Kolb's experiential learning theory is one of the best known educational theories in higher educa... more Kolb's experiential learning theory is one of the best known educational theories in higher education, yet it appears to be hardly used by geographers outside the UK. The theory presents a way of structuring a session or a whole course using a learning cycle. The different stages of the cycle are associated with distinct learning styles. Individuals differ in their preferred learning styles and recognizing this is the first stage in raising students' awareness of the alternative approaches possible. The article presents some case studies of ways in which the theory can be applied in geography at university and K-12 levels.
This is the manuscript of a chapter published as:
Jenkins, A.and Gold, J.R. (1992) 'Effective le... more This is the manuscript of a chapter published as:
Jenkins, A.and Gold, J.R. (1992) 'Effective learning: a traveller's guide', in A. Rogers, A.S. Goudie and H. Viles, eds., The Student's Companion to Geography, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 119 127.
... 4 Environment: understanding and transforming the physical environment, 80. Edward Derbyshire... more ... 4 Environment: understanding and transforming the physical environment, 80. Edward Derbyshire, Temperature, rainfall and run-off patterns, 80. ... Case Study 4.1 Loess and the loess plateau of north China, 100. Edward Derbyshire, 5 People: demographic patterns and policies, 102 ...
I write on behalf of colleagues in a range of pre and post 1992 institutions centrally involved i... more I write on behalf of colleagues in a range of pre and post 1992 institutions centrally involved in two national projects aimed at forging closer links between teaching and research in a range of disciplines. Summary F 0 B 7 We welcome key aspects of the paper, in particular the valuing of teaching and the arguments for institutional diversity.
Undergraduate research schemes, where students learn in ways that incorporate or enact the resear... more Undergraduate research schemes, where students learn in ways that incorporate or enact the research process, are a feature of many US institutions. But they are often for selected students in selected institutions. This project investigates how to adapt these principles and practices for UK and other international contexts: in particular how to develop policies which ensure that all (or most) students in a wide range of Higher Education institutions benefit. A related question was how such undergraduate research schemes can be 'mainstreamed' into the UK university curriculum in a sustainable way, and in the immediate context of Brookes and Warwick how this process might be embedded after external funding for the CETL ceases. The project included an investigation of a range of selected and broadly representative undergraduate research programmes in the US. This involved meetings and interviews with their designers, directors and teachers, against a background of relevant documentary evidence at programme, institutional and national levels. These insights and sources of information were related to examples of current practice in the UK with a view to establishing appropriate principles and encouraging the refinement or redirection of present policies, again at programme, institutional and national levels. This has been done and the results are being widely disseminated in the UK and internationally. With colleagues at Brookes in particular, a range of policy proposals have been formulated for 'mainstreaming' undergraduate research at Brookes. These have been accepted and are now being enacted in the Brookes Modular Course. Because this is a broadly 'theoretical' project, chiefly concerned with changes in understanding and policy, it is by its long-as well as short-term impacts that it must be judged. Dissemination and feedback to date confirm that it is already making a contribution. It remains to be seen whether it will eventually make a big difference. At any rate, the project has helped articulate the essential principles that must inform the policies if the experience and expertise of US 'selective' undergraduate research programmes are to feed into the design and delivery of UK programmes built on partly different, potentially more 'inclusive' lines; and in turn shape developments internationally including in the USA.
“The limited attention … to what we teach (let alone how we teach it) would suggest that this mat... more “The limited attention … to what we teach (let alone how we teach it) would suggest that this matter is not particularly important. Yet it is this teaching, at both undergraduate and graduate level that conditions the present health of our subject and its future growth.” Professor Stan Gregory’s Presidential Address to the Institute of British Geographers, Coventry, January 1976; cited as part of the lead editorial to the first issue of Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Spring 1977, p. 3.
This editorial nearly had the title of Diana Althill’s (2008) memoir ‘Somewhere towards the End’. But that title would put the focus on myself being some seventy years old! Rather while reflecting back on the ‘history’ of JGHE my aim is to ‘pass it on’ -and in particular to:
• Reflect on how far geography has moved (forward) from the position Stan Gregory identified some thirty years ago and which provided one of the key rationales for founding JGHE. • Consider how far JGHE/and linked developments internationally have helped better ensure that geography teaching is based on what Menges and Weimer (1995) called ‘solid ground’; ie strong research and scholarly-based evidence. • Challenge you to consider what should be the core issues of practice and policy that geography departments and JGHE should now ensure are addressed?
