Bridging the gap between research and practice: A DLAC research agenda

Citation

Barbour, M. K., Borup, J., DeBruler, K., Azukas, M. E., Beck, D., Hodges, C., Rice, M., Rose, R., Short, C., Siko, J., Adelstein, D., Archambault, L., Cuccolo, K., Deschaine, M., Elmendorf, D., Garrett Dikkers, A., Pratt, K., Wilson, E. V., & Woo, L. (2025). Bridging the gap between research and practice: A DLAC research agenda. DLAC – The Community Advancing Digital Learning. https://www.deelac.com/

Abstract

Those conducting empirical educational research in K-12 digital learning depend on practitioners to participate and help facilitate their research efforts. In turn, educational researchers can provide practitioners with helpful insights to inform and improve online practice, offering evidence-based strategies, frameworks, models, and instruments that can enhance teaching and learning outcomes. Research has found that teachers’ direct participation in research can help instill a sense of pride and renewed commitment to their profession (Leat et al., 2015). School leaders and teachers also value discussing and learning from educational research. However, they actually apply these practices far less frequently than their attitudes would suggest (Kallitsoglou & Mahmud, 2023; Procter, 2012, 2015). Instead, van Shaik et al. (2018) observed that “the expertise of teachers is mostly based on insights they have acquired in their own practice” and “knowledge from educational research hardly pays a role” (p. 50). This value-practice gap regarding academic research suggests that the issue is not school leaders and teachers dismissing research, but rather there are other constraints that limit their ability to act on what they value.

Authors

  • Adelstein, David
  • Archambault, Leanna M
  • Borup, Jered
  • Cuccolo, Kelly
  • Deborah Beck
  • DeBruler, Kristen
  • Deschaine, Mark
  • Dikkers, Amy Garrett
  • Doug Elmendorf
  • E. Vaughn Wilson
  • Hodges, Charles
  • Lauren Woo
  • Michael E. Azukas
  • Michael K. Barbour
  • Pratt, Keryn
  • Rice, Mary
  • Rose, Raymond M
  • Siko, Jason

Reference Type

Report

Keywords

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Assessment
  • K-12 online learning
  • Online teaching
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