‘Research Makes Sense for Students’:
Students Awareness of and
Experiences with Research:
Brad Wuetherick
University of Alberta
brad.wuetherick@ualberta.ca
Introduction to the Session
1. What do we mean by researchbased teaching and learning?
2. What are students’ perceptions of
research and its impact on their
learning?
3. What are some of the institutional
lessons learned at the U of A in
Canada?
Introduction to the Session
“The time has come to move beyond the tired old
teaching versus research debate.”
Boyer (1990)
“Our view is that university research often detracts from
the quality of teaching. We regret the continuing
elevation of research and the systematic neglect of
the quality of instruction.”
Pocklington and Tupper (2002)
“I propose that colleges and universities provide an
opportunity for all undergraduates to conduct
research — to create knowledge.”
Ellis (2006)
Why is this important?
•
•
Teaching has suffered from imbalance
between R&T in status and rewards
In an age of ‘supercomplexity’ (Barnett
2000), and given the increased
significance of the knowledge economy
and the growth of interdisciplinarity,
“teaching and research are becoming
ever more intimately related … (and) all
students – certainly all graduates – have
to be researchers (Scott 2002, 13)
Why is this important?
• Need to seek synergies between
R&T to avoid unintended
consequences of focussing on one
or the other in isolation
• To achieve an ‘inquiring university’
we need a balance between
Compliance and Contestation
(Rowland, 2007)
Research vs. Teaching
•
•
Common perception that the best
researchers are also the best teachers
Hattie and Marsh (1996) – there was at
best a very small positive correlation
between the commonly used measures of
good research and teaching
–
“It should cease to be surprising that the
relationship between teaching and research
is zero, and it would be more useful to
investigate ways to increase the relationship”
Conceptions of Research-Based
Teaching and Learning
• There are different ways to
conceptualize RBTL:
– Presenting research to students,
learning through research, teaching as
research (Brew, 2003)
– Research-led, research-oriented,
research-based, research-informed
(Griffiths, 2004)
Conceptions of Research-Based
Teaching and Learning
Student-focused
Students as participants
Research-tutored
Research-based
Emphasis on
Research content
Emphasis on research
Process & problems
Research-led
Research-oriented
Teacher-focused
Students as audience
Healey, 2005
Conceptions of Research-Based
Teaching and Learning
Teacher focused
Transmissive
Research outcome
transmitted
Student focused
Conceptual Change
Research process
transmitted
Students engage
with outcomes or
are provided issue
to solve via process
Presentation of
Methods/approaches
Artefacts &/or
information brought
into courses
Class activity comes
out of research
Review of research
article
Students as
researchers
Projects
Dissertations
Publication or
production of research
outcome
Inquiry based learning
Problem based learning
(Wuetherick and
Turner, 2006)
Variation between linking T and R
•
The ease and ways of linking research
and teaching varies:
–
–
–
With definition of research e.g. Boyer’s four
‘scholarships’ and Hong Kong RAE
By institutional type e.g. Colbeck (1998)
‘Vantage’ University versus ‘Cosmopolitan’
University
By discipline e.g. ‘soft’ versus ‘hard’
disciplines
What are the Student Perceptions?
There is research on student perceptions of these
issues (Jenkins et al., 1998; Breen & Lindsay,
1999; Zamorski, 2002; Robertson & Blackler,
2006):
• Benefits: staff enthusiasm, staff credibility,
‘reflected glory’ of being taught by internationally
respected staff
• Disadvantages: staff availability, little sense of
ownership, and research taking priority
• Most of the studies have been done with
reasonably small samples, usually at a single
institution
Student Comments
“Helped me to understand that…there’s
so much more out there that is left to
be learned about.”
U of A Final Year Arts Student
Student Comments
“[research] would make your lecturers
far more enthusiastic about what
they’re doing … they can bring their
own examples rather than making
dry lectures [based on] what suchand-such said in 1989.”
U of G Final Year Science Student
Student Comments
“Some (lecturers) … are far more interested
in their research and are clearly only
teaching because their contract with the
University requires them to. This comes
through pretty plainly when it is the case,
as the (lecturer) is often not prepared for
class or interested in whether you truly
understand the material.”
