AllThingsPLC — Articles & Research
Articles and research on professional learning communities. This all seems to be from the more traditional view of PLCs as within schools or districts; I don't see anything about online communities here.
Becta Government & partners - Impact of e-portfolios on learning
Research on how e-portfolios can improve learning. Summary and full research reports available
Researching Electronic Portfolios and Learner Engagement (pdf)
Whitepaper on electronic portfolios providing a background on the theory and research. Motivation, engagement, storytelling, and tools are also covered.
Meta-Analysis Shows Online Learning Better, Blended Even Better
According to a meta-analysis by the US Department of Education, face-to-face courses are less effective than online and blended learning. They caution against viewing this as simply a matter of the medium though. It's the changes in what online and blended learning allow (like opportunities for collaboration) that are likely making the difference.
Direct link to PDF: http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf
The meta-analysis findings do not support simply putting an existing course online, but they do support redesigning instruction to incorporate additional learning opportunities online.
A review of research on professional learning communities: What do we know?
Like the title says, a research review on PLCs, synthesizing results from 10 articles.
- All research supported the idea that learning communities change teaching practice, although not all articles were specific about what changes took place.
- In one study, teachers in PLCs developed more student-centered classrooms. Some other studies discussed specific teaching strategies used as a result of PLCs.
- All studies showed a change in school culture through "collaboration, focus on student learning, teacher authority, and continuous teacher learning."
- All 6 studies that looked at student achievement found that student learning improved. However, this was only seen when the focus of collaboration was student learning and not just working together.
- Their conclusion: "The focus of a PLC should be developing teachers’ “knowledge of practice” around the issue of student learning"
- "...working collaboratively is the process not the goal of a PLC. The goal is enhanced student achievement."
Collaborative Blogging as a Means to Develop Elementary Expository Writing Skills
Study on collaborative blogging with third graders that resulted in improved attitudes towards writing, improved quality of writing, and a number of unintended benefits
Weblogs and Their Effects on Writing Skills
Case study of blogs used with fifth graders to improve writing skills. In both classes reviewed, blogs improved "both rich content and author's craft" but not grammar and spelling.
Open Access Educational Technology journals – George Veletsianos
Looking for research on e-learning, instructional design, educational technology, or related topics? Check out these open access journals. Great to have a filtered list for this rather than having to dig through some of the larger directories.
Cognitive Load Theory: Failure? « EdTechDev
Explanation of cognitive load theory and the problems with it, both conceptual and methodological. Lots of sources to dig into deeper if you want more research on this issue.
Numerous contradictions of cognitive load theory’s predictions have been found, but with germane cognitive load, they can still be explained away. de Jong does not use this term (unfalsifiable) but instead states that germane cognitive load is a <em>post-hoc</em> explanation with no theoretical basis: “there seems to be no grounds for asserting that processes that lead to (correct) schema acquisition will impose a higher cognitive load than learning processes that do not lead to (correct) schemas” (2009).
2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Poor external validity of lab-based studies</span>. Moreno doesn’t touch on something in the de Jong article – the fact that most cognitive load (and multimedia learning) studies are conducted in labs that “includes participants who have no specific interest in learning the domain involved and who are also given a very short study time” (de Jong, 2009), often only a few minutes. Quite a number of findings from these studies have not held up as strongly when tested in classrooms or real-world scenarios, or have even reversed (<a href="http://www.txwes.edu/professionaldevelopment/materials/Multimedia%20Instructions.pdf">such as the modality effect</a>, but see <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2007.09.010">this refutation</a> and this <a href="http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=5135499">other example of a reverse effect</a>).
