Leerprocessen Literatuur College 1 & 2
College 1 08-09-2021
Rethinking connections between research and practice in education: A conceptual
framework
Farley-Ripple, etc
- Problem of use of research in practice is complex efforts to improve the quality of
education research have been considerable and are marked by the establishment of the
Institute for Education Sciences (IES) and an emphasis on the study of educational
approaches with rigorous research designs vs increased attention to the use of research
by practitioners at the administrative or implementation levels of the system
- Expectation: research identifies most effective practices, and when those are selected
and implemented, educational outcomes at local and national levels will improve; but
o Assumptions about the relationship between research and practice
Research should be the basis of educational decision-making (but no,
other forms also)
A clear and direct relationship exists between research and practice (but
research as form of evidence is not ‘value free’, different
interpretations; and timelines; and inconclusive or even contradictory
research)
‘use’ is ill-defined in both policy as well as research (instrumentally –
conceptually; strategic – symbolic) [practice is what practitioners
actually do and use when engaging with research]
An inadequate conceptualization of use as practice risks
reducing evidence use to an administrative task rather than
multiple activities constituting a political and social practice
within a complex organizational process and will unlikely lead
to the strengthening of ties between research and practice
o Framework (below) is grounded in 3 key ideas
Understanding of the problem is guided by early work on knowledge
utilization, and they draw on the ‘two communities’ metaphor to
explore gaps between the research and practice communities
They define communities in specific ways – the research community:
primarily those responsible for generating scholarship that examines
educational processes and contexts; [producers: those in traditional
academic institutions as well as think-tanks but also acknowledge this
work takes place in a range of organizations, with varying contexts that
shape research production] – practice communities: the administrative
or implementation levels of the system, responsible for making
decisions that ultimately influence teaching and learning, thus potential
users of research (all school and district practitioners)
Evidence-based practice (EBP) in schools (the practice of incorporating
evidence, broadly construed, into decision-making processes)
,- Evidence: ranging from no engagement in/with scientific research to substantially
inclusive of scientific research on the other
- Search and Dissemination: at one end of the search continuum, users or producers may
do a very limited search or focus on a resource with which they are already familiar; at
the other end, they may seek out multiple sources or/for research
- Interpretation: the continuum of interpretation seeks to better articulate the strategies
and extent to which decision-makers interpret/generate research in informed and
critical ways
- Participation: understanding participation then entails a continuum in which one or
few individuals are engaged at one end and where collaborative groups spanning
organizational (as well as research and practice) boundaries are engaged on the other
- Frequency: indicator of the extent to which use and production are part of
organizational routines and processes
- Decision stage: important to understand whether and how researchers anticipate their
work to be useful in the decision-making process
- Gaps:
o Usefulness of research products: represents the degree to which products
produced and valued by researchers aligns with those preferred by practitioners
o Nature and quality of research: pertains to differences in how the two
communities value different qualities of research, including issues related to
internal and external validity as well as conclusiveness of findings
o Problems addressed by research: issues related to the relevance of research
, o Structure, process, and incentives: the context in which researches and
practitioners operate and what influences researchers to produce certain kinds
of research and what influences practitioners to use research or other evidence
o Relationships between communities: producer pushed (dissemination), user-
pulled (active search by users), and exchange (interaction between users and
producers during key processes); indirect relationships (research brokers,
intermediaries, boundary spanners)
The potential relevance of cognitive neuroscience for the development and use of
technology-enhanced learning
Howard-Jones, etc
- Technology-enhanced learning = TEL
- In neuroscience, learning is often synonymous with memory
o Forming connections between ideas (which we all agree to happen in de mind)
is not the same as forming connections between neurons in the brain, although
changes in neural connectivity are likely to be necessary
- In education, learning is often considered as happening between people, rather than
just inside of their brains
- Electroencephalography (EEG) measures the electrical field near the scalp generated
by neural processing, which generates at least four distinct rhythms
o Excellent temporal resolution
o Non-invasive
o Poor spatial resolution
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – participant placed in scanner
o Good spatial resolution
