Faculty of Education and Social Work

The University of Sydney

EDUF4044
Reading and Designing Research
Unit of Study Outline
Session 2, 2014
Last revised: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 18:07:43 +1000

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Copyright 2014, The University of Sydney

BEd Common (EDUF)

University of Sydney

Unit of Study Details

Credits: 6
Prerequisites: 120 credit points including EDUF2006 and EDUF2007
Preparation: Note: The assessments for this unit of study differ from those listed in the
Faculty Handbook. This unit of study outline serves as your notification of the changed
assessment schedule, which affects all students equally.

Teaching Staff Details

Unit of study coordinator: Dr. Helen Proctor
Room and building: 505 A35
Phone number: 9036 5401
Email: helen.proctor@sydney.edu.au
Arrangements for student consultation:
Dr Proctor is available for consultation. Appointments are best arranged beforehand by email.
Other staff:
Ms Christine Grice: cgri3099@uni.sydney.edu.au
Assoc Prof Deb Hayes: deb.hayes@sydney.edu.au
Ms Debra Talbot: dwil3952@uni.sydney.edu.au
Prof Anthony Welch: anthony.welch@sydney.edu.au

What is the unit about

Rationale
It is important for teachers to be able to respond in an informed way to new, researchinformed knowledge about classrooms, schools and schooling systems. Teachers at all levels
and in varied workplaces need to be able to efficiently and correctly interpret, analyse and
evaluate research from a range of sources, and assess its implications for their practice. It is
for this reason that we provide students enrolled in teacher preparation programs with the
opportunity to practise and develop the skills associated with making sense of and making use
of research, including research carried out by academics, by practitioners, by think tanks, and
by or at the behest of goverments.
This is the culminating unit of the Education 1-4 program, building on work previously done
in EDUF1018, EDUF1019, EDUF2006 and EDUF2007.
This unit of study will assist you to make links between research, policy, teaching and
learning. In order to do this, you will further develop your understanding of a range
of different research genres and approaches. You will become more familiar with the
relationship between research and practice so that you can locate, critically analyse and use
published material to investigate, understand and enrich your own practice and, in the near
future, exercise leadership in the encouragement of effective schooling more broadly.
A series of expert lectures in the production and use of educational research will be
complemented by workshops and assessments designed to encourage you to synthesise
different kinds and sources of research-based knowledge about students, teachers, schools,
classrooms and communities.

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Australian Teaching Standards

1. Know students and how they learn
Lectures, seminars, readings and assessment tasks in this unit provide research-informed
knowledge about about how students learn (1.2) and about the learning of students with
diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds (1.3).
6. Engage in professional learning
By developing useful skills in the location, analysis and application of different kinds of
research-informed knowledge, participants in this unit are encouraged to develop their
conceptualisation of teaching as a collective endeavour supported by professional colleagues
and researchers within and beyond the school and to become practitioners who will identify
and plan professional learning needs and employ the skills they have learnt to use professional
learning to improve their practice (6.2; 6.3; 6.4).

Desired outcomes
As a result of successfully completing this unit of study students should be able to:
1.
2.
3.

Understand the various sources, genres and kinds of useful educational research for
ongoing professional learning (6.1; 6.2; 6.4)
Understand the application of research to specific schooling contexts (1.2, 1.3).
Make sophisticated connections between theory, research and practice (1.2; 1.3; 6.1; 6.2,
6.4).

Topics
See weekly schedule in separate document.

Timetable and Teaching Mode

The Faculty of Education and Social Work requires attendance of at least 90 per cent of all
seminars, workshops or lectures. Where a student is unable to attend at the required rate
evidence of illness or misadventure may be required and the student may be required to
undertake extra work. Students should discuss the circumstances of their absence(s) with
the co-ordinator of the unit of study.
The unit is taught in weeks 1 to 7. There are two one-hour lectures, a two hour seminar, and
compulsory online posting weekly (equivalent to 7 additional face to face hours).

