The University’s Annual HE Pedagogic Research Conference was held on Friday 22nd January 2010 in the Checkland building on the Falmer Campus.
Keynote Speaker:
Glynis Cousin
University of Wolverhampton
We were delighted that Professor Glynis Cousin provided the keynote address to the conference. Glynis is Director of the Institute for Learning Enhancement and of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Wolverhampton. She has worked in adult, community and higher education, and is a well-known speaker and author on pedagogical matters. Her book Researching Learning in Higher Education was published by Routledge in February 2009.
Abstract: Enhancing Higher Education Research
This session will combine presentation with discussion to argue the case for intra- and cross-institution pedagogic research. I will firstly offer examples of practitioner-based research in order to illustrate its benefits and to explore what might constitute good quality higher education research that can make a difference to teaching and learning. I will suggest that we take seriously Seale's (1999:31) position that “research is a craft skill” that is “relatively autonomous from the need to resolve philosophical or epistemological debates” and open up a discussion as to what that might mean for practitioner-based research. Drawing on my book Researching Learning in Higher Education, I will offer for discussion a set of principles that could support our thinking about issues such as an ethical framework, trustworthiness, researcher reflexivity, intellectual underpinning and data presentation.
Cousin G (2009) Researching Learning in Higher Education, Routledge, NY
Seale (1999) The Quality of Qualitative Research, Sage, London