The teaching-research nexus in the Division of Education,
Arts and Social Sciences
Final report, February 2008
Dr Tom Stehlik
Academic Fellow
Contents
Section Page
Executive summary 3
1. Task and terms of reference 8
2. Background to the TRN and literature review 9
3. Reviewing course design and assessment in programs 14
4. Case studies from undergraduate programs 19
5. Views of divisional staff 25
6. Research training, higher degrees and sessional staff 34
7. Divisional committee structure 38
8. Program approval and review process 39
9. Conclusion, principles, strategies and recommendations 40
References 47
List of interviewees and contributors 48
Executive summary
It is apparent that some schools/programs are already well ahead in acknowledging the teaching-research nexus (TRN) and building it into course design, although understanding of what the TRN actually means is quite varied. The main findings are summarised as follows:
· Research is context and discipline specific, but the term research is itself contested and understood in different ways.
· Research is introduced in various ways in the schools and undergraduate programs, either integrated into courses or via dedicated research methods courses. However, taking a sequenced whole-of-program approach to developing research skills is preferable.
· The undergraduate programs in the division are almost all vocational in nature and geared towards a professional qualification. Field experience and experiential learning are central to most programs, with some placements leading directly to employment. This exemplifies the notion of developing a culture of inquiry not only for research training and a pathway to higher degrees, but to develop research values and inquiry methods to take into the profession, the career and the world of work.
· Staff in most of the schools talk about their practice as much as teaching and research, and that this not only forms their approach to teaching and research but gives them credibility with students.
· Research-informed teaching is important for keeping up-to-date with knowledge and information in the field, ideally by conducting own research (field experience) or sharing in research culture at school /faculty level, which informs course development and teaching.
· Modelling an orientation towards inquiry is characteristic of research and can be translated into a teaching approach or ‘academic attitude’ that models a culture of inquiry rather than the presentation of facts and solutions.
· Research-informed teaching is important for contextualising the field with reference to current research, and demystifying research and authority by encouraging a community of scholars where colleagues and students alike are enabled to contribute to the field through knowledge transfer such as publications.
The project has been important in raising awareness of the TR Nexus and related issues, and sharing ideas and practice among a wide range of staff within the division. A number of key principles were established with some incorporating one or more recommendations which are listed below and discussed in the body of the report, Section 9 in particular.
Key Principles and recommendations
1 Academic development should include opportunities for staff to explore their own epistemological beliefs and identity as academics in the context of their particular field and how this is communicated through both their teaching and their research.
Recommendation 1.1
It is recommended that Heads of Schools devise key opportunities to enable staff to explore and discuss epistemological beliefs and academic identity, for example by building this in to school development activities.
Recommendation 1.2
It is recommended that Teaching@UniSA and the core courses in the Graduate Certificate in University Teaching incorporate this opportunity for all new academic staff mandated to undertake these programs.
Recommendation 1.3
It is recommended that all sessional staff are encouraged and supported to complete Teaching @UniSA
Recommendation 1.4
It is recommended that sessional staff are encouraged and supported to make links between their teaching, research and practice through paid attendance at school meetings and professional development activities.
2 Recognise and acknowledge the importance of practice as both a basis of staff expertise and teaching / research interests, and as a foundational aspect of undergraduate professional programs and the teaching-research nexus.
Recommendation 2.1
It is recommended that academic staff without a practice base in their field undertake work or field placements as professional development; as students in most undergraduate programs undertake field placements as a recognized form of experiential learning
3 Schools and program teams should adopt a whole-of-program approach to developing a culture of inquiry and a research orientation to the field or profession, making research skills visible and valid for all students, rather than relying on research methods courses only.
Recommendation 3.1
It is recommended that annual PER and Program Approval processes for undergraduate programs incorporate a review of the way in which research training can be sequenced across the whole of the program.
Recommendation 3.2
It is recommended that the Learning and Teaching Unit develop a list of specific examples of learning activities designed to enhance the TRN for each Graduate Quality to assist staff in developing Coursework Program Approvals.
