Pedagogic implications:The Case for Research

Informed Teaching

Professor Tansy JessopUSW Senior Management Conference on L&T

@tansyjtweets28 November 2016

This session

1) Fringe pedagogic or front and centre?2) Brief history3) What is RIT?4) What does it look like?5) Five compelling reasons for RIT6) Challenges7) So why bother with RIT?

Personal growth

Citizenship

Social justice and

transformation

Economy and jobs

Character and moral

virtue

Knowledge and

intellectual growth

Creativity

Looking back in history: medieval universities

• The main ones: Bologna (1088), Paris, Oxford (1000s), Cambridge (1209)• Training for church and civil service• Law and philosophy• Men• Authority of teachers• Printing press 1440 (Caxton), 1470 (Gutenberg)

Medieval Universities in Europe (circa 1100 to 1500)

It is a peculiarity of the institutions of higher learning that they treat learning as not yet completely solved problems, remaining at all times in a research mode… Schools, in contrast, treat only closed and settled bodies of knowledge

(Humboldt's Programme for University of Berlin 1810)

Birth of the modern university

The Modern University 2016

A ‘facts first’ approach prevails…

Research informed teaching challenges facts first

Defining the terms

Please write short phrase post-its in response to these questions (no right or wrong answers – go for gut feeling):

1) What is research? What words spring to mind to define research?

2) What is teaching?3) So what is research informed teaching?

So what is RIT?

Teachers active

Students active It’

s abo

ut c

onte

nt

It’s a

bout

pro

cess

Research-tutored

Research-orientedResearch-led

Research-based

(Healey 2005)

Take Five: Post it exercise • Write down as many examples

of RIT that you have experienced or led.

• Write down what prevents you or your colleagues from doing RIT.

• Populate the matrix nearest you

Five compelling reasons

1. The structure of our degrees demands it2. It is challenging3. It introduces students to the complexity of messy

problems4. It is exciting, authentic and student-centred5. It develops critical thinking, academic writing and

complex reasoning skills

1. Structure demands it120 Credits (20 per unit)

120 credits (20 per unit)

120 credits (20 per unit)

1 credit is worth 10 hours of work: each unit = 20 x 10 = 200 hours of which 40 is contact time

2. It is challenging

3. It introduces students to complex, messy real-world problems

The conundrum of Perry’s Module Evaluations…

“This course has changed my whole outlook on life. Superbly taught!”

“This course is falsely taught and dishonest. You have cheated me of my tuition”

This has been the most sloppy, disorganised course I’ve ever taken.

Of course I’ve made some improvement, but this has been due entirely to my own efforts!”

Intellectual Development of Students

The journey: move over dualism

By confronting students with uncertainty, ambiguity, and conflicting perspectives, instructors help them develop more mature mental models that coincide with the problem-solving approaches used by experts.

William Perry 1981

http://tinyurl.com/jmuypx6

4. Exciting, authentic and student-centred

“Research promotes critical and creative thinking, the habits of mind that nurture innovation; creates a sense of intellectual excitement and adventure, and provides the satisfaction of real accomplishment”. (Ellis, 2006)

“Enquiry-based learning enables students to take increasing control of their own learning…it views students as active participants in their learning”.

(University of Birmingham 2007)

5. Develops critical thinking, complex reasoning and academic writing

•Weighing up evidence• Putting questions before answers• Problem-solving mode• Not text-book• No ‘settled bodies of knowledge’• Shared journey

In summary, the case for RIT?

• Self-confidence• Independence in learning • Increasing epistemological sophistication• Entry into discipline research cultures• Collegial relations with academics• Improved grades• Enhanced metacognition• Increased engagement• Employability skills

(Levy 2012)

Benefits to students in the following areas:

We need to shift students from the idea that university is just like school, only faster.

Lewis Elton, 2003

Disciplinary action planning1. What RIT are you currently doing on your degree?

2. How does it balance across the four quadrants of Healey and Jenkins model?

3. What ‘blue skies’ dreams and aspirations do you have for incorporating more RIT?

4. How could you do it?

5. What are the challenges?

ReferencesBrew, A. 2003. Teaching and Research: New relationships and their implications for inquiry-based teaching and learning in higher education, HERDSA. 3-18.Brew, A. 1999. Research and teaching: Changing relationships in a changing context, Studies in Higher Education, 24:3, 291-301.Collini, S. 2012. What are Universities for? London: Penguin Books.Elton, L. 2001. Research and Teaching: Conditions for a positive link, Teaching in Higher Education, 6:1, 43-56.Hattie, J. and H.W. Marsh, 1996. The Relationship between Research and Teaching: A Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research, 66(4), 507-542.Healey, M. and A. Jenkins, 2009. Developing undergraduate research and inquiry. York: Higher Education Academy.Healey, M., 2005. Linking Research and Teaching: disciplinary spaces In R. Barnett, ed, Reshaping the university: new relationships between research, scholarship and teaching. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press, 30-42.Jessop, T and Wu, Q. 2016 (forthcoming) Debunking common myths about RIT. Dialogue Journ-alPerry, William 1981. Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning. In Chickering, A. 1981. The Modern American College. San Francisco. Jossey Bass. Shulman, L. 2004. Pedagogies of Substance. Chapter 7 In Teaching as Community Property: essays on Higher Education. 128-139. San Francisco. Jossey-Bass.