Research–practice interactions as reported in recent design studies: still promising, still hazy

Abstract

This study portrays recent research-practice connections found in 18 design research reports focusing on the creation of instructional solutions. Solutions in different stages of development varied greatly in duration, ranging from one lesson to a whole year curriculum, spanned all levels of education, many subjects (science, math, language, culture, teacher education, etc.). Close collaboration between researchers and practitioners was prominent in all of the 18 projects studied. Participants in primary and secondary education projects have quite distinct roles regarding the teaching and researching, but they design their instruction solutions often collaboratively. Nearly all projects reported on how designed solutions were anchored in research, either from literature or from in-house project data. All articles indicated that research fed (re-)design, but few specified how. Based on our findings, we call for increased research and reporting on the specific strategies employed by design research participants to facilitate the production of new theoretical understanding through design of instructional solutions.Keywords Design research Á Research practice gap Á Research and development All may be contacted through the University of Twente.

Collaborative design as a form of professional development

“…Design-based research is a genre of research in which the iterative development of solutions to practical and complex educational problems also provides a context for empirical investigation (McKenney and Reeves 2012). Design-based research takes place in real-world (as opposed to laboratory) settings, features collaboration between practitioners and researchers, give a voice to practitioners in the research team and engages them in the co-creation of new knowledge, which is a powerful process for promoting the uptake and use of new insights (Ormel et al 2012). Both design-based (intervention) research and formative interventions emphasize the agency of collaborators in research (e.g.…”

Closing the feedback loop: a productive interplay between practice-based research and school development through cross-professional collaboration in secondary education

“…School leaders and teachers were particularly encouraged to take decisions informed by research performed in the projects in which practice-based research was finely attuned to school practice and in which they shared expectations and made agreements on project goals (Walter et al 2005, Earl and Katz 2006, Oancea and Furlong 2007, Trachtman 2007. Our study also provides insights into how future cross-professional collaboration can be shaped, for instance on the issues of providing feedback, arranging meetings and sharing purposes of research (McLaughlin and Black-Hawkins 2004, Nutley et al 2008, Ormel et al 2012.…”

“…Mode II encourages the emergence of communities of learning in which researchers and practitioners collaborate to create and use new knowledge. The knowledge transfer between both fields is thereby stimulated (Rynes et al 2001, Nutley et al 2008, Ormel et al 2012.…”

“…School practitioners participate in R&D projects in their school because they want to diagnose, understand and/or solve practical problems in their school, to use research to evaluate an innovation and to share their practice-oriented knowledge and insights with colleagues inside and outside their schools. Researchers have a need to understand practice, deepen their insights and create new knowledge by being involved in (innovative) practice, and connect situated knowledge, school data and research results to knowledge derived from literature (Coburn and Stein 2010, Ormel et al 2012, McKenney and Reeves 2013.…”

“…Recently, several authors (for example, Penuel et al 2011, Ormel et al 2012, Bronkhorst et al 2013, Levin 2013 have made a plea for researchers and practitioners to collaboratively improve educational practice. Such collaboration is supposed to enhance the interplay between practice-based research and school development.…”