My reflection: Being a researcher

In terms of my own professional development, my experience of being a researcher has been invaluable in a number of ways. In my choice of research topic and design I took a great risk, but was convinced that this was a golden opportunity to learn from schools in a developed country. Going through all the challenges which the project presented enabled me to develop new personal and professional skills and insights, which will be of great benefit in the future. It also convinced me of the value of such processes for learning and the need to support teachers to conduct research.

Having the Internet as the focus of my research created an additional space in my new learning context. Continuously researching about its educational potential of the Internet meant that I was learning how to use it more effectively myself as a research tool. This experience helped me to realize what important skills our learners needed in order to work effectively in an increasingly digitalized world.

During this journey I faced many challenges. A key one was simply being able to accept that the actual involvement in field work would shape the process of the research, and that it would be impossible to see the full picture in advance. Another was understanding a very different school system. Then there was the huge challenge of working in another language and trying to understand and express complex ideas in it. The first six months was a very critical time especially in terms of how to fit in and engage in study across the gulfs of language and academic culture, and how to deal with the enormous volume of resource material compared with what I had had access to previously.At least three things helped me. Reading ethnography really helped me to deal with the cross-cultural dimension of my study experience. Realising that others had successfully undertaken research in contexts very different from their own gave me a sense of confidence that I could do the same. The other contributing factor was my belief in what I was doing, my confidence in asking questions, and my determination to make the most of the experience. Yet another significant source of assistance that helped me survive in this new and tough academic life is my supervisors.