Peter Newbury Center for Teaching Development UC San Diego 26 February 2015 collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

1. The College Classroom Session 7:
Teaching as Research
February 17 and 19, 2015
Unless otherwise noted, content is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Non Commercial 3.0 License.

2. Vocabulary check: SoTL and TAR
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu2
research done by you
in your class to inform how
you will teach in the future
carefully
designed experiment
to explore learning
paper
in journal
Scholarship ofTeaching and
Learning (SoTL),
Education Research
teaching as
research

3. Teaching as Research (TAR)
Teaching as research
collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu3
At the core of improving teaching and learning is the need
to accurately determine what students have learned as a result of
teaching practices. This is a research problem, to which instructors
can effectively apply their research skills and ways of knowing. In
so doing, instructors themselves become the agents for change in
teaching and learning.
Teaching-as-Research involves the deliberate, systematic,
and reflective use of research methods to develop and implement
teaching practices that advance the learning experiences and
outcomes of students and teachers.
CIRTL Network [1]
Note: CIRTL’s description ofTAR describes STEM instructors teaching STEM
courses. I removed “STEM” because the description can be applied to all disciplines.

4. Your posts: Education research
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu4

5. Categories of Educational Research[2]
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu5
Theoretical research
Action or practitioner research
Evaluative Experimental
'Cause and effect' research
Case study
Systematic review
Exploratory
Comparative
Grounded theory
Ethnography

6. What is the value of course-specific learning goals?
Simon & Taylor (2009)
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu6
 3 classes (A = computer literacy Fa07, B = computer
literacy Sp08, C = microbiology Sp08)
 Last week of course (Wk 13): students asked to
complete up to five copies of,“For me, the use of
learning goals in this course is . . .”
 Comments put into categories using content-analysis
based coding
A B C total
Comments 225 252 120 597
Students 59 76 51 186
(Evaluative)

7. What is the value of course-specific learning goals?
Simon & Taylor (2009)
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu7
Research informs the
instructors about
 how students are
responding
 what’s working (or not)
 what to use again (or
not)
Helps instructors become
better educators.

8. Improved Learning in a Large-
Enrollment Physics Class[4]
 before class: 3-4 pg
reading, online reading quiz
 in class: mix of peer
instruction, instructor
feedback, worksheets,
demonstrations
 before class: 3-4 pg reading
 in class: PPT slides, 0–5
summative clicker questions
(not peer instruction)
TheActive Class - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu
Experimental SectionControl Section
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48
trad’l lecture
peer instruction
instructor feedback
worksheets
demonstration
8 (Experimental/ Cause and effect)

9. Improved Learning in a Large-
Enrollment Physics Class[4]
TheActive Class - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu9
Carefully-controlled
experiment allowed
researchers to measure
impact of the instructional
strategy.
 provides strong evidence
for benefits of active
learning
 allows other researchers
to replicate experiment

10. Active learning increases student performance
in science, engineering and mathematics[5]
TheActive Class - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu10
Meta-analysis of 225 research studies that explored the
impact of active learning:
Active learning engages students in the process of learning
through activities and/or discussions in class,as opposed to
passively listening to an expert.It emphasizes higher-order
thinking and often involves group work.
(Freeman et al., pp 8413-8414)
(Systematic review)

11. TheActive Class - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu11
Active learning increases student performance
in science, engineering and mathematics[5]
 established active learning
has positive impact on
learning
 advances field of education
research: no need to
continue to replicate study
(in STEM)

12. Categories of Educational Research[2]
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu12
InThe College Classroom, we’ve used examples of
different kinds of educational research.
Do you feel one of these had an impact on how you will
teach, learn, and conduct research in the future?
A) Taylor and Simon (2009) – learning goals
B) Deslauriers et al. (2011) – intervention in physics class
C) Freeman et al. (2014) – active learning
D) other

13. What can you study?
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu13
Students’ attitudes
 what are they initially?
(e.g., what are students’ views on academic integrity?)
 how did they change after you did X?
(e.g., what do students think about learning goals?)
Students’ knowledge and skills
 what are students able to do now that they couldn’t do
before taking the course?
 are students thinking more like experts?
(e.g. what questions do they ask in lab/discussion?)

