As a learning specialist in the Office of Open Learning at the University of Windsor and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education, I wanted to create a free, open-access textbook for teaching graduate research methods courses in education.
I have always selected course readings to reduce cost and increase access for students. First, I search for open access journal articles, reports, books. or websites. Second, I will choose digital versions available through the university library, which is useful for seminal works. Finally, I choose affordable textbooks that are available in multiple formats, both digital and hardcopy.
Increasingly, however, I have noticed that many students still will NOT purchase a required textbook from a commercial publisher. I place these books on short-term loan at the library, and accept earlier or international editions available at reduced cost. In class, some students were not prepared to participate in the planned active learning activities because not everyone had completed the readings before class. Another explanation may be that students did not know that they were expected to read before class. This explanation is consistent with the traditional, transmission metaphor of learning, rather than a more innovative, participation metaphor (Sfard, 1998) or knowledge creation metaphor that I might expect in upper-year or in graduate seminar classes.
Just before the Winter 2025 term, I decided to start developing an open-licensed textbook with study guide elements. I hope to continue developing the content by embedding more multimedia, H5P interactive learning activities, and case studies to provide more context for practicing teachers who are becoming education researchers, thereby making research methods, which can be a bit dry, more interesting and relevant for their needs.
Please note, this textbook is currently still under development. The book will be released more publicly after the content is piloted by the main author (instructor) and the master’s students in the EDUC8001(2) Research in Education course offered at the University of Windsor in Winter 2025.
Several chapters adopt or adapt content from the following open educational resources:
Hurst, A. (2023). Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods. Oregon State University. https://open.oregonstate.education/qualresearchmethods/
Jhangiani, R. S., & Chiang, I. -C. A., Cutler, & Leighton, D. C. (2019). Research Methods in Psychology (4th ed.). Kwantlen Polytechnic University. https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/psychmethods4e/
More details of the adaptations will be provided shortly. If you have any questions regarding the book, please contact me at nfujita@uwindsor.ca.
