Using Graduate Attributes to Assess the Effective Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning

1. Using Graduate Attributes to Assess the Effective Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning Brad Wuetherick Program Director, Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness University of Saskatchewan

2. Introduction • Explore ways to conceptualize the integration of research, teaching and learning • Explore ways to conceptualize graduate attributes • Examine and discuss how graduate attributes can be used to assess the integration of research, teaching and learning at the program and course level • Examine a specific case of research and inquiry skill development at the program and course level

3. Introduction “The time has come to move beyond the tired old teaching versus research debate.” (Boyer, 1990) “I propose that colleges and universities provide an opportunity for all undergraduates to conduct research — to create knowledge” (Ellis, 2006)

4. Why is this important? • Need to ensure students are able to thrive in the ‘supercomplex’ world in which they find themselves • Need to develop students’ underlying ‘academic dispositions’ rather than focusing on more ‘functional’ or ‘instrumental’ training of skills (Barnett, 2000; Barnett, 2005)

5. Why is this important? • Need to strive to be an enquiring university – must achieve a balance between ‘compliance’ and ‘contestation’ (Rowland, 2007) • All universities must strive to make research-based learning the standard across all years of undergraduate education (Boyer Commission, 1998)

6. ITR: Activity: • What does integrating research and teaching in the undergraduate learning environment mean to you? • Discuss with your 1-2 other people around you – (focus on similarities and differences)

7. Integrating Research into Teaching The ease and ways of linking research and teaching varies: • By individual conceptions of research and teaching • By institutional type • By discipline/department • By national system

8. Conceptualizing R-T Nexus ** Scholarship of Teaching and Learning or ‘Research-informed’ ** Student-focused Students as participants Research-tutored Research-based Emphasis on Research content Emphasis on research Process & problems Research-led Research-oriented Teacher-focused Students as audience Healey, 2005

9. Teacher focused Transmissive Student focused Conceptual Change Research outcome transmitted Research process transmitted Students engage with outcomes or are provided issue to solve via process Students as researchers Presentation of Methods/approaches Projects Dissertations Publication or production of research outcome Artefacts &/or information brought into courses Class activity comes out of research Review of research article Inquiry based learning Problem based learning Conceptualizing R-T Nexus

10. How does this manifest as a part of the undergraduate learning environment? • Higher Education Academy, UK (Healey and Jenkins) • Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (2009) • Linking Teaching and Research in Disciplines and Departments (2007) • Institutional Strategies for Linking Teaching and Research (2005) • “Reshaping Teaching in Higher Education: Linking teaching with research” – Jenkins et al. (2004) • “Research and Teaching: Beyond the Divide” – Brew (2006)

11. Key Implications of Student Perceptions • Students agreed that being involved in research activities are beneficial • Students do not seem to be able to perceive the development of their research skills • National systems matter – there are structural differences in systems of higher education that influence student experiences of research • Institution type and local conditions matter (at least in terms of awareness and perception, both positively and negatively)

12. Key Implications of Faculty Perceptions • Academic staff under-estimated the students’ awareness of research and over-estimated the students’ experiences of research • Examples provided by faculty demonstrated a more transmissive/teacher-centred focus • The significant majority of faculty believe that the integration is important for both individual academic identity and institutional credibility

13. Integrating Research into Teaching and Learning

14. Involving Students in 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 … must acquire a capacity for creativity and social ingenuity by tackling questions like these. .... 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.” (Samarasekera, 2005)

15. University of Alberta • “Creating a Foundation for an Inquiry-Based Life: Working Group Report on the Integration of Teaching and Research” – University of Alberta (2005) • Changes to Unit Review Process: • Explicitly ask about how research and teaching are integrated at the undergraduate level • What does that look like? • Working Group report – • Defined it as four areas – communicating with students about research, developing understanding of research methodologies, providing opportunities to exercise research skills, enabling opportunities to engage in discovery learning • Struggle with how to assess the success of these at the program and course level

16. Graduate Attributes: As an assessment tool • Graduate attributes/program or degree level outcomes/generic skills/professional skills/etc. • University of Sydney: • Dispositions towards learning (and themselves as learners), towards knowledge, and towards the world • Five specific graduate attributes: research and inquiry skills, communication skills, information literacy skills, professional/ethical/social understanding, and personal and intellectual autonomy

17. Graduate Attributes: Activity • If given that list of five graduate attributes (research and inquiry, communication, information literacy, ethical understanding, and intellectual autonomy), where are they taught within your program? Do you consciously consider them in your individual courses? • Share with 1 or 2 other people – focus on similarities and differences

18. Graduate Attributes: Conceptualizing • Precursory • Complementary • Translating • Enabling (Barrie, 2004, 2006, 2007)

19. Using Graduate Attributes to Assess the Effective Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning

20. Using Graduate Attributes to Assess the Effective Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning History and Classics – University of Alberta

21. Case Study: Research Skills Development • Five levels of Student Autonomy (from closed inquiry needing high levels of structure/guidance to open inquiry with little/no structure or guidance) • 6 facets of inquiry – determine need for knowledge and understanding; find/generate needed information using appropriate methodology; critically evaluate information and the process used to find/generate information; organize information and manage research process; synthesize, analyze, and apply new knowledge; communicate knowledge (and process) with an awareness of ethical/social/cultural issues http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/rsd/ (Willison, 2007)

22. Questions? Brad Wuetherick Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness brad.wuetherick@usask.ca