Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/61582
Type: Conference item
Title: Research skill development and assessment across entire undergraduate degrees
Author: Willison, J.
Al-Sarawi, S.
Ng, B.
Karanicolas, S.
Snelling, C.
Hazel, S.
Citation: The Education Research Group of Adelaide (ERGA) conference 2010: The Changing Face of Education, 24-25 September, 2010
Publisher: The University of Adelaide
Issue Date: 2010
Conference Name: ERGA Conference (5th : 2010 : Adelaide, Australia)
Department: Centre for Learning and Professional Development
Abstract: Bachelor degree programs in Business, Engineering, Health Science, Humanities and Science are trialing and evaluating the explicit development of students’ research skills across the undergraduate years. All have in the past developed and assessed the skills associated with research at the course level and found substantial advantages for students (Hazel, Chew, Carrington, Lawson, & Baron, 2009; Ng & Al Sarawi, 2010; Peirce, Ricci & Willison, 2010; Snelling & Karanicolas, 2008; Willison, Schapper & Teo, 2009) and for academic staff (Willison, Le Lievre and Lee, 2010). Those who ran courses with such a focus, and some of their colleagues, are now going to the next level, that of the whole degree! Academics from three programs, representing three faculties will give a brief outline of what they have done over the past 2-4 years at course level, and what they are planning and doing at the program or school level. Current international thinking is just beginning to realize that the ‘best’ way to connect teaching and research at university is to embed research experiences in the curriculum (Jenkins & Healy, 2009). This panel will be able to provide you with a wealth of experience of how they have achieved this, and what they are planning for the whole degree. However, potential obstacles at the degree level are substantial, and the way forward context-specific and uncertain. Therefore, you are invited to come and hear about the panel’s experiences and intentions, and also to contribute your own experiences and ideas on how such an endeavor—to explicitly and coherently develop student research skills throughout the undergraduate years—may work in these and other contexts. This panel will provide a forum for audience dialogue and is speculative, with no preconceived outcome. Some questions will guide the early part of the discussion: • Is it beneficial or counterproductive to require colleagues to be part of a unified approach to developing research skills across an undergraduate degree? • Will regular & consistent reinforcement in numerous courses of a program help or hinder students’ development of research skills? • If the process of developing research skills is explicit in the earlier years of a program, how explicit should it be in the latter years? • In regards to the development of research skills, what are the advantages and disadvantages of assessing research skills? Some of the programs that are working towards a coherent and explicit development of student research skills are: • B Oral Health • B Science (Animal Science) • B Engineering (A number of programs in within the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering) • B Arts (Media) • B Business (Tourism, Monash University) • B Nursing (Trinity College Dublin) These diverse programs are utilising the same model, the Research Skill Development (RSD) framework (Willison & O’Regan, 2006; 2007), to conceptualise ways to develop students research skills and, when appropriate, to develop ERGA Conference 2010 19 marking matrices for their assessment. A RSD framework and handbook with discipline examples will be provided to participants.
Description: Panel session
Rights: Copyright © 2010 The University of Adelaide
Description (link): http://www.adelaide.edu.au/erga/
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest 5
Centre for Learning and Professional Development publications

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