Department for Curriculum and Quality Enhancement

UR logoResearch Informed Teaching

About the Research Informed Teaching Initiative

The University of Portsmouth has recently launched a three year Research Informed Teaching initiative supported by HEFCE's Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund. The term 'research informed teaching' covers a wide range of activities including students learning about others' research and staff undertaking pedagogic research. However, the emphasis at Portsmouth will be primarily on students learning to do research or learning in research mode. The funding is being used to embed research skills in the curriculum and to involve students in research activities through small grants for curriculum development and funding for larger projects. A new elective (Learning From Research) will also provide opportunities for students to acquire credit for participating in research activities. Future plans include a seminar series focusing on research informed teaching across different disciplines and a series of undergraduate research events.

8 Principles for Linking Research and Teaching

This guide is one of the outputs from a collaborative project undertaken between the University of Portsmouth and Nagoya University on linking research and teaching. The collaboration provided an opportunity to compare strategies for linking research and teaching across different countries, disciplines and types of university. The guide draws on examples from both institutions to illustrate how learning and teaching can be enhanced through enabling students to learn about and participate in the research activities of their university. 

Click here to read the document


Learning From Research Elective

What is it?

The Learning from Research elective is a new unit which enables Level Two undergraduate students to participate in University research activities. The elective provides a flexible framework which can be used to award credit for relevant undergraduate research experiences including:

  • Working on experiments
  • Developing questionnaires or other research instruments
  • Recruiting participants to a study
  • Organising and participating in focus groups
  • Setting up or participating in interviews
  • Collating, entering or transcribing data
  • Disseminating project findings.

What are the benefits for staff?

You will:

  • Work with motivated students who can contribute to your research
  • Encourage students to think about research as a career
  • Enhance the research culture within your department.

What are your commitments?

You will need to direct and/or supervise the students for a minimum of 40 hours (or 80 for the 20-credit unit) helping them to gain research skills and experience. You can decide when these hours will be. The unit is assessed by a reflective report and/or a poster presentation. Marking is done by the unit coordinator, but with feedback on student performance from you.

The level and extent of student participation will depend on the nature of the project and the disciplinary context but the unit is designed to provide a flexible framework which matches the needs of particular departments and faculties.

To support the launch of this new initiative, a grant of up to £200 will be available to academic staff who supervise a student taking the unit.

How to get involved

We are currently seeking vacancies for research placements for Semester 2 and for the 2010/11 academic year. If you have a vacancy on a current or forthcoming research project, then please contact Jane Creaton at jane.creaton@port.ac.uk or on x3976.

Further information is in the unit handbook here and on the Elective website:

http://www.port.ac.uk/careersandrecruitment/students/electives/electiveslevel2/learningfromresearch/


Research Informed Teaching Funding

In the first year of the initiative, 25 small grants of up to £250 for promoting student research and enquiry were awarded to staff for embedding research skills in the curriculum and/or providing opportunities for students to participate in research or research based activities. There have also been 9 awards of £3000 to larger projects which embed opportunities in the undergraduate curriculum for students to participate in research activities and to develop research skills. Further information about these projects will be available from the new RIT website being launched in September.


Further Information

If you require any further information about any of these initiatives, or about Research Informed Teaching more generally, please contact Jane Creaton jane.creaton@port.ac.uk or on extension 3976.