Phase III Shortlist Page 2

11
RES-139-30-000222
What is learned at university; the social & organisational mediation of learning
Principal applicant: Professor JL Brennan,
Centre for Higher Education Research and Information
Open University
Tel: 020 7447 2506 E.mail: j.l.brennan@open.ac.uk
Co-applicants: Prof DW Jary (Univ of Birmingham), Prof JTE Richardson (Open University), Prof M Osborne (Univ of Stirling)
£788,645

Abstract:
The project will investigate the congruence between disciplinary and student views of learning outcomes and between both and certain learning theories applied to higher education. It will investigate the extent to which learning outcomes are mediated by the organisation of the curriculum and mode of study and by the social context of study. Working with several LTSN centres, the project will explore the implications of the research for the adequacy and utility - and potential for improvement - of subject benchmark statements in capturing the range and diversity of the learning outcomes of undergraduate courses.

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12
RES-139-30-000267
Beyond division: towards more effective learning through open discussion
Principal applicant: Dr E Lillie
School of Languages and Literature
University of Ulster
Co-applicants:
Dr A Cook (Univ of Ulster) Ms N McBride (Univ of North London)
£486,409

Abstract:
While discussion is considered crucial to deep and informed learning, a range of factors relating to initial learner identity, societal and national division may militate against genuine open and productive classroom interchange, particularly where material of a sensitive or potentially divisive nature is being considered. Through questionnaires, structured interviews and class observations, research will be undertaken among students and teachers on impediments to discussion arising from group identity and coherence in two universities offering both complementary and comparative factors in their respective student bodies. Each will work with a small number of other co-operating universities, selected for their interest in the project and the complementary and comparative features which they offer to the main partners. On the basis of the research, a range of strategies, involving new technologies as well as different small group and class based techniques will be elaborated to promote interchange, defuse potentially conflictual issues and improve learning through discussion. These will be trialled in classes in both the partner and co-operating institutions and evaluated in the following year. Through its study of attitudes and practice, this project should add to knowledge of the theory underpinning practice in situations of division and a sense of otherness and in turn this understanding should inform the elaboration and implementation of new practices and assessment of their effectiveness. In addition to the dissemination of the project results and their incorporation into pedagogic material and courses for staff, a wide range of teachers beyond the named participants will be involved in each institution, and their training and practice in the action research involved will serve to extend capacity in practice related research in higher education.

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13
RES-139-30-000284
Widening access and participation: implications for medical education
Principal applicant: Professor TE Roberts
Medical Education Unit
University of Leeds Medical School
Co-applicants: Dr KAM Boursicot (Queen Mary's School of Medicine), Prof DJ Cottrell (Univ of Leeds), Prof J Grant (Open University), Prof R Jordan (Uni of Newcastle), Prof JT Leach (Univ of Leeds), Dr L Morley (Institute of Education), Dr DF Wood (Univ of London)
£700,200

Abstract:
Many medical schools in the UK have introduced programmes designed to widen access and participation. These require considerable investment by medical schools, both in terms of financial and human resources. How effective these programmes are in recruiting students from non-traditional backgrounds and how successful medical schools are at retaining such students is unknown. This study addresses the major knowledge gap in identifying the most effective strategies to make medical education more inclusive. Additionally the socio-cultural impact of widening access and participation on medical education institutions themselves has not been analysed or reported. The development of an instrument to examine socio-cultural changes will enable the effects of these strategies to be evaluated. In the first phase of this project, key enablers, informed practice and successful interventions in the area of widening access and participation will be identified through a combination of documentary review, individual and group interviews and questionnaire surveys involving relevant stakeholders. These will include senior medical school staff, students from widening access and participation backgrounds and from traditional backgrounds and secondary school staff and pupils, both involved and not involved, in widening access and participation programmes. Based on the analysis of this comprehensive data set, hypotheses for good practice will be generated and tested in the three intervention site medical schools, chosen because they have different pedagogical strategies (problem-based, systems-based, case-based). Iterative evaluation of the effects of these interventions on the perception of accessibility in the secondary schools, medical students, key medical school staff and the cultural and pedagogical environments within the intervention medical schools will be undertaken and compared with control medical schools not involved in the intervention.

