Undergraduate - UnitEDF4100 - Researching teaching and learning

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Education
Offered	Not offered in 2015

Synopsis

This unit builds the capacity of students for researching teaching and learning and/or complex problems in particular educational contexts. Students explore principles, approaches and methods for conducting and applying educational research, and they explore their understanding of their emerging identity as educational researchers. They investigate issues such as what 'counts' as research, where research can occur, what is to be researched, how research can be undertaken, why research is important and what constitutes a research community. They learn how to generate and use data ethically to inform their educational work and develop an evidence base for this work.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit students should be able to:

understand the purposes, principles and approaches in educational research
articulate their understanding of their emerging identity as a researcher
explore and explain varied approaches to research that address complex problems
demonstrate an awareness of ethical and pragmatic issues associated with undertaking research in a range of educational settings
appreciate the importance of educational inquiry for improving professional practice and/or knowledge in their field
develop and write a research proposal.

Assessment

Research narrative (2000 words, 50%)
Research proposal (2000 words, 50%)

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload equals 144 hours per semester comprising:

(a.) Contact hours for on-campus students:

24 contact hours per semester to include:
1-hour lectures in the early teaching weeks of semester
3-hour workshops in the week after professional experience
3 hours of peer support in the development of research proposals

(b.) Requirements for offshore Kaplan based students:

one intensive block comprising two week nights and weekend days, normally from Thursday to Sunday
at least four hours of online study per term

(c.) Additional requirements for all students:

independent study to make up the required minimum hours during the semester

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Early years education
Early years and primary education
Primary education
Primary and secondary education
Primary and secondary special education
Primary and secondary health and physical education
Secondary education
Secondary health and physical education