Schedule
Week

Content

Readings

See week- See UNIT OVERVIEW

ly schedule in
Blackboard

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Assessment
Assessment policies
All assessment in this Unit of Study occurs in conformity with the policies of the Faculty of
Education and Social Work as outlined on the Faculty web-site. Please refer to this on such
matters as:

Marking and grading

Questioning a mark
Submitting an assignment
Exams
Seeking an extension
Penalties for late submission of work
Plagiarism and academic honesty
Seeking special consideration
Seeking leave of absence
Student appeals process

All students enrolled in this Unit of Study are expected, without exception, to familiarise
themselves with these policies. They are available at the following web-site:
http://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/current_students/assistance_forms/policies.shtml
All assignments must be submitted with the Faculty cover-sheet attached and completed.
This is available from the Faculty of Education and Social Work web-site (http://
sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/current_students/assistance_forms/resources/
assignment_coversheet.pdf).
The University of Sydney has adopted severe but fair procedures for dealing with plagiarism.
It is imperative that students understand what constitutes plagiarism. The threat of being
accused of plagiarism is generally relieved by expert referencing of your assignments. If you
are not sure how to reference well, please refer to the publications of the Faculty mentioned
above, and in particular the following web-site:
http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2012/254&RendNum=0

Assessment tasks in this unit of study

Task

Weight

Weekly reflection on lectures

40

Reading and Designing Research

Word
count

Due
date

Outcomes

200-300 By 12pm 1
words Tuesdays
per week of following
week,
ie weeks
2-8; 3
"best"
due
Thurs 18

Australian
Teaching
Standards
1.2, 6.2, 6.4

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Task

University of Sydney

Weight

Word
count

Due
date

Outcomes

Australian
Teaching
Standards

September, 5pm
A tale of two schools: in-class presentation in
pairs

20

10-min
presentation

Pitching to a funding body

40

2500

Weeks 1, 2
3-4
Mon- 1, 2, 3
day, 22
September by
5pm

1.3, 6.1

1.2, 1.3, 6.1,

6.2, 6.4

1. Weekly reflection on lectures

Due date for completion: By 12pm Tuesdays of following week, ie weeks 2-8; 3 "best" due
Thurs 18 September, 5pm
Submission instructions:
Each reflection will be submitted as a journal entry via the Unit's elearning site. Look for the
the section on the site labelled Submit tasks here.
To avoid losing your work while working on the Unit's elearning site, you are advised to
regularly save your review as a draft or develop it in a word processing application, such as
Microsoft Word, before pasting it into your journal.
AT THE END OF WEEK 8, ie 5pm, Thurs 18 September, you will submit a hard copy
document of no more than 900 words collating THREE of your reflections for grading. You
can choose any three of them, and you may refine or rewrite before submisson if you like. An
assignment box will be available.
Detail:
Each week, you are expected to write a reflection (200-300 words) evaluating and
synthesising material presented in the Tuesday AND Thursday lectures, and making some
connections with your personal experiences and other, non-personal background knowledge
eg from other university study, scholarly reading, the mass media.
Your reflections must explicitly refer to material in BOTH lectures.
Each will include at least one or two references to your personal experiences and other, nonpersonal background knowledge eg from other university study, scholarly reading, the mass
media.
In total you will submit seven reflections, of which THREE will be graded (see below).
You will have until the start of the lecture in the following week to submit your reflection
online.
If you miss the lecture you should listen to its recording.
If you miss the submission time, you must still submit your reflection but late penalites will
apply.
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Each reflection will be submitted as a journal entry via the Unit's elearning site. Look for the
the section on the site labelled Submit tasks here.
To avoid losing your work while working on the Unit's elearning site, you are advised to
regularly save your review as a draft or develop it in a word processing application, such as
Microsoft Word, before pasting it into your journal.
BY THE BEGINNING OF WEEK 8, ie 10am, Mon 15 September, you will submit a
document of no more than 900 words collating THREE of your reflections for grading. You
can choose any three of them, and you may refine or rewrite before submisson if you like.
This task provides an opportunity for you to draw upon your own knowledge and experience
to reflect on research in education. You are not expected to summarise the content of
lectures. Instead, you are expected to make connections between your prior experiences and
knowledge, and the material presented in each lecture.
As this task requires you to engage in reflection, you are encouraged to express your opinion.
Hence, you should use the first-person pronoun in this task (i.e., "I").
Assessment criteria:
The grading criteria listed at the end of this unit outine related to Clarity of expression
(including accuracy, spelling, grammar, punctuation, use of language, expression of ideas)
is relevant to this task. However, you should pay particular attention to Communication &
presentation (written oral &/or visual).
Marking guide
PART A: 10 marks=each week's reflection submitted on time; each relflection must be
at least 200 words and be relevant and coherent.
5 marks will be deducted for each week not submitted (to a max of 10)
5 marks will be deducted for any reflection that is not relevant and coherent (to a maximum of
10).
Late penalties will apply on a pro rata basis as per the Blue Book.
PART B: Three chosen reflections will be graded as follows (10 possible marks for each
reflection; total possible = 30):