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14
RES-139-30-000162
Harnessing cognition in the wild: internet culture and today's learner in HE
Principal applicant: Dr DR Fleming
School of Media and Performing Arts
University of Ulster
Tel: 028 7032 4019 E.mail: dr.fleming@ulster.ac.uk
Co-applicants: Ms VE Davies (Univ of Ulster)
£370,000

Abstract:
This project will use a 'distributed cognition' approach to investigate the relationship between informal learning in the context of 'internet culture' and the formal learning culture of the university, with particular reference to undergraduate Humanities education. On that basis, the project will address this critical research question: How can the learner's experience as an inhabitant of internet culture be put to best use in the design and management of more effective formal learning experiences? Where these formal and informal cultures or worldviews meet and generate zones of potentially contested values and practices, the project will identify key issues for the improvement of learning outcomes in higher education. A cohort of Humanities undergraduates will be ethnographically tracked in depth throughout the three years of their studies and a 'development workshop' will be used to implement emerging ideas for more effectively 'knitting' the two learning cultures, formal and informal, and to measure any resulting performance improvements.

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15
RES-139-30-000167
Online learning in higher education: better teaching through educational design
Principal applicant: Professor PM Goodyear
Dept of Educational Research
Lancaster University
Tel: 01524 594373 E.mail: P.Goodyear@lancaster.ac.uk
£477,700

Abstract:
This project tests the proposition that educational design can act as a productive mediator between research-based evidence about learning and the practices of teaching and learning. The methods and knowledge bases drawn on in educational design practice have the capacity to connect the best of what is known about learning with the day-to-day actions of teachers and learners. An arena in which the need for serious engagement with design is recognised, is technology - based learning - instantiated in the case of this proposal as on-line learning at the university level. The project will work with some 200 teachers in eight universities over a four year period. It will engage the teachers in design workshops, the outcomes of which will be embedded in on-line tasks and on-line course materials located in their universities' virtual learning environments (VLEs) . Data on student learning outcomes will be gathered over a two year period and will be used to help evaluate and improve the various on-line artefacts created. Results of the project are expected to include enhancement of the learning tasks, resources and learning outcomes as well as a clarification of theoretical issues concerned with the nature of educational design, the ways in which design interacts with reifications of evidence-based knowledge and the potential of designed artefacts to act as carriers of good practice.

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16
RES-139-30-000281
The design and effectiveness of e-learning for education and health professionals
Principal applicant: Professor RE Moon
Faculty of Education and Language Studies
The Open University
Tel: 01908 652374 E.mail: r.e.moon@open.ac.uk
Co-applicant: Prof R Andrews (Univ of York)
£144,565

Abstract:
This enquiry will analyse the design and effectiveness of on-line e-learning in higher education for education and health professionals. The aim of the enquiry will be to review and conceptually analyse contemporary policy and practice through an appraisal of existing evidence and through interrogation of those currently undertaking development work. Within this overall aim the enquiry will identify:

(i) the appropriateness, or otherwise, of on-line teaching and learning for different forms of professional development;
(ii) the different types of on-line teaching and learning that are most effective within the different forms of professional development;
(iii) the ways in which formal, accredited provision differs from more informal, non-assessed forms of e-learning within on-line learning environments.

The enquiry, guided by staff from the education and health departments of the Open and York Universities, will review existing evidence, survey national and international developments and carry out selected case studies to illuminate the conceptual analysis developed by the enquiry. The enquiry, with a focus on professional e-learning, will be set within contemporary understandings about the nature of professional learning and knowledge and the role of 'evidence' within such knowledge.

