Initiatives in Collaborative Action Research in Education (iCARE)
The Initiatives in Collaborative Action Research in Education (iCARE) aims to nurture a culture of research in educational issues at TP. It encourages staff to be critically reflective by engaging in action research. In addition, it provides opportunities for TP staff from various Schools and Departments to discuss and reflect upon contemporary issues in higher education.
The goals are to:
- Cultivate an educational research culture in TP.
- Promote sound educational research methodology.
- Disseminate useful and important information on educational research developments in Singapore and other countries.
- Provide assistance to staff conducting, writing and publishing educational research.
- Provide sound educational research knowledge to underpin the various educational issues studied by various poly-wide taskforces and committees.
Four research projects are currently underway at TP with TP’s two external consultants, Professor David Boud of University of Technology, Sydney and Professor Diana Laurillard of Institute of Education, University of London. The projects are:
- Student perceptions on design for e-learning personalisation by School of Informatics & IT
- Formative assessment practices in an Engineering classroom - An investigative study by School of Engineering
- Examining formative assessment practices in a problem-based learning subject at School of Applied Science
- Developing student self-assessment capabilities at Temasek Polytechnic by the Learning Academy
LA staff publications and conference presentations
LA staff regularly share their research through conference presentations and publications. The research projects focus on different areas related to pedagogy which include collaboration, dialogue, peer teaching, self-directed learning, facilitation, constructivism, holistic education and formative assessment.
Learning-teaching strategies such as e-learning and Problem-based Learning have also been the focus of many of these research projects. As the research sites are located within TP, practices and initiatives at TP for initial teacher education such as the mentoring scheme and its Problem-based Learning Foundation Programme also form part of the context.
Master of Education theses
As part of our effort to enhance staff capability, TP has collaborated with the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, for the Master of Education programme for selected TP staff.
The thesis topics submitted by TP staff who have completed the Master of Education programme include: Problem-based Learning, student induction initiatives, analysing discourse, the values of Internet-based learning environment, the use of e-learning to learn computer programming, traits and attitudes of digital natives, peer learning and teaching, block teaching and staff perceptions of professional development.
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