Undergraduate research schemes, where students learn in ways that incorporate or enact the resear... more Undergraduate research schemes, where students learn in ways that incorporate or enact the research process, are a feature of many US institutions. But they are often for selected students in selected institutions. This project investigates how to adapt these principles and practices for UK and other international contexts: in particular how to develop policies which ensure that all (or most) students in a wide range of Higher Education institutions benefit. A related question was how such undergraduate research schemes can be 'mainstreamed' into the UK university curriculum in a sustainable way, and in the immediate context of Brookes and Warwick how this process might be embedded after external funding for the CETL ceases. The project included an investigation of a range of selected and broadly representative undergraduate research programmes in the US. This involved meetings and interviews with their designers, directors and teachers, against a background of relevant documentary evidence at programme, institutional and national levels. These insights and sources of information were related to examples of current practice in the UK with a view to establishing appropriate principles and encouraging the refinement or redirection of present policies, again at programme, institutional and national levels. This has been done and the results are being widely disseminated in the UK and internationally. With colleagues at Brookes in particular, a range of policy proposals have been formulated for 'mainstreaming' undergraduate research at Brookes. These have been accepted and are now being enacted in the Brookes Modular Course. Because this is a broadly 'theoretical' project, chiefly concerned with changes in understanding and policy, it is by its long-as well as short-term impacts that it must be judged. Dissemination and feedback to date confirm that it is already making a contribution. It remains to be seen whether it will eventually make a big difference. At any rate, the project has helped articulate the essential principles that must inform the policies if the experience and expertise of US 'selective' undergraduate research programmes are to feed into the design and delivery of UK programmes built on partly different, potentially more 'inclusive' lines; and in turn shape developments internationally including in the USA.
Ouija board “Board lettered with alphabet and other signs, used with movable pointer to obtain me... more Ouija board “Board lettered with alphabet and other signs, used with movable pointer to obtain messages in spiritualistic seances.” (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
According to Jenkins (1998), at times the curriculum is shaped by forces over which we have little control and often little warning. Starting from the metaphor of an Ouija board, as something moved by such mysterious forces, Jenkins sees the curriculum as being moved by a set of forces which we both recognise and shape. These forces become strategies for creatively designing the curriculum. Naturally, different departments and individuals in different institutions will give greater value to certain forces, and at particular times certain forces may become more prominent. The strength of using an analogy with an Ouija board for designing a curriculum is that it ‘gives’ staff autonomy and creative choices: too often staff are told – this is the way to design
the ‘level of action’ is a useful way of conceiving the issues and setting out a range of strat... more the ‘level of action’ is a useful way of conceiving the issues and setting out a range of strategies that can be taken to realise the desired nexus. Thus having started from a review of the available research evidence, we have now considered what individuals and course teams can do; and then the role of academic institutions and departments. As we have moved up the levels we have emphasised that suggested actions are often not as well grounded on the research evidence as we think is needed. In making suggestions for academics and policy makers we hope that in previous chapters we have been sensitive to disciplinary and institutional variations. Such sensitivity is perhaps even more important as we turn to the national (and international) levels. For national higher education systems vary greatly in culture, purposes, organisation and funding arrangements. We are well aware that one cannot take one element from a national system, and ‘simply’ transplant it elsewhere. We also recognise that our thinking is strongly shaped by working in the British system, which is far more a national, centrally directed system and very different from say the more diverse and more privately funded US system. Clearly our perspective is also shaped by working in a ‘national’ culture which has both valued the teaching /research nexus and in recent years ‘challenged’ that link. Perhaps at times the spectre of the UK Research Assessment Exercise does hang over this chapter?
The term undergraduate research and the concept’s integration
into the curriculum grew out of U.S... more The term undergraduate research and the concept’s integration into the curriculum grew out of U.S. practice, in particular the innovative work of Margaret MacVicar, who founded the pioneering Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in 1969 while she was dean of undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cohen and MacVicar, 1976). Internationally, a growing number of national systems and institutions have adopted the term “undergraduate research” and adapted its curricular form to their national academic cultures and funding systems. One indication of this worldwide interest is the publication by the U.K. Higher Education Academy of our book Developing Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (Healey and Jenkins, 2009). Drawing on a wide range of international case studies, this book demonstrates strong interest by departments, institutions, and national systems world-wide in developing and adapting North American conceptions of undergraduate research. We believe these international initiatives, in turn, can not only support the growing U.S. undergraduate-research movement by providing case studies of practice adapted to those contexts, but also provide further conceptual and research-based understanding. However, to understand this growing interest in U.S. undergraduate- research initiatives, one has to widen the perspective and see it in the context of the mounting international concerns about pressures to separate teaching and research. Such interest parallels the arguments in Ernest Boyer’s influential book Scholarship Reconsidered that “the time has come to move beyond the tired old ‘teaching versus research’ debate” (Boyer, 1990, xii), and the Boyer Commission’s call to “make research based learning the standard,” (1998, 15-19). International adaptations may at times directly use the term “undergraduate research,” and set up special institutional and departmental undergraduate-research programs. However, in many cases their focus is much wider, seeking to engage all students in research and inquiry or to recast the curriculum to more explicitly bring together the institutional and departmental research and teaching agendas.
" … universities should treat learning as not yet wholly solved problems and hence always in rese... more " … universities should treat learning as not yet wholly solved problems and hence always in research mode. " (Humboldt, 1810 translated 1970, quoted by Elton, 2005, 110) THE CHANGING INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT OF HIGHER EDUCATION The 'marketization' of universities needs to be seen in the context of major changes in international higher education. The expansion of higher education has led to a questioning of the traditional Humboldtian conception of the university as an institution where teaching and research are interrelated. Related developments include the problem of meeting the costs of this expansion, and in many national systems the concentration of research funding in a limited number of high level research focussed universities. Such developments question the long prevailing view that effective teaching needs to be underpinned by an institutional environment where most staff are involved in research. For example, in 2000 Howard Newby, then President of Universities UK, and soon to be Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), spoke at an early meeting organised by Roger Brown of what became the Research and Teaching Forum. The report of the meeting states: … the effect of massification (is) requiring HE to move away from a position as part of the publicly funded service economy to make an important contribution to the 'productive economy'. … Even the notion of the university is caught up in this change … in particular to the links between teaching and research. As such it will require greater clarity about the benefits the link brings. … In the context of the UK, Newby contended that … the expansion towards a mass system meant that funds are no longer adequate to support the increased population of staff to be involved in both research and teaching (Southampton Institute, 2000, p.7, emphasis added). We explore in this chapter the role played by what became known as the 'Research and Teaching Forum' – which we use as an umbrella term that refers to the series of initiatives Roger Brown initiated and led between 1998 and 2009. Here we focus on the impact of disciplinary research on teaching. We were both centrally involved in the Forum during that decade as Steering Group members and as participants in its events. A related discussion of the Forum is given by D'Andrea in her chapter.
