Making use of educational research in higher education – academic teachers engaged in translational research

Abstract

Why do not academic teachers more frequently use results from education, psychology, cognitive sciences, and related fields while planning, carrying out, and evaluating teaching? It has been argued that if only they did, education would improve. It has further been argued that results from these fields are not communicated in ways suitable for teachers from other disciplines, and therefore there is a need for translation. If the results from these fields were translated, it has been proposed, their use would increase with positive effects on education. A question remains: who should do the translation? This study investigates whether early career academics in engineering and technology can find, translate, and make relevant use of research into education, psychology, and related fields within written reports. Results show they can. Therefore, it is argued, translation itself will not increase the use of this type of research. Other explanations for the problem are discussed.