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Facets of Northumbria’s Strategy to enhance Research-Teaching Links
An Overview of the Northumbria Initiative
Changing Practice and Changing Thinking
Aims
o Bringing research and teaching communities together
o Encouraging shifts in departmental culture and teaching styles
o Motivating staff to adopt new practice and new way of thinking
o Influencing positive changes in student behaviour and their perceptions of research
Strategies – Resources and Information Support
Research and Teaching Steering GroupProject OfficerCentral resources – e.g. CPD module, Red
Guide, annotated bibliographyDedicated web pagesBaseline student survey
Strategies – RIT project awards
Bidding process School-based projects Approaches to linking research and
teaching Tangible outputs
Strategies - DisseminationInformation sessions for biddersRIT staff development events – like this one!Cross-School project meetingsUniversity/external conference eventsNorthumbria RIT publication
Is it making a difference?Captured staff imagination and curiosityResearch and teaching worlds coming
togetherPositive reaction from staff involved in
projectsOptimism that students are enjoying new
styles of learning promoted by the projects
Facets of Northumbria’s Strategy to enhance Research-Teaching Links
The Baseline Study
Baseline studyResearch question“What do students currently understand
and experience in terms of research at Northumbria University?”
MethodologyMick Healey’s workMixed methodology
- questionnaire- interviews
Student awareness
22% were aware of research/consultancy reputation of staffin their subject areas when they applied to Northumbria“Research is not as highly valued as far as I know, the University is more focused on teaching allegedly.” “I knew that the Psychology Department had a good reputation for research …they are quite high up in the league tables. I had looked on the website” “I looked on the Internet…If they are doing research in the Uni it gives the Uni a better name. I would not have wanted to go somewhere where they did not do research. “
Finding out about staff research
Notice boards and posters“On the board you can look at their results of their experiments”Do they notice the notice?“Unless it is relevant …I probably don’t pay attention. If a poster was more specific to what I was doing, I would be more curious”Reading lists and journal articles“I love finding books and articles by lecturers!”Emails, handouts, leaflets, newsletters, VLE & website“They have their own websites and have referred us to them in class so we can see the stuff they are doing outside. It is fantastic”In seminars – scant!
Positive impact (1)
63.3% of students agreed ‘research staff are moreenthusiastic about their subject’ Increasing student understanding: “Awareness of what is happening outside of academia within industry helps make learning relevant to practice and up to date” “Gave me insight into industry and what they would be looking for in me and my work in terms of the understanding between client and designer.”
Positive impact (2)
Stimulated student interest and enthusiasm: “Because of my lecturer's knowledge and her research themodule is easy to understand and more interesting. I can't wait to read her work and learn from it a bit more”
“In the delivery of the module the staff don't come across as reeling off the facts and figures. They share true life experiences, drawn from vivid memory, which adds an exciting and vibrant dimension to the class sessions”
Facets of Northumbria’s Strategy to enhance Research-Teaching Links
The CPD RIT Module
CPD RIT Module Intentions
Support RIT initiative Improve quality of work on RIT projectsPromote shared learningIncrease engagement with existing CPD
Academic Practice programme
Northumbria CPD FrameworkFree-standing 20-credit modulesPG awardsFor staff who teach and support learningFunded by HRClose link to own practiceFlexibilityUnderpinned by Scholarship of T&L
CPD Module on T-R Link
Open 1st session Session themes:
1. Conceptualising the link between T and R2. What is research?3. The student experience of research4. Evaluating your initiatives5. The potential of an enquiry-based approach to link T and R6. Participants’ own projects7. Evidence: reviews, meta-analyses8. Brew: communities of enquiry
Summative assessment: Negotiable format Report on strengthening T-R link in own work context Can include bids for funding, project reports etc.
Participation in module06/07 07/08
Participants: in first session only
36 12
Participants: in module
11 8
Submissions 3, more outstanding
Not due yet
Evaluation of moduleFeedback from participants
Sparked off new ideas and activitiesProvided conceptual underpinning for
developmentsEnjoyed working with colleagues from different
SchoolsBonus to get credits
Own reflectionsContentious area – important to examine viewsUnderpinning for good practice and projectsSpace for dialogue Modest contribution to culture change
Facets of Northumbria’s Strategy to enhance Research-Teaching Links
School Based Projects
Developing Staff and Student Engagement with up to date Evaluation Research in Sports Development
Linda AllinDivision of Sport Sciences
School of Psychology and Sport Sciences
Background to the Project Research methods module does not specifically cover
evaluation research, yet this was thought by staff to be a key form of research utilised within the sports development field.