How can institutions and departments support faculty
teaching designed to bring undergraduate stu... more How can institutions and departments support faculty teaching designed to bring undergraduate students into the worlds of disciplinary research and develop their understanding of the complexity of knowledge? While recognizing the strengths of undergraduate programs for selected students that are a feature at many U.S. institutions, our approach is to embed research and inquiry in all curricula for all students. We argue that this can be achieved “through structured interventions at course team, departmental, institutional and national levels”
Enhancing Employability and Educational Experience:
a manual on teaching communication and groupw... more Enhancing Employability and Educational Experience: a manual on teaching communication and groupwork skills in higher education
Jenkins, A. & Pepper, D. (1988)
(Birmingham Polytechnic, Standing Conference for Educational Development, Occasional Paper No. 27)
This publication seeks to support institutional policy-makers to enable their
institutions to lin... more This publication seeks to support institutional policy-makers to enable their institutions to link teaching and discipline-based research more effectively. Our focus is on supporting the relationships between student learning and staff discipline-based research in institutional policies and practices: what has variously been called the ‘teaching-research nexus’, ‘research-led’, ‘research-based’, ‘inquiry-based’ or ‘research-informed’ teaching. Our focus is not on ensuring that the institution ensures that pedagogic research is supported and used to shape institutional practice and policy, though we do believe that should be the case. With respect to the work of the Higher Education Academy we seek to support its strategic aim of ‘working with institutions in their strategies for improving the student learning experience’ (Higher Education Academy, 2005a) and to ensure that the advice is based on research evidence. The core of the booklet is section 5 where we present an analytical framework and an international array of case studies to support effective teaching-research links in institutions. We start from the assumption that such links are core characteristics of a university education. Readers who wish to explore the arguments and complexity of these issues further may refer to the growing number of texts in this area (Barnett, 2005; Boyer, 1990; Brew, 2001; Jenkins et al., 2003). We also recognise that the meaning of the terms ‘research’, ‘scholarship’
This paper seeks to support the effective links between teaching and disciplinebased
research in ... more This paper seeks to support the effective links between teaching and disciplinebased research in disciplinary communities and in academic departments. It is aimed in particular at discipline-based staff who wish to connect their teaching and research roles; those with leadership roles for teaching and for research in departments and institutions; and educational developers, researchers and support staff within institutions, in disciplinary communities and in academic departments. The central arguments are that: ● the ‘teaching-research nexus’ is central to higher education ● student intellectual development and staff identity can and should be developed by departments focusing on the ‘nexus’ ● effective teaching research links are not automatic and have to be constructed ● there are important disciplinary variations in teaching-research relations that need to be valued ● academic departments are central to developing the links between research in the discipline and student learning ● a central way to develop effective practice is to share case studies of discipline-based practice and department policies. Suggestions are offered as to how disciplinary communities and departments can strengthen the good practice that already exists.
The 30-year story of the geography department at Oxford Brookes University is presented as an ora... more The 30-year story of the geography department at Oxford Brookes University is presented as an oral history in the words of the experienced full-time staff. The department has gained a reputation in the UK and beyond for innovative active-learning methods and its story is an example of how a pedagogic culture can develop in a geography department. The story can also be read as a case study of a workplace in higher education, or as a contribution to the history of education. Most importantly, though, it offers insight into the key factors concerning the development of innovative teaching practice.
The New Zealand PBRF -Performance Based Research Fund -will threaten New Zealand's universities t... more The New Zealand PBRF -Performance Based Research Fund -will threaten New Zealand's universities teaching quality
Kolb's experiential learning theory is one of the best known educational theories in higher educa... more Kolb's experiential learning theory is one of the best known educational theories in higher education, yet it appears to be hardly used by geographers outside the UK. The theory presents a way of structuring a session or a whole course using a learning cycle. The different stages of the cycle are associated with distinct learning styles. Individuals differ in their preferred learning styles and recognizing this is the first stage in raising students' awareness of the alternative approaches possible. The article presents some case studies of ways in which the theory can be applied in geography at university and K-12 levels.
This is the manuscript of a chapter published as:
Jenkins, A.and Gold, J.R. (1992) 'Effective le... more This is the manuscript of a chapter published as:
Jenkins, A.and Gold, J.R. (1992) 'Effective learning: a traveller's guide', in A. Rogers, A.S. Goudie and H. Viles, eds., The Student's Companion to Geography, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 119 127.
