Research-based educational development

1. Research-based educational development Professor Sari Lindblom-Ylänne University of Helsinki Finland

2. University of Helsinki in a nutshell • Established in 1640 • 38.000 students and 7.400 staff members • 4.200 degrees per year • of these, 350 doctorates • 63% female students • 11 faculties • bilingual (Finnish and Swedish)

3. The University aims at • student-centred approach to teaching • reseach-based teaching • as well as research-based development of teaching and learning • high-level scientific resesarch and researcher education • member of LERU (League of European Research Universities)

4. Centralised and decentralised support for academic development

5. Financing of academic development • Centre for Research and Development of Higher Education • funding from central administration • about 150.000 to 200.000 euros per year • separate funding for certain research projects • Campus Development Units • funding from central administration • funding from the Faculties

6. Centre for Research and Development of Higher Education • Established in 2002 • Concentrates on carrying out research on teaching and learning in higher education • The main research areas • Scholarship of university teaching • Quality of teaching and learning at university • Development of academic thinking skills of students • Virtual university and virtual learning environments

7. Pedagogical courses at the centre • More than 100 teachers per year participates in the courses • Courses are not compulsory • Teaching skills and merits are taken into consideration when fulfilling academic posts • Teachers are very motivated • Hardly no dropouts • Aims of the courses • providing knowledge of research on learning and instruction in higher education • reflection of conceptions of teaching and learning as well as on onw teaching practices • developing teaching and supporting student learning

8. Courses on university pedagogy • University pedagogy I • 10-12 ECTS • 4-6 months • University pedagogy II • 30 ECTS • Only after course I • one year • Scholarship of university teaching • 70 ECTS • Only after courses I and II • two years

9. What is research-based teaching? • Teaching and assessment practices are based on pedagogical research • overlaps with evidence-based teaching • pedagogical subject knowledge • subject matter knowledge and knowledge about how to teach it (Shuman, 1987) • Teaching derives from strong research base in own discipline • Teaching content is strongly related to own research areas • Students as researchers

10. Enhancing research-based teaching • ”Combining powerful concepts from educational psychology with those from student learning research might well underpin research-based teaching in a more complete and convincing way” (Entwistle, 2004) • Thus, also educational development has to have a solid theoretical framework and has to be based on research

11. Discipline has an effect on teachers’ approaches to teaching • Teachers from ”hard sciences” are more teacher-centred than teachers from ”soft sciences” • t[300] = 3.58, p < .001 • Teachers from ”soft sciences” are more student-centred than teachers from ”hard sciences” • t[300] = -4,54, p < .001

12. Approaches to teaching and self-efficacy beliefs in different disciplines

13. Self-efficacy beliefs vary across faculties • Teachers from the Faculty of Sciences scored significantly higher on self-efficacy scale than teachers from other faculties • F(10,193)=2.86, p=0.003)

14. Approaches to teaching vary from one teaching context to another

15. Student-focused approach more context-specific • Teachers are more student-centred in a less usual teachingt context and in the usual context • t(181)=-3.12, p=.002 • No significant change in the teacher-centred approach to teaching from one context to another

16. How pedagogical training affects approaches to teaching and self-efficacy beliefs of teachers?

17. How teaching experience affects approaches to teaching and self-efficacy beliefs of teachers?

18. The unique effect of pedagogical training on approaches to teaching and on self-efficacy beliefs

19. Examples of the teachers’ comments of pedagogical training • “It increased my level of consciousness. It also increased my willingness to apply different kinds of teaching methods. My teaching experiments are now more conscious. This is in my opinion the most important effect of the pedagogical training.” (a 39-year-old female teacher, Faculty of Arts) • “I was able to discuss with different teachers during the course and to see that in other faculties things are done differently. I received different viewpoints to teaching. My way of seeing teaching is not so narrow anymore.” (a 38-year-old female teacher, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine)

20. An example of a teacher’s comment on teaching experience • “Teaching experience affects so that the more you have taught, the more self-confident you become. I don’t know if teaching experience has any effect on my approach to teaching. My approach to teaching has changed, because of the various courses for university teachers I have completed. I have now courage to receive feedback from students and to change my teaching on the basis of the feedback I have received. I don’t any more follow a certain routine in teaching.” (a 38-year-old male teacher, Faculty of Law)