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Research inspired and integrated

Learning which is research-inspired and integrated, providing academic rigour with cutting edge technology to equip graduates for life-long learning

 

Research inspired and integrated learning connects learning and teaching with research and inquiry for students and staff. UTS graduates need to be lifelong learners who can continue to create and evaluate knowledge in their professions and disciplines. Research integrated learning can engage students intellectually with current knowledge, theories and practices, and enable them to develop the characteristic ways of thinking and practising of their subject areas (McCune & Hounsell, 2005). Active engagement with research can develop students’ critical thinking, inquiry, creative and analytical capabilities necessary for being lifelong learners for the future in the 21st century.

Research inspired and integrated learning can take different forms. Healey and Jenkins (2009) distinguish four ways of involving students with research:

  • Students learning about research that is occurring in the discipline;
  • Students engaging in active discussion and critique of research;
  • Students learning disciplinary research skills;
  • Students actively undertaking research and inquiry.

These four ways of involving students with research are represented in the following model:

 

 Students as active participants

  

Emphasis on existing research content, creative outputs and innovations 

Emphasis on processes, problems and issues of research and creative practice 
 

 Students are often an audience

  

(Model modified from Healey & Jenkins, 2009)

All of these are important for students to experience, as some focus on students developing understandings of current research-based knowledge, others develop students’ critical thinking and analytical skills and others develop students’ understandings of how knowledge is created, through engaging in their own inquiry and knowledge creation. Brew (2010; 2006) draws a distinction between students as recipients of research compared with being active in research and inquiry, with both being necessary in undergraduate learning. She includes scholarship of teaching and learning as a further way of integrating research and teaching, involving academics inquiring into students’ learning and experiences with the aim of improving practice and communicating the outcomes to the peer community.

 

Involving students as recipients of research includes, but goes beyond, ensuring that what is taught is academically rigorous and reflects the current state of knowledge in the discipline. Teachers who bring their own research into teaching can inspire students with their enthusiasm, model ways in which knowledge is generated in the discipline and show students some of the diverse and exciting range of research that is happening in their university. This may be challenging for teachers who teach core subjects that are somewhat removed from their research focus, but rewarding when students can see that core knowledge might underpin ideas at the cutting edge.

Forms of research inspired and influenced learning in the curriculum

Most UTS courses include disciplinary research skills, ranging from ways of searching and using literature to research methodologies, analytic techniques and research design. Many courses also involve students in active undergraduate research through capstone projects, research subjects with a project component or projects for community organisations. Depending on the discipline and type of project, these research activities may include literature synthesis, design, inquiry, data collection and analysis, interpretation writing, presentation or creative production.

 

Research-inspired and integrated learning implies a balance of all four quadrants. The bottom quadrants reflect research-inspired learning, but integration of the top two is required for students to develop the critical thinking and inquiry capabilities expected of university graduates. Students may be more or less active in the bottom RH quadrant. At the more ‘audience end’ are being told about how teachers and others construct knowledge and following ‘recipes’ or fixed procedures to learn skills/techniques.

A full realisation of the UTS model might involve infusing undergraduate research through the curriculum, so that students begin active involvement in inquiry in first year, and every year might have at least one opportunity for students to deepen or broaden their research involvement as they progress towards graduation. Undergraduate students might also be able to make useful contributions to aspects of academic research.

Examples

First-year Science students gain insights into scientific research and improve their written communication skills by listening to trigger lectures and podcasts of interviews with scientists then creating a written response. The responses include the purpose of the research, the main themes, how evidence is used and how the research is valuable to them and to society. Students are given clear assessment criteria and preparation for their use, and produce good to excellent work. The activity also provides students with insights into possible postgraduate research pathways.

Students in Marketing undertake an advanced marketing research project for a real client. The project often involves student teams in interacting with different cultural groups in different languages to collect information, and using qualitative and quantitative research skills and data analysis technologies. The client organisation gives feedback at different stages of the project, choosing the best student options. The subject team has based the collaborative-competitive team approach on their own and others’ research in the field, ensuring that student teams self-monitor and achieve high quality outcomes.

Students from a wide range of courses engage in community projects through UTS Shopfront. Projects involve students in inquiry, practice with community clients and, often, intercultural engagement with community groups. Through a recent collaboration with Design, the online tools ReView and SPARK have been introduced to assess students’ development of graduate attributes and support self and peer assessment of team work.

The Department of Physics and Advanced Materials has developing inquiry-based  laboratories to support student learning. Read more...

In Business Statistics students work with real data that contains ‘issues’ such as missing responses, outliers, and ‘noisy’ data; and present results that follow managerial demands. Read more...