8.5-10: Makes new meaning of the content of lectures in terms of personal experiences
and other, non-personal background knowledge eg from other university study,
scholarly reading, the mass media. Explicit links to both lectures.

7.5-8 marks: Makes strong links between the content of lectures and, personal
experiences and other non-personal background knowledge. Clear links to material
from both lectures.
6.5-7 marks: Makes plausible links between the content of both lectures and, personal
experiences and other non-personal background knowledge.
5-6 marks: Makes some plausible links between the content of one or two lectures and,
personal experiences and other non-personal background knowledge.
1-4.5: Refers to lecture content of at least one lecture but no links to personal
experiences and background knowledge.

Additional notes:

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Each assessment task has to be passed to pass the unit overall.

2. A tale of two schools: in-class presentation in pairs

Due date for completion: Weeks 3-4
Submission instructions:
Pairs will be chosen in week 1 and so will schools, to make sure that everyone chooses a
different Australian school (can be anywhere in Australia).
And presentations will timetabled (for weeks 3 and 4).
Note that timing will be tight during the presentation weeks so there will be very ltitle leeway
once the timetable is set.
Detail:
Note 1: Assessment 2 forms part of the preparation for Assessment 3, so you should read the
instructions for assessment 3 in order to complete this task.
Note 2: 50% of the marks allocated to this assessment are allocated for "entertaining and
engaging presentation". This will be good practice in developing the teacher-skills of
audience management! The imagined audience for the task is an audience of potentially
very tired teachers at an after school professional development session during peak reporting
period.
The task
Each member of the pair will chose a different and preferably contrasting Australian school as
a virtual site for assessment 3 and use that school for Assessment 2 also.
The purpose of Assessment 2 is to identify and draw upon readily available information,
mainly the schools own website and the MySchool website to explain the context for the
address you are going to prepare for Assessment 3. Each pair will present for 10 minutes,
addressing the following questions:
1.
2.

3.

4.

What kind of school is this? Eg primary, secondary, Catholic, Islamic, public, selective,
high fee, inner city, coeducational etc.
What is known (or not known) about the young people enrolled at the school and their
families, using publicly available data? Eg ICSEA (socio-educational advantage),
school website.
What might be one or two priorities for innovation and research at the school and why?
(These must be mapped to the National Professional Standards for Teachers: DO NOT
forget to do this.)
Discuss the differences and similarities in answers to questions 1-3 between the schools
chosen for the assignment by each member of the pair.

Assessment criteria:
MARK ALLOCATION Two separate marks will be awarded.
COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT: A mark out of ten will be awarded for the
quality of the presentation as something that would ENGAGE the imagined audience of tired
teachers at the end of a school day, using the assessment criteria listed at the end of this unit
under Communication and presentation.

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INFORMATION QUALITY: A mark out of ten will be awarded for the quality of the
information presented, using the assessment criteria listed at the end of this unit under Data/
information gathering/processing/data analysis/evaluating as well as the following:
USE of EVIDENCE
HD & D: Explicit reference to the source/s of evidence for all factual claims will be
integrerated into the presentation.
CREDIT: It will be apparent that most or all factual claims are based on legitimate evidence.
PASS: The information will be relevant and accurate but it may not be clear where it comes
from.
FAIL: Hard to assess the accuracy of factual claims because of lack of clarity about sources
and/or the use of dubious sources.
Note: In order to pass this assessment ALL questions must be answered.
Additional notes:
All assessment tasks must be passed in order to pass the unit.

