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Improving Computing Classroom Practice Through Action Research

Learn how to run your own action research project to improve the computing pedagogy and practices in your classroom.

1,914 enrolled on this course

Images reflecting the course content, including teachers with an action plan, some graphs, and key questions like "Who", "What" and "Where"
  • Duration

    3 weeks
  • Weekly study

    2 hours
  • Accreditation

    AvailableMore info
The CPD Certification Service

This course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles. Find out more.

Apply action research to your teaching and become a more reflective practitioner

Through this course, you will become familiar with the process of classroom action research, and plan your own classroom-based investigation.

You will learn about how this cyclic process can help develop lasting improvement in your practice. Together with other participants, you will reflect on challenges that you face in your learning environment, and use computing education research to explore possible solutions.

As well as planning a research project, you’ll also look at how you can analyse the data that you collect. You’ll then consider how the results of your research should inform your future practice.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 3 seconds How can you improve your teaching through research? What skills do you need to conduct research in your own classroom? What tools can help you to evaluate the impact on your students learning? This free course will introduce you to the process of classroom action research and guide you through planning your own classroom-based investigation. You’ll learn about quantitative and qualitative approaches to research and critically assess different sources of evidence. You’ll identify research themes and questions, generate a theory of action, and develop evidence based solutions for addressing challenges in the classroom. This three week course also contains peer discussions, trainer interaction, and practical school activities to help you produce a research project to trial in your classroom setting.

Skip to 0 minutes and 55 seconds So whether you’re a teacher with students of your own or simply curious about research in education, this course will help you to improve your computing classroom practise through action research. Sign up now at rpf.io/classroomresearch.

What topics will you cover?

  • Classroom action research as a tool for continual professional development
  • Quantitative and qualitative approaches to research
  • Identifying research themes and questions
  • Designing a project and selecting outcomes
  • Producing a project plan for a trial in the classroom
  • Analysing qualitative and quantitative data

Who is this accredited by?

The CPD Certification Service
The CPD Certification Service:

The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 and is the leading independent CPD accreditation institution operating across industry sectors to complement the CPD policies of professional and academic bodies.

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...

  • Reflect on teaching and learning in your classroom, highlighting any challenges
  • Develop evidence-based solutions to address challenges in the classroom
  • Assess and evaluate different sources of research and evidence in order to select the most useful
  • Develop a theory of action to communicate the challenges you face and the actions you have selected for dealing with those challenges
  • Collaborate with fellow participants, sharing research ideas and discussing your project with learners with similar goals
  • Assess the results from your research project to inform your future practice

Who is the course for?

This course is for any educator interested in developing their computing practice and pedagogy. Regardless of which subjects you teach, computing tools as well as concepts and content will have a bearing on your teaching in a modern classroom.

Whatever your teaching background this course will give you the skills to run your own action research project.

Who developed the course?

Raspberry Pi Foundation

The Raspberry Pi Foundation works to put the power of digital making into the hands of people all over the world, so they are capable of understanding and shaping our increasingly digital world.

National Centre for Computing Education

This course is part of the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE). Funded by the Department for Education and partners, we aim to change the way computing is taught in schools across England, and enable more young people to benefit from studying this important subject.

If you are a teacher in England you can get free upgraded access to this course, and use it towards NCCE certification. To do this, you must join the course through the Teach Computing website

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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