Implementing Research-Based Learning:
Challenges and Opportunities
14th UNICA BOLOGNA LAB MEETING
5.-6. December 2013
Wolfgang Deicke, Co-ordinator of the Humboldt-bologna.lab
wolfgang.deicke@hu-berlin.de
Outline:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Humboldtian Ideal Revisited
Humboldt, Research-Based Education and Bologna
Defining ‘Research-Based Education’
Healey’s Matrix: The Research-Teaching Nexus
The Matrix Extended: Research and Teaching in the
Curriculum
6. The Promise and the Challenges of Research-Based Education
7. How Sometimes Less Can Be More: Re-Designing a
Compulsory Methods Module (Case Study M.Ed. DuisburgEssen)
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1. The Humboldtian Ideal
Revisited
“What is particular about the higher scientific
institutions is that they regard science as an unresolved
and never quite solvable problem and thus always stay
in research mode, whereas school is concerned finished
and ready-made knowledge.” (Wilhelm von Humboldt,
[1809/10]: 230)*
* All translations from German language sources by the presenter
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2. Humboldt, Research-Based
Education and Bologna
• Problems with the implementation of
Bologna:
– Shift from five year(+) Diploma/Magister degrees to BA (3
years) and MA (1-2 years)
– Focus on delivery (taught content) and learning outcomes
(employability) at BA level
– More choice and research options at MA level, little at BA
level
• Research-based Education to the rescue?
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3. Research-Based Education
Defined (I):
• German debates over Research-Based
Education
– Research-Based Education chiefly as a form of
active learning (Wildt, 2010; Ludwig, 2011)
-> Aim: to create capable independent learners
– Research-Based Education as essential for the
development of a scientific mind-set (Huber,
2010)
-> Aim: to create competent researchers
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3. Research-Based Education
Defined (II):
Wildt (2010): Concepts of Active Learning*
Researchbased
Learning
Caseoriented
Learning
Problemoriented
Learning
Explorative
Learning
Actionbased
Learning
Experiential
Learning
+ Selforganisation
+ Theory
+ Empirical
Base
+ Context
+ Relevance
+ Method
+ Planning
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3. Research-Based Education
Defined (III):
Huber (2010)* Research-Based Learning distinguishes
itself from other forms of learning in that
•Learners should – individually or collaboratively as part of a
larger project – experience, shape and reflect on research as a
process
•Learners must be actively involved in shaping every phase of
the research process – from the development of the research
question(s) and hypotheses to the testing and presentation of
the results
•The research project must be aimed at generating insights of
interest to third parties
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4. Healey’s Matrix: The ResearchTeaching Nexus
Emphasis
on research
content
Students
are active
Students
are
passive
Emphasis on
research
processes
Research-tutored
students are
analysing, discussing
and writing papers
Research-based
inquiry-based learning
Research-led
students are taught
subject content
Research-oriented
students are taught
processes of
knowledge
construction
(Source: Healey, 2005)
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5. The Matrix Extended: Research
and Teaching in the Curriculum
Learning objective/ emphasis on
Students activities research results
students are
researching
students are
utilizing/applying
students are getting
introduced
emphasis on
research methods
emphasis on
research cycle
students synthesize
research results
to answer a research
question
students use
research methods
to answer a research
question
students answer a
research question
performing a full
research cycle
students actively
engage in research
results (e.g. discussion)
students practice
research methods
students develop or
discuss research
designs
students are taught
research results
(subject content)
students are taught
research methods
students are taught
processes of knowledge
construction
Source: Gess, Ruess and Deicke (2012), adapted from Healey, 2005
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6. The Promise and the Challenges of
Research-Based Learning
Traditional Teaching Methods
•
•
•
•
Aim: successful (demonstrable)
transfer of knowledge
Content: pre-determined,
structured, abstract (curricular
structure, type and nature of exams)
Teacher-Student Relationship:
asymetrical
– teacher: active, knowing,
teaching, grading
– student: passive, receptive,
reproducing
Motivation: external (compulsory
school attendance), instrumental
(grades, professional exams)
Research-Based Learning
•Aim: acquisition of in-depth ‘knowledge’
and the skills required for its production
•Content: self-determined, (ideally) with
concrete links to the learner’s interests
•Teacher-Student Relationship:
(more) symetrical
– all participants are active
researchers
– teachers use experience to act as
mentors
•Motivation: intrinsical,
(own)epistemological interests
Sources: adapted from Huber, 2010; Wildt, 2011
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7. Case Study – How Sometimes
Less Can Really Be More
M.Ed. Duisburg-Essen: Quantitative Research Methods
Before:
After:
• Compulsory Taught Methods
Module
• Theoretical input delivered
• Work with ‘set examples’/’case
studies’
• Low interest/low student
performance
• Compulsory Module
• Starts with students
choosing/observing a real
‘problem’
• Problem-solving approach
• Demand-based delivery
• Claim: greater interest/improved
performances
• 20% increase in empirically based
MA Theses (after one year)
Presentation by Naeveke, S & Müller-Naeveke, C. (2013)
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Background Literature:
Gess, C, Rueß, J and Deicke, W (2012) Implementing Research-Based Education: Challenges and
Opportunities – A Hands-On Exercise, available online at
http://budapest2012.bolognaexperts.net/page/presentations
Healey, M. (2005) ‘Linking research and teaching : exploring disciplinary spaces and the role of
inquiry-based learning’ in: I. Barnett (Hrsg.) Reshaping the University: New Relationships between
Research, Scholarship and Teaching, Open University Press, pp.67-78
Heer, R. (2012) ‘A Model of Learning Objectives’, Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Iowa
State University, available online at: http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/RevisedBlooms1.html
Huber, L. (2010) ‘Forschendes Lernen ist nötig! Wie ist es möglich?’, Presentation (in German) at TU
Braunschweig, 13. January 2010, available online at: 134.169.92.196/tubraunschweig/download/Vortrag_Huber.pdf
Ludwig, J. (2011) Forschungsbasierte Lehre als Lehre im Format der Forschung, available online at:
http://www.sq-brandenburg.de/files/bbhd03.pdf
Naeveke, S. and Müller-Naeveke, C. (2013) Kompetent für Forschendes Lernen?! Oder: Wie man
Forschungskompetenz sukzessive entwicklen kann, ohne das Ergebnis zur Voraussetzung zu
machen, Presentation at FH Potsdam, 2.9.2013 (in German), available online at: http://www.fhpotsdam.de/fileadmin/fhp_zentrale/dokumente/interflex/Konferenz/Forschungspanels/B3_Mueller_
Naevecke.pdf
Reiber, K. (2007) ‘Grundlegung: Forschendes Lernen als Leitprinzip zeitgemäßer Hochschulbildung’, in:
Tübinger Beiträge zur Hochschuldidaktik, Vol. 3(1), 2007, available online at: http://tobias-lib.unituebingen.de/volltexte/2007/2924/pdf/TBHD%203-1-2007Reiber.pdf
Wildt, J. (2010) ‘Forschendes Lernen: Wie und Warum?’, Presentation at Leibniz University Hannover,
13. October 2011, available online at: http://www.zel.unihannover.de/fileadmin/institut/pdf/Forschendes_Lernen_Leibniz_Universitaet_Hannover_Prof._Dr._
Dr._Wildt_13.10.2011.pdf
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