Are they engaging? Using our academic criticality to enhance students’ learning

1. Are they engaging?Using our academic criticality to enhance students’ learning Lin Norton Liverpool Hope University

2. Are they engaging? • Consider this question for a moment • What does it mean to you? University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

3. How can we improve student learning? • Our own teaching experience? • Working collaboratively with colleagues? • Reading scholarly literature? • Attending pedagogical conferences/ CPD events? • Evaluation? • Pedagogical research? • Practitioner/Action research? University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

4. Definition of pedagogical research ‘Pedagogical research is at its best when it assesses current practice, justifies good practice, looks in detail at teaching and seeks to find out how students actually learn successfully.’ (Reid, 2006, p.5). University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

5. Insider research • Emphasis is on changing practice. • Small scale. • Local and grounded in a specific L&T context. University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

6. What is pedagogical actionresearch? “The fundamental purpose of pedagogical action research is to systematically investigate one’s own teaching or learning facilitation practice with the dual aim of modifying practice and contributing to theoretical knowledge” (Norton, 2009) . University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

7. Purpose of Action Research in a university context To modify some aspect of teaching or assessment to improve our students’ learning experience/performance. University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

8. The key question How can I improve my learning and teaching practice? University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

9. The process of Action Research • Reviewing an area for improvement • Formulating and implementing a change. • Using rigorous methods to consider the impact of that change. • Reviewing future actions in the light of what has been learned. • i.e. reflection: typically leads to a further cycle University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

10. ITDEM’D: an easy stepwise approach Identifying a problem/paradox/ issue/difficulty (your research focus) Thinking of ways to tackle the problem (your chosen method) Doing it (your collecting of data) Evaluating it (analysing, interpreting your findings) Modifying future teaching (how will you improve your students’ learning?) ’Disseminatingresearch findings (opening your work up to peer scrutiny and critique; evidencing impact) University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

11. Not just a procedure • Following a procedure on its own is not action research • Must be some commitment to change University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

12. What might a pedagogical action research (PAR) study look like? The place of ‘evidence’ in academic writing (O’Siochru & Norton, PTR, 2015) Three possible research questions: • Should written work privilege evidence over personal opinion? • Do we give sufficient guidance? • How do we ensure our students do not complete their course with a stereotyped view of psychology as science? University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

13. Does the ‘problem’ reside with our students? • They don’t understand what evidence means (ie. empirical evidence supporting their claims) • Leads to straightforward intervention study with reflection and modification of practice University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

14. Does the problem reside with us as psychology teachers? • Do we accept the contextual nature of truth i.e. that the empirical method is just one way of exploring and explaining phenomena or do we promote the disciplinary perspective? • Leads to cycles of AR perhaps involving teachers’ and students’ expectations and understandings of the place of psychology….. University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

15. Example of an action research study • Students’ ongoing reflections on their own learning in a masters module on the psychology of teaching and learning For other examples see HEA Action Research: Sector Case studies https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/hea-action-research-sector-case-studies University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

16. Reservations? • What are your reservations about carrying out some form of practitioner research? University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

17. What are the challenges of doing pedagogical action research? • Three main challenges: • Less prestigious • No value unless scientific • Too small Adapted from Norton (2014) http://www.keele.ac.uk/docs/3d/jade-january-2014/ University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

18. 1. Less ‘prestigious’ than subject-based research. Possible solutions • Ensure pedagogical research is : • of high quality, • appropriately theorised • properly grounded in the relevant body of existing literature. • Avoid poor quality pedagogical research which is ‘show and tell’ University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

19. 2. Should be scientific or it is of no value. • Call for causality dominant in educational research (Biesta, 2007) BUT… • Establishing cause and effect highly problematic in educational research • Education problems are ‘wicked problems’ (Rittel & Weber,1973) University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

20. Alternatives to causality does not mean ‘sloppy’ • Accepting plurality of methods isn’t the same as ‘anything goes’. • We should not rely on ‘undecidable judgment, mysticism or the celebration of diversity for its own sake’ but reasonable clear expert judgment (Hammersley 2013). • Aim for transparency in making judgments. University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

