UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

4 Approaches for Linking Teaching and Research across Disciplines

Introduction
1. Research-Led Teaching
2. Research-Oriented Teaching
3. Research-Based Teaching
4. Research-Tutored Teaching
Additional Resources

Introduction

Linking teaching and research can benefit both faculty and students.

Benefits for faculty include:

• Time saving as it takes less time to prepare a lecture that is directly linked to one’s research area
• Discovery of previously overlooked connections through interaction with students
• Opportunity to select potential PhD students

Benefits for students include:

• Better engagement and satisfaction with the course
• Increased confidence as learners and independent thinkers
• Developed capacity to conduct research and inquiry
• Opportunity to work with PhD students and faculty on an area of interest and make informed decisions about graduate studies

There are several different ways of linking research to teaching, the precise approach being tailored to the disciplinary context (Griffith 2004, Healey 2005). The table below offers a way of visualizing these four different approaches.

While often the most effective learning experiences involve a combination of all four approaches, Healey stresses the importance of developing student-centered approaches.

1. Research-Led Teaching

2. Research-Oriented Teaching

3. Research-Based Teaching

4. Research-Tutored Teaching

The course content is designed around students learning in small group discussions with a teacher about research findings and writing papers or essays.

Some tips:

• Divide students into groups that are facilitated by a tutor. The tutor acts as a task giver, as an information resource responding to student requests and as a facilitator moving from sub-group to sub-group helping discussions to develop.
• Run interactive seminars in which students are forbidden to take notes except for a class TA who posts minutes on a website within 24 hours. Most of the class time is spent discussing key concepts projected on a screen. Most of student’s learning time is spent reading the text out of class in conjunction with the lecturer’s running commentary. Students prepare short answers to questions, some of which will form the basis of the following seminar; and write essays. Researching and writing essays is central to the module. This model can be used especially in the social sciences.
• Assign undergraduate TAs to a research methodology course. The undergraduate TAs assist the rest of the students in the class with assignments, go over class notes and reading materials, and provide help with mastering APA writing style. They are also available for one-on-one writing help. Course-related responsibilities of TAs include accompanying the class to the library to aid with instruction in library research skills, assisting with in-class activities (e.g. helping with data collection), locating library materials for class (e.g. interesting recent journal articles that can replace older articles used in class as examples of different research paradigms), examining existing instructor-generated assignments and worksheets to suggest modifications, and consulting with other instructors for the course (McKeegan, 1998).
• Assign graduate students as mentors to undergraduate students working on a research project.
• Encourage research postgraduates to allow undergraduate students to shadow them for a short period.
• Have undergraduate students do an assignment in their first semester in which they interview, as a group, faculty about their research. Each group is allocated a different faculty member. The faculty member provides three representative pieces of writing (e.g. journal articles) along with a copy of their CV and arranges a date for the interview. Students read these materials and develop an interview agenda. On the basis of their reading and the interview, each student individually writes a 1,500 word report on (a) the objectives of the interviewee’s research; (b) how that research relates to their earlier studies; (c) how the interviewee’s research relates to his or her teaching, and other interests and the area of study as a whole (Jenkins, Healey, Zetter 2007).