... 4 Environment: understanding and transforming the physical environment, 80. Edward Derbyshire... more ... 4 Environment: understanding and transforming the physical environment, 80. Edward Derbyshire, Temperature, rainfall and run-off patterns, 80. ... Case Study 4.1 Loess and the loess plateau of north China, 100. Edward Derbyshire, 5 People: demographic patterns and policies, 102 ...
I write on behalf of colleagues in a range of pre and post 1992 institutions centrally involved i... more I write on behalf of colleagues in a range of pre and post 1992 institutions centrally involved in two national projects aimed at forging closer links between teaching and research in a range of disciplines. Summary F 0 B 7 We welcome key aspects of the paper, in particular the valuing of teaching and the arguments for institutional diversity.
Undergraduate research schemes, where students learn in ways that incorporate or enact the resear... more Undergraduate research schemes, where students learn in ways that incorporate or enact the research process, are a feature of many US institutions. But they are often for selected students in selected institutions. This project investigates how to adapt these principles and practices for UK and other international contexts: in particular how to develop policies which ensure that all (or most) students in a wide range of Higher Education institutions benefit. A related question was how such undergraduate research schemes can be 'mainstreamed' into the UK university curriculum in a sustainable way, and in the immediate context of Brookes and Warwick how this process might be embedded after external funding for the CETL ceases. The project included an investigation of a range of selected and broadly representative undergraduate research programmes in the US. This involved meetings and interviews with their designers, directors and teachers, against a background of relevant documentary evidence at programme, institutional and national levels. These insights and sources of information were related to examples of current practice in the UK with a view to establishing appropriate principles and encouraging the refinement or redirection of present policies, again at programme, institutional and national levels. This has been done and the results are being widely disseminated in the UK and internationally. With colleagues at Brookes in particular, a range of policy proposals have been formulated for 'mainstreaming' undergraduate research at Brookes. These have been accepted and are now being enacted in the Brookes Modular Course. Because this is a broadly 'theoretical' project, chiefly concerned with changes in understanding and policy, it is by its long-as well as short-term impacts that it must be judged. Dissemination and feedback to date confirm that it is already making a contribution. It remains to be seen whether it will eventually make a big difference. At any rate, the project has helped articulate the essential principles that must inform the policies if the experience and expertise of US 'selective' undergraduate research programmes are to feed into the design and delivery of UK programmes built on partly different, potentially more 'inclusive' lines; and in turn shape developments internationally including in the USA.
“The limited attention … to what we teach (let alone how we teach it) would suggest that this mat... more “The limited attention … to what we teach (let alone how we teach it) would suggest that this matter is not particularly important. Yet it is this teaching, at both undergraduate and graduate level that conditions the present health of our subject and its future growth.” Professor Stan Gregory’s Presidential Address to the Institute of British Geographers, Coventry, January 1976; cited as part of the lead editorial to the first issue of Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Spring 1977, p. 3.
This editorial nearly had the title of Diana Althill’s (2008) memoir ‘Somewhere towards the End’. But that title would put the focus on myself being some seventy years old! Rather while reflecting back on the ‘history’ of JGHE my aim is to ‘pass it on’ -and in particular to:
• Reflect on how far geography has moved (forward) from the position Stan Gregory identified some thirty years ago and which provided one of the key rationales for founding JGHE. • Consider how far JGHE/and linked developments internationally have helped better ensure that geography teaching is based on what Menges and Weimer (1995) called ‘solid ground’; ie strong research and scholarly-based evidence. • Challenge you to consider what should be the core issues of practice and policy that geography departments and JGHE should now ensure are addressed?
Undergraduate research schemes, where students learn in ways that incorporate or enact the resear... more Undergraduate research schemes, where students learn in ways that incorporate or enact the research process, are a feature of many US institutions. But they are often for selected students in selected institutions. This project investigates how to adapt these principles and practices for UK and other international contexts: in particular how to develop policies which ensure that all (or most) students in a wide range of Higher Education institutions benefit. A related question was how such undergraduate research schemes can be 'mainstreamed' into the UK university curriculum in a sustainable way, and in the immediate context of Brookes and Warwick how this process might be embedded after external funding for the CETL ceases. The project included an investigation of a range of selected and broadly representative undergraduate research programmes in the US. This involved meetings and interviews with their designers, directors and teachers, against a background of relevant documentary evidence at programme, institutional and national levels. These insights and sources of information were related to examples of current practice in the UK with a view to establishing appropriate principles and encouraging the refinement or redirection of present policies, again at programme, institutional and national levels. This has been done and the results are being widely disseminated in the UK and internationally. With colleagues at Brookes in particular, a range of policy proposals have been formulated for 'mainstreaming' undergraduate research at Brookes. These have been accepted and are now being enacted in the Brookes Modular Course. Because this is a broadly 'theoretical' project, chiefly concerned with changes in understanding and policy, it is by its long-as well as short-term impacts that it must be judged. Dissemination and feedback to date confirm that it is already making a contribution. It remains to be seen whether it will eventually make a big difference. At any rate, the project has helped articulate the essential principles that must inform the policies if the experience and expertise of US 'selective' undergraduate research programmes are to feed into the design and delivery of UK programmes built on partly different, potentially more 'inclusive' lines; and in turn shape developments internationally including in the USA.