21. Making the method visible • Pedagogical action research strengths: • authorship and transparency • taking a subjective, reflective practitioner approach • As action researchers we need to: • Make both research methods and analysis highly visible (Stierer & Antoniou, 2004). • Be crystal clear when presenting our research University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

22. Justifying your chosen approach • Method should be based and justified to suit your own specific context. • Should make the subjective transparent. • Should include reflexive accounts of your own enquiry and research process. . University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

23. Improving validity of pedagogical action research • Make explicit what counts as data • Describe how accounts have been constructed from the data. • Increase validity • Explain why certain actions led to the results University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

24. 3. It’s too small!! University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

25. Scaling up your small question to a large question through theory Theoretical explanations of student learning • Threshold concepts (Meyer & Land) • Epistemology (Baxter-Magolda, Hofer) • Deep or surface approaches to learning (Marton & Saljo) • Conceptions of learning (Saljo) • Conceptions of knowledge (Perry) • Reflection (King and Kitchener) • Metacognition (Flavell) University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

26. What is a robust action research study? • Publishable • Has impact • Modifies L&T practice • Contributes to theory and knowledge (SOTL) University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

27. Ethical concerns • What are some of the ethical issues related to researching your own teaching and learning? University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

28. Ethics in action research • Explicitly framed as an ethical endeavour • Ethics underpins action research • Different kind of ethical responsibility goes beyond getting ethical approval • Need to revisit ethical issues during the course of the AR project University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

29. Why dissemination is important • Specific aim of improving practice. • ‘Political’ aim of changing or challenging the ‘sacred cows’ of education • ‘Uncomfortable truths’ • Make your research work for you in as many ways as possible. • Has to be opened up to peer scrutiny and review University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

30. What can research impact ‘do’? • Influence the development of policy, practice or service provision, shape legislation, alter behaviour (Instrumental) • Contribute to the understanding of policy issues, reframe debates (Conceptual): • Expand technical and personal skill development (Capacity building) Source: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/research/impact-toolkit/what-is-impact/ University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

31. Impact as Evaluation in educational research • Demonstrating what are sometimes intangible effects of research is problematic • Current emphasis in educational research is measurement • Practitioner research can have ‘real world impact’ (Doyle et al, 2015 University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

32. Evaluation as impact: Biesta’s view … ‘education is a moral practice, rather than a technical or technological one…The most important question for educational professionals is therefore not about the effectiveness of their actions but about the potential educational value of what they do, that is, about the educational desirability of the opportunities for learning that follow from their actions…’ (my emphasis) (Biesta, 2007,p.10) University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

33. Impact as evidencing value(Bamber & Stefani, 2015) • Evidence presentation currently not fit for purpose • Reconceptualising ‘impact’ as ‘evidencing value’ • Evidencing does involve measuring and evaluating, PLUS the role of judgement, experience, and contextual knowledge • Need a mix of evaluation data University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

34. The research- practice gap • Monocausalanalyses • Research findings written in inaccessible language • Misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the evidence • Insufficient resources or examples for practitioners to use University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

35. But we can make a difference! • As researcher-practitioners we research in our own work environment/professional practice context • We have insider knowledge of this context • ‘Movers and shakers’. Ref: University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

36. Purpose of disseminating your practitioner research formally • Who do you want to influence? • What level are you aiming at • What do you want to change? University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

37. How might you disseminate your action research? University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

38. Summary • Important hallmarks of research: • rigour and robustness in the design, • thorough and careful analysis and interpretation of the findings • a scholarly understanding of the relevant literature. • Our need to look at the whole picture by thinking about the ‘wicked problem’. • We must clearly articulate our values of what we believe to be educationally desirable. University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice

39. and finally… • Look for inspiration today from the school-based pedagogic change projects • Think small scale and feasible University of South Wales Exploring change in pedagogic practice