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Dr Helen Walkington 1, 2. Students as researchers: disseminating student research within and beyond the curriculum 1 Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University 2 Higher Education Academy, York. ONIONS. Think global – buy local?. Sweepstake!.
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Dr Helen Walkington 1, 2 Students as researchers: disseminating student research within and beyond the curriculum 1 Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University 2 Higher Education Academy, York
ONIONS Think global – buy local?
Sweepstake! TESCO onions come from 3 farms: • New Zealand • Spain • England Conventional production (not organic) Rank in order of lowest to highest carbon footprint
IMPACT of research • Food labelling and marketing – food miles or carbon labelling? • Purchasing behaviour – Should we buy British? A matter of scale! • DEFRA
Student recycling and waste minimisation • LA recommendations: • RECYCLING • Good provision • Remove barriers • Make it easy • WASTE MINIMISATION • Connect people to create a norm • Education and information Findings: RECYCLING • Accommodation • Box provision • Habit of recycling WASTE MINIMISATION • Environmental knowledge • Environmental concern Robertson, S., Walkington, H. (2009) Recycling and waste minimisation behaviours of the transient student population in Oxford: results of an online survey. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 14 (4), 285-296.
2. Students as … researchers? • Consumer (Molesworth et. al., 2010) • Client (Bailey, 2000) • Producer (Neary and Winn, 2009) • Co-producer (McCulloch, 2009) • Change agent (Dunne & Hutchinson, 2010 with QAA) Expression: • Teacher – Student relationship built through pedagogy
Students navigating the research landscape • Student initiated, consulting university staff – potential for student to become ‘expert’ • Staff initiated research, decisions shared with students URSS • Students are informed and consulted – group research project • Students are given research problems – and told what to do every step of the way!
Theoretical context Undergraduate research is for all students (Walkington & Jenkins, 2008) “Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously students and teachers” (Freire, 1970, p. 72). Students ‘co-construct’ knowledge via dialogue with each other and their teacher as part of an academic ‘community of practice’. (Vygotsky, 1978; Lave & Wenger, 1998) Self-authorship - the central goal of HE in the 21st Century (Baxter-Magolda, 2004)
The Student Research Experience • Research cycle • Mind the gap! “Dissemination of results is an essential and integral part of the research process” Boyer Commission, 1998: 24
3. Settings for disseminating research • Wikipedia pages • Websites, blogs • Exhibitions / Shows • Podcasts, video • Journal articles • Client presentations for Consultancy projects • Conference on Undergraduate research (CUR) –Department, School, Faculty, University, BCUR
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DISSEMINATION – Guiding principles • Build ‘publication’ into degree programmes • Use student research findings in the Curriculum • Student participation in the publication process (e.g. editors/reviewers, sourcing articles, conference / event organisation, marketing and promotion, TV…) • Make use of digital technologies (wiki, blog…) • Scaffold publication opportunities (build confidence) A quick activity…
3. The benefits for students Graduate Attributes Mapping (handout)
Ownership Understanding Creativity CV Academic recognition Further communication / dialogue Motivation to publish more From student to author / producer Writing Publication • Achievement • Applying constructive criticism • Critical evaluation
Exposure “With the possibility of actual publication, it invoked a sense of pride and so I felt that the quality of my finished article was higher than usual.” Sent link to friends, family / other students to share
Teacher - student contradiction “I enjoyed the fact that I was not just regurgitating what someone else had written. I could draw on my own personal experience. [It] allowed me to go into more detail because it was my work and my findings.” “I found it hard to change between writing as a learner to writing as a teacher.” What’s missing? - The desire for dialogue
CUR “Learners will have the opportunity to engage in formal and informal learning environments which … promote their ability to engage actively and creatively in learning, research and professional communities both within and beyond the institution.”
