Learning. teaching. higher education research Conceptions of Embeddedness: RBL, generic skills and...

learning . teaching . higher education research

Conceptions of Embeddedness: RBL, generic skills and the undergraduate curriculum

Calvin Smith (PhD)

Griffith University, Brisbane Australia

GIHE learning . teaching . higher education research

• Part 1 - Embedding…some issues• Part 2 - RBL and generic skills agenda –

some speculative thoughts


Purposes Conceptions• Institutions differ in their missions (purposes)

– “Ancient” (in Australia GO8) versus more recently established universities – discipline traditions, entry level of students

• External factors increasingly influence purpose– “Massification” more diverse student body, aspirations

vocationalisation– “marketisation” competition within the sector, between unis– Rationalisation / politico-economic basis for determining purpose

• macro-level “skills supply” management• employability skills agenda• vocationalisation and place of business as a stakeholder

– Globalisation need to consider (need a GPS)• your own international mix (for cultural reasons)• where students can take their skills / where they want to go• where they might go, if they had something different from your

current outcomes mix


GGA Conceptions Curriculum– Nature of outcomes - Skills versus attributes /

qualities / values– Purposes for those skill/attribute outcomes

(employability, social or disciplinary leadership)– “Consumers” of those outcomes (students;

employers / business / industry; university; society)

– Scope / level of achievement of those outcomes (whole of university, discipline, individual profile)


Conceptions of GA development in curricula• Three main approaches:

– Separate – above-and-beyond the discipline’s core knowledge-base, so separate curriculum (precursor skills, external courses, add-ons, intensives, capstones)

– Incidental - learning that occurs during course of the degree so no action needed – retain focus on disciplinary knowledge curriculum

– Integrated - explicitly planned, designed, taught, and (maybe) assessed, within the program context, in a systematic way that integrates with disciplinary knowledge learning/teaching (discipline-nuanced)


Professional development

• Embedding GA development opportunities requires individual staff to – redevelop curricula

• A focus on broader purposes and mission • A curriculum focus (instead of traditional focus on

courses/papers/units; personal expertise)

– redevelop selves • learning about curriculum and course design, • autonomy versus cooperation in curriculum development• Collaborating on integration of courses within programs


Example – university of anywhere • University of anywhere (an “Ancient”)

– Traditional agenda for GGAs, qualities, not just skills• Development of policy environment

– Conceptions of GAs, implementation plan, reporting, responding, lines of responsibility (executive Deans etc) QA cycles of measurement and response

• Implementation of embedding strategy– Central development unit– Adopt a conception (e.g. translation)– Explain the implications of that conception (e.g. already doing this, just needs

explicating and some development and assessment)– Help with translation and curriculum development (central unit working with

disciplinary CD teams)• Implementation of QA strategy

– Central development unit– Measurement model (not assessment-based)– Surveys – resourced, biennial, outcomes and environment research-based

decisions about institutional learning environment strategy (LCS)

Purposes

Policy

OD/PD

QA/QE

Alignm

ent


Stein, S., & Smith, C. D. (2001). Mapping Graduate Attributes. Brisbane: University of Qld.


Course-level mapping

• To get the view from each course as to what they are currently doing in the hidden or implicit curriculum

• many GAs are developed through existing learning activities in which students engage

• No need to start ab initio to build in development opportunities

Phase 2


Course-level mapping

Accounts of various activities that constitute the development

opportunities for students

Phase 2 cont.


Program-level mapping• Gridding of courses that make up the

program against the graduate attributes• The course maps are essential validations

for this curriculum-level map, so they should be accurate

Phase 3


This is the justification of the claim that the GA is developed here – could be a statement, a description of activities and level of development, could include reference to backup documents…

Phase 3 cont.


Problem: Identification of blackspots, weaknesses, overburdened courses, under-burdened courses, missed opportunities for developmental sequencing, repetition of learning at same levels and/or through same activities.

Solution? Yes, but actions must then follow to rectify any problems identified.

Source: Smith, C.D. Curriculum mapping for accreditation, validation and generic skill development in higher education (manuscript under review)


RBL/RTL/TRN/RITL?

