Moving Forward Together: Engaging
Students through Research and Inquiry
Mick Healey
University of Gloucestershire, UK
“… universities should treat learning as not yet wholly
solved problems and hence always in research mode”
(Humboldt, 1810 translated 1970, quoted by Elton, 2005, 110)
Engaging students through research
and inquiry at Brookes
Long history at Brookes:
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Research projects, including those by Blackman, Breen,
Durning, Jenkins, Lindsay, Patton-Saltzberg, Zetter
2002-3 all undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses
were redesigned with the requirement that they ‘demonstrate
how the linkages between research and teaching and
learning are realised in the formal curriculum and the wider
student experience’
FDTL Project - 'Linking teaching with research and
consultancy in the Built Environment’
HEFCE funded CETL Reinvention Centre (with Warwick
University) including national undergraduate research journal
GEOverse - national undergraduate research journal in
geography
Engaging students through research
and inquiry at Brookes
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“There will be evidence of how LTC paper 07/014 Developing
Undergraduate Research at Oxford Brookes University ... has
been integrated into the programme”
The Academic Progression Initiative (API), Nov 2008
• “an excellent opportunity to create a new unique selling point.
Namely, an undergraduate student learning experience where
all students are encouraged and are afforded the opportunity to
develop a strong set of research skills and expertise that
complement their academic course content and facilitate the
development of high level independent learning, analytical,
communication and critical skills.”
LTC paper 07/014, p2
Brief biography
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Economic geographer
Director Centre for Active Learning
Director HE Academy project on Undergraduate research
in new universities
Geography Advisor to HE Academy Subject Centre for
Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Until 2008 VP for Europe International Society for
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
National Teaching Fellow and Senior Fellow HE Academy
Research interests: scholarship of teaching and learning;
linking research and teaching; active learning; developing
an inclusive curriculum for disabled students
Linking research and teaching
“For the students who are the professionals of
the future, developing the ability to investigate
problems, make judgments on the basis of
sound evidence, take decisions on a rational
basis, and understand what they are doing
and why is vital. Research and inquiry is not
just for those who choose to pursue an
academic career. It is central to professional
life in the twenty-first century.”
Brew (2007, 7)
Linking research and teaching
“Developing the Student as Scholar Model
requires a fundamental shift in how we structure
and imagine the whole undergraduate
experience. It requires, as a minimum, the
adoption of the Learning Paradigm in everything
from the first introductory course through the
final capstone experience. It requires a culture
of inquiry-based learning infused throughout the
entire liberal arts curriculum that starts with the
very first day of college and is reinforced in
every classroom and program.”
(Hodge et al. 2007, 1)
Linking research and teaching
1. Different ways of linking research
and teaching
2. Different views on undergraduate
research and inquiry
3. Issues in mainstreaming
undergraduate research and inquiry
4. Conclusion
Different ways of linking R&T
• Learning about others’ research
• Learning to do research – research
methods
• Learning in research mode – enquiry
based
• Pedagogic research – enquiring and
reflecting on learning
Linking research and teaching:
different views
• Topic on linking research and teaching has generated
much debate, some of it fairly emotive and polarised
(Table 4 – p4)
• Many people hold the view that a key characteristic of
universities is where research and teaching are
brought together
• Some claim that the best researchers are usually the
best teachers (e.g. Cooke, 1998)
• Others dispute this claim (e.g. Jenkins, 2000); many
refer to examples of excellent researchers who are
poor teachers and vice versa
Linking research and teaching:
different conceptions of research
Source: Brew (2003, 6)
Linking research and teaching:
different conceptions of teaching
Information transfer / teacher focused
approach
Conceptual change / student focused
approach
Prosser and Trigwell (1999)
Linking research and teaching:
Conceptual compatibilities
Trading view of research and information
transmission approach to teaching
Journey view of research and conceptual
change approach to teaching
Trowler and Wareham (2007)
Linking research and teaching:
Knowledge transfer and public scholarship
Knowledge transfer, knowledge exchange, ‘third
stream’ activities – association with enterprise,
knowledge economy, vocationalism, professional
education and ‘performativity’
Public scholarship – ‘engaging in reciprocally
beneficial ways with communities at local,
national and international level’ (Krause, 2007, 5);
develops from Boyer’s ‘scholarship of
engagement’
STUDENTS AS PARTICIPANTS
Research-tutored
Research-based
EMPHASIS
ON
RESEARCH
PROCESSES
AND
PROBLEMS
EMPHASIS ON
RESEARCH
CONTENT
Research-led
Research-oriented
STUDENTS AS AUDIENCE
Curriculum design and the research-teaching nexus
(based on Healey, 2005, 70)
Mainstreaming undergraduate research and
inquiry: discipline and department strategies
How might undergraduate research and inquiry
be ‘mainstreamed’ into courses and
departmental programmes?
