Action Research and Pedagogy

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Action Research and Pedagogy

• Lin Norton
• Education Deanery
• Liverpool Hope

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Outline of presentation

• The need for reflective practice in teaching
• What is pedagogical action research?
• Practical suggestions for carrying out par
  projects
• Suggested workshop activity exploring the
  potential of the Ideal Inventory as a research
  tool for par

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Why is it important for university teachers to be
reflective practitioners?

• The government agenda on
• widening participation in HE
• professionalisation of university teachers
• The need to take account of the student
  experience
• Personal and professional satisfaction

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The Government Agenda on widening participation

• Continue to increase participation of 18-30yr
  olds to 50
• Meet economy's need for higher level skills
• Raise participation for students from
  non-traditional backgrounds and lower income
  families
• Establish stronger links with business and
  economy
• (DfES, 2003).   

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Diversity of students and widening participation

• Since the diversity of students has so
  dramatically increased, our previous assumptions
  about them may be very wide of the mark (Gibbs
  Simpson, 2003)
• Sophistication of knowledge background study
  skills
• Conceptions of learning (Saljo,1979 Marton,
  DallAlba Beatty,1993)
• Conception of knowledge (Perry, 1970)
• Expectations of higher education (Sander et al,
  2000)

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First year students

• Do not read readily
• Are not as numerate or as computerate as we
  assume
• Do not find it easy to write (essays, lab
  reports, exam answers)
• Dislike group work and team working and
  presentations
• Have a conception of learning that is passive and
  incremental rather than active and
  transformational
• Believe that knowledge is certain and stable
• Are strategic in their approaches to studying
  (they see the assessment as defining the
  curriculum)
• Expect that they will be taught rather than
  having to be autonomous learners
• Distrust self and peer assessment
• Are scared of problem-based learning approaches

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Some questions to promote reflective practice in
teaching ( adapted from Brown, 1999)

• What kinds of things do we want our students to
  learn?
• What learning opportunities do we provide?
• What feedback do we provide?
• What assessment tasks do we set?
• What methods of assessment do we use?
• What do the students learn?
• HOW DO WE KNOW?.

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How do we know???

• Through assessment? strategic students,
  declarative rather than functioning knowledge
  (Biggs 2002)
• Through course evaluation? influenced by
  student characteristics and lecture charisma
• Through pedagogical research generic
  (scholarship of teaching and learning) and
  subject specific.
• Through carrying out our own action research
  where the aim is to modify practice

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The Influence of the Higher Education Academy
The student experience is the main function of
higher education. We have to take that experience
seriously - we need a national body to raise its
standing. Leslie Wagner Interim Chair of
the HE Academy  
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HEA strategic plan 2005-2010

• Strategic aims and objectives
• To be an authoritative and independent voice on
  policies that influence student learning
  experiences
• To support institutions in their strategies for
  improving the student learning experience
• To lead, support and inform the professional
  development and recognition of staff in higher
  education
• To promote good practice in all aspects of
  support for the student learning experience
• To lead the development of research and
  evaluation to improve the quality of the student
  learning experience
• To be a responsive, efficient and accountable
  organisation

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So what does it mean for us and our teaching ?

• Pedagogical publications will help
  professionalise the role of the teacher in higher
  education.
• The knowledge that we get from researching our
  own teaching can be put to immediate practical
  use, unlike some more theoretical or abstract
  research.
• Researching our own teaching encourages us to
  learn from the wider pedagogical research
  literature.
• Pedagogical research is increasingly being
  recognised as RAE research output.

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What is Action Research?