• What would be the list of skills/attributes that would be the “generic” outcomes of a research-integrated curriculum?

Note: not thinking: “researching teaching” (scholarship of teaching) nor “being informed by research” (lecturers being up-to-date); rather integrating inquiry and research into the UG curriculum.

Part 2


ACNeilsen Research Services. (2000). Employer Satisfaction with Graduate Skills: Research Report. Canberra: DETYA.


Employability skills

Precision Consultancy, & Commonwealth of Australia. (2007). Graduate Employability Skills. Canberra.


The usual (UG) suspects…• Teamwork• Oral and written communication• Critical analysis• Information literacy• Problem-solving and creativity• Ethics and leadership• Life-long learning


RHD and other PG degrees

• Communication, 2nd languages, teaching, scientific practice, ethics, service to profession (Breslow 2006)

• Management and personnel skills, cultural sensitivity, leadership (Kwirim 2006)

• Leadership – independence, creativity, multi-disciplinarity (Stacy 2006)

• Teaching, learning community members (Cronon, 2006)

Breslow, R. (2006). Developing breadth and depth of kowledge: The doctorate in chemistry. In C. M. Golde & G. E. Walker (Eds.), Envisioning the future of doctoral education: preparing stewards of the discipline. Carnegie essays on the doctorate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kwiram, A. L. (2006). Time for reform? In C. M. Golde & G. E. Walker (Eds.), Envisioning the future of doctoral education: preparing stewards of the discipline. Carnegie essays on the doctorate (pp. 141-166). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Stacy, A. M. (2006). Training future leaders. In C. M. Golde & G. E. Walker (Eds.), Envisioning the future of doctoral education: preparing stewards of the discipline. Carnegie essays on the doctorate (pp. 187-206). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Cronon, W. (2006). Getting ready to do history. In C. M. Golde & G. E. Walker (Eds.), Envisioning the future of doctoral education: preparing stewards of the discipline. Carnegie essays on the doctorate (pp. 327-349). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


[In the] most complex integrated conception … generic attributes are understood to be interwoven aptitudes and abilities, such as academic inquiry and intellectual curiosity, the ability to accommodate diversity and alternative perspectives, the ability to create and defend ideas, and the ability to use communication as a vehicle for learning. …[T]he processes by which students might develop such abilitiescan also be far broader than the familiar academic classroom learning environment…[raising] the question of how universities might help students harness the learning potential of their engagement with other facets ofuniversity life outside of their formal classes. (Barrie 2007 p.456)

High-level UG GGAs• academic inquiry • intellectual curiosity• the ability to accommodate

diversity and alternative perspectives

• the ability to create and defend ideas

• the ability to use communication as a vehicle for learning


Conceptions of research• Making a contribution through

research– To a social problem or issue– To the discipline

• Contributing to a research/scholarly community as a member of that community or society

• Bring about change• Communicate new findings

The primary intention …of … research is to make a contribution to a larger disciplinary or social group. … advancing a particular social cause … or a more traditional focus on advancing the discipline. Research is seen as a means of addressing broader social or disciplinary issues of importance … produc[ing] material of value to a particular research or social community that will lead to significant resolutions of problem areas within that community. The … purpose of publications is to spread the message and encourage change …[in] the research/social community [including] a focus on non-academic publications, designed to reach a broader audience. (Akerlind 2008)

Åkerlind, G. S. (2008). An academic perspective on research and being a researcher: an integration of the literature. Studies in Higher Education, 33(1), 17-31.


What might we do…• Design learning experiences

that emphasise:– construction of knowledge (by

students)– uncertainty of the research

task and strategies within disciplines

– experiencing the process of scientific and creative productivity

Examples of strategies to increase the relationship between teaching and research include the following: Increase the skills of staff to teach, emphasising the construction of knowledge by students rather than the imparting of knowledge by instructors, … develop strategies across all disciplines that emphasise the uncertainty of the task and

strategies within the disciplines, … (and) ensure that students experience the process of artistic and scientific productivity.” (Hattie and Marsh,1996, pp. 529, 533 and 544; emphasis added as quoted in Jenkins and Healey 2005)

Hattie, J. A., & Marsh, H. W. (1996). The relationship between research and teaching-a meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 66, 507-542.

