Unit rationale, description and aim
Developing and implementing effective teaching practices requires a strong understanding of the connection between teachers’ practices and students’ learning.
This unit focuses on the fundamental role of teachers to evaluate the effect of their teaching on students’ learning and achievement. These capabilities will support pre-service teachers towards longer term professional goals and efforts to actively participate in and eventually lead collegial conversations centred around evidence-based effectiveness in teaching and learning. The unit is embedded within the reality of everyday teaching, with all practical and assessment components undertaken within the employment-based setting in which pre-service teachers of this course operate. The participant will use a critical enquiry approach to further develop competencies in the alignment of curriculum, assessment, learning and teaching. Evidence-based practice in this unit will centre around the discipline area of the participant, but also give consideration to the national priority areas of literacy and numeracy across the curriculum.
The overall aim of this unit is to develop the critical knowledge and skills teachers require to measure their impact and connect this evidence to their practice.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Apply strategies for assessing, moderating, interp...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically analyse a variety of evidence, which re...
Learning Outcome 02
Design, implement and evaluate a critical, evidenc...
Learning Outcome 03
Demonstrate the ability to communicate the finding...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- The nature of educational research and major approaches and designs applied to research within teaching contexts.
- Principles of ethical data collection and analysis techniques commonly used in educational research.
- Preparing proposals; refining, contextualising and justifying a research problem and researchable questions.
- Strategies to record, interpret and analyse student assessment data in order to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice.
- Data and evidence; designing assessment practices for collecting, analysing and interpreting data to evaluate student learning outcomes.
- Designing and managing projects, including organising processes, timelines and data.
- Conducting practitioner research; implementing research methods and techniques commonly used in educational research.
- Identifying, developing, and utilising tools to track the developmental progression of students, such as developmental rubrics.
- Principles and practices of assessment moderation and its application to support consistent and comparable judgements of student learning.
- Synthesising and evaluating critical enquiry; evaluation of teaching and learning for forward-planning in relation to student learning and professional development.
- Conventions of professional academic writing and preparation of reports and presentations of findings.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment tasks and their weightings are designed so that the pre-service teachers can progressively achieve the Course Learning Outcomes and the Professional Standards and is consistent with university assessment requirements.
The assessment strategy deconstructs the complex work of practice-based, school-embedded enquiry into three critical components that cumulate and culminate in a final enquiry report that emphasises and reflects participant knowledge and expertise in research principles and methods applicable to the discipline of teaching. The staging of each task reflects the logical, sequential elements of teacher-led enquiry, beginning first with the development of a project proposal supported by school-based research and investigation of relevant literature, progressing into the implementation of their design, analysis of evidence, and progress, and ultimate completion and reporting of their results. As this course is employment-based and praxis-centred, the participant’s project will be undertaken within the context of one of their classes within their placement school and involve the actual implementation and evaluation of evidence-based teaching approaches.
Minimum Achievement Standards
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome. In order to pass this unit, pre-service teachers are required to demonstrate achievement of all learning outcomes by submitting all assessment tasks and obtaining a combined score of at least 50% and meet the requirements of the critical task Assessment Task 3, which is core to the demonstration of a number of Australian Professional Teacher Standards.
A Critical Task is synonymous with a Graded Hurdle Task as defined in Section 3 of the Assessment Policy. As such, failure to pass the Critical Task will mean you are not eligible for a supplementary assessment in this unit (in accordance with Section 1d of the Supplementary Assessment Policy). A student who is otherwise on track to pass the unit but has a result in the range of 45-49% for the Critical Task, may be offered a ‘revisit’ of the Critical Task by the Lecturer in Charge. The revisit is treated as an ungraded hurdle task (pass/fail). The revisit would be an opportunity for the student to address the feedback provided by the marker and make additions or minor alterations to their submission to bring it to a passing standard.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Classroom Impact Project Pro...
Assessment Task 1: Classroom Impact Project Proposal
Develop a proposal for a pedagogical enquiry designed to interrogate effective teaching and learning to meet the identified student strengths and needs for a selected class. Proposals must include a situational analysis of learners drawn from diagnostic data, an instrument for tracking the developmental progression of students within the learning area, and a theoretical connection between the suggested pedagogical focus and anticipated results, informed by research.
40%
Assessment Task 2: Classroom Impact Progress Repo...
Assessment Task 2: Classroom Impact Progress Report
Commence implementation of the project and present a progress report that includes critical reflection of evidence-based practice within selected teaching areas, and related evidence of learning of students.
20%
Assessment Task 3: Classroom Impact Project Prese...
Assessment Task 3: Classroom Impact Project Presentation
(Critical Task)
Finalise the implementation of the project, collect and analyse data and evidence to assess student learning and the effectiveness of the pedagogical approach being investigated, and prepare a presentation following conventions for reporting research, with accompanying presentation.
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This is a 10-credit point unit designed to ensure that approximately 150 hours of learning are completed to meet the requisite standard across the teaching period.
The implementation of this unit will focus on educational context in which the participant will be engaged in as part employment-based coursework and undertaking the diverse duties of a practising educator including: planning, teaching, assessment, reporting, differentiated engagement with students, department/year-level/school meetings, collaborative team planning sessions, supervision, moderation of learning, and other duties required within the particular education setting.
This unit involves an ongoing research and critical enquiry focus on evidence-based practice. The critical enquiry aims to inform the participant’s pedagogy, is aligned with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and adds value to their education context. The project provides evidence that the participant has developed adequate knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to the discipline of teaching, with the employment-based pathway ensuring this assessment evidence is delivered within an authentic, contextually relevant space.
The research project will be conducted in consultation with the participant’s school and university staff over the course of the project. The participant will engage in regular feedback discussions and proactive planning with mentors and other support staff, and engage regularly with peers within the supportive environment of a community of practice (COP). The unit will conclude with a final presentation on the critical enquiry research project.
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS - GRADUATE LEVEL
On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should be able to: