2.2: Research-Based Learner Strategies:
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Artifact
Synthesis of Research & Pedagogical Recommendations Reflection This document, created as a final demonstration of my learning in EDUC 8100: Advanced Study of Learning, presents one extensive column of research on learners' brain development and neuroplasticity, motivation and engagement theories, self-regulation purposes and techniques, feedback purpose and impact, and sociocognitive learning theories. Aligned with each bit of research is a pedagogical recommendation for using the relevant bit of research to improve student engagement and learning. I created the document throughout the course. The pedagogical recommendations column provides extensive evidence of my ability to integrate and support research-based and student-centered strategies. For example, promoted are the research-based strategies of analogy-creation, creation and defense of mnemonic devices, KWL charts, running chart notes, contextualizing lessons, and multisensory presentation. Also promoted are the student-centered strategies of individual setting and monitoring of short and long-term goals in order to improve motivation and self-efficacy, employing groupings that require individual contribution and demonstration of 'visible' and active--as opposed to inert--knowledge and skill development. Assessment tools to monitor that visible development of knowledge and skill are also presented in the document. The document encourages teachers to use goal-setting and monitoring as well as individualized and specific feedback in order to attend to the diverse needs of students. Meeting students where they are, then motivating them to value certain tasks and recognize professional and personal purpose in school activities, encourages individualized positive change in students and is this the crux of my column of pedagogical advice, the structure of which facilitates teacher access to and usage of the specific research-based strategies that are modeled through text-based directions. Completing this artifact made apparent to me that an immense quantity of research exists related to how our diverse population of students learn and grow and how most effectively to help them do so. It also made me realize that the sheer amount of research to which I alone am exposed in professional development can be overwhelming, and that even for students at the specialist level, using the research-based graphic organizer strategy is indeed best practice. An improvement upon what is provided in the artifact would be visualizations of research implementation and hyperlinks to examples and models. Because the artifact acts more as a laundry list of disparate but significant advice, impact could only be assessed in individual situations with individual pedagogical recommendations assessed in terms most relevant to their idiosyncrasies. For example, teachers who decide to have explicit discussions with students regarding the purposefulness and usefulness of developing skills would need to measure the motivation of students being party to the discussion as opposed to those who are not. Other pedagogical recommendations may more effectively be assessed by other means. The use of the graphic organizer strategy for research collection and idea generation could impact faculty development by providing an easy-to-follow research-based instruction model. |