The Relevance of Systematic Reviews to Educational Policy and Practice

This paper argues that educational policy and practice has much to gain from systematic reviews and other methods of research synthesis. Different types of reviews are considered, including narrative reviews, vote-counting reviews, meta-analyses, best evidence synthesis, and meta-ethnography. It is argued that systematic reviews allow researchers, and users of research, to go beyond the limitations of single studies and to discover the consistencies and variability in seemingly similar studies. This, in turn, allows for some degree of cumulative knowledge of educational research that is often missing in the absence of systematic reviews. Some limitations of systematic reviews and research synthesis for educational policy and practice are also discussed. The work of the Campbell Collaboration as an international organisation that promotes the use of systematic reviews in educational policy and practice is outlined.     

What is Evidence-based Education?

This paper argues that education should become more evidence-based. The distinction is made between using existing research and establishing high-quality educational research. The need for high-quality systematic reviews and appraisals of educational research is clear. Evidence-based education is not a panacea, but is a set of principles and practices for enhancing educational policy and practice.     

苏姗·霍兰德幼儿教育技术学术思想研究

苏姗·霍兰德是美国幼儿教育技术研究与实践的开拓者,其发展适宜性的幼儿教育技术学术思想对美国学前教育信息化发展产生了重要影响。研究评述了其对幼儿教育技术的开拓性贡献,并从技术观、幼儿教育软件评价、技术与幼儿课程整合、使用家庭计算机四个方面,对霍兰德的幼儿教育技术学术思想进行了系统梳理。     

教育政策社会学:一种新范式?

本文从范式转型的角度,对西方一些国家20世纪80年代后期兴起的教育政策社会学进行了述评,指出教育政策社会学尽管在一定程度上弥补了"社会政策研究"模式的局限,在研究范围、研究主题上有新的突破,但其研究视角仍然不够明晰,理论建构还显薄弱,并没有构成教育政策研究的范式转型.     

Exploring ethnohistory and Indigenous scholarship: what is the relevance to educational historians?

For educational historians involved in the representation of Indigenous contexts and peoples, what is the relevance of ethnohistory as a discipline or methodology, and what is lost or gained in using it? This article reviews ethnohistorical literature, and brings it in conversation with literature by Indigenous scholars on research methodologies, as well as history and historiography. The inquiry raises questions for consideration by educational historians in conducting Indigenous educational histories. It is suggested that while ethnohistory as it is described in the literature may demonstrate limitations, turning towards Indigenous scholarship for guidance may extend and enhance research on the educational past that is responsive to the interests of Indigenous communities.     

我国教育游戏研究述评及展望

教育游戏是教育技术的新兴研究领域,更是有着重大应用价值和社会价值的实践领域.本文立足于我国教育游戏研究现状.对近年来教育游戏的理论和实践进行了剖析和反思,力求揭示教育游戏研究的关键性问题,探索教育游戏的未来发展之路,为拓宽教育游戏的研究思路提供建议和参考.     

Epistemic Beliefs and Their Relation to Multiple-Text Comprehension: A Norwegian Program of Research

Nowadays, students are required to use multiple information sources to complete tasks, both in and out of school. The beliefs that students hold about knowledge and knowing – their epistemic beliefs – have been linked to successful integration of information across multiple texts. Framed by literature on epistemic belief research from an educational psychology perspective, this article reviews a recent Norwegian program of research on students' epistemic beliefs. The research has implications for educational research and practice that are discussed.     

Myths of Environmental Education

Abstract

A review of environmental education literature reveals a paucity of constructivist-based research. To support the case for this approach, the author reviews theoretical aspects of science education research of this type. It first situates different approaches to educational research in relation to different epistemologies and then reviews constructs used in constructivist science education research. Issues associated with the adoption of this epistemology—topics deemed worthy of research, importance given to the learner's pre-instructional knowledge, and perspectives on learning and understanding—are considered. The article concludes with proposals for constructivist research in environmental education across the educational commonplaces.     

Work-Based Knowledge,Evidence-Informed Practice and Education

ABSTRACT:?

