Developing the Higher Education Curriculum

A complementary volume to Dilly Fung’s A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education (2017), this book explores ‘research-based education’ as applied in practice within the higher education sector. A collection of 15 chapters followed by illustrative vignettes, it showcases approaches to engaging students actively with research and enquiry across disciplines. It begins with one institution’s creative approach to research-based education – UCL’s Connected Curriculum, a conceptual framework for integrating research-based education into all taught programmes of study – and branches out to show how aspects of the framework can apply to practice across a variety of institutions in a range of national settings.

The 15 chapters are provided by a diverse range of authors who all explore research-based education in their own way. Some chapters are firmly based in a subject-discipline – including art history, biochemistry, education, engineering, fashion and design, healthcare, and veterinary sciences – while others reach across geopolitical regions, such as Australia, Canada, China, England, Scotland and South Africa. The final chapter offers 12 short vignettes of practice to highlight how engaging students with research and enquiry can enrich their learning experiences, preparing them not only for more advanced academic learning, but also for professional roles in complex, rapidly changing social contexts.

A complementary volume to A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education, this book explores ‘research-based education’ as applied in practice within the higher education sector. A collection of 15 chapters followed by illustrative vignettes, it showcases approaches to engaging students actively with research and enquiry across disciplines.

A complementary volume to Dilly Fung’s A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education (2017), this book explores ‘research-based education’ as applied in practice within the higher education sector. A collection of 15 chapters followed by illustrative vignettes, it showcases approaches to engaging students actively with research and enquiry across disciplines. It begins with one institution’s creative approach to research-based education – UCL’s Connected Curriculum, a conceptual framework for integrating research-based education into all taught programmes of study – and branches out to show how aspects of the framework can apply to practice across a variety of institutions in a range of national settings.

The 15 chapters are provided by a diverse range of authors who all explore research-based education in their own way. Some chapters are firmly based in a subject-discipline – including art history, biochemistry, education, engineering, fashion and design, healthcare, and veterinary sciences – while others reach across geopolitical regions, such as Australia, Canada, China, England, Scotland and South Africa. The final chapter offers 12 short vignettes of practice to highlight how engaging students with research and enquiry can enrich their learning experiences, preparing them not only for more advanced academic learning, but also for professional roles in complex, rapidly changing social contexts.

Editors’ introduction: Developing the higher education curriculum: Research-based education in practice
Brent Carnell and Dilly Fung

1. Cultivating student expectations of a research-informed curriculum: Developing and promoting pedagogic resonance in the undergraduate student learning pathway
Corony Edwards and Mike McLinden, with Sarah Cooper, Helen Hewertson, Emma Kelly, David Sands and Alison Stokes
2. Development of a connected curriculum in biochemistry at a large, research-intensive university in Canada
Rachel E. Milner

3. Inspiring learning through research and enquiry: The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) at Xi’an JiaotongLiverpool University (XJTLU)
James Wilson, Yao Wu, Jianmei Xie, Dawn Johnson and Henk Huijser

4. The materials of life: Making meaning through object-based learning in twenty-first century higher education
Thomas Kador, Helen Chatterjee and Leonie Hannan

5. Foundation skills for veterinary medical research
Sharon Boyd, Andrew Gardiner, Claire Phillips, Jessie Paterson, Carolyn Morton, Fiona J. L. Brown and Iain J. Robbé

6. Connecting the curriculum with the iGEM student research competition
Darren N. Nesbeth

7. Curating connections in the art history curriculum
Nicholas Grindle and Ben Thomas

8. Developing online resources to support student research theses and dissertations: Evidence from the EdD at the UCL Institute of Education
Denise Hawkes

9. Connected disciplinary responses to the call to decolonise curricula in South African higher education
Lynn Quinn and Jo-Anne Vorster

10. Connecting research and teaching through curricular and pedagogic design: From theory to practice
Elizabeth Cleaver and Derek Wills, with Sinead Gormally, David Grey, Colin Johnson and Julie Rippingale

11. Connecting research, enquiry and communities in the creative curriculum
Alison James

12. Interprofessional education development at Leeds: Making connections between different healthcare students, staff, universities, and clinical settings
Shelley Fielden and Alison Ledger
13. Digital education and the Connected Curriculum: Towards a connected learning environment
Eileen Kennedy, Tim Neumann, Steve Rowett and Fiona Strawbridge

14. Connecting students and staff for teaching and learning enquiry: The McMaster Student Partners Programme
Elizabeth Marquis, Zeeshan Haqqee, Sabrina Kirby, Alexandra Liu, Varun Puri, Robert Cockcroft, Lori Goff and Kris Knorr

15. A jigsaw model for student partnership through research and teaching in small-group engineering classes
Chris Browne

16. Vignettes of current practice
A. Learning through research and enquiry: A graduate certificate for working professionals – a research-based education, with flexibility and online learning
Gwyneth Hughes
B. Using social media to equip students with research skills to improve stakeholder engagement in the energy and resources sector
Craig Styan
C. Developing students’ understanding of historical practice through connections with the university’s research
Edward Coleman
D. Speech and Language Therapy students learn through scaffolded research development and turn their final dissertations into a journal article
Rachael-Anne Knight
E. Designing a throughline and a research-culture in Biochemistry
Andrea Townsend-Nicholson
F. A throughline of research in a music programme
Louise Jackson G. History students researching their university and engaging an audience
Charlotte Behr
H. E-portfolio assessments: Creating connections
Panos Vlachopoulos
I. Using graduate attributes to link academic learning with the world of work
Susan Smith
J. An Alumni Mentoring Network enabling student connections with alumni and career mentoring
Mark De Freitas
K. Student–staff partnerships: Students partnering with staff to improve education
Jenny Marie
L. Establishing an individual and peer coaching support network for an MSc dissertation in Voluntary Sector Policy and Management in UCL’s School of Public Policy
Sarabajaya Kumar

Afterword
Brent Carnell and Dilly Fung