Community Sports Development module had potential for engaging students with ‘real life’ evaluation research and enhancing learning, but links not established.
Staff in sports development are researchers, but insufficiently engaged with applied sports development research
Project Objectives
Through contact with key employers in the region, to identify specific evaluation research projects that could be undertaken by sports development undergraduates in conjunction with the organisation each year
To research employer views on research, the value of research to their field and the research skills needed by graduates (and feed back to students)
To develop guidelines for students in relation to working with organisations and build a database of case studies that can be used to inform subsequent modules
To develop potential research opportunities for sports development staff
Project Evaluation
Survey of reviews from students in relation to the benefits of their involvement in ‘real life’ evaluation research
Focus group with students to gain deeper understanding of their learning
Employer feedback
Longer term impact may be judged in relation to the quality of work and understanding across level 5 and 6, as well as student/staff engagement with employers and sports development applied research
Student Views
‘When you’ve actually got to go out and do it, it gives you a better understanding of what you’re doing because you know the ins and outs of it. And you know exactly what you’ve asked, the process that has been there to answer it and the results that you’ve got from it, instead of just being given a piece of paper in black and white saying ‘We did this, this and this and this is what happened’
‘We’re going out and doing this and we might be going out looking for one result and there might be something completely different happen and we’ve got to change our whole focus, because it is real and you can’t predict what’s going to happen. You’ve got to change everything to go with what you’re given or what you get from your interviews’.
‘Just how important the issues are relating to research and CSD. Not everything that is said actually gets done and there are a lot of tensions and contradictions that arise’
Benefits to learning
Students engagement in learning through first hand experience of ‘real life’ evaluation research in the discipline
Students developing research skills, and potentially contacts, relevant for employability
Staff research providing increased understanding of the place of research in sports development industry
Increased staff understanding of student learning through inquiry based approach
Enhancing Teaching through Research as Professional Practice:
Developing Construction Site Safety Multimedia through
Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Student Research Activities
Tim HowarthSchool of the Built Environment
Northumbria [email protected]
School of the Built Environment
Background to the Project’s Inception
• Construction sites can be hazardous places – with around 80 fatalities per annum in UK.
• There is an ongoing need to enhance construction site hazard awareness and safety management education and practice.
• The project is interdisciplinary, links research and teaching within the curriculum, serves to facilitate research into practice, and provides for the development of a construction site safety awareness learning resource
The R-T Link Project Explained
• An innovative, student developed, learner-centred multimedia tool will result from the project – this documents a journey around a large construction site (the RVI Hospital in Newcastle) and contains ‘hazard hotspots’ and embedded safety-related presentations’.
• A community of collaborators been engaged with the project - including students and staff of the School of the Built Environment, students and staff of Northumbria University’s media production course and a very supportive construction industry contractor.
So ….
• Media Production students undertake research into practice as they produce a film, 360o photography and the develop the multimedia learning resource for a real client – the School of the Built Environment.
• Built Environment students research safety hazards and incidents occurring on construction sites – this involves desk top studies, visits to sites and interviews with construction personnel. Informative ‘hazard’ presentations are produced. These are embedded within the site film by media production students.
Key Features of this Interdisciplinary R-T Link Project
• Serves to develops better understanding of professional practice (both construction safety management and media production) subject knowledge, research skills (in a professional context) and appreciation of research in the discipline are all developed
• The project directs students to carry out their own research – H&S practice in the context of built environment students and aspects of commercial media production for media production students
• Students learn about research within a professional context – not only do they engage as ‘consumers’ of research, they are also ‘producers’ – having undertaken research within an applied professional context and delivered a research-informed output
Key Project Features
We consider that the project presents significant benefits:
1. for student participants - enhanced knowledge and practice within a professional context
2. an innovative and interactive learning tool - a research output for future use within the curriculum
3. the opportunity to work collaboratively across traditional university discipline ‘boundaries’
4. potential use by Universities and other agencies across the UK construction industry – as a learning tool to enhance awareness, knowledge and management practice regarding common construction sites hazards. (H&S competence and training is a legal requirement)
