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The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward?

Phil Newton Orcid Logo, Ana Sergio Da Silva Orcid Logo, Sam Berry

Frontiers in Education, Volume: 5

Swansea University Authors: Phil Newton Orcid Logo, Ana Sergio Da Silva Orcid Logo, Sam Berry

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DOI (Published version): 10.3389/feduc.2020.583157

Abstract

Arguments for and against the idea of evidence-based education have occupied the academic literature for decades. Those arguing in favor plead for greater rigor and clarity to determine “what works.” Those arguing against protest that education is a complex, social endeavor and that for epistemologi...

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Published in: Frontiers in Education
ISSN: 2504-284X
Published: Frontiers Media SA 2020
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa55950
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spelling 2021-01-05T12:58:08.3047842 v2 55950 2020-12-31 The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward? 6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8 0000-0002-5272-7979 Phil Newton Phil Newton true false de3fd9cf472af81153330806963ac7a9 0000-0001-7262-0215 Ana Sergio Da Silva Ana Sergio Da Silva true false 70c95ad08164e8debd128172edcb3e77 Sam Berry Sam Berry true false 2020-12-31 PMSC Arguments for and against the idea of evidence-based education have occupied the academic literature for decades. Those arguing in favor plead for greater rigor and clarity to determine “what works.” Those arguing against protest that education is a complex, social endeavor and that for epistemological, theoretical and political reasons it is not possible to state, with any useful degree of generalizable certainty, “what works.” While academics argue, policy and practice in Higher Education are beset with problems. Ineffective methods such as “Learning Styles” persist. Teaching quality and teacher performance are measured using subjective and potentially biased feedback. University educators have limited access to professional development, particularly for practical teaching skills. There is a huge volume of higher education research, but it is disconnected from educational practice. Change is needed. We propose a pragmatic model of Evidence-Based Higher Education, empowering educators and others to make judgements about the application of the most useful evidence, in a particular context, including pragmatic considerations of cost and other resources. Implications of the model include a need to emphasize pragmatic approaches to research in higher education, delivering results that are more obviously useful, and a pragmatic focus on practical teaching skills for the development of educators in Higher Education. Journal Article Frontiers in Education 5 Frontiers Media SA 2504-284X pragmatism, evidence based education, active learning, professional development, teacher training, learning styles, higher-education 23 12 2020 2020-12-23 10.3389/feduc.2020.583157 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.583157 COLLEGE NANME Medicine COLLEGE CODE PMSC Swansea University 2021-01-05T12:58:08.3047842 2020-12-31T12:19:22.3720370 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Swansea University Medical School - Medicine Phil Newton 0000-0002-5272-7979 1 Ana Sergio Da Silva 0000-0001-7262-0215 2 Sam Berry 3 55950__18966__5c875906a10941879663be2ddb9a1ce4.pdf 55950.VOR.pdf 2021-01-05T12:53:14.1352893 Output 639311 application/pdf Version of Record true Copyright © 2020 Newton, Da Silva and Berry. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward?
spellingShingle The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward?
Phil Newton
Ana Sergio Da Silva
Sam Berry
title_short The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward?
title_full The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward?
title_fullStr The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward?
title_full_unstemmed The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward?
title_sort The Case for Pragmatic Evidence-Based Higher Education: A Useful Way Forward?
author_id_str_mv 6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8
de3fd9cf472af81153330806963ac7a9
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author_id_fullname_str_mv 6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8_***_Phil Newton
de3fd9cf472af81153330806963ac7a9_***_Ana Sergio Da Silva
70c95ad08164e8debd128172edcb3e77_***_Sam Berry
author Phil Newton
Ana Sergio Da Silva
Sam Berry
author2 Phil Newton
Ana Sergio Da Silva
Sam Berry
format Journal article
container_title Frontiers in Education
container_volume 5
publishDate 2020
institution Swansea University
issn 2504-284X
doi_str_mv 10.3389/feduc.2020.583157
publisher Frontiers Media SA
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str Swansea University Medical School - Medicine{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Swansea University Medical School - Medicine
url http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.583157
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description Arguments for and against the idea of evidence-based education have occupied the academic literature for decades. Those arguing in favor plead for greater rigor and clarity to determine “what works.” Those arguing against protest that education is a complex, social endeavor and that for epistemological, theoretical and political reasons it is not possible to state, with any useful degree of generalizable certainty, “what works.” While academics argue, policy and practice in Higher Education are beset with problems. Ineffective methods such as “Learning Styles” persist. Teaching quality and teacher performance are measured using subjective and potentially biased feedback. University educators have limited access to professional development, particularly for practical teaching skills. There is a huge volume of higher education research, but it is disconnected from educational practice. Change is needed. We propose a pragmatic model of Evidence-Based Higher Education, empowering educators and others to make judgements about the application of the most useful evidence, in a particular context, including pragmatic considerations of cost and other resources. Implications of the model include a need to emphasize pragmatic approaches to research in higher education, delivering results that are more obviously useful, and a pragmatic focus on practical teaching skills for the development of educators in Higher Education.
published_date 2020-12-23T04:10:32Z
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