Position statement on Research and Practice Led Teaching

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campus to see how we can build on existing good practice as well as develop institutional and discipline based strategies to embed these linkages. 2. What is research/practice-led teaching at Swansea 2 ? There is a considerable literature on what constitutes research led teaching. 3 These definitions have been broadly categorised into 4 strands; 1. Research-led curriculum content based around the research interests of staff 2. Research-orientated learning where the curriculum places emphasis on the process of knowledge acquisition 3. Research-based teaching and learning with the curriculum structured around inquiry/research based projects 4. Research-informed teaching and learning where the process of learning and teaching is informed by developments in pedagogic research 4 Student learning will benefit from a combination of these approaches and rather than prescribing a particular approach across all disciplines it would be preferable to allow Schools and disciplines to decide upon the best combination of these strands for their students, staff and research priorities and the appropriate ‘model’ for practicedriven disciplines. Across the institution we already have considerable strengths in basing curriculum content around the research and practice strengths of staff and students benefit from being in a research-led institution through access to facilities. Therefore it may be more effective to focus on enabling disciplines to develop research-orientated and research-based initiatives. Some examples of these are given in Section 5. As acknowledged earlier, there are exemplars of practice-driven teaching at Swansea which reflect the increasingly vocational nature of the subject provision. With the external pressures on HEIs to respond to the government’s skills agenda, such practice-driven exemplars are highly relevant to promote the employability of our graduates. 3. Raising awareness and staff buy-in in research/practice-led teaching If research/practice-led teaching is to be a/the distinguishing feature of our approach to Learning and Teaching and form a major part of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy there needs to be significant buy-in and commitment from staff across the institution. In order to achieve this buy-in we should enable staff to contribute to setting the agenda. Debate and discussion on research/practice-led teaching across the University should be initiated through a series of events across the Institution discussing our approach to research/practice-led teaching. This process has already commenced with a visit from Professor Jenkins from the HEA. Following this awareness of the subject should be raised through University, Faculty and School level committees. After this it is suggested that a flagship half-day event on research/practice-led teaching be held. The purpose of this would be to further raise the profile of the 2 The term also includes practice-driven teaching but for the purposes of brevity, only research-led teaching will be used in this document 3 For more information see the HEA website or the publications by Jenkins and Healey in the further reading section 4 Jenkins and Healey, Institutional strategies, p21 2
subject, promote discussion and showcase good practice internally and externally. We have a number of subject areas that have been highlighted for their work in this area by external examiners and audits who could be asked to present. In addition an external specialist from a Russell (or 1994) group institution could be invited. These could be followed by break out groups considering different approaches to research/practice-led teaching we could adopt. 5 Following this event a finalized strategy or policy could be introduced. This strategy could then be launched to maximise awareness and take-up through an institution wide Research/Practice Week. This would demonstrate to students of all years the institutions commitment to high-level research and practice and integrating that research with their studies. Developing RLT - Timetable of Events Date October 2008 Feb 2009 April 2009 June 2009 October/ November 2010 Event Professor Alan Jenkins, HEA seminar on Research-Led Teaching Research/practice-led Teaching discussed at; University Learning and Teaching Committee Chairs of School Learning and Teaching Committees Taught and Research Faculty Committees University Research Committee School Research Committees PVC (Student Experience) and PVCs (Research) to hold a showcase Research/Practice-led Teaching Event. Suggested programme; Intro PVC SE on setting out the RPLT agenda for Swansea External Speaker from Russell group University on RPLT Examples of RPLT from across the Campus (Examples highlighted to date are, Geography, Physical Sciences, Medieval Studies, Medicine, Sports Science, Classical Civilisation) Break out session to discuss RPLT – poss focused on Alan Jenkins’ Linking t and r in disciplines and departments Finalise RPLT strategy/policy/<strong>statement</strong> University wide Research/Practice Week(s) Each School/Department to hold their own research week (to coincide with Open Days?) events could include Open lectures for staff and students on staff research and practice Undergraduate and postgraduate research/practice poster shows Discussions by academics on current research topics 4. Institutional and Discipline Based strategies for promoting the research/practice-teaching nexus There are a number of strategies that could be adopted across the institution to promote closer links between research/practice and teaching. Each School (or subject area) would be invited to set up their own research/practice-led teaching 5 Cardiff University held a similar event to develop their RLT agenda – see here for details - http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/learning/themes/resteach/workshop/index.html 3
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Position statement on Research and Practice Led Teaching

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