Stories, studies and scholarship: a summary of the literature on the relationship between teaching a

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Stories, studies and scholarship a summary of
the literature on the relationship between
teaching and research
Andy Lloyd (Assistant Registrar Learning and
Teaching)
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Aim

• Strategic objective (7)
• To ensure that learning and teaching are research
  and evidence-led.

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Aim

• Research Evidence

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The research evidence

• Google research-led teaching over 8,000 hits
• Google evidence-based learning about 4,400
• Everyone has a view
• No two views are the same
• Different schools of thought haveemerged

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This is not new

• to discover and to teach are distinct functions
  they are also distinct gifts, and not commonly
  found united in the same person(Newman 1853)
• the teacher does not exist for the sake of the
  student both teacher and student have their
  justification in the common pursuit of knowledge,
  and hence there is a unity of research and
  teachingHumboldt (1809)

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The plan the research evidence

• The research on students views
• The good research good teaching debate
• Strategies for enhancement
• Conclusions

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What students say

• Not a huge literature
• Mainly based on focus groups and interviews
• The importance of perceptions
• Motivation to study important
• Inconclusive outcomes?

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The student view

• A diverse student population (e.g. Level of
  study, discipline, mode of attendance, range of
  learning opportunities)
• clear evidence of students valuing learning in
  a research-based environment (Jenkins 2004)
• Evidence that institutions and departments may
  not be effectively supporting students to obtain
  maximum value from these opportunities, or
  managing the negative impacts (Jenkins 2004)

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Good research good teaching

• A mixture of qualitative and quantitative studies
• Qualitative
• Often focussed within particular cultural and
  organisational settings
• Need to be clear about the design and orientation
  of studies
• Quantitative
• What is being measured?
• the problem of the teaching-research link is not
  only multidimensional, but that almost none of
  the dimensions lend themselves to scientific
  approaches for their solution (Elton, 2000)

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Hattie and Marsh

• the relationship between research and teaching is
  zero
• based on
• Analysis of research productivity and teaching
  effectiveness
• a meta-analysis of 58 previously published
  studies from different sources

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Hattie and Marsh

• the connection between an institutions research
  activities and its teaching is indirect, and
  there is ample evidence of the highest quality
  teaching being achieved in circumstances which
  are not research-intensive
• it is not necessary to be active in cutting edge
  research to be an excellent teacher
• (Department for Education and Skills 2003)

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Hattie and Marsh

• Marsh horrified at how this research was used
  in the While Paper
• BUT, they also said
• The goal should not be publish or perish, or
  teach or impeach, but we beseech you to both
  publish and teach effectivelyThus,
  institutions need to reward creativity,
  commitment, investigativeness, and critical
  analysis in teaching and research and
  particularly value these attributes when they
  occur in both teaching and research Hattie and
  Marsh, 1996)
• Need to purposefully create and enhance links

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Strategies for enhancement

• i.e. how to link teaching and research, ways of
  informing practice
• e.g. Jenkins and Zetter (2003) - UK Boyer
  (1990) - USA Zubrick, Reid and Rossiter (2001) -
  Australia
• Areas to be considered
• Content of curricula
• The range of learning opportunities
• The learning environment
• Pedagogic research

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The content of curricula

• Need to acknowledge
• Disciplinary differences
• Level
• Situation / context
• little evidence to suggest that synergies
  between teaching and research were managed or
  promoted a departmental or institutional level
  (JM Consulting 2000)

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The range of learning opportunities

• Suggested strategies
• Development of research skills
• The introduction of enquiry/problem-led
  approaches
• Re-run research projects
• Introduce learning activities that replicate
  research
• Invite students to staff research seminars
• Undergraduate research opportunities programmes
  (UROPs)
• Others?

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The learning environment

• A quality and extensive range of physical and
  virtual learning resources
• An accessible, fast, and reliable IT network
• Access to laboratories
• Research consistently demonstrates an
  association between students perceptions of
  their learning environment and the quality of
  their achievements (Trigwell 2001)

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Pedagogic research

• pedagogic research and its outcomes could play
  an important role in strengthening the link
  (Elton 2001)
• How?
• Use of research outcomes in teaching practice
• Evaluation and research into teaching practice
• Action research, researching into ones own
  teaching
• Most teaching innovation currently appears to be
  intuitive rather than informed by theory (LTSN
  Psychology Centre 2001)
• Do educational researchers make the best
  teachers?

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New challenges (1)

• Can the nexus be strengthened?
• Practical steps to enhance the relationship
• A two-way relationship
• Need to avoid adopting a deficit culture
• QAA and enhancement

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New challenges (2)

• Students
• A more diverse student population
• Possible impact of fees
• The net generation

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A final quote

• There is a danger now that if we keep running
  RAEs the whole concept of a university in which
  teaching is informed by world-class research is
  under threat because it will produce more and
  more specialists in research who have less and
  less contact with undergraduates because of their
  need to compete globally in research
• Professor Michael Sterling - Vice-Chancellor and
  Principal Birmingham University and Chair of the
  Russell Group (Quoted in the Guardian Education
  Supplement 09/11/04, p. 18)