Preparing Practitioners to Conduct Educational Research and Evaluation: What the Research Says and What Our Experiences Taught Us

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to share the insights gleaned from the literature and our on-the-ground realities teaching practitioners to conduct educational research and evaluation. We focus on four areas we have found most important for teaching practitioner-scholars: (a) giving careful attention to andragogy versus pedagogy, (b) engaging the potency that team teaching affords, (c) addressing challenges associated with the practitioner-scholar model, and (d) building on the strengths of the cohort model. We share the challenges and possibilities of each strategy and close by offering recommendations for the educational leadership field in moving forward.

Keywords

leadership preparation programs andragogy pedagogy cohort model team teaching doctoral programs scholar-practitioner practitioner-scholar

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Amrein-Beardsley

Zambo

Moore

D. W.

Buss

R. R.

Perry

N. J.

Painter

S. R.

Puckett

K. S.

(2012). Graduates respond to an innovative educational doctorate program. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 7, 98-122.

Auerbach

(2011). “It’s not just going to collect dust on a shelf”: Faculty perceptions of the applied dissertation in the new California State University (CSU) Ed.D. programs: Leadership education from within a feminist ethos. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 6, 59-82.

Bailey

(2014). Scholar-practitioner leadership: A conceptual foundation. International Journal of Progressive Education, 10(3), 47-59.

Barnett

B. G.

Basom

M. R.

Yerkes

D. M.

Norris

C. J.

(2000). Cohorts in educational leadership programs: Benefits, difficulties, and the potential for developing school leaders. Educational Administration Quarterly, 36, 255-282.

Barnett

B. G.

Muth

(2008). Using action-research strategies and cohort structures to ensure research competence for practitioner-scholar leaders. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 3(1), 1-42.

Bates

S. P.

(1997). Whatever happened to organizational anthropology? A review of the field of organizational ethnography and anthropological studies. Human Relations 50(9),1147-1175.

Bista

Cox

D. W.

(2014). Cohort-based doctoral programs: What we have learned over the last 18 years. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 9, 91-20.

Black

W. R.

Murtadha

(2007). Toward a signature pedagogy in educational leadership preparation and program assessment. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 2(1), 1-29.

Bowers

A. J.

Murakami-Ramalho

(2010). The research journal club: Pedagogy of research in the preparation of students in educational leadership. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 5, 335-356.

10.

Brown

K. M.

(2004). Leadership for social justice and equity: Weaving a transformative framework and pedagogy. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40, 77-108.

11.

Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching. (1998). Team teaching. Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR. Retrieved from http://teaching.polyu.edu.hk/datafiles/R27.html

12.

Crotty

(1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

13.

Danielson

L. M.

(2009, February). Fostering reflection. Educational Leadership, 66(5). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb09/vol66/num05/Fostering-Reflection.aspx

14.

Dean

K. L.

Fornaciari

C. J.

(2014). The 21st-century syllabus: Tips for putting andragogy into practice. Journal of Management Education, 38, 724-732.

15.

Eisen

M. J.

Tisdell

E. J.

(2003-2004). Team teaching: The learning side of the teaching-learning equation. Essays on Teaching Excellence Toward the Best in the Academy, 14(7). Available from www.podnetwork.org

16.

Emerson

R. M.

Fretz

R. I.

Shaw

L. L.

(1995). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

17.

Ferraro

J. M.

(2000). Reflective practice and professional development (ERIC Identifier: ED449120). Washington, DC: Education Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Teacher Education. Retrieved from http://www.vtaide.com/png/ERIC/Reflective-Practice.htm

18.

Fornaciari

C. J.

Dean

K. L.

(2014). The 21st-century syllabus: From pedagogy to andragogy. Journal of Management Education, 38, 701-723.

19.

Forrest

S. P.

Peterson

T. O.

(2006). It’s called andragogy. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5, 113-122.

20.

Guba

E. G.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(1998). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In Denzin

N. K.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(Eds.), The landscape of qualitative research (pp. 195-220). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

21.

Hanusch

Obijiofor

Volcic

(2009). Theoretical and practical issues in team-teaching a large undergraduate class. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21, 66-74.

22.

Hebert

T. R.

(2010). The scholar-practitioner concept and its implications for self-renewal: A doctoral student’s perspective. Scholar-Practitioner Quarterly, 4(1), 33-41.

23.

Leigh

Bailey

(2013). Reflection, reflective practice and embodied reflective practice. Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy: An International Journal for Theory, Research and Practice, 8, 160-171. doi:10.1080/17432979.2013.797498

24.

Merriem

S. B.

(2001). Andragogy and self-directed learning: Pillars of adult learning theory. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 89, 3-13.

25.

Mertens

D. M.

Wilson

A. T.

(2012). Program evaluation theory and practice: A comprehensive guide. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

26.

Patton

M. Q.

(2002). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (3rd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.

27.

Pemberton

Akkary

(2010). A cohort, is a cohort, is a cohort . . . Or is it? Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 5, 179-208.

28.

Pollio

D. E.

Macgowan

M. J.

(2010). The andragogy of evidence-based group work: An integrated educational model. Social Work With Groups, 33, 195-209.

29.

Salipante

Aram

J. D.

(2003). Managers as knowledge generators: The nature of practitioner-scholar research in the nonprofit sector. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 14, 129-150.

30.

Seed

A. H.

(2008). Cohort building through experiential learning. Journal of Experiential Education, 31, 209-224.

31.

Smith

(2012, October 30). Reflective practice in higher education instruction. The EvoLLLution. Retrieved from http://evolllution.com/opinions/reflective-practice-in-higher-education-instruction/

32.

Stanford University. (2007, Fall). Team teaching: Benefits & challenges. Speaking of Teaching Newsletter, 17(1). Retrieved from http://web.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/Newsletter/fac_ta_teams.pdf

33.

Virginia Commonwealth University (n.d.). Ed.D. In leadership program sequence. Retrieved from http://www.soe.vcu.edu/files/2015/10/NEW_EdD_Program-Sequence_2014forward.pdf

34.

Vanderbilt. (n.d.). Team/collaborative teaching. The Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. Retrieved from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/teamcollaborative-teaching/

35.

Walker

D. W.

Haley-Mize

(2012). Content analysis of PhD and EdD dissertations in special education. Teacher Education and Special Education, 35, 202-211. doi:10.1177/0888406411431168

36.

Whitby

(2015, April 13). The importance of andragogy in education. My Island View: Educational, Disconnected Utterance (blog). Retrieved from https://tomwhitby.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/the-importance-of-andragogy-in-education/

37.

Wolcott

H. F.

(2008). Ethnography: A way of seeing (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Altamira Press.