There are many ways to link teaching and research in the curriculum. This section outlines a framework of developing curricula that link research and teaching. It also provides several practical strategies identified in the literature, with links to illustrative examples gathered during the course of our interviews with academic staff in Australian universities.

As you develop or review your curriculum, consider ways in which you might create opportunities for students to connect with the research of the discipline. Three key ways in which these links might be made during the course of study are :
• Learning about others’ research (research-informed learning)
• Learning to do research (research skills and methods)
• Learning in a research mode (enquiry-based learning)

Healey (2005) proposes a framework for curriculum design that aims to link teaching and research. It presents a continuum along which students might be progressively more actively involved in the research process (i.e., the vertical continuum represents a shift from students as audience to students as participants). Similarly, the horizontal continuum reflects a progressive shift from emphasis on research content and outcomes to research processes and problems. This may be a useful guide for curriculum developers as they consider the range of ways in which their students might engage with research in learning and assessment activities.

Blackmore and Fraser (2003, pp.135-137) highlight four main ways in which disciplinary research might be integrated into the curriculum:
1. Outcomes: the outcomes of recent research are included in the curriculum
2. Process: students learn how to conduct research in the discipline, usually as part of assessment tasks
3. Tools: during the course of their study, students learn how to use the research tools of their discipline – e.g., statistical analysis software.
4. Context: the curriculum and student learning take place in the broader context of the Department/School/Faculty which should be characterised by a culture that values research – e.g., staff research papers are on display, students are invited to departmental research seminars.

Following is a series of practical strategies for linking research and teaching in your curriculum design and teaching practice. These have been adapted from and informed by three main sources and align with Blackmore and Fraser’s (2003) four elements of outcomes, process, tools and context, as shown below.

1. Include research outcomes in the curriculum

• Place the latest research in the field in its historical context
  Australian example: A Plant Science lecturer goes through the historical development of different explanations for plant transpiration (the ascent of water from the soil up the trunk of the plant and out through the leaves into the atmosphere). He considers it is important to go through the different historical explanations to enable students to understand how knowledge on the topic got to its current state. Plant Science 1

• Design learning activities around contemporary research issues
  Australian example: Students are given papers from a recent conference to engage them with current research issues. Political Science 1

• Develop students’ understanding of how research is organised and funded in the discipline, institution and profession
  Australian example: A Microbiology lecturer requires students to write a mini grant application as part of their overall assessment. Microbiology 1

• Develop students’ awareness of the nature of research and knowledge creation in their discipline
  Australian example: Urban Planning students take a core subject, Research Design, which familiarises them with the issues and processes of research in a discipline which traditionally has a vocationally oriented focus. Urban Planning 1

• Build a small-scale research activity into undergraduate assignments
  Australian example: Students’ understanding of the applicability of the sociological theories is enhanced in a third year assignment where students produce a research proposal, conduct a project and write a research report. Sociology 1

• Assess students in ways that mirror research processes
  Australian example: Zoology students are involved in peer review of the research reports of fellow students. Zoology 2

• Create opportunities for students and lecturers to co-produce knowledge in inquiry-based settings
  Australian example: Students engage in an authentic environment where they discover new ways of writing and producing music in collaboration with industry practitioners. Popular Music 3

• Design learning activities around ‘real world’ research applications
  Australian example: A Criminology lecturer applied the results of obedience experiments to what was happening in Australian prisons and at Abu Graib prison in Iraq. Criminology & Criminal Justice 1

• Link students’ experiences with research to departmental knowledge transfer and community/industry engagement
  Australian example: Community engagement is linked to the learning experience of Architecture students, who are asked to design an independent living accommodation project. This project responds to needs identified by a social enterprise group that provide community services for people experiencing multiple intellectual disabilities (service users) in rural New South Wales. Architecture 1

• Develop students’ abilities to communicate the results of their research in ways that are appropriate to the disciplinary community
  Australian example: Student design projects are exhibited in public and have been published in design journals. Industrial Design and Interior Design 1

4. Teach students how to use the research tools of the discipline

• Teach research methods, techniques and skills explicitly within subjects
  Australian example: An astronomy lecturer uses active learning tasks which require students to analyse and present data. Astronomy 2
  Please refer to the Research Skill Development Framework website (The University of Adelaide), which is a conceptual model with examples for use across undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

5. Create a research-rich learning and teaching context in your department

• Involve students in departmental research projects
  Australian example: Students are allocated into one of the eight research laboratories in the School of Computer and Information Science, where they contribute to the research being done under supervision. Computer Science 1

• Encourage students to feel part of the research culture of the department
  Australian example: Each Biomedical Science student presents a scientific paper at journal club. Visiting scholars and researchers from the faculty also present at this journal club. Biomedical Science 1

• Develop students’ awareness of staff involvement in disciplinary research
  Australian example: A different researcher from within the School of Education presents the lecture and draws on their own, as well as related research, that focuses on a particular aspect of Literacy Education. Literacy Education 1

• Infuse teaching with the values and practices of researchers
  Australian example: Undergraduate students in Science, Engineering and Technology are invited to submit the reports from their research projects for publication in an undergraduate research journal. Students are assigned a mentor to prepare the paper for submission, before it is sent for review. Science 1

• Design curricula in a holistic, coherent way that maps students’ experiences with research progressively and developmentally across year levels
  Australian example: An Applied Theatre lecturer who is responsible for first, second, third year and postgraduate courses progressively introduces research tasks at different year levels. Applied Theatre 2

6. Use teaching and learning to inform research

• Look for ways in which interactions with students and feedback during learning and teaching activities could inform research
  Australian example: Students apply theories about place and space to their own community contexts. They go on field excursions in their local area and undertake a community-focused research project. Their lecturer gave an international conference paper about student projects for this course in 2000. Cultural Studies 2

7. Manage students’ experience of research

• Evaluate students’ experience of research and use data to inform curriculum design and review

• Communicate to students the link between research experiences and employability – make explicit connections between graduate attributes and teaching-research linkages
  Australian example: This academic makes it explicit to students that their fieldwork adequately prepares them to undertake consultancy or research work in their discipline areas. This academic believes his students are more employable than graduates who have undertaken classroom based studies, because field trips provide them with opportunities to gain practical as well as theoretical knowledge. Marine Science 1

• Limit, where possible, the potentially negative consequences for students of staff involvement in research; manage the student experience of the days (and sabbatical terms) when staff are 'away' doing research (see Jenkins, 2005)

8. Consider the role of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the teaching-research nexus

• Conduct and draw on research into student learning to make evidence-based decisions about teaching
  Australian example: A Chemistry academic published examples of practical exercises for undergraduate students in a peer reviewed journal. He used the peer-reviewed feedback to refine the exercises for his students. Chemistry 2

Note: while this project focuses primarily on links between disciplinary-based research and teaching, we recognise that for some discipline areas, such as Education, there is considerable overlap between the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and discipline-based research.

The project developed numerous examples of TRN strategies, which are available to download.

For advice on how to avoid pitfalls in connecting teaching and research, please click here.

Bibliography