My conversation with academics
A 2007 post from the Learning Circuits blog about different views of the value of theories, research, and results in academia and corporate environments. Definitely takes the anti-academic POV. I like Mitch Owen's response in the comments: "Effective work is always blended.. theory and application.. "
How Does Teacher Pay Compare? Methodological Challenges and Answers
Research on US teacher pay and trends
NCVER - E-learning in Australia and Korea: Learning from practice
Lengthy study from 2005 comparing how e-learning is used in Australia and Korea, finding some similar concerns. Like most other studies, this one has found that e-learning "cannnot on its own guarantee successful learning outcomes for students. The way in which the teacher and the learner utilise the technology continues to be important."
Research: The Educational BS Repellent | Connected Principals
Highlights of what one principal has learned from Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Some of the ideas in education reform that we hear the most about (such as class size) maybe aren't as important or have as much impact as other strategies.
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">1. Class Size</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">My initial thought:</span> Decreasing Class Size from 25 to 15 could significantly improve student achievement.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The bold, loud claim I hear:</span> “Decreasing class sizes is a key to student success!”</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">What the research says:</span> Of the 138 factors of the meta-analyses done, this was ranked as number 106, and had a impact factor of 0.21, well below the hinge point of showing notable change. This is based on studies of more than 40000 classes, and nearly 950000 students worldwide. Perhaps not surprisingly, “quality teaching” has nearly double the impact on student achievement than this factor.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">My new thought:</span><strong> </strong>Not the high-yield strategy that I believed.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">6. Formative Evaluation of programs</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">My initial thought</span>: Extremely important for teachers to adapt and change their methodologies in response to student learning. Using student data to guide instruction and reflection through collaboration with their peers is something that we have been<a href="http://thelearningnation.blogspot.com/2010/11/restructuring-not-remortgaging-to-make.html"> focussing on in our school through our change in structures</a>.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Loud, bold claim I hear:</span> “I know what works in my class!”</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">What the research says</span>: This ranks as #3 of 138, with an effect of 0.9 over nearly 4000 students and 38 studies. Teachers being purposeful to innovations in that they are looking to see “what works” and “why it works” as well as looking for reasons why students do not do well lead to improvement in instruction and student achievement.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">My new thought</span>: This is the high-yield strategy that can really make a difference at our school, and through the Professional Learning Community Model of providing time for teachers to collaborate and reflect on teaching practices, we have seen a marked increase in the success of our students.</p>
Advances in Physiology Education
Open access journal with a number of articles on active learning, blended learning, problem based learning, etc. (My sister-in-law is the copy editor.)
No Clarity Around Growth Mindset…Yet | Slate Star Codex
A rare criticism of Dweck's growth mindset research, largely centered around the idea that the results are so dramatic for such small interventions that they can't be real. No proof for falsification is provided (although the author says he looked). There are some more legitimate concerns raised about the social psychology and alternate research showing that yes, innate ability does matter.
A rare point of agreement between hard biodeterminists and hard socialists is that telling kids that they’re failing because they just don’t have the right work ethic is a <i>crappy thing to do</i>. It’s usually false and it will make them feel terrible. Behavioral genetics studies show pretty clearly that at least 50% of success at academics and <a href="slatestarcodex.com/2015/02/01/talents-part-2-attitude-vs-altitude/">sports</a> is genetic; various sociologists have put a lot of work into proving that your position in a biased society covers a pretty big portion of the remainder. If somebody who was born with the dice stacked against them works very hard, then they might find themselves at A2 above. To deny this in favor of a “everything is about how hard you work” is to offend the sensibilities of sensible people on the left and right alike.
So basically, you take the most vulnerable people, set them tasks you know they’ll fail at, then lecture them about how they only failed because of insufficient effort.
The Problem With Having a 'Growth Mindset' - Finding Common Ground - Education Week
Growth mindset doesn't seem to work as well in classrooms as it does in the research environments, partly because it gets oversimplified as simply "more effort" rather than providing useful feedback and rewarding trying new strategies.
The Growth Mindset : Telling Penguins to Flap Harder ? | Disappointed Idealist
Lengthy criticism of growth mindset, looking at both Dweck's research and the way it is misinterpreted and applied in educational policy
To a certain extent, I feel the growth mindset is the equivalent of putting a penguin next to an eagle and inviting them to both take off. When the eagle is a speck in the sky, the observer then tells the penguin that the only reason it isn’t also flying is that it isn’t putting enough effort in. If only it flaps its wings harder, it’ll be chasing the eagle in no time.
Learning through storytelling | Higher Education Academy
Why storytelling works for learning
Stories are effective tools for learning due to their ability to facilitate the following cognitive processes: i) concretizing, ii) assimilation, and iii) structurizing (Evans and Evans 1989).
Eminence-Based Education or the Terror of Famous & Shameless Eduquacks – 3-Star learning experiences
Education often becomes enamored with the ideas of people who have little or no research support for their theories. Rather than falling for the "appeal to authority" (especially those "authorities" with no background in education or science to back them up), we can reject what's trendy and popular in favor of evidence-based education practice.
Factual Knowledge Must (Not?) Precede Higher Order Thinking |Education & Teacher Conferences
Summary of Pooja Agarwal's research on retrieval practice for higher order thinking
That is: when students <span style="color: #000000;"><b>didn’t </b></span>review a particular set of facts, they could still reason with them — as long as they <strong>had practiced</strong> doing that kind of reasoning.
GUEST POST: The Emerging Consensus — The Learning Scientists
This is an interesting summary of research, compiling conclusions from multiple types of research. While I'm skeptical of most claims about neuroscience research directly informing learning design, this tries to avoid that. Neuroscience research is used to explain results from cognitive psychology research. They also try to connect cognitive research on the other side with classroom experience.
Book — The Learning Scientists
Quick summaries of key points from each chapter in a book on learning science and effective strategies (spacing, elaboration, concrete examples, visuals, and retrieval practice). I wish the graphics were easier to read though. Medium blue italicized serif text on a lighter blue background isn't enough contrast. I don't think low contrast counts as desirable difficulty, just bad accessibility.
Learning Technology Mystery Series Presents “The Case of the Disengaged Learner” with Cara North - The Training, Learning, and Development Community
Cara North's recorded presentation on engagement in learning. Engagement can be cognitive, behavioral, or emotional. Additional resources at go.osu.edu/disengaged
The Mindset Controversy: Carol Dweck Speaks... |Education & Teacher Conferences
A summary of Dweck's response to recent unsuccessful research on growth mindset. It's probably less important to teach the concept of mindset than to adjust methods of teaching and providing feedback.
<p>Dweck emphasizes that mindset interventions should not be one-time events.</p>
<p>Anything that happens just once — “a chart at the front of the room, a lecture where you define the two mindsets” — isn’t likely to work.</p>
<p>Instead, we should focus on “the policies and practices in the classroom. <em>It is not about teaching the concept alone</em>, it is much more about implementing practices that focus on growth and learning.” [emphasis added]
</p>
Now Even the New York Times Has It Wrong |Education & Teacher Conferences
You've probably heard that taking handwritten notes results in better learning than taking notes on a laptop. That research has been oversimplified in the media reporting though. What the researchers found is that rewording and summarizing while taking notes is more effective. People taking handwritten notes are more likely to reword as they go because we write slower than we type. However, if people could be trained to take notes on a laptop while rewording and summarizing, taking digital notes would probably be MORE effective.
It's HOW you take notes that matters, not the media or technology--just as has been seen in numerous other studies about learning.
The correct way is: students should <span style="text-decoration: underline;">reword</span> the professor’s lecture, rather than simply copy the words down <span style="text-decoration: underline;">verbatim</span>.
<p>If students can learn to reword the professor’s lecture when taking notes on a laptop, then Mueller and Oppenheimer’s own data suggest that they’ll learn more. And yes, I do mean “learn more than people who take handwritten notes.”</p>
<p>(Why? Because laptop note-takers can write <em>more words</em> than handwriters, and in M&O’s research, more words lead to more learning.)</p>