Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Disciplinary Approaches to Educational Enquiry

In today's higher education climate academic staff are encouraged to focus not only on the up-to-date content of their teaching, but also to identify the most effective ways to engage students in learning, often alongside other key transferrable skills. This had led to a growing requirement for staff to adopt a scholarly approach to learning and teaching practice, and to undertake scholarship of learning and teaching as part of ongoing professional development.

This text explores broad best practice approaches to undertaking enquiry into learning and teaching in higher education. It provides an introduction for staff who have been educated within a range of academic disciplines, often with high-level but very focused knowledge about, and understandings of, research processes to the potentially new world of educational enquiry. This is complemented by chapters exploring what educational enquiry means in the context of different academic disciplines, including physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, the life sciences, the arts, the humanities, the health professions, and law.

It also includes:

• An overview of research methodology including data collection, literature reviews, good ethical practice, and research dissemination
• Case studies of actual research projects to support understanding of how to carry out educational enquiry in practice.

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Prof. Elizabeth Cleaver is Professor of Learning and Teaching at the University of the West of England, UK (UWE) where she has built and leads the University’s Academic Practice Directorate: the central hub for the support, development and enhancement of academic programmes and practice. Over a career spanning 23 years she has taught, written and researched in sociology and education. Her early academic career was in the discipline of sociology where she specialised in the area of youth transitions to adulthood (early works are published in name Kenyon). It was during this period that her interest in disciplinary teaching approaches, and the importance of not just thinking and researching sociologically, but teaching sociologically, began to grow. Following a six-year spell outside the HE sector, undertaking local and government-funded policy research and evaluations at NFER, she returned to higher education in 2008. This most recent stage of Elizabeth’s career has focused on providing strategic leadership for curricular and pedagogic development and change in a range of contrasting higher education institutions.  Elizabeth is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Prof. Maxine Lintern is Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise for the Faculty of Business, Law and Social Science at Birmingham City University, UK. Her background is in biochemistry and neurophysiology and she has always been profoundly interested in the links and interfaces between research and teaching. The research strategy she has developed for the Faculty overtly links all research activity back into the development of innovative teaching environments and the curriculum. While based in the Faculty of Health she established a successful research centre and created innovative learning experiences such as the ‘Major Incident Simulation’. Prior to her roles at BCU she was Director of Learning and Teaching at the University of Birmingham where she worked closely with staff from a wide range of subject areas as they undertook formal training in teaching as part of their PGCert. The challenge of helping them to see links back to their own research environment and how that could inspire educational development is one of drivers for producing this book. Maxine is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Prof. Mike McLinden is based in the School of Education at the University of Birmingham as has over 25 years’ experience of curriculum design, delivery and evaluation. He has a broad interest in professional learning and pedagogy and has been involved in a range of funded pedagogical projects in partnership with colleagues in the sector. This includes Strand Lead (Part Time Learners) for HEA-funded ‘Flexible Pedagogies’ project. Mike’s research interests include developing ‘research-informed’ pedagogical practice with a particular focus on the development of student-centred approaches (including problem/enquiry-based learning). With colleagues at the University, he has led a number of funded projects that link to strategic developments within the institution. Mike′s disciplinary professional role is concerned with the inclusion of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. He is co-Director of the Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR) in the Department of Disability Inclusion and Special Needs (DISN), Programme Director for the professional development courses in vision impairment, and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.