This paper starts from an examination of an epistemological framework that underpins practice in particular educational contexts. It examines work-based knowledge, relating this to practitioner research and evidence informed practice. This is followed by an exploration of arguments that call for increased rigour in educational research as well as the use of systematic reviews. The paper examines tensions within educational research located in particular institutional contexts which draw upon ‘post-modern’ conceptualisations of practice, setting these against research concerned with generalisability that veers towards traditional positivist claims. The paper concludes by suggesting that such arguments readily fold back into a conservative empiricism and a more appropriate position should be based upon dialogue across a range of constituents. However, such a notion needs to recognise social antagonism as well as aspirations towards the deepening of notions of social justice.     

Scientific research in education: A critical perspective1

This article reviews the debate in the USA about quality in educational research which has underpinned particular approaches to educational research being mandated in federal legislation. It argues that the movement towards ‘evidence‐based policy and practice’ oversimplifies complex problems and is being used to warrant governmental incursion into legislating scientific method. It calls for critical readings of current policy and direct engagement in policy forums—putting critical theory to work.     

The eventful genesis of educational media

This paper is a reflection on the history and future of educational media. Over the last century various new media technologies were introduced in education. Most of these failed to meet the high expectations. The paper reviews the rise and fall of various “revolutionary” learning media and analyses what went wrong. Three main driving factors are identified that influence the educational system: 1) educational practice, 2) educational research, and 3) educational technologies. The role and position of these factors is elaborated and critically reviewed. The paper concludes with identifying a number of relevant developments that substantiate a favourable future outlook of media for learning.     

Learning practice and technology: extending the structurational Practice Lens to educational technology research

Scholars in the field of educational technology have been calling for robust use of social theory within learning technology research. In view of that, interest has been noted in applying Giddens’ structuration theory to the understanding of human interaction with technology in learning settings. However, only few such attempts have been published to date with recent reviews indicating the scarcity of structurational accounts from the educational technology field. Addressing this gap and advancing a critical use of the theory in the field, an attempt is made in this paper to lend coherency to structuration-based research into learning technology. Specifically, a critical consideration of the structurational Practice Lens is offered drawing from its application in a case study that explored technology-mediated learning practices in the institutional context of higher education. Conceptual and analytical aspects are addressed with a view to augment the framework, and to extend its relevance and applicability in educational technology research.     

A narrative review of Greek myths as interpretative metaphors in educational research and evaluation

This paper reviews a series of Greek myths put forward as cultural narratives that could be used as metaphors or interpretative similes for explanatory and evaluative purposes in educational research and evaluation. These myths have been used in educational research literature, and most of them were found by carrying out an exhaustive search of that literature. In particular, the paper discusses Procrustes, referring to the use of arbitrary evaluative standards; the myth of Mentor, the embodiment of the researcher as facilitator/improver for new, inexperienced researchers; Prometheus, or the archetype of the self-sacrificing researcher; Periphetes, representing the evaluator who is cruel through incompetence; Sisyphus, symbolising the researcher’s anxiousness to achieve his goals; and Ulysses, an archetype for qualitative research.These myths are still absolutely relevant today, after more than 20 centuries, and can be used as powerful explicative frameworks of phenomena in the field of educational research and evaluation. By using myths to interpret educational phenomena, one reconnects contemporary qualitative educational enquiry with its ancient predecessor forms of meaning making.     

我国教育决策研究述评

在西方,教育决策研究是企业决策研究和公共决策研究的重要分支,前者吸收了后两者的理论给养。近年来,我国教育决策研究日兴,其发展既是自身理论演进的必然,也是学校改革实践的呼唤。本文追溯了西方决策理论的来源,并对国内教育决策研究的主要观点进行了梳理与评述。     

