What is Scholarly Activity…?

1. What is Scholarly Activity…? Becky Turner (HELP CETL/UPC) rebecca.turner@plymouth.ac.uk

2. Session Overview • Can we define Scholarly Activity - group activity • Scholarly Activity in HE in FE • Defining scholarly activity…? • HEFCE (2009) • Boyer (1990) • Scholarly activity and you • Scholarly activity and T&L • Cathy Schofield

3. “If one asks educational practitioners in the UK post-compulsory education sector to define the word ‘research,’ then you might expect to receive different responses depending on whether professional practice is based within higher or further education.” Child, 2009 Relates to contrasting measures of professionalism between FE & HE Differing Perspectives…

4. MEG identified the need to arrive at new definitions of “research” and “scholarly activity” which are more appropriate to the diverse HE landscape.  FECs do not set out to be research-intensive institutions – their purpose is to meet the immediate higher skills needs of local employers to WP…. A fundamental question is the extent to which engagement in SA is necessary for the professional/academic climate of FECs    (King & Widdowson, 2009)

5. Can we define scholarly activity? • What does the term Scholarly Activitymean to you? • What do you already do that you would class as Scholarly Activity? • What barriers and/or challenges do you experience in engaging with Scholarly Activity? • What are the benefits of engaging with Scholarly Activity to YOUand YOURpractice?

6. Scholarly Activity & HE in FE • Parry & Thompson (2002) • Practitioners ideally positioned to advance research into HE in FE • HEFCE GP Guide (2003/2009) • Central to HE ethos • Listed range of activities that HE in FE staff should have opportunity to engage with…

7. SA & HEFCE • …talked of in terms of “staff development” • Vary with context & discipline but can include: • Action research • Applied/practitioner research • Conference/event attendance • Conference presentations/workshops • Consultancy to industry • Curriculum development that involves lit. searching/work with a HEI • Higher qualifications • Industrial secondments • Research projects • Subject updating • Writing for publications • How does this relate to what you can, and already, do?

8. Holistic definition of scholarly activity 4 forms of Scholarship: Discovery (advancing knowledge) Integration (synthesising knowledge) Service/Engagement (advancing/applying knowledge) Teaching (advancing/applying knowledge about how to teach/promote learning) Equal weighting to discipline & pedagogic research Boyer (1990): Scholarship Reconsidered

10. Boyer & HEFCE http://staff.plymouth.ac.uk//upcpd/Scholar/intranet.htm

11. Scholarly Activity & You • Key aspect of scholarly activity and research… • It makes you think…reflect • Putting the pieces together… • What is it you want to know…? • Why do you want to know it…? • How will you use what you have found out? • What do you want to know now…? • Reflection before, inand onaction • Barnett, Schön & Boyer

12. Scholarly Activity & T&L • Contested within published literature – no substantiated link...BUT • Dearing (1997) Research central to economic prosperity • Intertwined characteristic of an undergraduate education • Contribute to lecturers identity • Contribute to students development • Contribute to institutional ethos

13. Practitioners experiences… …of scholarly CPD / research

14. Self Doubt? “My journey as an Award Holder began with an awareness that I was entering unfamiliar territory and had maybe embarked on something that would involve more time and commitment than I had anticipated. At the time I was a part time lecturer and NVQ assessor searching for a direction to satisfy my questioning mind yet hesitant to leave the safety zone I had developed for myself over a number of years. Had I reached the pinnacle of my ambitions already? What if I was out of my depth?”

15. Isolation…? “As a part-time lecturer in HE within a predominately FE college there can be a sense of being slightly detached from the larger community. HELP CETL provided an opportunity of participating in a number of different communities including approaching my own college from a different perspective. Joining a group of researching practitioners gave me a sense of identity that enabled me to approach research and my practice in a new way.”

16. Trish Woods – A&D (silversmith) • Colouration of pewter • Industrial placement – Tin Institute • Made contact with relevant experts manufacturers & organisations • Advanced professional practice • Raised profile: College & UoP • UoP institutional nominee 2008 NTFS • Invitations to present

17. Linda Copestake City of Bristol College Computer Aided Design Produced handbook Updated professional knowledge Consolidated industry links AutoCAD 3D1 Linda J. Copestake

18. Deborah Philips Cornwall College, Camborne H&SW Learning Difficulties, Identity and Urban ‘Scapes’: narrative accounts of lives, labels, space and place. Further applications for funding Research papers Conference presentations

19. Denise Summers • Education – PCET • Education for Sustainable Development • Embedding ESD in ITE curriculum • Action research project – co-operative inquiry • Conferences • Research papers • Green Gown Award – second stage • Further funding: LSC / CSF

20. Amanda Isaacs & Karen Foster • Learning Resource departments • UPC Librarians Community • Explored barriers to effective use of e-resources by FD students • Confidence logs – track students IT confidence & use patterns • Informed study skills training/induction • Enhanced links between teaching & support staff • Regional/national dissemination • Model of good practice

21. John Fitzsimons • Media • Collaborative project between Exeter College & UCW • Video conferencing to get two student groups to develop a magazine programme • Develop enterprise skills: communication, group working, creativity and internationalism • Ongoing - interest across UPC • Dissemination plans

22. Where did it lead? “I was not brought up to be an ‘academic’; am not particularly bright, being from the ‘wasted pool of talent’ (Ball, 1995) of the failed 11 plus brigade of the 1960s, and certainly never intended to be a teacher. Yet here I am several years later, involved in ‘scholarly activity’, reflecting on how an interest to find out why things happen has developed into a research project and subsequently a full-time career in education.

23. Professional Validation We can construct a sort of educational hierarchy of status and satisfaction. FE in an FEC, HE in an FEC, HE in an HEI, teaching or research time. The grass is always greener with each of us feeling conditions are better somewhere else. My experience of the HELP CETL is that is has provided me with a constructive way forward to consider my professional identity. It has also allowed me to begin to explore how to develop and support a robust “third way” of HE in FE, i.e. a model of thinking and working that is not FE or HE.”

24. Overcame professional isolation “Just simply the opportunity to move out of your institution and collaborate with others who have similar issues, you feel so isolated sometimes especially in certain subject areas, as a HE in FE lecturer.”

25. Contributed to the emerging identities as HE lecturers - confidence “I always thought that (research) was a bit above me but actually I've seen a lot of presentations and read papers and thought "I can do that". I won't claim I'm the best of presenters or the best of writers, but I don't think I'm out of my league either.”

26. Permission – legitimacy… “It gave me knowledge which had not previously had, as it was an unknown club that I wasn’t part of. Although I taught on HE I was never privy to meetings or any of that stuff, the paper work etc. was kept secret. Knowledge is power as they say, I was allowed to go and ask as I was doing research.”

27. “Personally, oh gosh, it makes me smile so it must be good, being involved in research has allowed me to meet some very exciting, likeminded people in the HE environment. I have made some not (just) friends but good contacts with other lecturers”