U of A Final Year Science Student
Students Awareness of Research
All
U of A
RHUL
U of G
Research seminars
66%
75%
77%
46%
Books, articles or
other research
output
65%
68%
86%
52%
Existence of
Research Centre or
Institute
50%
72%
30%
14%
Areas with national
or international
reputations
43%
60%
32%
13%
Students Experiences with Research
All
U of A
RHUL
U of G
Staff discuss
research
76%
85%
84%
55%
Reading research
paper by staff
54%
60%
64%
39%
Undertaking
independent project
48%
43%
55%
55%
Undertaking
dissertation
35%
7%
77%
78%
Developed research
techniques
27%
27%
32%
25%
I have little awareness of my instructors’
research interests
80
60
40
U of A
20
RHUL
U Glouc
0
Strongly
Disagree/Disagree
Neutral
Agree/Strongly Agree
Instructors involved in research are
more enthusiastic about their subject
80
60
40
20
0
U of A
RHUL
Strongly
Disagree/Disagree
Neutral
Agree/Strongly Agree
U Glouc
The most effective teaching is when we
are involved in aspects of the research
process
60
40
U of A
20
RHUL
0
Strongly
Disagree/Disagree
Neutral
Agree/Strongly Agree
U Glouc
Is research an important priority for
your education?
Percent
Academic Faculty
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 Very
low
priority
2
Professional Faculty
3
4
5 Very
high
priority
What are the most important
priorities for a quality education?
Instructors who are good teachers
Instructors who care about students’ learning
98%
95%
Degree program prepares you for a future
career
Modules are relevant to your future career
92%
92%
Research-related items:
Opportunities to do research
Being taught primarily by tenure-track staff
44%
36%
Overview of Key Results
1) Students reported a varied experience of
research across the various approaches
(learning about others’ research, learning
about research methods, learning to do
research, and learning through the
research process) with a complex pattern
emerging between these experiences
and research-intensivity of institution
Overview of Key Results
2) No significant difference existed between
the three institutions in the number of
students reporting the development of
research skills and the number reporting
staff research having a positive impact on
the development of these skills. In
addition, at all three institutions the
number reporting experiencing the
development of research skills was less
than a third of those surveyed
Overview of Key Results
3) Students at more research-intensive institutions
reported significantly more positive and
significantly more negative impacts of research
on their learning;
4) A majority of students at all three institutions
reported learning best when involved in their
own projects or aspects of their instructors
research (ie the third category of approach to
linking research and teaching - learning through
the research process).
Institutional Initiatives: U of A
• “Research Makes Sense for
Students”
– Working Group (2004)
– Made up of key staff from across the
institution (including a Dean and
Department Head), plus student
representatives and staff union
representatives
Student Inquiry and Discovery
“We must integrate discovery into all aspects of learning. The “Great
University” of the twenty-first century must involve students in
exploring our grand challenges. … Our students, graduate and
undergraduate, must acquire a capacity for creativity and social
ingenuity by tackling questions like these. Indeed we have taken
the first steps in making discovery central to learning by
launching initiatives related to undergraduate research. For while
it is true that intellectual mastery begins with the rigorous
exploration of a subject in the classroom, it must be extended in
the laboratories of life through research projects and internships
throughout the world.” – President Indira Samarasekera, 2005
Conceptualizing the Link
On campus we need to be able to
conceptualize the link:
• Culture shift
• Values and Principles
• Continue to Scan Practices and
Evaluate Policies and Procedures
Developing the Link
In our learning environment we should
be addressing these areas:
• Learning About Research
• Developing Research Skills
• Experiencing and Doing Research
• Setting the Foundation for an
Inquiry-based Career
Facilitating the Link
The University community needs to
facilitate the link effectively:
• Professional Development
• Adequate Resources
• Administrative Structures
• Celebrating
• Evaluating Success
Key Implications
•
What should a graduate of an
undergraduate degree program look like?
(What is the purpose of higher
education?)
–
–
Graduate Attributes framework that goes
beyond the functional to the dispositional
Must provide opportunities for ALL
undergraduates to engage in inquiry and
discovery learning
Key Implications
• Communication is critical – how do
we communicate with our students
about research and how they
experience research?
• How can we link this with existing
frameworks for graduate attributes
to get at the dispositional qualities
we are trying to inculcate?
Key Implications
•
•
•
How can we create inclusive, scholarly
knowledge-building communities that
include undergraduate students?
How can we change our own academic
practice to be more integrated?
What strengths and challenges exist that
need to be maximized/minimized based
on the institution?
For More Info
www.ualberta.ca/researchandstudents
www.ualberta.ca/summit
brad.wuetherick@ualberta.ca