to teaching literacy in response to an everchanging global landscape of multimodal means of communication. Teaching multiliteracies is crucial for preparing students to cope with the realities that exist in a world of rapidly changing technology but teacher education programs are not yet prepared to bridge the gap between traditional literacy and multiliteracies (Biswas, 2014).

Visual Literacy

Being able to make sense of the world begins with making sense of visual information.

Serafini (2014)

Visual literacy is a form of multiliteracy that has important pedagogical implications in K-12 classrooms. Of all the multiliteracies, developing visual literacy skills may have the greatest effect on our students as technology continues to advance and image dependent social media sites flourish.

In order to write a successful literature review, you must first do the reading. You will want to read as much as possible about your ILP topic to demonstrate your knowledge and familiarity with it. You will also want to keep careful records of what you have read so that you don’t get accused of plagiarism. Make sure your reading includes both theory and research. In addition, if your topic has been subject to controversy, you want such controversies to be fully covered in your review.

Purposes

· Demonstrate your familiarity with your topic, including perspectives that are both similar to and different from your own;

· Legitimize the question or goal you posed at the end of your Statement of the Problem; and

· Justify the work you will do in the body of your project by creating a well-crafted academic argument for that work.

Helpful Hints on Gathering Information

Following are some helpful hints on gathering information for your Literature Review. Beneath this section you will find some really useful tips for keeping track of your resources as you read. These tips will be especially useful for helping you to write your ILP in the required APA style. For every resource you plan to include in a literature review, ask the following:

· How is this information or opinion relevant to your main arguments or main points? If it isn’t relevant, STOP and go on to the next one!

· Do you have or can you get the required bibliographic information for the APA citation?

· What are the author’s professional credentials? Often this can be found on the book jacket or in the preface. Also try a www.google.com search of the author’s name. If there is more than one author of a book, research all of them.

· How did the author prove that the information or opinion is true?

· Did the author do an experiment or research study on real people in a real situation?

· How was this experiment or study conducted?

· What did the author find out? Is it based on other people’s research studies?

· How were these studies conducted?

· What did the researchers find out? Is it based on the author’s own experience, for example as a manager, counselor, teacher, or school administrator?

· What was the experience?

· How many years of experience or numbers of workers, clients, students?

· How did the author document the experience?

· How did the author verify that the conclusions

· were valid?

· Is it a theory the author developed, not based on research or experience?

· What is the theory?

· What proof does the author give for the theory?

· Does the author have credibility?

Citations and Plagiarism

Every time you refer to an idea that is not your own, you must make an in-text citation. Ideas that are not your own might come from books, articles, radio programs, class lectures, discussions, conversations, even letters. If you include an idea in your writing that is not your own, and you do not include an in-text citation, you can be accused of plagiarism, a very serious offense. Every in-text citation must contain a corresponding reference in your reference list. No paraphrases. Segue in and out of direct quotes with appropriate transitions.

See

Organization of Your Lit Review

The next step to completing your Literature Review is to figure out how to organize the information you have gathered. Here you may find it useful to list the major points that your Literature Review will cover. Under each point, list the authors who have something important to say about this point.

Subheadings – See these subheadings as organizing what you have read and what you will synthesize. They can answer some questions you pose as you ask yourself, “What is the literature telling me?” or “What questions do I have that the literature might help me find answers to?”

Use the points you wish to make as subheadings. Subheadings serve two purposes: they help you to organize your thoughts and information, and they help your reader to follow your train of thought throughout your writing.

Under each subhead, write a short introductory paragraph that explains to the reader the main point of the section. Then provide a description of what each of the authors you have located has to say about that point.

Content of Lit Review

For the content of your literature review, as you discuss different authors and their work, you want to be sure to do the following:

· Introduce the author(s) by stating their affiliations and/or credentials;

· Explain, in some detail, the type of work the author has conducted;

· Describe the outcome of that work;

· Explain how the work relates to or compares with other work you are including in your review;

· Explain how the work relates to the point you are making in the section you are writing;

· Explain how the work relates to the argument you are building (in other words, how it relates to your thesis).

Remember that your Literature Review should include any literature that helps your reader understand what theories and empirical research has informed your question and your assumptions. You may find it useful to provide a section on the history of your topic, if appropriate, before you review more current research and theory.

Remember too that you’re not simply summarizing research; you’re critiquing it whenever you see shortcomings or design flaws in the work you are discussing or commenting when the outcomes of different scholars’ work seem to conflict. At the end of your review of the relevant literature, you should put in a transitional section that:

· summarizes what we know and don’t know about your topic from the literature you’ve reviewed; followed by

· a section (paragraph length or so) that says, in essence, “What we need then are studies that answer…” or “guidelines that address…” followed by,

· either your research question(s) clearly and succinctly stated, OR your goal for your project.

Prepared by Dr. Lyda S. Peters, Professor Emeritus

PLEASE NOTE:

Review of the Literature — discussion with key references documented in current APA (15 to 20 pages). Use Lester’s text ONLY. Acknowledge the shortcomings of the studies/works; present and then refute the counter arguments. The Lit Review will help shape what goes in the discussion chapters. Include counter- arguments. The vast majority of your sources MUST BE NO MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD.

