Research Informed Teaching (RIT)

1. Research Informed Teaching (RIT) Teaching informed and enriched by research?

2. Don’t all HE lecturers already link the two? Statement One Reference to research is a natural part of HE teaching Statement Two Students are expected to engage with the research which informs their discipline as part of their learning and to acknowledge it within assessment tasks Contents

3. Linking research and teaching is unique to HE? “The proposal (National Professional Standards) recognises that the scholarly nature of subject inquiry and knowledge creation, and a scholarly approach to pedagogy, together represent a uniquely embedded feature of support for student learning in universities and colleges.” (HEA, 2005) Contents Higher Education Academy (2005), National Professional Standards Framework for standards in teaching and supporting learning in higher education: consultation document, York: HEA http://www.heacademy.ac.uk

4. Are research and teaching inextricably linked in HE? “While research endeavour and teaching endeavour are believed to be conceptually related in higher education, that relationship needs active management and explicit support since the pressures to split the two apart are powerful.” Contents (Madeline Atkins, VC Coventry University, quoted in Jenkins and Healey 2005) Jenkins A and Healey M (2005) Institutional strategies to link teaching and research Higher Education Academy (HEA) project

5. RIT Issues: the staff experience Is engagement in research a prerequisite for all HE lecturers? Has the RAE helped or hindered RIT initiatives? Has the gap between research-led and teaching-led universities widened? Has widening participation taken academics further away from the research agenda?

6. What are the dimensions of RIT? Contents

7. What is the experience of your students? Research-Led: curriculum structured around subject content (sometimes directly related to specialist interests of teaching staff). Research-oriented: curriculum places an emphasis on understanding the processes by which knowledge is produced e.g. through development of enquire skills or a research ethos. Research-based: curriculum is designed around inquiry-based activities rather than subject content, the experiences of staff are prominently integrated in learning activities. Research –informed: teaching draws consciously on systematic inquiry into the teaching and learning process itself. Contents

8. A simpler model (Michael Bradford) Learning about others’ research Learning to do research – research methods Learning in Research Mode – inquiry-based Pedagogic Research –enquiring and reflecting on learning Contents

9. Issues: the students’ experience Can undergraduates really engage in research? Should undergraduate student projects be called research, or are we just talking about learning becoming more `problem- based’, and `active’? Should students’ knowledge and understanding of research processes precede, or correspond with, undertaking their own research?

10. How could the research-teaching nexus be developed in your programmes? Dr. Jackie Eales: An account of RIT in the Department of History Contents

11. Supporting departmental developments The Teaching Fellowship Simon Hoult: (Teaching Fellow RIT) Supporting the RIT Initiative at CCCU

12. Supporting departmental developments Funding for development projects Eligibility Criteria Level of funding Timing www.canterbury.ac.uk/LTEU