The Research Project phase of the Master of Adult Education program is its core. Comprised of 3 components - the Project Proposal, the Project Design and the Project Report - the Research Project's purpose is:

• to focus on and delve deeper into one aspect of adult education
• to apply specific adult education principles in order to achieve learning goals
• to address specific issues, problems, or questions in the researcher's workplace
  
  

For this project, I chose to focus on the approach known as Self-Directed Learning, a learner-based initiative that facilitates the informal and personal acquisition of knowledge or skills. Specifically, I wanted to know if it is possible for adult immigrant and international students to adopt and practise this learning approach. Because Self-Directed Learning is an approach that originates in Western learning contexts, which value the individual, personal choice, and freedom, I wondered whether students who come from cultures that value the group more than the individual and who are used to a teacher-centred approach to learning, would be receptive to this learning approach. Ascertaining this question could:

• help develop hypotheses about how adult immigrant and international students may become more self-directive.
• lead to autonomy, self-study, self-correction and self-reflection, skills that are advocated at the post-secondary institution where I teach.
• inform decisions involved in creating tools and resources that would facilitate Self-Directed Learning skills in adult immigrant and international students.
• challenge students to think critically about how to situate themselves within their area of study.

Prior to starting the research project, I first had to submit to my advisor:

• a project proposal that outlined ideas and concepts I wanted to explore.
• a Research and Ethics Board (REB) Application Form that outlined in detail the objectives, scope, limitations and methodological approaches used for the project (this form is mandatory for research involving live human subjects).
• upon completion, a report that outlined the outcome of the processes used in the research, including inferences, interpretations and conclusions of results.

The core of the Research Project consists of interviews conducted with 2 groups. These consisted of:

• 3 adult immigrant and international students enrolled at the Ontario College of Art & Design and the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto
• 3 instructors who teach adult immigrant and international students at the Ontario College of Art & Design and the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto

I also referred to observation notes I had taken during the two years I have been working with adult immigrant and international students at the Ontario College of Art & Design, which helped to legitimise the results of the interviews.

To view the Research Ethics Board Application Form, the Research Report and other related documents, click on "Related Links and Sample Documents " to the right. To download a free copy of Adobe(pdf.file) Reader, click here.