Research Skill Development of SAVS students

1. Research Skill Development of SAVS students Dr Susan Hazel Dr Cindy Bottema Dr John Willison

2. SAVS SurveyMonkey Mix of people who know a lot and people who know nothing!

3. The RSD Facets.......but first a story

7. ‘Lightning never strikes twice in the same place’ (in the same storm)

8. Group with the most reasons reads them out.

9. What skills did you use to do that?

10. Are also key features of… Problem solving Critical Thinking Facets of research Embark & clarify Find & generate Evaluate & reflect Analyse& synthesis Organize &manage Communicate & apply

11. SAVS SurveyMonkey • Other = • ‘All of the above’ • ‘I would use it in curriculum design as it would aid setting • the learning objectives and the assessment expectations..’

12. ‘teaching professional and enterprising concepts - not really asking students to research, but more to information gather, communicate, evaluate, and synthesise responses (using technical knowledge and reasoning as base)’

13. From your perspective what would you consider to be the potential gains and risk of applying the RSD framework to your teaching & learning context? • ‘Making sure the students understand what they are supposed to be aiming for and how to achieve it.’ • ‘Broaden my perspective to my teaching’ • ‘Gains are to deconstruct the training in research to a teaching activity; Risks are that in trying to conform to the framework that we inhibit innovation, creativity and spontaneity’ • ‘I teach Research Methodology to 2nd year and Honours students and find it a very useful tool. I can't think of too many negatives, except that my second year students find my course a bit too unstructured. I intend this so that they are forced to start to think.’ • ‘Add structure to what is done. Add rigour to what is done. Coordinated approach across courses helps student learning outcomes.’ • ‘Ask me again after the workshop.’

15. How, if at all, do you currently develop research skills in specific courses? • ‘I specifically teach research skills, from the general process with definitions to specific details.’ • ‘Full prac report assignments, expect peer reviewed references, Lab prac skills.’ • ‘Write scientific paper in Livestock Production Write own breeding program in Animal Breeding’ • ‘Teach clinical research skills in vet skills 3 and epi. Supervise between 5 and 10 student for CRP. Will coordinate VEBE: I guess we need to discuss soon!’ • ‘Have created a course that pairs students with a research mentor’ • ‘don't do it’

16. How, if at all, do you currently assess research skills in specific courses? • ‘Assignments, practicals and examination.’ • ‘Formative assessment of course work.’ • ‘via rubrics including best practice referencing and depth to assignments’ • ‘Formative and summative assessment. Not much time and resources to spend on this though.’ • ‘Rubrics for written and presented work; Written rubric assesses same broad criteria as a specified journal’ • ‘don't do it’

17. Other= • ‘Especially for Animal Science students’ • ‘Could be optimized.’

18. “I know that research is important, not only from an educational perspective, but if I’m in a work situation... it’s just basically understanding what I want to achieve in my role with my customer... and how I actually go about breaking that down into manageable easy steps. So, yes, it’s got a practical application in my world in what I do.” -Monash Business Ethics Student Summer 07-08 Cohort, interviewed in April 2009. 89% of students indicated the research skills they developed would be useful in employment

19. 2012 Hons Animal Science Student who experienced RSD in 1st and 2nd year 'Well, if you’re doing research or a paper or whatnot, for every aspect of your research, you have to look at each one of those steps. So even though I may not consciously think, okay, I need to find this knowledge, I need to read it, I need to analyse this knowledge, and find the gaps in the knowledge to develop an assignment, whether I go through those steps or not, it will be something that I believe will be more unconscious that I go through these steps to come out with communicating what I found as my critical analysis based on the previous literature, da, da, da. I think it will just happen. It is because of all the skills that I developed in my undergrad.’

20. Degrees of Autonomy Student Initiated Discipline Making Faculty Initiated P r e s c r i b e d S c a f f o l d e d S t u c h o i c e B o u n d e d O p e n s c o p e E n l a r g i n g A d o p t e d

21. Level of Autonomy in a Course? • There is no rule • Raises teaching questions • E.g. the move from first year to second year ... Rigour Conceptual Demand Depth of background knowledge Student Autonomy

22. AQF Level 8: Level of Autonomy Initiative responsibility accountability independence x2 When do SAVS students develop these? How will this be evidenced to TEQSA?