• practitioners developing their understanding of
  their professional practice- not by reference to
  any externally generated theory or generalised
  principles but by reference to their experience
  tested in their own environment
• (Bridges, 2003, p183)

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Action Research in the context of pedagogy

• The primary aim of action research is to solve
  a problem within the process of the research. In
  the context of teaching your subject, it
  contributes both to pedagogical knowledge and to
  the subsequent modification of your teaching
  practice and your students learning
• It is a cyclical process of planning, action,
  and investigating the state of affairs after
  action has occurred
• Lindsay, Breen Jenkins (2002)

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How to get funding / support 1

• The Higher Education Academy's Connects
  serviceshttp//www.connect.ac.uk
• FundingThis comprehensive search facility is the
  place to find financial support for education
  projects, services and research. All current
  funding opportunities across the sector are
  listed, easily searchable by a number of
  criteria.ProjectsAccess over 1000
  centrally-funded learning and teaching projects
  details of workshops, case studies and other
  investigations focused around both generic and
  discipline-specific themes can be found here.

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How to get funding/support 2

• HEA subject network
• Many subject networks fund projects up to 5000
• Some offer small amounts of money ( 30 -300)
  for case studies
• PAR funding at Hope
• (annual up to 1,000 on annual theme)

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Advice on project planning

• Identify a project for which there is a teaching
  or learning need and seek innovative ways of
  addressing the issues. (Charles Juwah, Robert
  Gordon University)
• Keep the project realistichave SMART objectives,
  look for opportunities to disseminate information
  both internally and externally (Bernard Moss
  Susan Wright, Staffordshire University

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How to disseminate pedagogical action research
projects

• Through Learning and teaching Conferences
• Improving Student Learning Symposia (ISL)
• Higher Education Academy Conference
• European Association for Research into Learning
  and Instruction (EARLI)

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Disseminating through Journals

• Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education
  http//www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/02602938.as
  p
• Innovations in Educational and Teaching
  International http//www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titl
  es/14703297.asp
• Studies in Higher Education http//www.tandf.co.uk
  /journals/titles/03075079.asp
• Educational Action Research http//www.triangle.co
  .uk/ear/

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Recent examples of action research issues in
Psychology

• Should a research methods course be teacher led
  or student-orientated? (Shortt, 2002 Mason,
  2002)
• Can we use more detailed assessment criteria to
  increase marking reliability and give better
  feedback to students? (Elander, 2002)
• How can we deal with students dislike of
  presentations? (Sander, Sanders Stevenson,
  2002)
• How can we respond to students need for more
  tutor support and contact in a work-based module?
  (Wrennall Forbes, 2002)

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The process of carrying out Action Research an
easy step by step approach

• ITDEM
• Identifying a problem/paradox/ issue/difficulty
  
• Thinking of ways to tackle the problem
• Doing it
• Evaluating it
• Modifying future teaching.
  Norton (2001)

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Using the IdealInventory to research learning
and teaching issues
Originated as the Ideal Self Inventory (Norton,
Morgan Thomas, 1995), later developed to
measure perceptions of Students (Tilley
Norton, 1998 Williamson Norton,
2002) Lectures (Mazuro et al, 2000)
Distance learning tasks (Garner et al, 2001)
Curriculum (Norton, 2001) Musical
performance (Walters, 2001) The really good
student (Walters Norton, 2004)
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What makes a really good student? The ideal
inventory

• In the column headed the really good student
  write down up to five qualities or abilities that
  you think a really good Higher Education student
  has.
• In the column headed the not very good student
  write down the opposite of these qualities or
  abilities. It does not necessarily have to be the
  literal opposite. It could be something that a
  not very good student does or is instead of what
  a really good student does or is.
• the really good student the not very
  good student

  3. By circling one of the seven marks between
each of your two statements please express how
close you feel you come to being a really good
student at this point in time. For example, if
you feel you are very close to the really good
students ability or quality, circle the mark
nearest that column. If you feel you are the
complete opposite, circle the mark nearest the
not very good student column. If you are
somewhere in between, then circle the mark that
best represents your position.
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Workshop suggestion for small group discussion
STEP 1. Each individual completes a blank
inventory on the ideal student lecturer
assessment task lecture
seminar STEP 2. In groups, agree a composite
inventory STEP 3. If appropriate, rate
yourselves or your own experience using the
composite version
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References

• For a complete list of references, please email
  Lin at
• nortonl_at_hope.ac.uk