Research-teaching nexus in work-based final year dissertations and capstone projects: Pragmatics or Innovation? Dr Vicky Gunn Director Learning & Teaching Centre

Generate, marshall, analyse, present coherently the results of an in-depth study within a given discipline Self- determining, persistent, able to negotiate task needs Practice and demonstrate ways of thinking Write appropriately for given audience What is the dissertation about?

Outcomes of this: Pragmatic? Dissertation: Reproducing the products and process of doing one aspect of research

Researcher development needs: shifting boundaries  Global and disciplinary dilemmas & inter-disciplinarity  Researcher personal development – rebalancing attributes  Technologies & how and where researcher networks function Undergraduate study-workplace nexus:  Growing demand for undergraduate study - work place links (pragmatism being equated with inauthenticity here?) Irony: Changing frameworks require innovation to fulfill pragmatic needs?

Personal effectiveness ProfessionalImpact Disciplinary knowledge and intellect Disciplinary literacies, intellect, techniques Self-efficacy, drive, efficiency & other personal qualities Working appropriately with others; understanding diverse audience needs; building networks Knowing standards, ethics, professionalism Taking liberties with researcher development frameworks (Vitae RDF)?

Capstone project design needs to respond to following set of questions: How can students engage fully in their work-based environments so that they: 1.Become fully aware of both the research and work based cultures in which they are immersed? 2.Learn how to think and act specifically in relation to these? 3.(The really tricky one) Prepare extended piece of writing relevant to disciplinary-research culture but which captures the essence of the work-place in which the project was undertaken? Reconstituting the dissertation as work- based researcher development

Discipline How to: do the subject; understand it; interact with supervisor Write, present Work-related learning Adapt what is learned, methods of understanding to a non academic context; be & act as context appropriate; Present/ disseminate Careers Find out about jobs; reflect on aligning strengths with careers; develop interview techniques Work-based dissertation = research-intensive employability Scaffolded enquiry

Valuing reciprocity – negotiating criteria –student voice / employers’ need? Raising awareness of different contexts Time-tabling = programme redesign Standards and credits (taxonomies as primers) authentic to both discipline and work-place Scaffolding for completion Portfolio approach to assessment Managing student and staff anxiety Change takes time Implementation decisions

Academic Department as a work-place?

Gunn, V.A. (2010) What's Topical/Emergent in Research-Teaching Linkages? Quality Assurance Agency Gunn, V.A. (2010) Enhancing research-teaching linkages as a way to improve the development of employability attributes. Quality Assurance Agency Gunn, V.A., Bell, S. & Kafmann, K. (2010) Thinking strategically about employability and graduate attributes: Universities and enhancing learning for beyond universities. Quality Assurance Agency Gunn, V.A. & Kafmann, K. (2011) Employability and the austerity decade. Quality Assurance Agency Gunn, V.A. (2011) Maintaining Scotland’s Research Mindedness: Enhancing Research-Teaching Linkages. Quality Assurance Agency Healey, M. (2005) Linking research and teaching: exploring disciplinary spaces and the role of inquiry-based learning. In Barnett, R (ed) (2005) Reshaping the University: New Relationships between Research, Scholarship and Teaching. McGraw Hill / Open University Press, pp Healey, M and Jenkins, A (2009) Developing undergraduate research and inquiry, available at: Frameworks and practices Adelaide Researcher Development Framework: Council on Undergraduate Research: Research & Teaching Links - Quality Enhancement themes outputs: Vitae: Early Career Researcher Development Framework: Resources