Ouija board “Board lettered with alphabet and other signs, used with movable pointer to obtain me... more Ouija board “Board lettered with alphabet and other signs, used with movable pointer to obtain messages in spiritualistic seances.” (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
According to Jenkins (1998), at times the curriculum is shaped by forces over which we have little control and often little warning. Starting from the metaphor of an Ouija board, as something moved by such mysterious forces, Jenkins sees the curriculum as being moved by a set of forces which we both recognise and shape. These forces become strategies for creatively designing the curriculum. Naturally, different departments and individuals in different institutions will give greater value to certain forces, and at particular times certain forces may become more prominent. The strength of using an analogy with an Ouija board for designing a curriculum is that it ‘gives’ staff autonomy and creative choices: too often staff are told – this is the way to design
the ‘level of action’ is a useful way of conceiving the issues and setting out a range of strat... more the ‘level of action’ is a useful way of conceiving the issues and setting out a range of strategies that can be taken to realise the desired nexus. Thus having started from a review of the available research evidence, we have now considered what individuals and course teams can do; and then the role of academic institutions and departments. As we have moved up the levels we have emphasised that suggested actions are often not as well grounded on the research evidence as we think is needed. In making suggestions for academics and policy makers we hope that in previous chapters we have been sensitive to disciplinary and institutional variations. Such sensitivity is perhaps even more important as we turn to the national (and international) levels. For national higher education systems vary greatly in culture, purposes, organisation and funding arrangements. We are well aware that one cannot take one element from a national system, and ‘simply’ transplant it elsewhere. We also recognise that our thinking is strongly shaped by working in the British system, which is far more a national, centrally directed system and very different from say the more diverse and more privately funded US system. Clearly our perspective is also shaped by working in a ‘national’ culture which has both valued the teaching /research nexus and in recent years ‘challenged’ that link. Perhaps at times the spectre of the UK Research Assessment Exercise does hang over this chapter?
The term undergraduate research and the concept’s integration
into the curriculum grew out of U.S... more The term undergraduate research and the concept’s integration into the curriculum grew out of U.S. practice, in particular the innovative work of Margaret MacVicar, who founded the pioneering Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in 1969 while she was dean of undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cohen and MacVicar, 1976). Internationally, a growing number of national systems and institutions have adopted the term “undergraduate research” and adapted its curricular form to their national academic cultures and funding systems. One indication of this worldwide interest is the publication by the U.K. Higher Education Academy of our book Developing Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (Healey and Jenkins, 2009). Drawing on a wide range of international case studies, this book demonstrates strong interest by departments, institutions, and national systems world-wide in developing and adapting North American conceptions of undergraduate research. We believe these international initiatives, in turn, can not only support the growing U.S. undergraduate-research movement by providing case studies of practice adapted to those contexts, but also provide further conceptual and research-based understanding. However, to understand this growing interest in U.S. undergraduate- research initiatives, one has to widen the perspective and see it in the context of the mounting international concerns about pressures to separate teaching and research. Such interest parallels the arguments in Ernest Boyer’s influential book Scholarship Reconsidered that “the time has come to move beyond the tired old ‘teaching versus research’ debate” (Boyer, 1990, xii), and the Boyer Commission’s call to “make research based learning the standard,” (1998, 15-19). International adaptations may at times directly use the term “undergraduate research,” and set up special institutional and departmental undergraduate-research programs. However, in many cases their focus is much wider, seeking to engage all students in research and inquiry or to recast the curriculum to more explicitly bring together the institutional and departmental research and teaching agendas.
" … universities should treat learning as not yet wholly solved problems and hence always in rese... more " … universities should treat learning as not yet wholly solved problems and hence always in research mode. " (Humboldt, 1810 translated 1970, quoted by Elton, 2005, 110) THE CHANGING INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT OF HIGHER EDUCATION The 'marketization' of universities needs to be seen in the context of major changes in international higher education. The expansion of higher education has led to a questioning of the traditional Humboldtian conception of the university as an institution where teaching and research are interrelated. Related developments include the problem of meeting the costs of this expansion, and in many national systems the concentration of research funding in a limited number of high level research focussed universities. Such developments question the long prevailing view that effective teaching needs to be underpinned by an institutional environment where most staff are involved in research. For example, in 2000 Howard Newby, then President of Universities UK, and soon to be Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), spoke at an early meeting organised by Roger Brown of what became the Research and Teaching Forum. The report of the meeting states: … the effect of massification (is) requiring HE to move away from a position as part of the publicly funded service economy to make an important contribution to the 'productive economy'. … Even the notion of the university is caught up in this change … in particular to the links between teaching and research. As such it will require greater clarity about the benefits the link brings. … In the context of the UK, Newby contended that … the expansion towards a mass system meant that funds are no longer adequate to support the increased population of staff to be involved in both research and teaching (Southampton Institute, 2000, p.7, emphasis added). We explore in this chapter the role played by what became known as the 'Research and Teaching Forum' – which we use as an umbrella term that refers to the series of initiatives Roger Brown initiated and led between 1998 and 2009. Here we focus on the impact of disciplinary research on teaching. We were both centrally involved in the Forum during that decade as Steering Group members and as participants in its events. A related discussion of the Forum is given by D'Andrea in her chapter.