24. Honours Medical Science Student who had experienced RSD in First Year Since the beginning, they have given us assignments based on this criteria. You might not have liked the assignments, but because they have been consistently applying this structure to all of our assignments, we have come to think that way for science, in the perspective of science and writing. So we have been kind of primed to think that way now. I guess I have to change my answer and say yes it’s good to have it for undergrad because you do follow these guidelines anyway. You might not know that you’re following their guidelines, but you are.

25. Affective Domain Facet A: Students embark, & clarify the knowledge that is needed Curious ‘I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.’Albert Einstein ‘It inspires something in you that makes you want to find out’ First Year Human Biology Student

26. Decidedly curious… … being inquery

27. Affective Domain Descriptors

28. Affective Domain (continued) • Facet B: Students find & generate needed information using appropriate methodology Determined ‘It's not that I am so smart. It's just that I stay with problems longer.’ Albert Einstein

29. Determined to get there in the end… Being determined puts the ‘re’ in research

30. Affective Domain Descriptors

31. Affective Domain (continued) • Facet C: students evaluate information/data and reflect on the research processes used • Discerning • "I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. " Albert Einstein

32. Discerning the valuable amongst the valueless

33. Affective Domain (continued) Facet D: students organise & manage information collected/generated and research processes • Harmonising • Resonating with the data, making hidden patterns obvious. Working harmoniously with people, processes ‘Out of clutter, find simplicity.’ Albert Einstein

34. Harmonising On song with inputs In tune with people Hound dog harmonising

35. Affective Domain Descriptors

36. Affective Domain (continued) Facet E: Students analyse & synthesise information, data and new knowledge Creative • Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world- Albert Einstein

37. Creative

38. Affective Domain Descriptors

39. Affective Domain (continued) • Facet F: students communicate & apply understanding and the processes used to generate it, in an ethically, socially and culturally mindful way. • Constructive • ‘Go to where the silence is and say something’ – Amy Goodman • "the greatest talent is the ability to strip a theory until the simple basic idea emerges with clarity." -- Albert Einstein

40. v Constructive

41. September 2008

42. September 2011

43. Autonomy vs Time L 5 L 4 L 3 L 2 L 1 Extent of Autonomy 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Semester at Uni

44. Autonomy vs Time L 5 L 4 L 3 L 2 L 1 Extent of Autonomy 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Semester at Uni

45. Autonomy vs Time in 2nd Year Physiology Lab (Luckie, 2004) L 5 L 4 L 3 L 2 L 1 Extent of Autonomy 1wk 2wk 3wk 4wk 5wk 6wk 7wk 8wk Week of Laboratory

47. Degree of Autonomy Vs Degree of ‘Knowness’ 5 4 Autonomy Leve l 3 2 1 Commonly Known----- Commonly Not Known------Totally Unknown 1st Year PhD 3rd-4th Year Degree of knowness of your most recent research area

48. References • Allan, C. (2011). Exploring the experience of ten Australian Honours students. Higher Education Research and Development 30 (4), pp. 421-433. • Willison, J.W. & O’Regan, K. (2006).Research Skill Development framework. Available at www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/rsd • Willison, J.W. & O’Regan, K. (2007). Commonly known, commonly not known, totally unknown: A framework for students becoming researchers. Higher Education Research and Development 26 (4), pp. 493- 509.

49. Why develop students’ research skills? “I know that research is important, not only from an educational perspective, but if I’m in a work situation... it’s just basically understanding what I want to achieve in my role with my customer... and how I actually go about breaking that down into manageable easy steps. So, yes, it’s got a practical application in my world in what I do. -Monash Business Ethics Student Summer 07-08 Cohort, interviewed in April 2009. 89% of students indicated the research skills they developed would be useful in employment

50. Research Skills Developed in Single-courses • I don’t think I’ve ever had so much emphasis placed on credible sourcing before. Like we would just use a random website, really, and not think about who had actually put that up there. This subject really helped me think like that, even at my own workplace... Skills typically developed, from academics and students perspective were: • Question posing • Finding relevant information • Evaluating information