Pamela Roberts

Academics' perceptions of the purpose of undergraduate research experiences in a research-intensive degree

The inclusion of research experiences as core components of undergraduate curricula implies that students will be exposed to and situated within the research activities of their university. Such experiences thus provide a new prism through which to view the relations between teaching, research and learning. The intentions and actions of academics supervising these activities will be strongly influenced by their beliefs regarding the nature of research, and the relation between research and learning in the undergraduate context. Surveys of academics supervising such experiences reveal a range of intentions, only some of which address the higher order and critical thinking skills associated with research or independent learning. This may indicate a lack of deep reflection on the purpose of exposing undergraduates to research, but may also be due to the predominance of a hierarchical view of the process by which one makes the transition from student to researcher.

'Please remember we are not all brilliant':undergraduates' experiences of an elite, research-intensive degree at a research-intensive university

Undergraduate research experiences are being incorporated into degree programs with increasing frequency. However, there has been little study into their effectiveness in preparing students for research or into the learning gains that students realise from one or more research experiences. We surveyed science students in an elite, research‐based undergraduate degree program at a research‐intensive university. These students complete six research projects during their degree and we aimed to delineate factors that students perceive as leading to either good or bad experiences. Two factors stand out as contributing to a successful research experience: the supervisor, with students reporting both pedagogic and affective benefits of good supervision; and the feeling that they are doing authentic science. Surprisingly, given the research‐intensive nature of this degree, the learning gains students report relate to both an appreciation of what research is like and life skills, such as time management, rather than scientific thinking skills.

Higher education curriculum orientations and the implications for institutional curriculum change

This research is based on an empirical study exploring how academics make curriculum decisions and their perceptions of the influences that shape their decisions. Interviews were held with 20 academics from diverse disciplines, who were both research active and committed to teaching. The higher education curriculum was conceptualised as a field of decision-making shaped by academics’ beliefs about educational and contextual influences. The study identified five distinctive curriculum orientations representing coherent patterns of curriculum decisions aligned with academics’ beliefs about educational purposes. Case studies are presented to elucidate each of the curriculum orientations. Curriculum orientations were also found to shape academics’ responses to educational change. The following higher education change drivers are explored: graduate employability and the skills agenda, teaching–research relationships, changing understandings about teaching and learning, educational technologies and flexible delivery. The findings suggest implications for institutional curriculum change initiatives and academic development programmes.