The research teaching nexus in the computing disciplines: a comparative survey

Many institutions make claims in strategy documents and official publications that students will receive an education which is research-led, research-informed, or guided by the scholarship of teaching and learning. Academics who teach regularly experience at first-hand the sometimes conflicting demands of research, teaching and supporting learning. Curricula guidelines are unlikely to help in developing any sophisticated understanding of ways in which research and teaching can be symbiotically applied, since such guidelines most typically deal with the content rather than the educational process experienced by our undergraduates. For these reasons an academic’s understanding of the research teaching nexus is more likely to be informed by their own workaday experience of designing and delivering educational experiences than from an analysis of the students’ perspective. If academics in the computing disciplines are to effectively deliver on their institutional missions to be scholarly, research-led or research-informed in their educational approaches, a clearer understanding of the possible meanings and implications of these terms in the context of the typical computing curricula would be of assistance. This paper presents and analyses the results of a survey conducted at two Universities which sought to identify how far their undergraduate curriculum was informed by research. This data is presented alongside qualitative data gathered from academics which explores their attitudes towards, and understanding of, the various terms commonly used to describe a research-informed approach to education in the computing disciplines

Changing the Odds: The Race for Results in Atlanta

Race has undeniably shaped the city's landscape, giving rise to two very different Atlantas that underscore the fact that the place where children grow up affects their opportunities in life. This report examines the city through its 25 neighborhood planning units (NPUs) -- the resident advisory councils that make zoning and other planning recommendations -- to explore how race and community of residence erect persistent barriers that keep kids from reaching their potential. They also keep the city from fully harnessing its economic power: Metro Atlanta's economy stands to gain an additional $78.6 million annually by promoting racial equity, according to a recent study.This report explores how race and community of residence continue to create barriers that keep the city's kids, particularly those of color, from reaching their full potential. The report highlights three key areas that support or thwart children's healthy development: (1) the community where they grow up; (2) school experiences; and (3) family access to economic opportunities. Policy recommendations are included

Linking teaching and research in disciplines and departments

This paper supports the effective links between teaching and discipline-based research in disciplinary communities and in academic departments. It is authored by Alan Jenkins, Mick Healey and Roger Zetter

Working the Nexus: Teaching students to think, read and problem-solve like a lawyer

Despite a clear case for thinking skills in legal education, the approach to teaching these skills often appears to be implied in law curricula rather than identified explicitly. Thinking skills could be taught as part of reading law and legal problem solving. However, learning the full suite of thinking skills requires active teaching strategies which go beyond exposing students to the text of the law, and training them in its application by solving problem scenarios. The challenge for law teachers is to articulate how to learn legal thinking skills, and to do so at each level of the degree. This article outlines how the nexus between three component skills: critical legal thinking, reading law, and legal problem solving, can be put to work to provide a cohesive and scaffolded approach to the teaching of legal thinking. Although the approach in this article arises from the Smart Casual project, producing discipline-specific professional development resources directed at sessional teachers in law, we suggest that its application is relevant to all law teachers

Annual Report Fall 2014-Summer 2015: The Design, Implementation, & Assessment of Nexus Learning Hubs

Executive Summary Literature suggests that active and collaborative pedagogies, as compared to traditional lecturing, may enhance student engagement, motivation, retention, learning, and achievement. While Philadelphia University’s faculty members have embraced these Nexus Learning pedagogies that facilitate active and collaborative learning, the built environment of our traditional classrooms, and their associated technologies, have often limited the effectiveness. Philadelphia University began an initiative aiming to radically transform existing traditional learning spaces into intentionally designed learning environments that aim to minimize the physical and technological limitations of some of our traditional classrooms and maximize the beneficial evidence-based approaches of active, collaborative, real world pedagogies. This annual report summarizes the processes of design/implementation, assessment results, and lessons learned from this first year of the Active Learning Space Initiative. The planning process included key campus stake-holders under consultation with external experts in learning space design. The fall 2014 semester saw the unveiling of two Nexus Learning Hubs intentionally designed to offer more seamless transitions from different modes of active learning, enhance versatility in furniture configurations to optimize active and collaborative interactions, and couple appropriate technologies with vibrant and modern spaces to allow students to co-create and critique information in an aesthetically motivating space. The Nexus Learning Hubs have provided an experimental space offering a no-risk, highly versatile environment in which faculty members can amass evidence-based approaches to optimizing the interconnectedness of the built learning space, pedagogies, and technology. To assess the effectiveness of these spaces, and identify weaknesses or oversights (lessons learned), we used direct and indirect methods such as the Active Learning Post-Occupancy Evaluation, ethnographic data garnered from classroom observations, periodic faculty and student surveys, and summaries from two faculty feedback sessions

Bringing technical authoring skills to life for students through an employer audience

It is crucial that students in the computing area are equipped with strong research and technical authoring skills and expertise. These are transferable lifelong skills which are sometimes difficult to develop and can be viewed as ‘dull’ by the students. This study explores a more authentic and lively approach to delivering and assessing a module on technical authoring to undergraduate computing students. Students were asked to produce work for presentation at a conference aimed at external participants mainly from local industry and business. This challenged the students in terms of their technical authoring skills and brought a professionalism and realism to the module. There were other less obvious benefits from this approach. Students gained in confidence through the work they presented but also through being ‘delegates’ at the conference and engaging in the question and answer sessions. Student feedback on the module was positive and constructive and their assessment work was of a high standard

Designing the interface between research, learning and teaching.

Abstract: This paper’s central argument is that teaching and research need to be reshaped so that they connect in a productive way. This will require actions at a whole range of levels, from the individual teacher to the national system and include the international communities of design scholars. To do this, we need to start at the level of the individual teacher and course team. This paper cites some examples of strategies that focus on what students do as learners and how teachers teach and design courses to enhance research-led teaching. The paper commences with an examination of the departmental context of (art and) design education. This is followed by an exploration of what is understood by research-led teaching and a further discussion of the dimensions of research-led teaching. It questions whether these dimensions are evident, and if so to what degree in design departments, programmes and courses. The discussion examines the features of research-led departments and asks if a department is not research-led in its approach to teaching, why it should consider changing strategies

Linkages between research, scholarship and teaching in universities in China

Linkages between research, scholarship and teaching are a topic of contemporary interest in UK universities, driven by pressures such as traditional views of the nature and purpose of universities, reputation, student expectations of their teachers, educational enhancement through up-to-date research and scholarly input, and personal ambitions and satisfaction. The paper describes a study of these linkages at the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) during 2006 within the Sino-UK Higher Education Leadership Development Programme, which allows for senior academics from China and the UK to study a particular management issue to identify good practice which they can apply in their institution. The activities included a preliminary workshop in the UK, a two-week visit to BIT and a workshop in Beijing. My study was conducted through a semi-structured interview programme with a wide range of academics and administrators. It was enlightening to find that a leading Chinese university, which operates within quite different systems and cultures from the UK, nevertheless has similar issues, imperatives and problems. My overall conclusion is that there is international agreement that research and scholarly performance underpins the credibility of academic staff to teach at a university, which in turn attracts good students and research staff