Evidence-based pedagogies for the
future
Dr Christothea Herodotou
Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University, UK

Introduction
• Pedagogy: teaching, learning and assessment
• Evidence-based pedagogy: research evidence as
to whether a teaching approach is effective
– works? for whom? under what conditions?
• How do educators make decisions about which
pedagogies to use in their teaching?
– Teaching expertise Vs Research evidence

Vision of education
• Learners to obtain skills and embrace complex
challenges
– e.g., critical thinking, problem solving, team work,
negotiation skills; literacy, multilingualism, “learning to
learn”, citizenship, entrepreneurship, and cultural
awareness
• Teachers often resort to traditional, conservative
approaches to teaching and learning
• Educational systems focus on memorization and
testing than exploration and playful learning

How do we select which pedagogy to
use?
• Relevance to effective educational theories
• Research evidence about the effectiveness of the
proposed pedagogies
• Relation to the development of twenty-first century
skills
• Innovative aspects of pedagogy
• Level of adoption in educational practice
Herodotou, C., Sharples, M., Gaved, M., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Rienties, B., Scanlon, E., & Whitelock, D. (2019). Innovative
pedagogies of the future: An evidence-based selection. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 4, p. 113). Frontiers.

Evidence of impact
Is there evidence? What is the strengthof evidence?
John, K. S., and McNeal, K. (2017). The Strength of Evidence Pyramid [Online]. National Association of Geoscience Teachers.
Available online at: https://nagt.org/nagt/profdev/workshops/geoed_research/pyramid.html (accessed May 23, 2019).

Databases with evidence
• Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF) - UK
• National Center for Education and Evaluation
(NCEE) – US
• Higher Education centres e.g.
– Durham University Evidence Center for Education,
– Learning and Teaching strategy Imperial College London,
– London Center for Leadership in Learning UCL,
– Institute of Educational Technology Open University UK.

Innovative Pedagogies
Innovating Pedagogy Report series: https://iet.open.ac.uk/innovating-pedagogy

Examples of innovative pedagogies
• Formative analytics
• Teachback
• Place-based learning
• Learning with robots
• Learning with drones
• Citizen Inquiry
Do they work? What is the evidence?
Herodotou, C., Sharples, M., Gaved, M., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Rienties, B., Scanlon, E., & Whitelock, D. (2019).
Innovative pedagogies of the future: An evidence-based selection. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 4, p. 113).
Frontiers.
OPEN ACCESS

Thank you, questions?
@herodotouc
christothea.herodotou@open.ac.uk