Angela Brew

Research Training and Supervision Development

Research education, or training, as it is often termed, is attracting greater scrutiny as research itself is seen of greater importance in the global knowledge economy. In turn, concerns to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of research supervision are leading to the introduction and extension of programmes for supervisor development. This article presents a framework for an approach to supervisor development, based on the assumption that in order to discuss supervisor development it is important to understand what supervisors do and why. The article examines the nature of the educative process for research students in the current research environment. It articulates the generic processes supervisors need to engage in for effective supervision, if students are to develop in differing institutional, disciplinary and professional contexts the appropriate expertise and attributes for employment; and presents an outline of what might constitute a flexible professional development programme for supervisors in this context.

Teaching and research: new relationships and their implications for inquiry-based teaching and learning in higher education

In order to bring teaching and research together, a fuller understanding of how academics conceptualise research and scholarship is needed. The paper discusses different ways in which research and scholarship are conceptualised and then provides two alternative models of the relationship between teaching and research based on different conceptions of teaching and different ideas about the nature of knowledge. The paper suggests that if the relationship between teaching and research is to be enhanced it is necessary to move towards a model based on the notion of academic communities of practice. The implications for higher education of doing this are then examined. It is argued that there is a need to reconceptualise the role of higher education and to renegotiate relationships between teachers and students.

Teaching and research: establishing the vital link with learning

Much time and effort has gone into trying to demonstrate an empirical link between research activity and teaching performance. In general, the correlations between these factors have been shown to be low. This paper argues that the attempt to find such a link will always be confounded by different conceptions of the two enterprises. The debate about the relationships between teaching and research as presently conceived is not fruitful. It there is a link between the two it operates through that which teaching and research have in common; both are concerned with the act of learning, though in different contexts. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on the ways in which knowledge is generated and communicated. Those aspects of teaching which lead to learning and the learning which occurs through research provide the vital link. This is important if the debate is to progress beyond a political defence of the status quo and be of practical use to considerations of whether, in higher education, teaching without research is to be encouraged.

Conceptions of Research: A phenomenographic study

This article reports on an investigation into the variation in how research is experienced by established senior researchers. It provides a new, discipline-neutral, non-technical framework for interpreting how academics are responding to the challenges of the changing context of higher education. The study identified four qualitatively different ways in which research is understood. These are differentiated according to whether they have an external product orientation or an internal process orientation; and whether the researchers themselves are in the forefront of their awareness or whether they appear to be incidental to their awareness. In the context of concern about the nature and role of research in the economy and about how it should be funded, and at a time when knowledge is said to be in crisis, the article suggests that the framework can contribute to rational analysis and decision-making.

Research and Teaching: Changing Relationships in a Changing Context.

ABSTRACT All research, scholarship, teaching and learning activities taking place in academic contexts are dependent on prevailing discourses regarding the nature of knowledge. These have been turbulent, with ideas about knowledge being seriously challenged. This article examines ways in which research and teaching have been changing and shows links with the crisis in ideas about knowledge. It then re-examines debates about the relationship between research and teaching in relation to this context, arguing that in order to understand their relationship it is important to view it in the context of these changes. Implications of the analysis for the relationship between teaching and research in the future are then drawn.

Imperatives and challenges in integrating teaching and research

This paper explores why it is important for universities to integrate research and teaching at the present time and considers how it can be achieved. Political, institutional and disciplinary factors affect the relationship, whether the aim is to integrate teaching with research or to integrate research with teaching. So the article explores factors that facilitate and factors that discourage integration. By way of providing an example of implementation, imperatives and challenges in developing this relationship at a large research‐intensive Australian university are outlined. Finally, the paper draws some general implications from this discussion to suggest where moves by disciplinary communities to integrate research and teaching might be heading.

Reconceptualising academic work as professional practice: implications for academic development

Despite increasing research and scholarship in the area of academic development in recent years, it remains an under-theorised field of endeavour. The paper proposes that academic developers take a view on what constitutes academic work and see it as a form of professional practice. It discusses the features of practice theory that illuminate professional practice and identifies three foci for the application of these ideas within academic development: practice development, fostering learning-conducive work and deliberately locating activity within practice. It also suggests that academic development be viewed as a practice and points to features within its own traditions on which to build.

Preparing for new academic roles: An holistic approach to development

Abstract In recent years there has been sustained emphasis in many countries on preparing academic staff for their teaching role. However, the necessary emphasis on teaching has distracted attention from the fact that university teachers are facing many other complex demands. University teachers are being appointed from a greater range of backgrounds and types of experience and performing an increasingly diverse range of roles. Moreover, while the emphasis has tended to be on the needs of full‐time tenurable staff, the numbers of casual and contract staff have grown. While much has been achieved, staff development provision is not coordinated, resources are not necessarily provided, centralized schemes do not link with departmental activities and responsibilities are often ambiguous. The paper identifies some of the influences on preparation for academic roles being faced today and argues that new frameworks are needed. It suggests that a holistic view should be adopted: one which places as central the st...

Transforming Academic Practice through Scholarship.

In the context of the fast changing university, how are academics to grow the capacity to cope with continual change and what can academic/faculty developers do to assist them? The paper first establishes the context of higher education as a challenging environment. It then reviews ideas about scholarship and explores the application of these ideas to university study of students and academics. It examines the role of the scholarship of teaching and learning in developing the capacity for critical reflection and then applies these ideas to academic practice more generally. Finally, the implications for academic development are addressed. Dans un contexte de mutation rapide de l’université, comment les universitaires parviennent‐ils à développer la capacité à faire face au changement continuel et que peuvent faire les conseillers pédagogiques pour les aider? Cet article décrit d’abord le contexte de l’enseignement supérieur comme un environnement rempli de défis. Il examine ensuite des idées liées à l’érudition (scholarship) et explore l’application de ces idées à l’étude universitaire des étudiants et des universitaires. L’article examine le rôle joué par le scholarship of teaching and learning dans le développement de la capacité de réflexion critique et applique ensuite ces idées à la pratique académique de façon plus générale. Finalement, les implications pour le développement pédagogique sont présentées.

The relationship between engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning and students’ course experiences

While there has been a good deal of discussion about the scholarship of teaching and learning, and models have been developed to understand its scope, the effects on students’ learning of academics engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning are unclear. In the context of initiatives to develop the scholarship of teaching and learning in a large research‐intensive university in Australia, this paper discusses the relationship between faculty performance on a set of scholarly accomplishments in relation to teaching and learning from 2002 to 2004, and changes in students’ course experiences from 2001 to 2005. The paper provides evidence of the relationship between the scholarship of teaching and learning and students’ course experiences and demonstrates the effectiveness of institutional strategies to encourage the scholarship of teaching and learning.