Distributed research in distributed education: How to combine research and teaching online

This article focuses on why and how one can do “distributed research” in teacher education. The concepts of distributed education, learning, and cognition are introduced and discussed as well as the concept of “distributed research.” Two studies using a “distributed research” model, done with staff and distance education (DE) students at Iceland University of Education, are described. In the former study, 10 graduate students (also teachers at the time in 10 schools across Iceland) gathered data with online questionnaires among 761 students in 1998. The same instruments and methods were used in 2002 when17 graduate students gathered data from 1402 students in 14 schools. In the latter study, qualitative data was gathered by 66 graduate students in 2001, 2002, and 2003 on Internet use of well over 200 individuals and entered into an online database. Methods and organization in studies of this kind are presented. Potential problems related to the use of this method are, e.g., research ethics, quality of data and information overflow as well as technical problems. However, with careful organization the method can provide many practical benefits for the researcher/teacher educator and educational benefits for students/collaborating teachers.