Task!

Introducing the session Sit in

groups of 2-3

Ensure you have session handout

Private discussion

What do you understand by Research

based learning?

What do you think research reveals about

teaching/research relations in universities?
Implementing Research Based Learning in your Teaching

Alan Jenkins
Emeritus Professor Oxford Brookes University : advisor to HEA on teaching /research links and QAA Scotland on
the Teaching Research Nexus Enhancement Theme
http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/themes/ResearchTeaching/
Aims

Clarified your view on the current relationship between (staff/faculty

) research and student learning in your current and future role(s),
courses, discipline and in your department /institution
Considered a range of discipline based and department
wide case studies
Considered how you could develop research based learning
in your courses at undergraduate level/or at postgraduate
level
Explored how those relationships could be more effectively
constructed and/ or managed.
Alan Jenkins

Geography undergraduate at London UK and post grad Madison USA

Schoolteacher Canada and UK

Long taught geography /contemporary China studies mainly UK at

undergraduate level outside the research elite institutions

Moved into educational /faculty development and worked on

teaching /research relations . http://www.alanjenkins.info
Available from the HE Academy http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/rtnexus.htm
Developing research-based
curricula in college-based
higher education
Mick Healey, Alan Jenkins and John Lea
March 2014

http://www.heacademy.ac.u
k/college-based-
he/research-based-curricula
Teaching and Research :An Ideal view

Universities should treat learning as

not yet wholly solved problems and
hence always in research mode.

Wilhelm von Humboldt on the then

future University of Berlin (1810)
Teaching and Research : Two
contemporary views
"The research universities have often failed, and continue to fail
their undergraduate populations, thousands of students
graduate without seeing the world - famous professors or
tasting genuine research." University of Stony Brook (1998, 3)
Reinventing Undergraduate Education: Boyer Commission on
Educating Undergraduates in the Research University.

In Scholarship Reconsidered Ernest Boyer (1990, X11)

challenged US higher education to break away out of the tired
old teaching versus research debate.
Research evidence : ONE summary

Faculty find it hard to balance teaching and research roles

Undergraduate students often unaware of staff /faculty research

or its relevance to their concerns

At individual level limited correlation staff research and

teaching effectiveness

At departmental and institutional levels little effective strategic

links between teaching and research

Students learning in active inquiry mode can have significant

positive impacts on understandings of knowledge complexity
Acting on the Research Evidence

The aim is to increase the circumstances in which teaching and

research have occasion to meet.

Increase the skills of staff to teach emphasizing the

construction of knowledge by students rather than the
imparting of knowledge by instructors......

Ensure that students experience the process of artistic and

scientific productivity."
(Hattie and Marsh, 1996)
A Language to Help Us Examine What We Do-see
handout p 1-2

Research-led: where students learn about research findings, the

curriculum content is strongly shaped by faculty research
interests/current research in the discipline.
Research-oriented: where students learn about research processes,
the curriculum emphasises as much the processes by which
knowledge is produced as learning knowledge that has been
achieved, and faculty try to engender a research ethos through their
teaching; or
Research-based: where students learn as researchers, the
curriculum is largely designed around inquiry-based activities, and the
division of roles between teacher and student is minimised.
Research tutored ; where students supported by staff in small
group discuss current research ( papers) in their discipline.
 STUDENT-FOCUSED

STUDENTS AS PARTICIPANTS

Research-tutored Research-based
Engaging in research Students undertaking
discussions research and inquiry

EMPHASIS ON
RESEARCH
EMPHASIS ON
PROCESSES
RESEARCH CONTENT
Research-led Research-oriented AND PROBLEMS
Learning about current Developing research
research in the discipline inquiry and techniques

TEACHER-FOCUSED

STUDENTS AS AUDIENCE
Tasks :Using that typology/language

Consider the case study of geography at University

College London , page 4-5

Dont get lost in is this good or bad practice ? Lets

see it as interesting practice

Using the language of the handout page 1- 2 ; what

forms of teaching /research links do you see there ?
Research led ,research orientated , research based,
and/or research tutored.
Small Group Task : Consider the case studies at course team level on the
handout p2-4 (Ignore departmental case studies 4-5)

QUICKLY each of you choose a case study that you

think may be suitable for ADAPTING to your
practice /perhaps as developing in your project
Individually read your case study
Then share your views on adapting these case
studies to your future practice
You have till ..
 : Course Design-see Section 4 pp 5-6

Which of these approaches might be relevant to your

future practice /developing through your project?
Strategy 1: Develop students understanding of the
role of research in their discipline

Strategy 2: Develop students abilities to carry out

research

Strategy 3: Progressively develop students

understanding

Strategy 4: Manage students experience of research

Considering two Departmental case
studies :UCL and Imperial pp 4-5
Just from the case studies :

Discuss what you see are the similarities and

the differences in the ways these two
departments handle the roles /relationships
between teaching and research ?
Your conclusions/forward planning

In your groups each of you state

ONE thing I am taking forward ( in my

project ) from this session

.
My conclusions
Understanding the complexity of knowledge lies at
the centre of what makes HIGHER education distinctive
That requires purposeful action at a variety of levels
In ones own teaching and to an extent at course team and
departmental level one does have some freedom of action to
ensure that your research in parts supports your teaching
As you progress in your career then departmental and institutional
leaders can do much to ensure some synergies between teaching
and research
Bringing your teaching and research more effectively together can
help you balance what can be competing demands on your time and
attention.
How your teaching can support your role as a researcher.

Research led teaching can make the two activities explicitly

linked in content .
Research orientated teaching can help you reflect
/experiment in research methodologies
Research based teaching can help you see these activities as
explicitly linked
Making explicit to students the importance /value of
research to them can help them better appreciate the
importance of faculty involvement in research