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Education Research that Matters: Applying Research to Your Teaching Practice

Discover effective research methods and learn how to make use of education research in your role as a teacher or educator.

5,465 enrolled on this course

Three teachers pointing at a screen of research

Education Research that Matters: Applying Research to Your Teaching Practice

5,465 enrolled on this course

  • 4 weeks

  • 3 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Introductory level

Find out more about how to join this course

Explore how engaging with research can transform your teaching practice

As an educator, research provides you with the opportunity to improve your teaching and better support your students. On this course, you’ll discover how to find education research, assess its quality, and apply its insights.

You’ll explore and evaluate research from a range of online and peer-reviewed sources as you learn to assess their reliability and usability. You’ll also discover powerful search techniques and learn to analyse your research findings.

Upon completion of this course, you’ll feel confident finding and engaging with research and applying it to your teaching practice.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 5 seconds Hi I’m Deborah Youdell and I’m a Professor of Education at the University of Birmingham and this is ‘Education Research that Matters. It’s a series of three MOOCs that take you through first thinking about education questions through to doing research in your own classrooms and schools. I myself as a teacher and as a head teacher found that I gained professional courage because I was reading a lot and that meant that in fact I was more driven by the things I was reading, by the literature reviews I was accessing then I was the demands of Ofsted. Engaging with research means that every day it’s really exciting because you’re engaing with up to date research that has ben collated in different ways

Skip to 1 minute and 5 seconds We know that there’s lots of talk about evidence and education based on evidence but how do we know which evidence is any good? Which evidence should we use? And where do we go and find it? In the first MOOC that’s what we’re going to explore. In MOOC 2 we’re going to look at a whole range of ways of doing research, approaches that educators can use in there setting that can inform thier practicenand that can really inspired by the people that I work with and that can benefits thier students.

Skip to 1 minute and 31 seconds And the last MOOC brings teachers together in groups around hot topics, wicked problems to say how can we as a community support each other, work together to do research in our own settings. Engaging in research has help me to become aware of the gaps in my skillsets and given me the confidence to address these gaps. It has also allowed me to develop an intentionally about the way I deliver knowledge to my learners. My future research ambitions is that research informs daily practice in the classroom and beyond.

Skip to 2 minutes and 17 seconds You can do these MOOCs as one or in any combination. If you do all three by the end of the programme you will have gone from from identifying a problem or an issue that you want to explore in your setting through to thinking about how best to research it, what the estate of the evidence is already and actually doing a piece of research in your own setting as part of a community of research practice. To be a professional is to engage in lifelong learning. This is a quest all the time to do the best we can for our children.

What topics will you cover?

  • Week 1. How might engaging with research transform your practice? Popular sources: Google search and its perils or how to go wrong on Twitter.
  • Week 2. How might you go about locating research to inform your practice? Major research organisations and the research they do and promote.
  • Week 3. How might you go about selecting the most significant research to engage with? Open access sources: finding great research that’s free.
  • Week 4. How might you most effectively judge the research you come into contact with and move to implement? Is it any good and what does it tell me?

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Use effective search techniques to locate useful research using a variety of sources
  • Navigate research papers, identifying the significance of research findings
  • Recognise the influence of bias or position on engagement with research
  • Carry out successful searches that lead to locating significant pieces of research
  • Analyse research and consider possible implications of findings for your context

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for teachers who work in early years, primary, secondary and further education settings.

It will also be of interest to education professionals working outside of school settings.

Who will you learn with?

I am a Professor of Education at the University of Birmingham. My research explores education inequalities and links to policy, pedagogy, and identities as well as biosocial influences on learning.

I am the Head of Department of Teacher Education at the University of Birmingham. I was Vice Principal of UoB School in the set-up phase and have been involved in school improvement over many years.

I am the Head of Online Learning and Community at the Chartered College of Teaching. Prior to this role I taught English and led professional learning in Further Education settings.

Who developed the course?

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is a public research university, consistently listed as a leading UK university and ranked among the top 100 in the world.

Chartered College of Teaching

The Chartered College of Teaching is the professional body for teaching in England. Since launching in 2017, it has been working to connect, inform and inspire teachers.

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$27.99

For the first two months. Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$104/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 25 Apr 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

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