Research Skill Development of SAVS students

Dr Susan HazelDr Cindy BottemaDr John Willison

SAVS SurveyMonkey

Mix of people who know a lot and people who know nothing!

The RSD Facets

.......but first a story

‘Lightning never strikes twice in the same place’ (in the same storm)

Reasons why this adage may be true

Reasons why this adage may be wrong

Group with the most reasons reads them out.

What skills did you use to do that?

RSD Facets Audience’s Analysis

A. Embark & determine need

B. Find & Generate

C. Evaluate

D. Perform necessary processes

E. Organise selves

F. Communicate

Organize&manage

Analyse&synthesis

Emba

rk& c

larif

y

Find &

generateEvaluate & reflect

Communicate& apply

Facets of research

Are also key

features of…

Problem solving

Critical Thinking

Other = • ‘All of the above’• ‘I would use it in curriculum design as it would aid setting the learning objectives and the assessment expectations..’

SAVS SurveyMonkey

‘teaching professional and enterprising concepts - not really asking students to research, but more to information gather, communicate, evaluate, and synthesise responses (using technical knowledge and reasoning as base)’

From your perspective what would you consider to be the potential gains and risk of applying the RSD framework to your teaching & learning context?

• ‘Making sure the students understand what they are supposed to be aiming for and how to achieve it.’

• ‘Broaden my perspective to my teaching’• ‘Gains are to deconstruct the training in research to a teaching

activity; Risks are that in trying to conform to the framework that we inhibit innovation, creativity and spontaneity’

• ‘I teach Research Methodology to 2nd year and Honours students and find it a very useful tool. I can't think of too many negatives, except that my second year students find my course a bit too unstructured. I intend this so that they are forced to start to think.’

• ‘Add structure to what is done. Add rigour to what is done. Coordinated approach across courses helps student learning outcomes.’

• ‘Ask me again after the workshop.’

How, if at all, do you currently develop research skills in specific courses?

• ‘I specifically teach research skills, from the general process with definitions to specific details.’

• ‘Full prac report assignments, expect peer reviewed references, Lab prac skills.’

• ‘Write scientific paper in Livestock Production Write own breeding program in Animal Breeding’

• ‘Teach clinical research skills in vet skills 3 and epi. Supervise between 5 and 10 student for CRP. Will coordinate VEBE: I guess we need to discuss soon!’

• ‘Have created a course that pairs students with a research mentor’

• ‘don't do it’

How, if at all, do you currently assess research skills in specific courses?

• ‘Assignments, practicals and examination.’• ‘Formative assessment of course work.’• ‘via rubrics including best practice referencing and depth to

assignments’• ‘Formative and summative assessment. Not much time and

resources to spend on this though.’• ‘Rubrics for written and presented work; Written rubric assesses

same broad criteria as a specified journal’• ‘don't do it’

Other= • ‘Especially for Animal Science students’• ‘Could be optimized.’

“I know that research is important, not only from an educational perspective, but if I’m in a work situation... it’s just basically understanding what I want to achieve in my role with my customer... and how I actually go about breaking that down into manageable easy steps. So, yes, it’s got a practical application in my world in what I do.” -Monash Business Ethics Student Summer 07-08 Cohort, interviewed in April 2009.

89% of students indicated the research skills they developed would be useful in employment

2012 Hons Animal Science Student who experienced RSD in 1st and 2nd year

'Well, if you’re doing research or a paper or whatnot, for every aspect of your research, you have to look at each one of those steps. So even though I may not consciously think, okay, I need to find this knowledge, I need to read it, I need to analyse this knowledge, and find the gaps in the knowledge to develop an assignment, whether I go through those steps or not, it will be something that I believe will be more unconscious that I go through these steps to come out with communicating what I found as my critical analysis based on the previous literature, da, da, da. I think it will just happen. It is because of all the skills that I developed in my undergrad. ’

Degrees of Autonomy

Prescribed

Bounded

Scaffolded

Stu choice

Open

scope

Enlarging

Adopted

Faculty Initiated Student Initiated Discipline Making

Level of Autonomy in a Course?

• There is no rule• Raises teaching questions• E.g. the move from first year to second year ...

RigourConceptual DemandDepth of background knowledge

Student Autonomy

AQF Level 8: Level of Autonomy

Initiative

responsibility

accountability

independence x2

When do SAVS students develop these?

How will this be evidenced to TEQSA?

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Honours Medical Science Student who had experienced RSD in First Year

Since the beginning, they have given us assignments based on this criteria. You might not have liked the assignments, but because they have been consistently applying this structure to all of our assignments, we have come to think that way for science, in the perspective of science and writing. So we have been kind of primed to think that way now. I guess I have to change my answer and say yes it’s good to have it for undergrad because you do follow these guidelines anyway. You might not know that you’re following their guidelines, but you are.

