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Ruth thomas assessment 1 using research in your practice
- 1. Research and Community Informed Practice CISC 8101
Assessment 1: Using Research In Your Practice
Ruth Thomas
Word Count: 1050 words (including in text references)
Task: Contextualise an area of interest in practice and argue the importance of emerging
questions and the role of research in that specific area.
Research is a word that is often heard in daily classroom life, my primary students often
say they are going to “research the answer” to a question they have. But is research just
seeking an answer to a question or is the research process deeper than that?
The Oxford Online Dictionary defines research as “The systematic investigation into and
study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions”
(“Research,” 2015, para. 1). Williams & Ormond (2010) describe research as
“a process of seeking explanation and meaning. It is a creative and
explorative process for generating new knowledge about phenomena. It is
characterised by doing so in a systematic manner where questions about
relationships between phenomena are framed in a way that permits close
investigation.” (p. 1)
Cresswell (2002) states that educational research is
"A cyclical process of steps that typically begins with identifying a research
problem or issue of study. It then involves reviewing the literature, specifying
a purpose for the study, collecting and analyzing data, and forming an
interpretation of information. This process culminates in a report,
disseminated to audiences, that is evaluated and used in the educational
community" (as cited in “What is Educational Research?”, 2009, para. 2).
Therefore, research can be considered to be a systematic process where an idea is
explored and analysed to generate new knowledge and understandings. This in turn often
leads to more questions and ideas to be explored.
Research has multiple purposes. It can be used for gathering information in an exploratory
or descriptive way, or for testing theories in an explanatory or predictive way (“Research
Purposes”, 2015, para. 1). Creswell (2002) notes that educational research is important to
“improve practice, add to knowledge, address gaps in knowledge, expand knowledge,
- 2. replicate knowledge and add voices of individuals to knowledge” (as cited in “What is
Educational Research?”, 2009, para. 3). In the area of education, the purpose of research
is to “develop new knowledge about the teachinglearning situation to improve educational
practice” (“Conducting Educational Research,” 2012, para. 3). Therefore, research into
educational practice helps teachers to increase their knowledge about teaching, leading to
increased understanding about what they do and why they do it so they can improve their
teaching practice and in the process improve learning outcomes for students. Educational
research helps teachers and schools to make shifts in their daily practice to enhance
learning opportunities and it helps to address specific problems, for example, specific gaps
in students learning.
Teaching as Inquiry falls under the umbrella of action research, where teachers focus in
on a specific area they want to investigate and/or improve in their teaching practice based
on the needs of their students. This is followed by a search for ideas and strategies that
they think will help their students make progress, often seeking advice from other
teachers, and the implementation of relevant ideas into their classroom practice. The
results of this shift in practice are analysed and reflected on to identify whether the
intervention was successful and what this means in terms of future teaching. As part of the
teaching inquiry stage, “the teacher uses evidence from research and from their own past
practice and that of colleagues to plan teaching and learning opportunities aimed at
achieving the outcomes prioritised in the focusing inquiry” (“Teaching as Inquiry,” 2009,
para. 14). Research is often used in a broader sense in my experience in this area,
drawing on ideas from other teachers experiences, social media, for example the Primary
Teachers NZ facebook group, Google+ and twitter, teachers professional blogs and
government reports as well as more formal academic research.
One area that warrants further investigation in terms of my own teaching practice is the
concept of blended learning. Having moved from teaching in a classroom with 1:1 devices
back to a more traditional paper and pen classroom with minimal access to devices, I
mistakenly assumed that blended learning just meant blending some students working on
devices and some students working on paper. Through exploring educational research
around blended learning I have discovered that it is so much more than that, and that
embracing blended learning as part of my pedagogy actually involves shifts in both my
practice and the way my students work and learn. Without research into blended learning,
there would be no evidence to support its educational benefits which would create barriers
to its implementation in schools. There would be no research for teachers to refer to when
trying to develop their knowledge and understandings. There would be limited opportunity
to trial and refine blended learning teaching practices in the pursuit of improving
educational outcomes for students.
When exploring recent research around blended learning, it is evident that a range of
aspects have been explored by researchers. Varying definitions of what blended learning
is have been formed by a variety of researchers. Horn & Staker (2011) describe blended
learning environments as those in which “students learn online in an adultsupervised
- 3. environment at least part of the time” (p. 1) while Garrison & Vaughan (2008) describe it
as “the thoughtful fusion of facetoface and online learning experiences” (p. 5). Blended
learning across a range of different levels and learning institutions has been explored.
However, there is a lack of research comparing blended/online learning with facetoface
learning for primary school age students as the majority of research has focused on
college and higher education levels (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Future
implications for blended learning, especially with the increase of 1:1 learning
environments, have been identified. Some research has identified other aspects that need
exploring, such as which tools work best for blended learning, how teachers adopting this
approach can access professional development and blended learning as part of the bigger
picture of education (Kaur, 2013).
In conclusion, as I further explore the area of blended learning through an indepth
literature review, I hope to broaden my knowledge and further refine my understandings
around how to use digital tools to transform teaching and engage learners. I am hoping to
further clarify my understanding of what blended learning actually is (and isn’t), how it can
benefit my students and transform learning opportunities and how I can start to implement
blended learning effectively in my classroom to make use of the devices that I do have
available.
References
Conducting Educational Research. (2012). Retrieved from
http://korbedpsych.com/R0bEducationalResearch.html
Garrison, D. R. & Vaughan, N. D. (2008) Blended Learning in Higher Education:
Framework, Principles and Guidelines. (1st ed.). San Francisco: CA: JosseyBass.
Horn, M. & Staker, H. (2011). The Rise of K12 Blended Learning. Retrieved from
http://www.christenseninstitute.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/04/TheriseofK12blen
dedlearning.pdf
Kaur, M. (2013). Blended Learning its challenges and future. Procedia Social and
Behavioral Sciences 93, 612617. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.09.248
Research. (2015). In Oxford Online Dictionary. Retrieved 20 July, 2015, from
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/research
Research Purposes. (2015). Retrieved 20 July, 2015, from wikiversity
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Research_purposes
Teaching as Inquiry. (2009). Retrieved from
http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculumstories/Casestudies/TeachersaslearnersIn
quiry/Teachingasinquiry
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development.
(2010). Evaluation of EvidenceBased Practices in Online Learning: A
MetaAnalysis and Review of Online Learning Studies. Washington, D.C., U.S.:
Author. Retrieved from
https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidencebasedpractices/finalreport.pdf
