Research
Guiding Research
Our strategy is in keeping with the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia Terms of Reference, which states the following responsibilities:
Commission, conduct and cooperate in research projects that are judged to be of value to Catholic Education and in particular to,
- Gather and maintain data essential for Commission purposes
- Disseminate appropriate data to diocese, religious institutes, parish communities, parent organisations and school communities
- Cooperate with other Catholic Education authorities and agencies in any new activities that emanate from research findings
- Provide Catholic school communities, parish communities and other relevant organisations with information and advice on sound educational theory, so as to promote quality in Catholic Education and keep all concerned in touch with the Commission’s programs.
- Consult with other organisations and collaborate in joint activities that are consistent with the Commission’s terms of reference and likely to be mutually beneficial.
Research enables LEADING Lights and CEWA to:
- provide opportunities for professional learning among staff who seek to grow in their skills related to data, analytics, and insights for action,
- closely understand our progress and opportunities for improvement along the way as LEADing Lights is implemented,
- share learning through scholarly channels and empower our community and partners with feedback that will lead to higher levels of student success.
The LEADing Lights research program is designed centrally to guide learning transformation while supporting platform enhancements and informing the education community beyond CEWA about how learning can be transformed in an education conversation platform. Our research is designed to showcase development in CEWA schools and classrooms as digital learning organizations; to support planning and professional learning; and contribute to understanding of learning supported by digital environments. LEADing Lights research includes measures and indicators that will periodically show us our progress, strengths, and areas for further development.
To understand and continually improve our success as a connected learning organization, data are available through globally validated measures to illuminate how teachers are growing uses of technology for meaningful learning based on the Technology Integration Matrix suite of tools. The core conceptual framework for the LEADing Lights research is meaningful learning (Jonassen) with technology, and the tools we have available to document how teachers and students are learning meaningfully is the Technology Integration Matrix (TIM), which supports the CEWA Teacher Practices.
Guiding Research
These key studies are what we’ve been reading lately.
What Forty Years of Research Says About the Impact of Technology on Learning: A Second-Order Meta-Analysis and Validation Study. 2011
Big Idea
Compared to classrooms not using technology, those using technology showed a significant positive effect size of 0.35.
Why it matters
“One of technology’s main strengths may lie in supporting students’ efforts to achieve rather than acting as a tool for delivering content.”
Effectiveness of Education Technology for Enhancing Reading Achievement: A Meta-Analysis. 2012
Big Idea
Education technology generally produced a positive, though small, effect (ES=+0.16) in comparison to traditional methods.
Why it matters
“Innovative technology applications and integrated literacy interventions with the support of extensive professional development showed more promising evidence.”
A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Computer Technology on School Students’ Mathematics Learning. 2010
Big Idea
Statistically significant positive effects of technology on mathematics achievement were documented.
Why it matters
Strongest effects were seen for elementary students, special need students and when combined with a constructivist approach.
Learning in One-to-One Laptop Environments: A Meta-Analysis and Research Synthesis. 2016
Big Idea
The research found significantly positive average effect sizes in English, writing, mathematics, and science.
Why it matters
“Laptop programs that include technical and curricular support and that focus on the particular needs of learners, such as by emphasizing writing skills, are likely to be more successful in bridging divides than programs that lack support and focus.”
The Effectiveness of Online and Blended Learning: A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature. 2013
Big Idea
On average, students in online learning conditions performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.
Why it matters
Effects of online learning were most significant for online learning experiences that were designed with collaborative pedagogies and when the course was designed specifically for online learning environments.
Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning. 2018
Big Idea
Research and development are advancing rapidly in e-learning, including online, blended, games-based, AR, VR and personalised learning.
Why it matters
The chapters here describe where we have been, what we currently know, and where we hope to go with research in multiple areas.
Our Research and Papers
This is what we have been learning from our work and thinking about.
Towards an Adaptive CEWA System
Applying the 2017 Grattan Institute report, “Toward an Adaptive Education System for Australia“, we describe how LEADing Lights aligns with the report’s recommendations.
Content Governance for Claned
Because Digital Content Governance is part of building a successful community, we define it for education and suggest guidelines based on global models.
LEADing Lights, Learning Management, and Digital Learning Environments
We highlight LEADing Lights in the context of Next Generation Digital Learning Environments (NGDLE), which combine a networked learning environment and an adaptive learning model enabled by advances in technology, machine learning, AI, and learning science.
Implementing New Technologies To Enhance Professional Learning
This paper synthesizes key research-based approaches to building educator capacity in ways that embed professional learning as part of rather than apart from practice by leveraging digital environments for collaborative learning. Topics include digital Communities of Practice, teacher inquiry, and applying analytics to improve learning.
Mobile Learning, Chapter 41 in Handbook of Research in K-12 Online and Blended Learning
This chapter synthesizes empirical research on mobile devices from 2010 to 2017 in K-12 schools by focusing on studies that demonstrate emerging themes in this area. It is clear that the pedagogy needed to be effective with mobile learning has to be student-centered with the aim of personalizing the learning experience including rethinking assessment of learning and design of learning spaces. Research found that students could become collaborators in designing their own learning process. As students become independent learners, they become more prepared in the skills needed for college and in their careers.
Motivation to Adopt A Teacher Digital Information System
This original research was done in partnership with a CEWA educator and WA university to identify motivation among pre-service teachers to adopt a new digital teaching management environment. Results indicate that a digital environment that is designed using human-centred inclusive design principles will elicit highest level of motivation to adopt.
Developing Pedagogy and Course Design Skills in Novice Virtual School Teachers
This original research was done in partnership with CEWA educators to examine a yearlong professional learning program designed to prepare a cohort of classroom teachers, who were novices to teaching online, for developing and teaching fully online courses. Results show that teachers grew in all standards their self-reported online teaching skills.
Want to write with us?
If you have an interest in research and would like to either publish or collaborate on some work related to LEADing Lights, let us know below!