9: RESEARCHING THE IMPACT OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

In this review of 138 studies on the impact of educational development practices, we discuss the idea of impact and summarize previous studies of this topic. We then present an overview of findings on impact from current studies of typical educational development activities: workshops, formal courses, communities of practice, consultation, mentoring, and awards and grants programs. We conclude that although the studies vary in quality, the sheer volume of results offers guidance for development practice.