Collaborating with academic staff in disciplinary education research

Erik Brogt

University of Canterbury

Why is it important?

Academic staff are typically hired based on their research record, rather than their teaching credentials (Walczyk, Ramsey, & Zha, 2007). However, as teaching staff, they make pedagogical and curricular decisions on a daily basis. Pedagogical training and professional development for staff is not always welcomed or effective, in part because PD staff are unlikely to be very familiar with the discipline the staff member is working in.

One way to build bridges to disciplinary staff can be to engage them in joint educational research projects in the discipline, where the educator provides the pedagogical aspects and the knowledge of how people learn in tertiary settings, and the disciplinary staff member provides the necessary content knowledge. This can result in the creation of pedagogical techniques or even pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1986, 1987) specific to the discipline, areas that are more and more gaining interest and attention in the (disciplinary) education literature.

In addition, collaborating with disciplinary staff can help create and foster a culture of scholarship of teaching and learning in departments, with the disciplinary staff member becoming a “knowledgeable other” (Offerdahl, 2008), a go-to person for colleagues in the department on educational matters. This can help create mutual understanding between tertiary education specialists and disciplinary staff and ultimately serves both staff and students better.

Of course, there are several challenges in engaging disciplinary staff in education research, including time constraints, the perceived low status of education and education research in some departments, and the lower ranking in PBRF of educational journals compared to disciplinary journals. In addition, it may not always be clear to disciplinary staff what they get out of such a project.

How the session will be run

The session will be run as a seminar / group discussion format. Participants will brainstorm, share ideas and (successful) strategies to overcome the challenges mentioned above, for example by having the first project be an action research study on the disciplinary staff member’s own instruction. In addition, participants will discuss ways to create bridges between disciplinary academics and tertiary education researchers, educators and professional developers to engage in research projects that are mutually beneficial.

References

Offerdahl, E. G. (2008). The nature of biochemistry instructors' thinking: Factors associated with change and growth. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Arizona, Tucson.

Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4-14.

Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57, 1-22.

Walczyk, J. J., Ramsey, L. L., & Zha, P. (2007). Obstacles to instructional innovation according to college science and mathematics faculty. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(1), 85-106.