Recommendation 3.3
It is recommended that the Division monitor the outcomes of the Research Skills Development (RSD) framework trial in the School of COM in SP2 2008, and take up the offer of workshops and information sessions on the RSD framework by Adelaide University CLPD, for staff to consider the framework in reviewing research training in undergraduate programs.
4 Encourage staff to invite contribution to teaching in undergraduate programs from research active staff across schools, centres and institutes, particularly the professoriate.
Recommendation 4.1
It is recommended that potential guest lecturers are identified via the directory of research expertise or by searching the staff directory under ‘teaching interests’.
Recommendation 4.2
It is recommended that all staff - continuing, contract and sessional - regularly update and maintain their staff home pages including details of teaching interests and research interests.
Recommendation 4.3
It is recommended that HDR candidates not formally engaged in sessional teaching are invited to contribute to undergraduate teaching through guest lectures, seminars and workshops.
5 Develop a process for recognizing and validating research output that is not currently included in RQF measures and publications data collection yet contributes directly to undergraduate teaching.
Recommendation 5.1
It is recommended that the Division develop a process for recognizing and validating research output that is not currently counted under external and internal publications audits and measures.
Recommendation 5.2
It is recommended that the research activities of sessional staff and their contribution to teaching and learning are recognized and acknowledged.
6 Reinforcing the recent reviews of honours programs in the division and the university, develop a more strategic approach to strengthening the links between undergraduate and post graduate research training.
Recommendation 6.1
It is recommended that the promotion of multiple pathways to research is coordinated between Research Degrees Coordinators, Honours Coordinators and Research Portfolio Leaders at school and program levels.
Recommendation 6.2
It is recommended that clearer lines of communication are established between the various teaching and learning and research committees at school and divisional levels and all academic staff.
7 Reinforcing the Vice Chancellor’s ‘New Horizons’ discussion paper, recognize and reward high performance and innovation in achieving the TRN
Recommendation 7.1
It is recommended that a process of evidence-based peer review be investigated for awarding high achievement and innovation in three areas – teaching, research and enhancing the teaching-research nexus.
8 Sustain and further develop the process of investigating and enhancing the teaching-research nexus both within the Division of EAS as well as more widely across other divisions.
Recommendation 8.1
It is recommended that a project officer position be established to support ongoing divisional projects and curriculum development initiatives around the teaching-research nexus.
Recommendation 8.2
It is recommended that the Divisional Deans and the Academic Development Team in the Learning and Teaching Unit are adequately resourced and supported to sustain the momentum of the TRN project through the implementation phase of STEP 2010 both within the division as well as university-wide.
Promulgation of research findings
In addition to presenting this report through the Divisional Deans to Schools, Divisional Executive and the Teaching and Learning Strategy Group, a presentation of some of the findings was made to the School of Art Planning Day and Retreat on February 12, 2008.
A number of papers arising from the research will further discuss and analyse the findings and promulgate the discussion to a wider audience outside the university, through submissions to international conferences and a special edition of the Journal of Teaching in Higher Education:
Stehlik, T. ‘(Re)constructing academic identities through practice’, refereed paper for 'Insightful Encounters - Regional Development and Practice-Based Learning' Conference on Regional Development and Innovation Processes, March 5th-7th 2008, Porvoo-Borgå, Finland.
Stehlik, T. ‘Practice makes perfect: Academics talk about the nexus between teaching, research and their identities as practitioners’, Teaching in Higher Education, Forthcoming, Special issue on Purposes, knowledge and identities.
Stehlik, T. ‘Entering the academic learning community: How research training is understood and introduced in undergraduate university programs’, ‘Connecting Faces, Places and Spaces’, Australian Learning Communities Network (ALCN) National Conference, October 26th – 28th, Adelaide.
‘Often one falls into a research area and then it is a struggle to find an opportunity to teach it. Course approval is a long haul and the research may be ephemeral’
1. The task and terms of reference for the project
The Fellowship was established to research, plan and implement processes to embed the teaching research nexus in EAS undergraduate programs, with the task of mapping current practice through a combination of questionnaire, interview, focus group and desktop research. The fellowship commenced on July 30, 2007 with a completion date of January 25, 2008.