Jenkins, A., & Healey, M. (2005). Institutional strategies to link teaching and research. York: Higher Education Academy.


What to do – institutionally – with curriculum?

In developing an effective strategy we suggest that institutions need to decide:

a) the extent to which the institutional focus is on learning as inquiryb) the degree to which schools or departments have freedom to

develop the nexus in line with their disciplinary cultures and other strategies

c) how support departments should develop effective policies to support the nexus

d) the extent to which the research strategies at institutional and departmental levels are, in part, directed explicitly to support the institutional commitment to link teaching and research

Jenkins, A., & Healey, M. (2005). Institutional strategies to link teaching and research. York: Higher Education Academy. p.30.


What to embed?

• Inquiry-based learning• Discipline-nuanced, integrated research experiences• Communication and teaching opportunities (e.g. research

seminar, student publications)• Some multi- trans- disciplinary, problem-focused exposure• Learning community ethos• Lifelong learning value – understood as continued scholarship• Epistemological belief change


McInnis, C., Griffin, P., James, R., & Coates, H. (2001). Development of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) (No. 6662HERC01A). Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) and Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA).

Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Tinto, V. (1998). Colleges as Communities: Taking Research on Student Persistence Seriously. The Review of Higher Education, 21(2), 167-177.

Tinto, V. (2000). Learning Better Together: The Impact of Learning Communities on Student Success in Higher Education. Journal of Institutional Research, 9(1), 48-53.


Beta values

for each

IV

GA1

CPS

GA2

DKS

GA3

ESS

LCS .394*** .265*** .307***

CQ .118*** .206*** .068**

TQ .193*** .282*** .130***

GTS .144*** .050* .218***

Regression models:

DV=GA1 (comm/n & problem solving) R2 =.51

DV=GA (discipline knowledge & skills) Reg R2 =.45

DV=GA3 (ethical and social sensitivity) Reg R2 =.37

Smith, C. D., & Bath, D. M. (2006). The Role of the Learning Community in the Development of Discipline Knowledge and Generic Graduate Outcomes. Higher Education(51), 259-286.

*p<.05; **p<.01; *** p<.001

Comm & problem solving

Discipline knowledge and skills

Ethical and social

sensitivity

Integration of courses in program

Teaching qual @ Res intensive uni

CEQ GTS


the teaching of both the discipline content and the generic attributes…[in] an integrated … curriculum

Barrie, S. (2007). A conceptual framework for the teaching and learning of generic graduate attributes. Studies in Higher Education, 32(4), 439-458.

The process of teaching was the

focus of this conception.

…an integrated curriculum…in terms of the way the learner engages with the curriculum

the way the student participatesin the broader experience of…belonging to … the intellectual and socialcommunity of the university,


Life-long learning• Characterised by the

abilities to – Integrate theory and

practice– Respond to change– Continue to learn

• And related to– useful and productive

citizenship

Lifelong learning… the "capacity to respond flexibly to changing circumstances, to learn throughout a career, and to integrate theory and practice…" (Bligh, 1982). And … learning in a variety of formal, informal, planned and opportunistic settings …important for national competitiveness [and] social cohesion (P. Candy, Crebert, & O'Leary, 1994). … “necessary if one is to be a useful and productive citizen both of the immediate and the broader community” ((Berman 1984:105). (Bath and Smith n.d.).

Bath, D., & Smith, C. D. (under review). The relationship between epistemological beliefs and the propensity for lifelong learning.

Bligh, E. (1982). Professionalism and flexibility in learning. In Leverhulm Series No 6 Ed. Guildford: Society for Research into Higher Education.

Candy, P., Crebert, G., & O'Leary, J. (1994). Developing lifelong learners through undergraduate education. NBEET. Canberra: AGPS.


EB• In Schommer’s conception:

– 5 different dimensions that can develop independently of each other at different rates

– an individual could be considered sophisticated in some beliefs, they could also be considered naïve in other beliefs.

For example, an individual may believe that knowledge can be interrelated (sophisticated belief), while still believing in the certainty of knowledge (naïve belief).