Affective Domain

Facet A: Students embark, & clarify the knowledge that is needed

Curious

‘I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.’Albert Einstein

‘It inspires something in you that makes you want to find out’First Year Human Biology Student

Decidedly curious…

… being in query

Affective Domain Descriptors

Deficit Affect Descriptor Excess

Disengaged Curious Unfocussed

Affective Domain (continued)

• Facet B: Students find & generate needed information using appropriate methodology

Determined

‘It's not that I am so smart. It's just that I stay with problems longer.’ Albert Einstein

Determined to get there in the end…

Being determined puts the ‘re’ in research

Affective Domain Descriptors

Deficit Affect Descriptor Excess

Slapdash Determined Obsessive

Affective Domain (continued)

• Facet C: students evaluate information/data and reflect on the research processes used

• Discerning• "I think and think for months and years.

Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. "

Albert Einstein

Discerning the valuable amongst the valueless

Affective Domain (continued)

Facet D: students organise & manage information collected/generated and research processes

• Harmonising • Resonating with the data, making hidden

patterns obvious. Working harmoniously with people, processes

‘Out of clutter, find simplicity.’ Albert Einstein

Harmonising

On song with inputsIn tune with peopleHound dog harmonising

Affective Domain Descriptors

Deficit Affect Descriptor Excess

Chaotic Harmonising Dogmatic

Affective Domain (continued)

Facet E: Students analyse & synthesise information, data and new knowledge

Creative• Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles

the world- Albert Einstein

Creative

Affective Domain Descriptors

Deficit Affect Descriptor Excess

Mimicking Creative Esoteric

Affective Domain (continued)

• Facet F: students communicate & apply understanding and the processes used to generate it, in an ethically, socially and culturally mindful way.

• Constructive• ‘Go to where the silence is and say

something’ – Amy Goodman• "the greatest talent is the ability to strip a

theory until the simple basic idea emerges with clarity." -- Albert Einstein

vConstructive

September 2008

September 2011

Autonomy vs Time

Semester at Uni 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th

ExtentofAutonomy

L 5

L 4

L 3

L 2

L 1

Autonomy vs Time

Semester at Uni 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th

ExtentofAutonomy

L 5

L 4

L 3

L 2

L 1

Autonomy vs Time in 2nd Year Physiology Lab (Luckie, 2004)

Week of Laboratory 1wk 2wk 3wk 4wk 5wk 6wk 7wk 8wk

ExtentofAutonomy

L 5

L 4

L 3

L 2

L 1

Commonly Known----- Commonly Not Known------Totally Unknown

Degree of AutonomyVs

Degree of ‘Knowness’Autonomy

Level

Degree of knowness of your most recent research area

5

4

3

2

1

1st Year 3rd-4th Year PhD

References

• Allan, C. (2011). Exploring the experience of ten Australian Honours students. Higher Education Research and Development 30 (4), pp. 421-433.

• Willison, J.W. & O’Regan, K. (2006).Research Skill Development framework. Available at www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/rsd

• Willison, J.W. & O’Regan, K. (2007). Commonly known, commonly not known, totally unknown: A framework for students becoming researchers. Higher Education Research and Development 26 (4), pp. 493- 509.

Slide 48

“I know that research is important, not only from an educational perspective, but if I’m in a work situation... it’s just basically understanding what I want to achieve in my role with my customer... and how I actually go about breaking that down into manageable easy steps. So, yes, it’s got a practical application in my world in what I do. -Monash Business Ethics Student Summer 07-08 Cohort, interviewed in April 2009.

89% of students indicated the research skills they developed would be useful in employment

Why develop students’ research skills?

Research Skills Developed in Single-courses

• I don’t think I’ve ever had so much emphasis placed on credible sourcing before. Like we would just use a random website, really, and not think about who had actually put that up there. This subject really helped me think like that, even at my own workplace...

Skills typically developed, from academics and students perspective were:

• Question posing• Finding relevant information• Evaluating information 50

Facets of research

All facets are utilised in:

literature/published data research laboratory research clinical research field research combined forms discipline-based & interdisciplinary research

Six Facets of Research

The facets of researchIn researching, students:

embark & clarify

Embark on research and clarify need for knowledge/ understanding

find & generate

Find & generate needed information using appropriate methodology

evaluate & reflectEvaluate information & data and reflect on the research process

organise & manageorganise information collected/generated and manage research processes

analyse & synthesise synthesise and analyse new knowledge

communicate & applyCommunicate processes, understandings and applications of the research,

mindful of ethical, social and cultural issues.

(Willison & O’Regan, 2006)

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Facets of research (cont)

Progressive revisiting the same skills: in varying contexts with increasing degrees of rigour, conceptual demand

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