In pairs each skim read at least ONE different
disciplinary case study (pp 12-24) OR at least
ONE different department case study (pp 2532).
5 minutes
Students experience of learning in a
research environment: Physics
What is
research?
How visible is
it?
Where is it
located?
Who does it?
Breaking new ground; moving
forward; exploration and
discovery
Laboratories and machinery (ie
tools) but often behind closed
doors
Out there; at a higher level
Lecturers
Source: Robertson and Blackler (2006)
Students experience of learning in a
research environment: Geography
What is
research?
Gathering information in the
world; answering a question
How visible is
it?
Most visible in the field
Where is it
located?
Who does it?
Out there in the field
Lecturers and (increasingly over
time) students
Source: Robertson and Blackler (2006)
Students experience of learning in a
research environment: English
What is
research?
Looking into; gathering; putting
it together; a focus of interest
How visible is
it?
Not tangibly visible but apparent
in the dialogue
Where is it
located?
Who does it?
In the library; in the head
Lecturers and students
Source: Robertson and Blackler (2006)
Different views on undergraduate
research
Dimensions of undergraduate research
Student, process centred
Student initiated
Honors students
Curriculum based
Collaborative
Original to the student
Multi-or interdisciplinary
Campus/community audience
Capstone/final year
Pervades the curriculum
Outcome, product centred
Faculty initiated
All students
Co-curricular fellowships
Individual
Original to the discipline
Discipline based
Professional audience
Starting year one
Focussed
(Source: Adapted from Beckham and Hensel, 2007)
Different views on undergraduate
research and inquiry
Our working definition includes Boyer’s (1990)
scholarships of discovery, integration and application
(engagement) and is characterised by breadth:
“undergraduate research describes student
engagement from induction to graduation,
individually and in groups, in research and inquiry
into disciplinary, professional and communitybased problems and issues, including involvement
in knowledge exchange activities”
Childs et al., 2007
Mainstreaming undergraduate research
and inquiry: institutional perspectives
How might undergraduate research and
inquiry be ‘mainstreamed’ into
universities
In pairs each skim read at least ONE
different institutional case study (pp3341)
5 minutes
Issues in mainstreaming
undergraduate research and inquiry
• Is research and inquiry primarily for honours
and graduate students?
• Is research and inquiry for all students or a
highly selected group?
• How are students prepared to undertake
research and inquiry?
• What are students perceptions of research?
Students’ perceptions of research
A comparison of over 500 final year students’
perceptions of research in three universities
CanRI; UKRI; and UKLRI (Table 5):
• Students agreed that being involved in research
activities is beneficial
• Students do not perceive the development of their
research skills
• Communication is one of the issues that we need to
address – language used can exclude
Students’ perceptions of research:
• About three-quarters of the items followed our
hypothesis (particularly about the awareness of
research)
• Those where the hypothesis did not hold up were
mainly in the experiences with doing research,
where there were no significant differences
• Regardless of institution, there is the perception
amongst students that learning in an inquiry or
research-based mode is beneficial
Students’ awareness of research
U of A History
Faculty
U of A Student
Data
Research seminars
46%
75%
Books, articles or other research output
46%
68%
Notice boards advertising research opportunities
23%
59%
Existence of Research Centre or Institute
18%
72%
Areas with national or international reputations
18%
60%
Faculty are writing for publication
73%
79%
Faculty are supervising research students
46%
81%
Faculty are undertaking funded research
36%
77%
Faculty are supervising UG research assistants
18%
60%
Students’ experiences with research
U of A History
Faculty
U of A Student
Data
Staff discuss research
96%
85%
Reading research paper by staff
86%
60%
Undertaking independent project as part of
course
77%
43%
59%*
7%
Being subject of research
23%
47%
Development of research techniques
59%
27%
Attending research seminar
32%
27%
Contributing to research project outside of
class
14%
17%
Attending research conference
27%
19%
Undertaking undergraduate dissertations
Mainstreaming undergraduate
research and inquiry: conclusions
• Getting students to produce knowledge rather
than just consume knowledge is a way to re-link
teaching and research
• The challenge is to mainstream undergraduate
research so that all students may potentially
benefit
• Adopting a broader definition of undergraduate
research than is currently common is a way
forward (Boyer et al.), which should benefit the
learning of students in institutions with a range
of different missions
Mainstreaming undergraduate
research and inquiry: conclusions
If undergraduate research is to be truly integrated
into HE then the nature of higher education itself will
need to be reconceptualised.
“universities need to move towards creating
inclusive scholarly knowledge-building
communities. … The notion of inclusive scholarly
knowledge-building communities invites us to
consider new ideas about who the scholars are in
universities and how they might work in
partnership.” (Brew, 2007, 4)
There is a need to do more thinking ‘outside the box’
Moving Forward Together:
Engaging Students through Research
and Inquiry
THE END
Thank You