"that conference was fantastic … staff in the department recognised me as a researcher, as a result I was a guest speaker in one of the geography modules, I met with a photo-journalist, I’ve gained a lot of key skills which are important for work as well." "it has been nice just talking to people in a non-lecturer/student capacity, everyone was very much on equal terms, yeah that was the first time that has happened.” Recognition as a disciplinary researcher Student engagement vs Student alienation (Mann, 2001)
Interviews revealed … … that students gain confidence as they become recognised as researchers … students benefit from immediate in-depth dialogic feedback … how their research ‘maps’ within the bigger picture … benefits of an authentic task … graduate attributes … ?
Spot the difference! • Presenting at a conference • Critical thinking through dialogue • Instant feedback • Critical skills • Recognition • TOO LATE TO MAKE CHANGES • NO LEGACY Writing an article – • Co-production: trust written advice of others • Detailed feed-forward • Critical skills • Recognition • LACKING A CONVERSATION FEEDFORWARD DIALOGIC
GA: Research literacy – curriculum implications Year 3 S2 – CUR S1 - Individual journal articles written for GEOverse Year 2 S2 - Student teams present preliminary findings for “feedforward.” S1 - Students frame own questions for group data collection in the field Year 1 Desktop research to try to answer provided research questions
Summary • Personalise the curriculum through providing research opportunities • Authentic research and dissemination opportunities can build a community of practice and a sense of belonging • Institutional / Departmental / Individual / Assignment cultures need to be inclusive of students as researchers • ‘Student as … • (Teacher as learner) Teacher’
Acknowledgements Funding: Brookes Teaching Fellowship, GEES Subject Centre, Reinvention Centre Fellowship Undergraduate researchers, postgraduate reviewers, Web & Wiki teams
References Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2004). Self-authorship as the common goal of 21st century education. In M. B. Baxter Magolda & P. M. King (Eds.), Learning partnerships: Theory and models of practice to educate for self-authorship (pp. 1-35). Sterling, VA: Stylus. Boyer Commission (1998) Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities. Stony Brook, New York: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Crowe, M. & Brakke, D. 2008. Assessing the Impact of Undergraduate Research Experiences on Students: An Overview of Current Literature CUR Quarterly 28 (4), 43-50. Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum. Garde-Hansen, J. & Calvert, B. (2007) Developing a research culture in the undergraduate curriculum, Active Learning in Higher Education, 8(2), pp. 105-116. Hart, R. (1992) Children’s participation: From tokenism to citizenship Florence, Italy UNICEF Healey, M. & Jenkins, A. (2009) Developing undergraduate research and inquiry. Available at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/publications/DevelopingUndergraduate_Final.pdf Huggins, R., Jenkins, A. & Scurry, D. (2007) Developing undergraduate research at Oxford Brookes University. Recommendations and models for future development. Available at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/research/cetl/ugresearch/developing_ug_research_at_brookes.pdf Lambert, C (2009) Pedagogies of participation in higher education: a case for research-based learning, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, Vol 17, pp. 295-309. Lave, J., Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mann, S.J. (2001) Alternative Perspectives on the Student Experience: alienation and engagement. Studies in Higher Education, 26 (1). pp. 7-20. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Walkington, H. (2008) Geoverse: piloting a National e-journal of undergraduate research in Geography, PLANET, 20, pp. 41-46. Walkington, H., & Jenkins, A. (2008). Embedding undergraduate research publication in the student learning experience: Ten suggested strategies, Brookes E-journal of learning and Teaching, 2(3), http://bejlt.brookes.ac.uk/article/embedding_undergraduate_research_publication_in_the_student_learning_experi/ Walkington, H. et al (2011) Embedding research-based learning and inquiry in the undergraduate geography curriculum. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. Willison, J. & 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. 393-409. Yorke, M (2005) Issues in the Assessment of Practice based professional learning. http://surreyprofessionaltraining.pbworks.com/f/Assessment+of+Practice+Based+Learning+Mantz+Yorke.pdf