It’s a Two-Way Street: From the Computing Classroom to Computing Education Research

Abstract

There is much discussion in computing education about turning research into practice because research-informed teaching could (or should) be more effective. However, it is often noted that there is a disconnect between practice and research. A lot of research rarely informs classroom practice, and often classroom practice is not informed by research. Nonetheless, for research to inform practice we need research. Where does this research come from? How does it become research? In addition to being informed by research, classroom practice can be one source of research, and the classroom itself can be the laboratory. The result is a two-way street between practice and research. While some research - for instance the presentation of some theories, literature reviews, and research not directly involving students - may not originate in the classroom, much research does originate in, or takes place in, the classroom. This talk describes several routes from the classroom to research. It will cover topics such as scoping classroom-based research studies, ethical review, approaches and methods, data collection and analysis, the role of curriculum, research presentation and paper types, venue choice, the submission and review process, publication, and post-publication considerations. The goals are to help those that are less familiar with computing education research to conduct research in their classrooms and additionally to help those in the classroom use research in their practice.