Special‐education Research in Sweden 1956‐1996

The articles in this section cover special education, and education and professional expertise, which each represent one special research field within education, but cover research during the last few decades from only one of the Nordic countries. The special‐education article reviews research in Sweden, and from three periods, 1956‐1969, 1970‐1979, and 1980 and later. In selecting the studies referred to the author chose to concentrate on educational aspects within the research domain, rather than differentiated from more handicap‐research‐dominated studies. The author argues that the review cannot, therefore, be seen as a complete, rather it should be understood as a summary of some evident trends of during the periods covered. The extensive presentation ends with remarks on some of the most important theoretical and normative perspectives and aspects. The second article examines, from an educational viewpoint, the acquisition of professional expertise and it outlines emerging approaches to such research, particularly in Finland. The first part of the article briefly reviews how expertise has been conceptualized in recent research. The next section deals with the role of higher education in developing expertise from the constructivist perspective in research on learning, and the article that lines current challenges and alternatives for further educational research.     

PUBLICATION BIAS: THE ACHILLES' HEEL OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS?

ABSTRACT:  The term 'publication bias' usually refers to the tendency for a greater proportion of statistically significant positive results of experiments to be published and, conversely, a greater proportion of statistically significant negative or null results not to be published. It is widely accepted in the fields of healthcare and psychological research to be a major threat to the validity of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Some methodological work has previously been undertaken, by the author and others, in the field of educational research to investigate the extent of the problem. This paper describes the problem of publication bias with reference to its history in a number of fields, with special reference to the area of educational research. Informal methods for detecting publication bias in systematic reviews and meta-analyses of controlled trials are outlined and retrospective and prospective methods for dealing with the problem are suggested.     

Learning and Collective Knowledge Construction With Social Media: A Process-Oriented Perspective

Social media are increasingly being used for educational purposes. The first part of this article briefly reviews literature that reports on educational applications of social media tools. The second part discusses theories that may provide a basis for analyzing the processes that are relevant for individual learning and collective knowledge construction. We argue that a systems-theoretical constructivist approach is appropriate to examine the processes of educational social media use, namely, self-organization, the internalization of information, the externalization of knowledge, and the interplay of externalization and internalization providing the basis of a co-evolution of cognitive and social systems. In the third part we present research findings that illustrate and support this systems-theoretical framework. Concluding, we discuss the implications for educational design and for future research on learning and collective knowledge construction with social media.     

Revitalising Educational Research: lessons from the past and proposals for the future

The new government's policy on educational research is emerging in the light of recent reviews. This provides an opportunity to reflect on some of the lessons to be derived from the last half‐century's experience of the relations between social science research and public policy and professional practice. Implications for the future of educational research are considered in the light of this experience and the new government's approach     

Replacing Old Spatial Empires of the Mind

In this article we argue for the spatialization of research on educational transfer in the field of comparative education within a theoretical framework that focuses on networks, connections, and flows. We present what we call a "spatial empire of the mind," which is comprised of a set of taken-for-granted "truths" about space and place that have legitimized much research in the social sciences. We critique this spatial empire of the mind and present some of the core ideas associated with the spatial turn. The next part of the article reviews three possible ways that new spatial theorizing has been taken up in educational research. Here we make reference to existing educational studies that engage with new ways of rethinking space and place. The argument that we put forward is that the most promising approach, for research on educational transfer within the field of comparative education, is network spatiality. We argue that there is great value in rethinking space and place not simply as objects of study, but within a theoretical framework that focuses on networks, interconnections, and movements within and between them, as well as their productive capacity to produce and shape knowledge, identities, and human subjectivities.     

The Design and Conduct of Randomised Controlled Trials in Education: Lessons from health care

There are increasing calls within the educational research community to undertake more randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Whilst educational researchers turned away from using the RCT in the last 30 years, health care researchers have adopted the method with vigour. However, there have been many methodological innovations of the RCT, developed by health services researchers, in recent years. Many of these innovations are directly applicable to educational research. In this paper we describe some of the important aspects of trial methodology that educational researchers ought to consider when they design and undertake trials. Specifically, we describe the importance of systematic reviews, the need for a trial protocol, sample size requirements, outcome measures, concealment of the randomisation process from the investigators, intention to treat analysis, and the metric--numbers needed to teach (NNT). Addition ally, we argue that there are considerable similarities between health and education allowing the use of RCT methodological innovations to be directly utilised in educational research.