3. Pitching to a funding body

Due date for completion: Monday, 22 September by 5pm
Submission instructions:
Assignments will be submitted in hard copy to an assignment box.
Detail:
This assessment requires you to imagine yourself as the leading teacher in charge of a
particular year group: a year coordinator or the equivalent (any year from K-12), at the school
that you described for assessment 2. You are required to imagine that you have decided to
apply for a research and development grant from a philanthropic organisation (let's call it the
Millicent Lee Poulos Foundation) to target a particular area for development.There is money
up for grabs and if you can make a good enough pitch in 2000 words or less you have won it
for your own school.
As an energetic new school leader you have a good idea about what you would like to do but
you need to make a coherent and research-informed case.
Part of the work of this assignment is making the decision about what to do. You may not
recycle work from other units but you are encouraged to draw on work from other units,
especially EDUF1018, EDUF1019, EDUF2006 and EDUF2007.
Time will be allocated in seminars to discuss possibilties.
This is an individual assignment but we strongly encourage you to work with your peers in
this unit to develop ideas and share resources.
Listed below are the questions you have to answer in your grant application. Each question
must be answered under a separate heading. the whole pitch should be 2000 words but it is
up to your profesional judgement how many words you allocate to each question and whether
and how you use tables and point form in parts of it.
Note that you will need to support your application with well-chosen references to appropriate
sources of research and other information. Part of the purpose of the project is to develop your
capacity to critically evaluate resaerch and to synthesise research and practice.
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The questions
1. CONTEXT: Briefly explain the nature and context of the school (in your own words: do
not just copy and paste from the website etc).
2. THE PROJECT: Briefly describe the research and development project you would like to
carry out. (You may adapt or draw on a program that you know about that is already operating
successfully at another school.) Map the project onto one or more of the National Professional
Standards for Teachers.
3. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS: Briefly explain why the project would be worthwhile and
why your school (because of the kind of school it is) needs or wants it.
4. EVALUATION: Briefly explain how you would evaluate the project, ie what kinds of
data might you need collect and analyse? How will you know if the project is a success? You
should think about how you might monitor its success as you go rather than only at the end.
Assessment criteria:
This assessment will be graded using the following criteria, listed at the end of this Unit of
Study,

Organisation & conceptualization of assessment task

Clarity of expression (including accuracy, spelling, grammar, punctuation, use of
language, expression of ideas)
Critical appraisal of the literature
Referencing
Synthesis of theory, research and practice.

Additional notes:
The assessments for this unit of study differ from those listed in the Faculty Handbook. This
unit of study outline serves as your notification of the changed assessment schedule, which
affects all students equally.
All assessment tasks in this unit must be passed in order to pass the unit.

Grading criteria
HD
Organisation &
conceptualization
of assessment task

Clarity of expression (including accuracy, spelling,

grammar, punctuation, use of language, expression
of ideas)

Consistently strong
and ongoing demonstration and evidence
of superior organisational and conceptual skills. The work is
extremely well conceived, coherent, logical, original and lucid
as well as professionally prepared
Superior clarity in presentation and expression with attention to
detail in all aspects evident

Dist

Cr

Pass

FAIL

Consistently strong
and ongoing demonstration of very good
organisational and
conceptual skills.
The work is well conceived, coherent, logical and lucid as well
as professionally prepared

Strong organizational & conceptual skills

and evidence that the
task is logical and coherent and professionally prepared

Demonstrates task organization and conceptual understanding in a style which is

mostly logical, coherent and flowing

Attempts are made to

demonstrate a logical & coherent understanding of the assessment task but some aspects may be confused
or undeveloped

Fluent and succinct

communication style
appropriate to the assessment task. Grammar, spelling, use of
language and punctuation is appropriate and accurate. Reflects Facultys style

Communication is
mainly clear, fluent
and appropriate to
document. Grammar,
spelling, use of language and punctuation is accurate. Reflects Facultys style
guide (refer little blue
book)

Communication is appropriate to the assessment task and is mostly fluent and clear.
Grammar, spelling,
use of language and
punctuation mostly accurate. Reflects
Facultys style guide

Meaning apparent but

not always fluently or
clearly communicated. Grammar, spelling,
language and/or punctuation may display
minor errors. Some
evidence of applying
facultys style guide

