Linking Teaching and Research in Your DisciplinesCourses and at Departments at the University of Abe

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Linking Teaching and Research in Your
Disciplines/Courses and at Departments at the
University of Aberystwyth

• Alan Jenkins
• Reinvention Centre and (UK) HE Academy

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Introductions

• My name is ..
• My role is ..teacher , researcher
• One thing nobody here knows about me is .

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Confirming the Focus

• Our focus today is on (staff) research in the
  disciplines (eg philosophy or interdisciplinary
  areas such as womens studies) and student
  learning, not on (pedagogic) research on higher
  education. (Except of course if your discipline
  is education!)

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Aims

• Discussed what you already do as individuals to
  link teaching and research
• Clarified your view on the current relationship
  between (staff) research and student learning
  in your role, courses, discipline and in your
  department /institution
• Considered some of the research evidence
• Considered a range of discipline based and
  institution wide case studies
• Explored how those relationships could be more
  effectively constructed and managed.

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Task! An Introduction

• Ensure you have session handout
• Discuss with 1-2 people around you one or more
  of these questions
• Why do you think it important to link teaching
  and discipline-based research?
• What if any are the issues that concern you
  about linking teaching and discipline
  based-research?
• What would your students say about these issues?
• You have till
• There will be no plenary discussion of these
  issues yet !

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Line-up

• To be an effective teacher in HE one needs to be
  centrally involved in discipline based research
• Strongly ------------------------------ Strongly
• agree
  disagree

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Line Up

• Undergraduate Research is for ALL
  undergraduates
• Strongly ------------------------------ Strongly
• Agree
  Disagree

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Line Up
The nature of the discipline Fundamentally
shapes the teaching /research relationship
Strongly ------------------------------
Strongly Agree
Disagree

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Get into groups of 4

• Appoint person
• With most hair on their head as chair role to
  gently steer the group
• With biggest watch as timekeeper role to gently
  remind group of the time left for a task
• With biggest notebook as reporter role to speak
  for the group

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Discuss this

• Our distinctive taught provision is underpinned
  and informed by high quality research and
  scholarship and the synergies between research
  and teaching
•  
• Aberystwyth aims to be a first-class teaching and
  research University, playing a full part
• in international research and providing students
  with learning opportunities to the highest
• academic standards, a distinctive environment for
  study and a high quality of life. We
• respond to the needs of society for research and
  for skilled, educated and employable
• graduates.
• UWA Learning and Teaching Strategy

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The Evidence of Practice and Policy

• "... The research universities have often failed
  thousands of students graduate without seeing
  the world-famous professors or tasting genuine
  research." (USA Boyer Commission)
• In practice the link between research and
  teaching seems not to have been addressed in any
  concerted way." (UK analysis of institutional
  teaching strategies ).

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Research Evidence

• Loosely Coupled
• Based on this review we concluded that the
  common belief that teaching and research were
  inextricably intertwined is an enduring myth. At
  best teaching and research are very loosely
  coupled" (Hattie and Marsh, 1996)

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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)

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My Perspectives

• Student understanding of the complexity of
  knowledge lies at the centre of higher education.
  (Ron Barnett)
• From the level of the academic, the student and
  the institution there are tensions between
  teaching and research
• We need to maximise the (potential) synergies and
  minimise the conflicts
• This requires actions at a variety of levels
• The link at undergraduate level is both most
  problematic and most important ?
• There are important disciplinary / professional
  variations in teaching /research / professional
  knowledge relations

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A Language to Help Us Examine What We Do-see
handout p. 2

• Learning about others research
• Learning to do research research methods
• Learning in research mode enquiry based
• Pedagogic research enquiring and reflecting on
  learning

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Case Study Handout

• Task
• In your groups consider how one or more of the
  case studies could be adapted to your context
• Reporter be ready to state one thing that is
  important about the relevance of this case study
  to your practice /policy

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Course Design-see Annex 2 p. 43

• Group Reflection
• Use the typology to examine your current
  practice as an individual or member of a course
  team
• What do you consider you are already doing
  effectively ?
• What might you wish to strengthen or develop?

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Disciplinary Perspectives

• Why Disciplines Might Be Significant Logical?
  Hypotheses
• Disciplines are academic communities of
  practice
• The nature of/extent of research in the
  discipline may vary/be significant
• The nature of the funding/organisation of
  research in the discipline may be significant
• The nature of/role of scholarship in the
  discipline may vary/be significant
• The nature of pedagogy in the discipline may be
  different
• The nature of how research is taught in the
  discipline may be significant
• The importance of research as taught in the
  discipline may be significant
• The nature of the staff and or student culture
  across the discipline may be significant
• The importance of research to future student
  roles/employability may be significant

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Task Disciplinary Perspective

• Discuss with those around you how
• /whether the nature of your discipline
• significantly shapes teaching /research
• relationships from the staff and /or the
• student perspectives

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Linking in Your Department

• Discuss teaching/research relationships in your
  course team/discipline and/or the College itself
  perhaps using as prompts these analogies
• Like love and marriage a horse and carriage
  or strangers in the night (Sinatra F..) or
  perhaps Mills and McCartney ?

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Departmental Case Studies
see page 17-21Discuss one of the case studies
and then agree on two statements worth making as
to its value to your department(s) /this
institution
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Departmental Relationships

• One Research Study in UK Built Environment
  departments (Urban Planning) Brookes Sheffield
  Hallam Westminster and UWE
• Teaching was organised Research was organised
  little was done to bring them together

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A Conclusion

• A Round
• One thing I am going to do in my own practice is
  
• One thing I am going to propose to my subject
• group is
• One thing we should do at Department
  /Institutional
• level is
• One thing I want to say is

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A Conclusion

• One thing we want to say to everybody here
• that comes out of this workshop and is
• central to current /future practice and policy
• at Aveiro is

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• Understanding the complexity of knowledge lies at
  
• the centre of what makes HIGHER education
  distinctive
• That requires purposeful action at a variety of
  levels
• Both ones own teaching and to an extent at
  course team and departmental level one does have
  some levers for action

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Some Web Resources

• Discipline-based practices for linking teaching
  and research http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/850.htm
• Jenkins A (2003 ) Designing a Curriculum that
  values a research-based approach to student
  learning
• http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources.asp?id163p
  rocessfull_recordsectiongeneric
• Jenkins A ,Healey M and Zetter R (2007) Linking
  Research and Teaching in Disciplines and
  Departments
• http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/research/LinkingTeachi
  ngAndResearch_April07.pdf
• Jenkins A (2004) A Guide to the Research
  Evidence on Teaching Research Relations, York,
  Higher Education Academy
• http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources.asp?process
  full_recordsectiongenericid383
• Jenkins A and Healey M (2005 ) Institutional
  Strategies to Link Teaching and Research . York
  .Higher Education Academy http//www.heacademy.ac
  .uk/resources.asp?processfull_recordsectiongene
  ricid585