Research is integral to improving teaching and learning practices. By engaging in discipline-specific research, pursuing interdisciplinary work and investigating classroom practices through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), teachers can become more critical, reflective and innovative in their approaches. But time-poor academics do not always have the capacity to reinvent activities or entire courses, so conducting research in everyday teaching is a good place to start. Here are tips based on my experience.
Reflect regularly
Our teaching philosophy should not be static; it should evolve through our experiences. While we should always celebrate small successes, it is often the setbacks that serve as lessons, turning us into more proficient teachers. We can use these to reflect on our decisions and practices, asking simple yet powerful questions such as:
- Why did that lesson work, or not? How was it successful or unsuccessful?
- How can I present this concept more accessibly?
- What is my core belief about student participation?
Such questions can transform us into better learning designers. They also provide data we can use for research projects further down the line.
Start small and be specific
Effective classroom research begins with a manageable and focused enquiry. Narrow, rather than broad questions, make data collection feasible, allow us to measure impact more easily and prevent overwhelm. A good starting point is to focus on a common learning challenge or misconception. This paves the way for interventions that maximise learning.
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Build on what you are already doing
Many pedagogical and assessment practices can become potential data sources for work towards the SoTL. These include essays, group project outputs and even midterm exam performance. We can modify these with our line of enquiry in mind. For example, in a class requiring students to produce an end-of-semester essay, we can explore whether a scaffolded draft with peer and teacher input throughout the semester can improve students’ argumentative skills and, if so, how. We can use the same question to explore how to better support student learning in light of increased GenAI use. In doing this, we are transforming standard teaching tasks into investigative tools, making research work more sustainable alongside our teaching.
Document as you go
Whether a paper journal, a digital note or a voice memo log, a comprehensive record of and reflection on our processes can capture observations and raw ideas. These can include student comments, patterns in misunderstandings or instincts. They provide anecdotes, reveal patterns and prompt questions that formal data might miss. They often point towards our most significant research questions.
Seek out like-minded colleagues
Collaboration allows us to tap into each other’s strengths in a highly siloed university environment. By connecting with curious colleagues, whether in a formal research group, an interdisciplinary project, or over a coffee, we can create learning communities, with partners acting as sounding boards and offering constructive feedback and encouragement. This can turn what can feel like a private struggle into a shared and energising mission.
Let student voices guide you
Any good teaching also requires an understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions. We should collect feedback via brief, anonymous surveys before and after the course, conduct small focus group sessions or simply strike up conversations in casual settings, ensuring that we gain consent to use students’ insights.
Students are experts on their own learning, and their insights can direct us towards more meaningful research questions. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches can reveal hidden assumptions, gaps in foundational knowledge and creative approaches you never anticipated.
Engage with scholarship
You are not starting from zero. Spend time considering what is already known about the topic. A quick educational database search or an in-depth analysis of recently published empirical articles (especially systematic and scoping reviews) can reveal findings, research gaps and controversies. By engaging with existing scholarship, you can situate your enquiry within broader international scholarly conversations. Strategically speaking, this can also make your work more appealing to other readers, especially journal editors and reviewers.
Pedagogical research can transform teaching work from routine into discovery, inviting educators to question longstanding assumptions, experiment with innovative approaches and contribute meaningful insights that benefit not just students, but the broader academic community.
Adrian Man-Ho Lam is a course tutor in the department of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong.
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