Reporting to the Dean: Teaching and Learning, the Dean: Research, the Dean: Research Degrees and the Divisional FLC Academic Developer, the Academic Fellow was tasked with:
· Identifying the views of Divisional staff regarding the TRN and what it is
· Reviewing course design and assessment in a minimum of one program in each of the eight schools
· Identifying the teaching profile in these programs and identifying research active staff who do or can effectively contribute to teaching in undergraduate programs
· Developing a Divisional database of case studies based on the findings of the program mapping
· Identifying the effectiveness of the program approval and review templates in terms of achieving explicit TRN strategies within programs
· Examining the Divisional committee structure in order to identify where such arrangements enhance development of the TRN, and review award and grant criteria with a view to rewarding innovation in achieving the TRN
· Identifying how the research capacities and activities of postgraduate students might be better utilized within undergraduate teaching
· Working with and supporting current TR nexus development projects within the Division
2. Background to the TRN and literature review
The revised UniSA Teaching and Learning Framework 2007 was approved by Academic Board on June 22 as part of the university’s Teaching and Learning Strategy (http://www.unisa.edu.au/teachinglearning/strategy/default.asp).
The new Framework was designed to ‘…drive a transformation in approaches to teaching and learning across UniSA. The Framework continues the centrality of Graduate Qualities, but seeks to improve the quality and quantity of student engagement through three components of experiential learning –
1. practice-based learning
2. the teaching-research nexus; and
3. service learning’ (Lee, 2007:3)
As one of the three components of the Framework, the teaching-research nexus (henceforth, TRN) was further described by the Pro Vice Chancellor: Academic in an internal discussion paper as:
‘The provision of learning experiences that foster connections between learning, teaching and research and strengthen student development of the qualities of a UniSA Graduate’ (2007: 7)
Therefore, while the term nexus can be defined as a ‘bond, link, connection or means of communication’ (Dictionary.com), a key aspect of the TRN is that learning is an outcome of both teaching and research.
Literature
As Lee notes, the current interest in the TRN derives from the work of Ernest Boyer, the American educator and past president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Boyer’s attempts to address the traditional divide between teaching and research in higher education and redefine the nature of academic practice as ‘scholarly work’ incorporated a framework of four kinds of scholarship: discovery, integration, application, and teaching. However, according to Brew, “a tradition of discussing the scholarship of teaching has grown up independently of the other three of the Boyer scholarships in spite of a number of attempts to interrelate different conceptions” (2006:27).
At UniSA the Boyer concept of the Scholarship of Teaching has been around for several years, with academic staff being encouraged through a range of policies and practices to focus on their teaching through careful planning, continuous evaluation, encouraging students to be critical thinkers and active learners, and a recognition that teachers are also learners. While the Scholarship of Teaching has mainly been interpreted as undertaking systematic and sustained inquiry into the teaching and learning process through formal and peer evaluations, funded research projects, professional development activities and even engagement in formal study such as the Graduate Certificate in Education (University Teaching), the TRN goes beyond this one aspect of the notion of ‘research on teaching’ or pedagogic research, to incorporate at least four typologies of teaching-research links:
Research enhanced teaching can be:
· Research-led, ie learning about others’ research – content-based
· Research oriented, ie learning to do research – research methods
· Research-based, ie learning in research mode – inquiry-based
· Research-informed, ie pedagogic research – inquiring and reflecting on learning
(Jenkins and Healey, 2005)
The work by Jenkins and Healey represents part of a large body of literature out of the UK which seems to have taken the lead in the trend in Europe for progressing the TRN well beyond the Boyer notion of the Scholarship of Teaching. The Higher Education Academy in the UK for example has sponsored a number of projects and papers on the TRN, and as others note, it was a priority area in 2007 with considerable funding given to enhancing the links between teaching and research in universities (Wareham & Trowler, 2007).