o Slower temporal resolution
College 1 08-09-2021
Rethinking connections between research and practice in education: A conceptual
framework
Farley-Ripple, etc
- Problem of use of research in practice is complex efforts to improve the quality of
education research have been considerable and are marked by the establishment of the
Institute for Education Sciences (IES) and an emphasis on the study of educational
approaches with rigorous research designs vs increased attention to the use of research
by practitioners at the administrative or implementation levels of the system
- Expectation: research identifies most effective practices, and when those are selected
and implemented, educational outcomes at local and national levels will improve; but
o Assumptions about the relationship between research and practice
Research should be the basis of educational decision-making (but no,
other forms also)
A clear and direct relationship exists between research and practice (but
research as form of evidence is not ‘value free’, different
interpretations; and timelines; and inconclusive or even contradictory
research)
‘use’ is ill-defined in both policy as well as research (instrumentally –
conceptually; strategic – symbolic) [practice is what practitioners
actually do and use when engaging with research]
An inadequate conceptualization of use as practice risks
reducing evidence use to an administrative task rather than
multiple activities constituting a political and social practice
within a complex organizational process and will unlikely lead
to the strengthening of ties between research and practice
o Framework (below) is grounded in 3 key ideas
Understanding of the problem is guided by early work on knowledge
utilization, and they draw on the ‘two communities’ metaphor to
explore gaps between the research and practice communities
They define communities in specific ways – the research community:
primarily those responsible for generating scholarship that examines
educational processes and contexts; [producers: those in traditional
academic institutions as well as think-tanks but also acknowledge this
work takes place in a range of organizations, with varying contexts that
shape research production] – practice communities: the administrative
or implementation levels of the system, responsible for making
decisions that ultimately influence teaching and learning, thus potential
users of research (all school and district practitioners)
Evidence-based practice (EBP) in schools (the practice of incorporating
evidence, broadly construed, into decision-making processes)
,- Evidence: ranging from no engagement in/with scientific research to substantially
inclusive of scientific research on the other
- Search and Dissemination: at one end of the search continuum, users or producers may
do a very limited search or focus on a resource with which they are already familiar; at
the other end, they may seek out multiple sources or/for research
- Interpretation: the continuum of interpretation seeks to better articulate the strategies
and extent to which decision-makers interpret/generate research in informed and
critical ways
- Participation: understanding participation then entails a continuum in which one or
few individuals are engaged at one end and where collaborative groups spanning
organizational (as well as research and practice) boundaries are engaged on the other
- Frequency: indicator of the extent to which use and production are part of
organizational routines and processes
- Decision stage: important to understand whether and how researchers anticipate their
work to be useful in the decision-making process
- Gaps:
o Usefulness of research products: represents the degree to which products
produced and valued by researchers aligns with those preferred by practitioners
o Nature and quality of research: pertains to differences in how the two
communities value different qualities of research, including issues related to
internal and external validity as well as conclusiveness of findings
o Problems addressed by research: issues related to the relevance of research
, o Structure, process, and incentives: the context in which researches and
practitioners operate and what influences researchers to produce certain kinds
of research and what influences practitioners to use research or other evidence
o Relationships between communities: producer pushed (dissemination), user-
pulled (active search by users), and exchange (interaction between users and
producers during key processes); indirect relationships (research brokers,
intermediaries, boundary spanners)
The potential relevance of cognitive neuroscience for the development and use of
technology-enhanced learning
Howard-Jones, etc
- Technology-enhanced learning = TEL
- In neuroscience, learning is often synonymous with memory
o Forming connections between ideas (which we all agree to happen in de mind)
is not the same as forming connections between neurons in the brain, although
changes in neural connectivity are likely to be necessary
- In education, learning is often considered as happening between people, rather than
just inside of their brains
- Electroencephalography (EEG) measures the electrical field near the scalp generated
by neural processing, which generates at least four distinct rhythms
o Excellent temporal resolution
o Non-invasive
o Poor spatial resolution
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – participant placed in scanner
o Good spatial resolution
o Slower temporal resolution