CHAPTER III: Methods

The Methods Section (sometimes called Methodology) serves as a map for your work. Someone

reading your Methods Section should be able to know exactly what you did and even be able to

replicate your work. Once you have written your Methods Section for your ILP proposal, you

will be able to refer back to it as you carry out your work to remind yourself of what you are

doing and why.

The Methods Section of your proposal will likely be written in the future tense, telling your

advisor what you plan to do. When you revise this section for your ILP, you’ll change it to the

past tense so that readers of your ILP will know exactly what you did.

For a research or thesis-type project you should describe what you actually did to carry out the

study: your subjects, strategies used to capture data, setting and analytical tools with which you

analyzed data and interpreted the findings.

Prepared by Dr. Lyda S. Peters, Professor Emeritus

For an ILP that includes a professional or creative project at the end of the research

component, you will describe what you actually did to create your guide or other ILP product:

contents/overview, target audience, reason/rationale for each element. Student and advisor

may design the creative part so that it remains academic in nature. Students will need approval

to include a such a section.

Sample Short Methodology

Methodology

To identify the poorest countries in the world, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed GNI data from the World

Bank. We ranked the bottom 25 countries based on GNI per capita and supplemented our

analysis with GDP and GDP growth rates, as well as poverty and unemployment rates, life

expectancy, literacy, Gini coefficients, agricultural economic output, and additional trade data

from MIT’s Observatory of Economic Complexity for the most recent year available. Only

countries with GNI per capita figures for 2016 were considered. In our analysis, we also

included Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index score, which ranks

countries based on perceived corruption.

By Samuel Stebbins and Joseph Gedeon

CHAPTER IV: Provide a title

Name the Body

Just as the Methods Section of the ILP differs depending on the type of ILP you plan to complete, so too does the body. In general, this portion of your ILP will contain your most personal work. Because each ILP body is unique, your faculty advisor will likely provide you with LOTS of input and guidance. What follows are some general guidelines for each of the three types of ILPs. Note that the body of the ILP MUST NEVER contain photo copies of work, such as copies of lesson plans or copies of statements from other sources. Every part of the body must be the same font type and font size with consecutive page numbers. All copies are placed in the Appendices.

Body of the Thesis-Type ILP or Research Project

You begin work on the body of the thesis-type ILP only AFTER you have collected and analyzed all of your data. As you conduct your analysis, be thinking of the story that your data tells. This story will be the body of your ILP.

How you organize this section will depend on the data you have collected and the story you wish to tell. If you have conducted interviews with a small number of people, the body of your ILP might be divided into case studies. In each case study you describe what you learned from the individual. You might insert highly meaningful quotes from your study participants to highlight the story you are trying to tell.

Body of the Professional Project ILP

Because the Professional Project ILP is meant to serve as a resource for others, the body of this ILP should be able to “stand alone.” That is, you should be able to make copies of this section to distribute to colleagues or other professionals who would be able to utilize and/or implement your work. For this reason, this section may contain a title page and table of contents of its own.

This should be followed by a description of the contents and purpose of the handbook/guide, which will be followed by the chapters/sections you have created (these descriptions may be identical to the descriptions you wrote for your Methods Section).

Body of the Creative Project ILP

Like the Professional Project ILP, the body of the Creative Project ILP should be able to stand alone. Because each creative project is unique, you will arrange for the presentation of the body with your faculty advisor.

CHAPTER V: Provide a title

Other Chapters

Final Chapter: Conclusion and Implications

OR

Statement of Learning

Closing Section of the Thesis-Type ILP

Here you will write a section titled Conclusions and Implications. In this section you will explain the conclusions you have derived from your research and discuss the implications of your research for future research and instruction. You will reflect on your learning from the process of creating your project.

Closing Section of the Professional Project ILP

Here you will write a Statement of Learning. In this statement, you will reflect on your learning from the process of creating your project.

Closing Section of the Creative Project ILP

Here you will write a Statement of Learning. In this statement, you will reflect on your learning from the process of creating your project

Prepared by Dr. Lyda S. Peters, Professor Emeritus

References

Make sure that the VAST MAJORITY of your references are no more than 5 years old. Follow

Lester’s text – 14th or 15th edition only.

No one is to use such sources as Owl at Perdue, Easy bib, etc. as none of these are

appropriate for graduate level work.

Appendix

This is optional and only necessary if you have attachments to further your understanding of your project. In your appendix (or appendices, which is the plural), insert supporting documentation (surveys, questionnaires, photos, art work, interview transcripts, etc.). Include brochures, pamphlets, leaflets, posters, and similar ephemeral material which the reader will probably not be able to find. Consult your faculty advisor if you need to include video tapes or audio tapes. Make sure that each appendix you provide is referred to in the text of your ILP and listed in the Table of Contents).

Note: This page is not numbered.

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