‘Research Makes Sense for Students’: Students Awareness of and Experiences with Research:

‘Research Makes Sense for Students’:

Students Awareness of and Experiences with Research:

‘Research Makes Sense for Students’:

Students Awareness of and Experiences with Research:

Brad WuetherickUniversity of Alberta

[email protected]

Introduction to the Session


1. What do we mean by research-based 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?



“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?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?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. TeachingResearch 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

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)



Healey, 2005

Research-tutored

Research-orientedResearch-led

Research-based

Emphasis on Research content

Emphasis on researchProcess & problems

Student-focusedStudents as participants

Teacher-focusedStudents as audience



Research outcome transmitted

Research processtransmitted

Students engage with outcomes or

are provided issueto solve via process

Students as researchers

Artefacts &/or information brought

into courses

Presentation of Methods/approaches

Inquiry based learningProblem based learning

Class activity comes out of research

Review of research article

ProjectsDissertations Publication or

production of research outcome

Teacher focusedTransmissive

Student focusedConceptual Change

(Wuetherick and Turner, 2006)

Variation between linking T and RVariation 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?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 CommentsStudent 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


“[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 such-and-such said in 1989.”

U of G Final Year Science Student


“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 ResearchStudents 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 ResearchStudents 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 interestsI have little awareness of my instructors’ research interests

0

20

40

60

80

StronglyDisagree/Disagree

Neutral Agree/Strongly Agree

U of A

RHUL

U Glouc

Instructors involved in research are more enthusiastic about their subjectInstructors involved in research are more enthusiastic about their subject

0

20

40

60

80



U of A

RHUL

U Glouc

The most effective teaching is when we are involved in aspects of the research process

The most effective teaching is when we are involved in aspects of the research process

0

20

40

60



U of A

RHUL

U Glouc

Is research an important priority for your education?Is research an important priority for your education?

05

101520253035

Per

cent

1 Verylow

priority

2 3 4 5 Veryhigh

priority

Academic Faculty Professional Faculty

What are the most important priorities for a quality education?

What are the most important priorities for a quality education?

Instructors who are good teachers 98%

Instructors who care about students’ learning 95%

Degree program prepares you for a future career

92%

Modules are relevant to your future career 92%

Research-related items:

Opportunities to do research 44%

Being taught primarily by tenure-track staff 36%

Overview of Key ResultsOverview 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


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


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 AInstitutional 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

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 LinkConceptualizing 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 LinkDeveloping 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 LinkFacilitating the Link

The University community needs to facilitate the link effectively:

• Professional Development

• Adequate Resources

• Administrative Structures

• Celebrating

• Evaluating Success

Key ImplicationsKey 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


• 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?


• 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 InfoFor More Info

www.ualberta.ca/researchandstudents

www.ualberta.ca/summit

[email protected]

‘Research Makes Sense for Students’: Students Awareness of and Experiences with Research:

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