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argue that postsecondary education lacks an empirical research base for instruction?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It points to barriers that prevent large-scale experiments and to gaps in standardized measures of learning and durable skills, along with restrictions on using student data for research.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What challenges limit the effectiveness of education research in postsecondary settings?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The text highlights the rarity and limited generalizability of large randomized controlled trials, the lack of standardized domain knowledge assessments, and reliance on biased student evaluations for teaching quality.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does the paper describe the role of technology in improving education research and practice?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Technology is presented as enabling breakthroughs by capturing learning data and behaviors, but its potential is constrained by 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\nJanuary 2026  \nTable of Contents  \nIntroduction 3  \nChallenges to Postsecondary Education Research and Why It Matters 4  \nVision for Postsecondary Education R&D Infrastructure 7  \nHow SEERNet Is Addressing These Needs 9  \nWhere Do We Go From Here? 12  \nReferences 14  \nAppendix A 17  \nDigital Promise How R&D Infrastructure for Postsecondary Education Could Unlock New Advances | 2  \nIntroduction  \n“. . . we do not, in our colleges today, make use of any learning principles in a considered, systematic, professional way. We do not design the college as a learning environment . . . . We are a community of scholars, of amateur teachers.”  \n—Nobel Laureate Herb Simon (1967)  \nArguably as much today as when Simon wrote these words almost 60 years ago, postsecondary education lacks an empirical research base informing instructional practice (Kezar & Gehrke, 2020) . The field is not lacking in general principles (e. g., active learning is better than lecture-based instruction, formative feedback is beneficial) but lacks the combination of knowledge and institutional commitment needed to base instruction for specific students with particular learning goals on a foundation of data rather than supposition. These shortcomings stem from systemic barriers to research–faculty autonomy that impedes large-scale experiments; lack of standardized measures of academic skills and knowledge and “durable” skills such as communication, teamwork, and initiative; and restrictions on use of student data for research purposes.  \nWidespread use of digital learning platforms has opened an opportunity to gain new insights into student learning and behaviors, but this potential has been hamstrung by proprietary control and concerns about student privacy and privatization of student data by large commercial providers.  \nThis paper reviews some of the salient challenges to education research in postsecondary education settings, articulates a vision of what would be possible if those challenges were overcome, and highlights ways that projects supported by SEERNet and other research networks could help. Finally, we make recommendations for the field.  \nChallenges to Postsecondary Education Research and Why It Matters  \nLaboratory experiments make it possible to test the impact of a single variable at a time, but in any real education setting there are many variables, most of which are beyond the researcher’s control (e. g., learner characteristics, teacher characteristics) . Random assignment to one condition or the other is the best known way to disentangle the effects of the many different variables at play. And given the number of different variables in education settings, we need large samples of learners and teachers to uncover generalizable principles for instruction. But large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are rare in postsecondary education because instructors and institutions seldom agree to be assigned to conditions (even less so than K-12 teachers and schools) . Many of the higher education RCTs that have been conducted are small in scale and conducted in a single setting, providing limited external generalizability and often lacking the statistical power needed to gain insights into how interventions affect different student subgroups.1 Moreover, studies of learning in individual courses do not provide information about how instructional practices or experiences in one course influence subsequent progress through a course sequence.  \nResearch on “what works” in postsecondary teaching and learning is further hampered by the lack of standardized measures of domain knowledge (with a few notable exceptions such as chemistry and elementary physics) . Unlike the K-12 system where there are district-and statewide mandated assessments, faculty typically have autonomy in determining how they assess student performance. Further, while employers frequent","cbCaiojLDyl0K3pQ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiojLDyl0K3pQ","pdf",251747,18,"English","# Introduction\n# Challenges to Postsecondary Education Research and Why It Matters\n# Vision for Postsecondary Education R&D Infrastructure\n# How SEERNet Is Addressing These Needs\n# Where Do We Go From Here?\n# References\n# Appendix A","[{\"question\":\"Why does the paper argue that postsecondary education lacks an empirical research base for instruction?\",\"answer\":\"It points to barriers that prevent large-scale experiments and to gaps in standardized measures of learning and durable skills, along with restrictions on using student data for research.\"},{\"question\":\"What challenges limit the effectiveness of education research in postsecondary settings?\",\"answer\":\"The text highlights the rarity and limited generalizability of large randomized controlled trials, the lack of standardized domain knowledge assessments, and reliance on biased student evaluations for teaching quality.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper describe the role of technology in improving education research and practice?\",\"answer\":\"Technology is presented as enabling breakthroughs by capturing learning data and behaviors, but its potential is constrained by proprietary control and concerns about privacy and privatization of student data.\"}]","How R&D Infrastructure for Postsecondary Education Could Unlock New Advances | PDF",1792050325,45]