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HD
Communication &
presentation (written &/or oral &/or
visual)

Persuasively articulates argument displaying clear focus

& academic rigour.
Respectful of diverse
backgrounds & experiences

Critical appraisal of Scholarly critique of

the literature
a diverse array of literature. Generates, develops, uses and justifies own ideas or original concepts based on
a wide range of relevant sources.
Referencing
Uses recommended
referencing style consistently and accurately in text of work and
reference list. Effective use of relevant
quotations and scholarly referencing at all
times
Synthesis of theory, Critical assessment
research and prac- and analysis of the retice
lationship between
theory, research and
practice. Possible insightful and/or original deployments of
theory or theoretical
concepts. Implications
for personal and professional practice are
carefully considered
and explored. Work
potentially worth dissemination and/or
postgraduate study
Methodology &
Clearly justifies the
Design
selection of appropriate methodology based
upon a deep understanding of research
processses. Displays
highly critical & reflective understanding
of research design informed by theory
Data/information
Selects & processgathering/process- es data appropriateing/data analyly with confidence &
sis/evaluating
imagination. Accurate, reliable systematic collection and processing of data. Appropriate application
of suitable methods of
analysis

University of Sydney

Dist

Pass

FAIL

(refer little blue

book)
Communicates competently in a variety
of formats appropriate
to the discipline and
report procedures in
a structured manner
using relevant information. Evidence of
sensitivity to diverse
backgrounds & experiences

Communication is unstructured and unfocused and/or in a format inappropriate to

the discipline. Not all
material is relevant
and/or is difficult to
understand. May be
evidence of insensitivity to diverse backgrounds & experiences

Substantial critical appraisal of the relevant

literature to develop
own ideas.

Evidence of critical
appraisal of literature,
with a recognition of
different perspectives

Literature is presented uncritically and in

a purely descriptive
way.

Uses recommended
referencing style consistently and accurately in text of work and
reference list. Effective use of relevant
quotations and scholarly referencing at all
times
Insightful critique or
consideration of relationship between theory, research and practice. Personal / professional implications for
practice considered

Uses recommended
referencing style consistently and accurately in text of work and
reference list. Effective use of relevant
quotations

Uses recommended
referencing style with
minimal errors. Effective use of relevant
quotations

Many errors or no use

of conventions in referencing. Fails to meet
Universitys academic
honesty policy.

Critical or evaluative
discussion/thinking
about links between
theory, research and
practice

Beginning to develop
critical reflection and
analysis of practice
through theory and research. Relevant concepts etc applied in a
generally appropriate
and thoughtful way

Very little or no consideration of the relationships between theory, research and practice.

Selects the most appropriate methodology. Displays critical

understanding of research design & analysis of methods.

Selects an appropriate methodology. Displays some critical

understanding of research design & analysis of methods

Attention is given
to the selection of a
methodology & the
method chosen is appropriate to the task
but limited critique of
research design.

Issue of research design & methodology

not addressed and/or
inappropriate methodology used and/or little
planning used to complete the task

Selects & processes data appropriately with confidence &

imagination. Accurate,
reliable systematic
collection and processing of data. Appropriate application of theory in the analysis.

Selects appropriate data & processes using

relevant tools Some
application of theory
to analysis

Makes a reasonable
selection from data
& applies processing
tools

Random information
gathering. Inappropriate use of processing
tools

guide (refer little blue

book)
Communicates effectively using a variety
of relevant, imaginative, fluent and professional presentation
styles and communication methods. Evidence of deep reflection on the presentation. Respectful of diverse backgrounds &
experiences
Scholarly critique of
the literature using
a variety of relevant
sources to develop
own ideas.

Reading and Designing Research

Cr
Uses a variety of discipline-appropriate formats to communicate
confidently & effectively. Evidence of reflection on the presentation. Demonstrates
sensitivity to diverse
backgrounds & experiences

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Student evaluation
We welcome feedback on this Unit of Study. Please take the time to offer constructive
written feedback at the end of the semester. The teaching team is committed to the
participation of learners in the process of planning and evaluation of courses.

References and readings

See reading and reference lists on Blackboard

Reading and Designing Research

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