How can institutions and departments support faculty
teaching designed to bring undergraduate stu... more How can institutions and departments support faculty teaching designed to bring undergraduate students into the worlds of disciplinary research and develop their understanding of the complexity of knowledge? While recognizing the strengths of undergraduate programs for selected students that are a feature at many U.S. institutions, our approach is to embed research and inquiry in all curricula for all students. We argue that this can be achieved “through structured interventions at course team, departmental, institutional and national levels”
Enhancing Employability and Educational Experience:
a manual on teaching communication and groupw... more Enhancing Employability and Educational Experience: a manual on teaching communication and groupwork skills in higher education
Jenkins, A. & Pepper, D. (1988)
(Birmingham Polytechnic, Standing Conference for Educational Development, Occasional Paper No. 27)
This publication seeks to support institutional policy-makers to enable their
institutions to lin... more This publication seeks to support institutional policy-makers to enable their institutions to link teaching and discipline-based research more effectively. Our focus is on supporting the relationships between student learning and staff discipline-based research in institutional policies and practices: what has variously been called the ‘teaching-research nexus’, ‘research-led’, ‘research-based’, ‘inquiry-based’ or ‘research-informed’ teaching. Our focus is not on ensuring that the institution ensures that pedagogic research is supported and used to shape institutional practice and policy, though we do believe that should be the case. With respect to the work of the Higher Education Academy we seek to support its strategic aim of ‘working with institutions in their strategies for improving the student learning experience’ (Higher Education Academy, 2005a) and to ensure that the advice is based on research evidence. The core of the booklet is section 5 where we present an analytical framework and an international array of case studies to support effective teaching-research links in institutions. We start from the assumption that such links are core characteristics of a university education. Readers who wish to explore the arguments and complexity of these issues further may refer to the growing number of texts in this area (Barnett, 2005; Boyer, 1990; Brew, 2001; Jenkins et al., 2003). We also recognise that the meaning of the terms ‘research’, ‘scholarship’
This paper seeks to support the effective links between teaching and disciplinebased
research in ... more This paper seeks to support the effective links between teaching and disciplinebased research in disciplinary communities and in academic departments. It is aimed in particular at discipline-based staff who wish to connect their teaching and research roles; those with leadership roles for teaching and for research in departments and institutions; and educational developers, researchers and support staff within institutions, in disciplinary communities and in academic departments. The central arguments are that: ● the ‘teaching-research nexus’ is central to higher education ● student intellectual development and staff identity can and should be developed by departments focusing on the ‘nexus’ ● effective teaching research links are not automatic and have to be constructed ● there are important disciplinary variations in teaching-research relations that need to be valued ● academic departments are central to developing the links between research in the discipline and student learning ● a central way to develop effective practice is to share case studies of discipline-based practice and department policies. Suggestions are offered as to how disciplinary communities and departments can strengthen the good practice that already exists.
The 30-year story of the geography department at Oxford Brookes University is presented as an ora... more The 30-year story of the geography department at Oxford Brookes University is presented as an oral history in the words of the experienced full-time staff. The department has gained a reputation in the UK and beyond for innovative active-learning methods and its story is an example of how a pedagogic culture can develop in a geography department. The story can also be read as a case study of a workplace in higher education, or as a contribution to the history of education. Most importantly, though, it offers insight into the key factors concerning the development of innovative teaching practice.
The New Zealand PBRF -Performance Based Research Fund -will threaten New Zealand's universities t... more The New Zealand PBRF -Performance Based Research Fund -will threaten New Zealand's universities teaching quality
The file here contains chapter 1 of 'Teaching Geography in Higher Education'. The remaining chap... more The file here contains chapter 1 of 'Teaching Geography in Higher Education'. The remaining chapters can be downloaded free of charge at
http://www2.glos.ac.uk/gdn/gold/
To cite Sinatra , I am in the September of my years . Consider this lecture as in the American u... more To cite Sinatra , I am in the September of my years . Consider this lecture as in the American university tradition of person giving the last lecture ( in their life! ). I joined this institution in 1975 and have been involved as teacher , researcher , and attempted policy shaper re teaching and learning . I have felt privileged to work with colleagues who are passionate teachers, and at an institution committed to quality teaching and innovation in teaching . But now I think back at what we achieved Did what we do have substance? Will it leave its mark ? More critically I ask where are we now, where are we going and to rephrase Lenin what should now be done? The ‘lecture’ will in part focus on what I think we can do to give substance to our mission . It will also ask you to challenge my interpretation and add your perspective .
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Papers by Alan Jenkins
Jenkins, A.and Gold, J.R. (1992) 'Effective learning: a traveller's guide', in A. Rogers, A.S. Goudie and H. Viles, eds., The Student's Companion to Geography, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 119 127.
This editorial nearly had the title of Diana Althill’s (2008) memoir ‘Somewhere towards the End’. But that title would put the focus on myself being some seventy years old! Rather while reflecting back on the ‘history’ of JGHE my aim is to ‘pass it on’ -and in particular to:
• Reflect on how far geography has moved (forward) from the position Stan Gregory identified some thirty years ago and which provided one of the key rationales for founding JGHE.
• Consider how far JGHE/and linked developments internationally have helped better ensure that geography teaching is based on what Menges and Weimer (1995) called ‘solid ground’; ie strong research and scholarly-based evidence.
• Challenge you to consider what should be the core issues of practice and policy that geography departments and JGHE should now ensure are addressed?