Epistemological beliefs• Measure of people’s beliefs about the

nature of knowledge

• EBs make an independent, significant contribution to the prediction of lifelong learning characteristics above and beyond the impact of – self-efficacy– openness to experience– change readiness, and– approaches to learning

Epistemic Beliefs Inventory (EBI) Schommer (1990) …five factors includ[ing]

Omniscient Authority (e.g., “People shouldn’t question authority”),

Certain Knowledge (e.g., “What is true today will be true tomorrow”),

Quick Learning (e.g., “Working on a problem with no quick solution is a waste of time”),

Simple Knowledge (e.g., “Instructors should focus on facts instead of theories”), and

Innate Ability (e.g., “How well you do in school depends on how smart you are”).

Schommer, M. (1990). Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 498-504



Unlearning naïve EBs?• Sophisticated epistemological beliefs may emerge through well designed

RBL/TRN curricula, however – this may be incidental or accidental– In spite of intentions and good approaches (e.g. collaborative research

projects and methodological foci), we may inadvertently be reinforcing in students an naïve view of the truth – where the method, if done right, will lead us to “the truth”

• May need to approach this more deliberately and help students “unlearn” (Klein 1989; Delahaye and Becker 2006; Becker 2006) their naïve epistemological beliefs

• Further, these sophisticated views of knowledge need to be generalised – from their studies to other aspects of their lives – if we are to impact on them beyond the learning context

Delahaye, B. L., & Becker, K. (2006). Unlearning: a revised view of contemporary learning theories? Paper presented at the Lifelong Learning Conference, QUT Brisbane.

Becker, K. (2006). Unlearning as a lifelong learning strategy: An important pathway for transitions. Paper presented at the Lifelong Learning Conference, QUT, Brisbane.

Klein, J. (1989). Parenthetic Learning in Organizations: Toward the Unlearning of the Unlearning Model. The Journal of Management Studies, 26(3), 291..


Conclusions• Experiential learning – authentic research, inquiry-

based curricula, authentic problems, work-integrated learning / public scholarship

• Discipline-nuanced learning – discipline problems (or problems from a disciplinary perspective), discipline methods; trans- multi-disciplinary approaches

• Deliberate unlearning – if / when needed• Learning community creation and sustenance –

student seminars, departmental seminars, university intellectual life and events; student-student and student-faculty collaborations on problems and research


ExamplesStudents in the research methods class described in this paper embarked on a semester-long task of analysing, interpreting, and presenting data acquired through a survey sponsored by the University Alumni Relations Office regarding alumni attitudes and giving patterns.Kain, E. L., Buchanan, E., & Mack, R. (2001). Institutional Research as a Context for Teaching Methodological Skills. Teaching Sociology, 29(1), 9-22.

Scaffolding the development of academic writing skills and engagement in the discipline of psychology, through a supported lab report and experiment write-up task for first year students, that results in improvements in the distribution across passing grades and allowing students to collect their own data on a topic of their choice created personally meaningful engagement and an understanding of the research in a large first year student cohort.

Bath, D. (2006). Enhancing the first-year learning environment: Report on Griffith Teaching Fellowship . Brisbane: Griffith University (Internal Report - contact author for access).

Students learning to become research scientists through work experience placements“At university it’s structured, … in the labs it’s very controlled … a skill at a time as it were. [In the workplace] it’s sort of bringing together all the relevant skills, … and often you’re making leaps forward from what you've learnt at university.”

Eames, C. (2003). Learning to Work: Becoming a Research Scientist Through Work Experience Placements. Asia-Pacific Journal of Education, 4(2), 7-15.


Thank you…

…we maybe should accept the conclusion that teaching and research (however conceived) are unrelated and move on to ask how we should enhance this relation (of course, assuming that we wish to do so) (Marsh and Hattie 2002 p.662)

Marsh, H. W., & Hattie, J. A. (2002). The Relation between Research Productivity and Teaching Effectiveness: Complementary, Antagonistic, or Independent Constructs? The Journal of Higher Education, 73(5), 603-641.


GA: Communication and Problem-solving


GA: Discipline Knowledge and Skills


GA: Ethical and Social Sensitivity

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