14. How do you think the students felt?
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu14
Do you feel one of these research studies could have
impacted the students? In what way?
A) Taylor and Simon (2009) – learning goals
B) Deslauriers et al. (2011) – intervention in physics class
C) Freeman et al. (2014) – active learning
D) other

15. Discussion
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu15
In which of these, if any, did carrying-out these studies
impact students in a negative way?
A) Taylor and Simon (2009) – learning goals
B) Deslauriers et al. (2011) – intervention in physics class
C) Freeman et al. (2014) – active learning
D) none

16. If you suspect your research could involve 1. or 2.,
you might need to apply for IRB approval or an
exemption from IRB review.
Humans are involved in TAR
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu16
Mission of the Institutional Review
Board (IRB):
1. Protection of human subjects from
physical harm.
2. Protection of your students’ privacy
and students’ success.

17. UCSD IRB grants exemptions to…
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu17
(1) Research conducted in established or commonly accepted educational
settings, involving normal educational practices, such as (i) research on
regular and special education instructional strategies, or (ii) research on
the effectiveness of or the comparison among instructional techniques,
curricula,or classroom management methods.[6]
You have to apply to the IRB for an exemption…
but the CTD has a blanket exemption for projects we’re
involved in (so involve us!)
Things a scholarly, reflective instructor
might and should do anyway.

18. Your turn
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu18
Imagine you’re going to
teach one section of a
course in your discipline.
You’re want to do research
on it.
 What do you want to
learn?
 Why is that important
enough to do?
(10 minutes)

19. Common education research tools
Quantitative Qualitative
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu19
What is happening? Why is it happening?
 Multiple choice tests (pre- and post-testing?)
 Attitude surveys (Likert SD, D, N,A, SA scale)
 mini-writing (muddiest point, think-pair-share, etc.)
 document students’
 answers on a worksheets  responses to a question
 opinions/views  peer instruction votes  questions

20. Can You Solve This?
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu20
Play along with the Derek’s puzzle.
(Watch for “A-ha!” moments from
an educator’s point-of-view. How
can you tell that a breakthrough
occurred?) www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKA4w2O61Xo
Beware of confirmation bias: the tendency to search
for, interpret, or recall information in a way that
confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses.[8]

21. Your turn
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu21
 How are you going to
investigate your issue?
 What do you anticipate
will happen?
 What will you do with
that result?
(10 minutes)

22. Share your TAR projects
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu22
One-by-one at your table, please take ~5 minutes each to
describe yourTAR project to your colleagues and get (and
give) feedback.

23. 2015 Summer Graduate
Teaching Scholars (SGTSs)
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu23
You’ll have an opportunity to design, execute, and analyze
a teaching-as-research project in your course.
Teaching for the first time can be extremely busy so the
CTD will support you via
 TAR coordinator to help you make it happen in your
class with your students, your context
 small stipend to reward extra effort
 guidance on how to expand study to the level you could
present at your discipline’s annual meeting

24. References
Teaching as research - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu24
1. Center for the Integration of Research,Teaching and Learning (2010) Teaching as Research.
www.cirtl.net/CoreIdeas/teaching_as_research
2. Lambert, M. (2012). A Beginner's Guide to DoingYour Education Research Project.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications Inc. via Tomorrow’s Professor cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1233
3. Simon, B., &Taylor, J. (2009). What is theValue of Course-Specific Learning Goals? J. College ScienceTeaching, 39, 2,
52-57.
4. Deslauriers, L., Schelew, E., &Wieman, C.E. (2011). Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class.
Science 332, 862 – 864.
5. Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L. McDonough, M., Smith, M., Okoroafor, N., Jordt,. H. &Wenderoth, M.P. (2014)Active
learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. PNAS 111, 23, 8410–8415.
6. Exemption from IRB Review, UCSD Human Research Protections Program, retrieved from
irb.ucsd.edu/Exempt_forms.shtml 24/2/ 2014.
7. Adams,W.K., Perkins, K.K., Podolefsky, N.S., Dubson, M., Finkelstein, N.D., &Wieman, C.E. (2006) A new
instrument for measuring student beliefs about physics and learning physics:The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science
Survey (CLASS). Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 2, 010101.
8. Confirmation bias (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias