Week 4 - LDC - Research Informed Practice

'Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.' 
                                                                                           - Goethe
Class and lecture notes below:
Research can be relevant to the classroom in a number of ways. 

• research-led teaching, which is when the curriculum is based on research interests of teachers. 
• research-oriented teaching, where the process of learning is as important as the content.
• research based teaching, where the curriculum is based on inquiry-based activities.
• research informed teaching, which consciously draws on the teaching and learning process. It is research informed teaching which is our main focus on this course.

Be aware of what research you read about. We watched The Dr Fox lecture (an interesting example of how we might be misled by those who claim to be researchers).  

With our first assignment looming, we need to start thinking about researching and how we are going to acknowledge our sources (APA referencing). Crikey, I haven't done this since my university days! There's a lot of reading to wade through and I find a lot of it is written in a way that I can't even understand! The language seems very complex and I feel very tired. Hmm, might need to get another coffee. Dr Herbert Thomas also talked to us about (once you have read all the research), always remember that research can be two sided, and we need to situate ourselves somewhere. Have an open mind and take everything with a grain of salt. 

A great site to help keep track of research is a site called Mendeley, which is basically a free online reference manager and academic social network(where was this when I was at uni?!)