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Education research workshop 1: Introduction to the world of education research

You’re in the classroom with a challenging tutorial group, and none of the teaching methods you’ve used previously are working. On instinct and intuition, you try something different, and it seems to help everyone survive the hour. But afterwards you wonder if there is any rhyme or reason to this phenomenon—has there been research done on it, and how could you conduct research on it yourself?

Join us in the first workshop in EDLAB’s Education Research Professional Development Series to find your own answers to these and other related questions. Come benefit from the support of more experienced education researchers who can provide examples to learn from and help you get started with conducting research on your own education practice.

Professional development hours are possible for staff with UTQ.

Workshop leaders: Boukje Compens and Diana Dolmans 

Workshop description
Innovations in education are often based on intuition. When problem-based learning was introduced, for example, it was largely based on assumptions about what might work best. After years of extensive research, we now know much more about how and why it works in various contexts. In this workshop, we will explore what education research could look like to gain such a better understanding. 

We will first dive into different types of studies, such as descriptive studies (what education looks like in practice and how it is evaluated), justification and comparison studies (which educational practices work best), and clarification studies (why does a particular approach work (or not work) for a group of students and teachers in a given context). Afterwards, we will discuss different methods, the alignment between research question and method, theoretical principles to inform education research, and the importance of collaboration with students, teachers and education designers. 

In the workshop, we would like to start from what makes you wonder about your education, so please bring a question from your own teaching practice to this workshop. We can help you think along in how this question could become the start of an education research project.

Stay tuned for more information about upcoming workshops in the series! The workshops in this series can be taken either individually or in sequence from start to finish.

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