Undergraduate Research in Australia
Steps in Implementation
An influential report on the state of America’s research universities, by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning outlined ten ways to change undergraduate education:
- Make Research-based learning the standard
- Construct an inquiry-based Freshman year
- Build on the Freshman Foundation
- Remove barriers to interdisciplinary education
- Link communication skills and coursework
- Use information technology creatively
- Culminate with a Capstone experience
- Education graduate students as apprentice teachers
- Change Faculty reward systems
- Cultivate a sense of community
These ten challenges have been used by a number of institutions to suggest ways in which they might implement research-based experiences for students (PDF, 548kb).
Depending on how bold we are, or whether we're acting on our own, in course teams or as faculties or institutions as a whole, we can think of introducing different kinds of research-based experiences for students in a series of steps or stages.
Some of these steps involve changing the curriculum. Individual teachers can start at the bottom level. As you go up the steps, so more people become involved. Scholarship schemes might be within or outside the curriculum. A whole of institution approach provides an overall framework for developments.