Transcript Action Research project into research

Developing critical and reflective graduates
through a research-based learning project
Dr. Agnieszka Rydzik
and
Year 3 BA International Tourism Management students
What am I interested in?
 Research-based learning (RBL)
 Students as research assistants
 Co-creating new knowledge
 Curriculum designed around inquiry-based activities
 Scholarship of discovery (Boyer, 1990)
‘Research and inquiry is not just for those who choose to pursue
academic career. It is central to professional life in the twenty-first
century’ (Brew, 2007: 7)
 Co-created learning and co-transformation (Pritchard et al., 2011)
What is RBL?
STUDENTS ARE PARTICIPANTS
Research-tutored
Engaging in research
discussions
EMPHASIS ON
RESEARCH
CONTENT
Research-led
Learning about current
research in the
discipline
Research-based
Undertaking research
and inquiry
Research-oriented
Developing research
and inquiry skills and
techniques
EMPHASIS ON
RESEARCH
PROCESSES
AND
PROBLEMS
STUDENTS FREQUENTLY
ARE AN AUDIENCE
Healey and Jenkins (2009: 7)

Theme – Discovery: Student as
producer
‘Research-based learning is an
approach to programme design and
implementation in which students have
the opportunity to make intellectual
and practical connections between
the content and skills that characterise
their programmes, and the research
approaches and frontiers of the
underlying disciplines’

Put simply, our mission is: ‘Creating Responsible
Futures’

To develop people and enterprises that create
responsible futures; through their ability to cocreate knowledge and to shape their own
practice and that of others with regard to the
consequences on society.

Enactment of this mission will considerably
enhance students’ self belief, critical capacity
and personal values, their knowledge and
ability to develop and use knowledge and
their social capital in relation to future work
and employment.
So what is this project
about?
‘Developing critical and reflective tourism practitioners
through a research-based learning project’
Aims:
 to actively engage Level 3 BA International Tourism Management
students in a research project exploring the employment experiences
of students in part-time tourism/hospitality employment.
 to critically reflect on and evaluate the theory, practice and the
process of Research-based learning (RBL).
How?
 Embedded within the ‘Social and Political Perspectives on
tourism’ Level 3 module (SPPOT)
 From research-led teaching to research-based learning
 Students become co-researchers on the project
 Funded through Fund for Educational Development (FED)
 Gift vouchers for students as recognition of student contribution
to the project as research assistants
 As co-researchers, students actively participate in all
stages of the project.
 4 stages:
 Design and Preparation
 Fieldwork
 Analysis and Discussion
 Dissemination
 Also, Evaluation of the project throughout
2 stages completed
 Design and Preparation stage
 Deciding on the focus of
the research
 Thinking about research
aim and objectives
 Scoping profile of
participants
 Fieldwork stage
 Recruiting participants
 Arranging 2-3 short interviews
 Conducting the interviews
 Transcribing the interviews
 Coding the gathered data
 Choosing the research
methods
 Discussing research ethics
and consent
 Collaborative design of the
interview schedule
 Space created on Blackboard
site specifically for the research
project
 with all information about the
research project
Next 2 stages
 Analysis and Discussion
 Dissemination (starts today)
 Final Evaluation of the project
Envisaged outcomes of the
project and benefits for students
Intangible outcomes:
 Development of a better understanding of tourism working
environments
 Allows students to develop new knowledge on part-time workers
in tourism
 Helps students become critical, reflective and ethical tourism
professionals before transitioning from education to industry
 Gaining first-hand experience of working on a research project
 Improving qualitative research skills
 Help with transitioning to employment
Envisaged outcomes of the
project and benefits for students
Tangible outcomes:
 Data gathered can be used in the module assignment
(conference paper and Virtual Conference participation)
 Good for CV
 Opportunity to participate at the Student as Producer event (6th
March 2015) – experience of a real academic conference
 Best conference papers will be encouraged to be submitted to an
appropriate undergraduate student journal
Reflections and challenges
identified so far (academic
voice)
 Management of the
project
 Experimental and
innovative – challenging
but also exciting and
rewarding
 Keeping the
momentum going
 Opportunity to combine
research and teaching
 Challenges of
embedding critical
tourism research into
the curriculum
 Collaborative creation of
knowledge
 Time consuming
 Allows for an exploration of
the meaning of cocreated learning and cotransformation
Student initial reflections:
Week 1 of the project
Mid-term reflections (week
6) – student voice
 Exploring the 4 dimensions of Student as Producer:
 Discovery
 Collaboration
 Production
 Engagement
Discovery
Georgia Berryman
and
Ellen Batteson
Collaboration
Miranna Malvinen
and
Zihao Zhu (Tom)
Engagement
Sean-Paul Lynch
and
Elizabeth Morris
Production
Renate Mazgalvina