Optimizing Teaching and Learning Practicing Pedagogical Research

Beth M. Schwartz is Professor of Psychology at Randolph College. She is founding director of the Faculty Development Center on her campus. In February 2006, she received the APLS (American Psychology and Law Society) Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award.

Acknowledgments xiii

1 What Is Pedagogical Research? 1

Multidisciplinary Roots of Pedagogical Research 3

Examining Definitions of Scholarship 4

The Other SoTL: Action Research and Teacher Research 6

Beginnings 8

Why Is Pedagogical Research Important? 11

A Teaching Hierarchy 12

A Caveat 16

How Can Pedagogical Research Be Useful to You? 16

2 Pedagogical Research: Focussing on the Teaching 18

Assessing Our Teaching Effectiveness 20

What Can We Learn from the “Best” College Teachers? 25

Creating your Teaching Philosophy Statement 31

How Do I Teach? 33

Using Teaching Inventories 34

Determining Your Teaching Goals 38

Assessment Tools 43

Alternative Classroom Assessment Techniques 65

Teaching Portfolios 68

Learning to Conduct Pedagogical Research: How to Get Started: Designing Your Pedagogical Research Program 70

Developing Your Research Ideas and Questions 72

Focus on Student Learning: Connecting Your Learning Goals, Assessment Choice, and Teaching Technique 75

Applying the Findings of Your Pedagogical Research: Using General Principles of Learning to Making Changes to Your Teaching Strategies 78

Sharing Your Findings and Connecting with Others in the Field 81

Conclusion 84

Appendix: Examples of Discipline-Specific SoTL Journals 85

3 Pedagogical Research: Focussing on Learning 87

What Do You Want to Find Out? 90

What Do We Know about How Students Learn? 91

Student Engagement: If You Engage Them, They Will Learn 94

How Can You Investigate Your Students’ Learning? 96

How Do Students Study? 103

Metacognition 104

Measuring Study Behaviors 110

Can You Improve Study Skills? 118

Key Psychological Factors Influencing Learning 119

Designing Your Research: How Do You Study Your Students’ Learning? 120

Measuring How Performance on Your Assessments Vary 125

Guidelines for Human Research Participants in SoTL 131

A Further Note on Ethics 132

Conclusions 141

Appendix: Questions on How to Make Cognitive Research Available to Educators 141

4 Is It Significant? Basic Statistics 145

Why Do We Need to Analyze Our Classroom Data? 145

Qualitative or Quantitative? That Is the Question 147

Setting the Stage: Important Background for Measurement and Analyses 149

Two Main Forms of Statistical Analyses: Descriptive Analyses 151

Watching Your Curves 153

Inferential Statistics 154

Software Options 159

Calculating Descriptive Statistics 161

Calculating Inferential Statistics 163

Kicking It Up a Notch: Testing Multiple Factors 164

Conclusions 168

5 Pedagogical Research as Scholarship: Resources for Success 169

Developing a Center with a Focus on SoTL 170

Determining Needs on Your Campus 174

Determining Your Goals: What Is the Purpose of the Center? 175

Guiding Principles when Creating a New Center 178

Creating Programming Initiatives to Achieve Your Goals 183

Mentoring Programs 191

SoTL and Tenure and Promotion 193

The Role of Assessment 195

Sources for SoTL Support or Funding 199

What Else Is Available through Faculty Development Centers? 200

Potential Challenges Identified by Those Who Have Come Before You 201

Appendix: Useful References 203

References 207

Index 222

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