According to Jenkins (1998), at times the curriculum is shaped by forces over which we have little control and often little warning. Starting from the metaphor of an Ouija board, as something moved by such mysterious forces, Jenkins sees the curriculum as being moved by a set of forces which we both recognise and shape. These forces become strategies for creatively designing the curriculum. Naturally, different departments and individuals in different institutions will give greater value to certain forces, and at particular times certain forces may become more prominent. The strength of using an analogy with an Ouija board for designing a curriculum is that it ‘gives’ staff autonomy and creative choices: too often staff are told – this is the way to design
into the curriculum grew out of U.S. practice, in particular
the innovative work of Margaret MacVicar, who founded the
pioneering Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
in 1969 while she was dean of undergraduate education
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cohen and
MacVicar, 1976). Internationally, a growing number of national
systems and institutions have adopted the term “undergraduate
research” and adapted its curricular form to their national
academic cultures and funding systems. One indication of
this worldwide interest is the publication by the U.K. Higher
Education Academy of our book Developing Undergraduate
Research and Inquiry (Healey and Jenkins, 2009). Drawing on
a wide range of international case studies, this book demonstrates
strong interest by departments, institutions, and
national systems world-wide in developing and adapting
North American conceptions of undergraduate research. We
believe these international initiatives, in turn, can not only
support the growing U.S. undergraduate-research movement
by providing case studies of practice adapted to those contexts,
but also provide further conceptual and research-based
understanding.
However, to understand this growing interest in U.S. undergraduate-
research initiatives, one has to widen the perspective
and see it in the context of the mounting international
concerns about pressures to separate teaching and research.
Such interest parallels the arguments in Ernest Boyer’s influential
book Scholarship Reconsidered that “the time has
come to move beyond the tired old ‘teaching versus research’
debate” (Boyer, 1990, xii), and the Boyer Commission’s call
to “make research based learning the standard,” (1998, 15-19).
International adaptations may at times directly use the term
“undergraduate research,” and set up special institutional and
departmental undergraduate-research programs. However, in
many cases their focus is much wider, seeking to engage all
students in research and inquiry or to recast the curriculum to
more explicitly bring together the institutional and departmental
research and teaching agendas.
teaching designed to bring undergraduate students
into the worlds of disciplinary research and develop
their understanding of the complexity of knowledge? While
recognizing the strengths of undergraduate programs for selected
students that are a feature at many U.S. institutions,
our approach is to embed research and inquiry in all curricula
for all students. We argue that this can be achieved “through
structured interventions at course team, departmental, institutional
and national levels”
a manual on teaching communication and groupwork skills in higher education
Jenkins, A. & Pepper, D. (1988)
(Birmingham Polytechnic, Standing Conference for Educational Development, Occasional Paper No. 27)
institutions to link teaching and discipline-based research more effectively. Our
focus is on supporting the relationships between student learning and staff
discipline-based research in institutional policies and practices: what has variously
been called the ‘teaching-research nexus’, ‘research-led’, ‘research-based’,
‘inquiry-based’ or ‘research-informed’ teaching. Our focus is not on ensuring that
the institution ensures that pedagogic research is supported and used to shape
institutional practice and policy, though we do believe that should be the case.
With respect to the work of the Higher Education Academy we seek to support
its strategic aim of ‘working with institutions in their strategies for improving the
student learning experience’ (Higher Education Academy, 2005a) and to ensure
that the advice is based on research evidence.
The core of the booklet is section 5 where we present an analytical framework and
an international array of case studies to support effective teaching-research links in
institutions. We start from the assumption that such links are core characteristics of
a university education. Readers who wish to explore the arguments and complexity
of these issues further may refer to the growing number of texts in this area
(Barnett, 2005; Boyer, 1990; Brew, 2001; Jenkins et al., 2003). We also recognise
that the meaning of the terms ‘research’, ‘scholarship’
research in disciplinary communities and in academic departments.
It is aimed in particular at discipline-based staff who wish to connect their
teaching and research roles; those with leadership roles for teaching and
for research in departments and institutions; and educational developers,
researchers and support staff within institutions, in disciplinary communities
and in academic departments.
The central arguments are that:
● the ‘teaching-research nexus’ is central to higher education
● student intellectual development and staff identity can and should be
developed by departments focusing on the ‘nexus’
● effective teaching research links are not automatic and have to be
constructed
● there are important disciplinary variations in teaching-research relations
that need to be valued
● academic departments are central to developing the links between
research in the discipline and student learning
● a central way to develop effective practice is to share case studies of
discipline-based practice and department policies.
Suggestions are offered as to how disciplinary communities and
departments can strengthen the good practice that already exists.
Jenkins, A.and Gold, J.R. (1992) 'Effective learning: a traveller's guide', in A. Rogers, A.S. Goudie and H. Viles, eds., The Student's Companion to Geography, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 119 127.
This editorial nearly had the title of Diana Althill’s (2008) memoir ‘Somewhere towards the End’. But that title would put the focus on myself being some seventy years old! Rather while reflecting back on the ‘history’ of JGHE my aim is to ‘pass it on’ -and in particular to:
• Reflect on how far geography has moved (forward) from the position Stan Gregory identified some thirty years ago and which provided one of the key rationales for founding JGHE.
