EDED20496 - Teacher as Researcher: Improving Educational Outcomes

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit delves into contemporary research in education, emphasizing the use of critical reflection and action research to enhance teaching practices in one of your approved discipline teaching areas (Secondary) or in the English specialization (Primary and Early Childhood). You will engage with relevant literature and use generative AI tools to identify and synthesize current research developing insights into core educational content. These insights will inform your teaching practice, and you will be required to critically reflect on their impact. Additionally, you will design and pitch a research proposal focused on improving student learning outcomes in your discipline teaching area or English specialization within a school context. This process will build your research and presentation skills, while also requiring you to explore ethical considerations in data collection, analysis and interpretation. You will learn how to professionally share your research with colleagues, parents, carers and students, contributing to the broader educative process.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Co-requisite EDFE20037 Professional Praxis 4: Transition to Teaching

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2025

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 50%
2. Presentation and Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 45.83% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 31.58% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Provide exemplars of qualitative and quantitative studies.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will add exemplars.
Action Taken
Exemplars and worked samples were used in the weekly Zoom teaching sessions and provided to students to access asynchronously via Moodle.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Focus the unit on Qualitative or Quantitative methods opposed to letting student choose.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will focus on one methodology.
Action Taken
The action research cycle was the one methodological approach focused on in the unit.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Importance of critical reflection
Recommendation
Provide more opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection on teaching practice.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Overall unit improvement
Recommendation
Refresh unit content and assessment.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Justify a focus for research inquiry for the purposes of enhancing professional knowledge and improving student learning and educational outcomes in an area of teaching specialisation
  2. Plan a research proposal that requires the purposeful and ethical collection of student data
  3. Identify and apply relevant legislative, administrative and organisation policy and processes in an ethical manner
  4. Identify implications for teaching practice based on research findings
  5. Make informed recommendations for a range of audiences including colleagues, students and parents and carers on pedagogical practice for improved student learning in an area of teaching specialisation.

Successful completion of this unit provides opportunities for students to demonstrate the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers focus areas of:

1.2 Understand how students learn

2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area

3.6 Evaluate and improve teaching programs

3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process

6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice

6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning

7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities

7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements

7.3 Engage with the parents/carers

7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Knowledge • •
2 - Communication • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • •
4 - Research • • • •
5 - Self-management •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8