• Consider how far JGHE/and linked developments internationally have helped better ensure that geography teaching is based on what Menges and Weimer (1995) called ‘solid ground’; ie strong research and scholarly-based evidence.
• Challenge you to consider what should be the core issues of practice and policy that geography departments and JGHE should now ensure are addressed?
According to Jenkins (1998), at times the curriculum is shaped by forces over which we have little control and often little warning. Starting from the metaphor of an Ouija board, as something moved by such mysterious forces, Jenkins sees the curriculum as being moved by a set of forces which we both recognise and shape. These forces become strategies for creatively designing the curriculum. Naturally, different departments and individuals in different institutions will give greater value to certain forces, and at particular times certain forces may become more prominent. The strength of using an analogy with an Ouija board for designing a curriculum is that it ‘gives’ staff autonomy and creative choices: too often staff are told – this is the way to design
into the curriculum grew out of U.S. practice, in particular
the innovative work of Margaret MacVicar, who founded the
pioneering Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
in 1969 while she was dean of undergraduate education
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cohen and
MacVicar, 1976). Internationally, a growing number of national
systems and institutions have adopted the term “undergraduate
research” and adapted its curricular form to their national
academic cultures and funding systems. One indication of
this worldwide interest is the publication by the U.K. Higher
Education Academy of our book Developing Undergraduate
Research and Inquiry (Healey and Jenkins, 2009). Drawing on
a wide range of international case studies, this book demonstrates
strong interest by departments, institutions, and
national systems world-wide in developing and adapting
North American conceptions of undergraduate research. We
believe these international initiatives, in turn, can not only
support the growing U.S. undergraduate-research movement
by providing case studies of practice adapted to those contexts,
but also provide further conceptual and research-based
understanding.
However, to understand this growing interest in U.S. undergraduate-
research initiatives, one has to widen the perspective
and see it in the context of the mounting international
concerns about pressures to separate teaching and research.
Such interest parallels the arguments in Ernest Boyer’s influential
book Scholarship Reconsidered that “the time has
come to move beyond the tired old ‘teaching versus research’
debate” (Boyer, 1990, xii), and the Boyer Commission’s call
to “make research based learning the standard,” (1998, 15-19).
International adaptations may at times directly use the term
“undergraduate research,” and set up special institutional and
departmental undergraduate-research programs. However, in
many cases their focus is much wider, seeking to engage all
students in research and inquiry or to recast the curriculum to
more explicitly bring together the institutional and departmental
research and teaching agendas.
teaching designed to bring undergraduate students
into the worlds of disciplinary research and develop
their understanding of the complexity of knowledge? While
recognizing the strengths of undergraduate programs for selected
students that are a feature at many U.S. institutions,
our approach is to embed research and inquiry in all curricula
for all students. We argue that this can be achieved “through
structured interventions at course team, departmental, institutional
and national levels”
a manual on teaching communication and groupwork skills in higher education
Jenkins, A. & Pepper, D. (1988)
(Birmingham Polytechnic, Standing Conference for Educational Development, Occasional Paper No. 27)
institutions to link teaching and discipline-based research more effectively. Our
focus is on supporting the relationships between student learning and staff
discipline-based research in institutional policies and practices: what has variously
been called the ‘teaching-research nexus’, ‘research-led’, ‘research-based’,
‘inquiry-based’ or ‘research-informed’ teaching. Our focus is not on ensuring that
the institution ensures that pedagogic research is supported and used to shape
institutional practice and policy, though we do believe that should be the case.
With respect to the work of the Higher Education Academy we seek to support
its strategic aim of ‘working with institutions in their strategies for improving the
student learning experience’ (Higher Education Academy, 2005a) and to ensure
that the advice is based on research evidence.
The core of the booklet is section 5 where we present an analytical framework and
an international array of case studies to support effective teaching-research links in
institutions. We start from the assumption that such links are core characteristics of
a university education. Readers who wish to explore the arguments and complexity
of these issues further may refer to the growing number of texts in this area
(Barnett, 2005; Boyer, 1990; Brew, 2001; Jenkins et al., 2003). We also recognise
that the meaning of the terms ‘research’, ‘scholarship’
research in disciplinary communities and in academic departments.
It is aimed in particular at discipline-based staff who wish to connect their
teaching and research roles; those with leadership roles for teaching and
for research in departments and institutions; and educational developers,
researchers and support staff within institutions, in disciplinary communities
and in academic departments.
The central arguments are that:
● the ‘teaching-research nexus’ is central to higher education
● student intellectual development and staff identity can and should be
developed by departments focusing on the ‘nexus’
● effective teaching research links are not automatic and have to be
constructed
● there are important disciplinary variations in teaching-research relations
that need to be valued
● academic departments are central to developing the links between
research in the discipline and student learning
● a central way to develop effective practice is to share case studies of
discipline-based practice and department policies.
Suggestions are offered as to how disciplinary communities and
departments can strengthen the good practice that already exists.
http://www2.glos.ac.uk/gdn/gold/
But now I think back at what we achieved Did what we do have substance? Will it leave its mark ? More critically I ask where are we now, where are we going and to rephrase Lenin what should now be done? The ‘lecture’ will in part focus on what I think we can do to give substance to our mission . It will also ask you to challenge my interpretation and add your perspective .