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17
RES-139-30-000196
Transformative CPD: Learning from the Learners in Physical Education
Principal applicant: Dr KM Armour
Dept of Physical Education, Sports Science & Recreation Management
Loughborough University
Tel: 01509 223282 E.mail: k.m.armour@lboro.ac.uk
Co-applicants: Dr PJ Gorley (Loughborough Univ), Dr JP Harris (Loughborough Univ), Prof L Evans (Loughborough Univ), Dr LA Cale (Loughborough Univ)
£288,740

Abstract:
Can new forms of CPD lead to changes in teachers' practices in secondary schools? Much existing CPD within physical education (PE) takes the form of off-site, sport-specific update courses for individual teachers without progression or follow-up. This type of CPD is unlikely to be transformative and it may explain why practices are slow to change in PE. The purpose of this project is to find out whether a very different model of CPD, based on the key principles of collaborative professional learning, classroom ethnography and school-based-supported learning, will lead to changes in practice that will impact pupil learning. Two key aspects of practice are targeted: the national curriculum aim of encouraging young people to engage in physical activity for health, and the needs of key stage four pupils. Both areas could benefit from fresh thinking and new practices.

The research questions are: why should teachers engage in new forms of learning about physical activity/health; in what ways can PE teachers learn about their practices both by engaging collaboratively in departments and focussing with 'fresh eyes' upon their learners; how will CPD, delivered and supported via an e-Network, impact upon teachers' practices and pupils learning; how can the e-Network be expanded to provide and support CPD across the curriculum and how can it be sustained; what can be learnt from this project about CPD theory in practice?

The project will run in three phases and research/development are closely linked. In phase one, data from surveys, focus groups and literature searches will inform the development of CPD theory, an e-Network and a pilot CPD 'flexi-tutorial'. In phase two, the theoretical analysis will be continued, and the Network and tutorial will be piloted, developed further and extended to other schools. In phase 3, ways in which the e-Network can be expanded, sustained and used to support teachers' learning across the curriculum will be explored.

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18
RES-139-30-000279
Enhanced Competence-Based Learning in Early Professional Development
Principal applicant: Mr JG McNally
Institute of Education
University of Stirling
Tel: 01786 466265 Email: j.g.mcnally@stir.ac.uk
Co-applicants: Prof N Boreham (Univ of Stirling), Prof PA Cope (Univ of Stirling)
£1,007,850

Abstract:
This project aims to improve the learning of new teachers by developing and evaluating a competence based mentoring support package. This package will be based on a conceptually comprehensive model, grounded in practice and involving users at all stages. It adds value to previous approaches to the support and mentoring of new teachers by integrating outcome-oriented competencies with the processes of informal learning which recent research has shown to be crucial in early professional development.

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19
RES-139-30-000299
New teachers in professional learning communities: growing practitioner capacity
Principal applicant: Dr DM Lambert
Dept of Maths Science and Technology
Institute of Education, London
Tel: 020 7612 6438 E.mail d.lambert@ioe.ac.uk
Co-applicants: Mr M Totterdell (IoE London), Ms C Daly (IOE London), Ms R Heilbronn (IOE London),Dr A Moore (IOE London), Dr N Pachler (IOE London)
£559,096

Abstract:
The proposed research aims to impact on the current crisis in teacher recruitment and retention, by contributing to what is currently the relatively unresearched and under-theorised field of Early Professional Development (EPD) of teachers. Following a large base line survey of teachers' views on their own professional aspirations and development needs, using samples of primary and secondary teachers in their first three years of teaching, this research uses case studies of particular types of professional development context, each involving a form of intervention designed to support professional learning. All claim to create professional learning communities, and the research seeks to ascertain the impact of these interventions on what we term the 'practitioner capacity' of participants. Up to twenty-five new teachers are studied over a period of three years. These teachers are located across five different EPD contexts. Their professional activity is monitored via documents (on-line archives and professional development portfolios) and interviews, both with the participants themselves and with other network players who provide triangulation, including senior teaching staff, LEA personnel, HEI tutors and pupils. Annual lesson observations are conducted on each teacher, using a 'scale of productive pedagogy' to yield data on developing classroom practice. The research team has a multidisciplinary background and is experienced in supporting and leading practitioner research. To augment this the proposers are exploring collaborative links with a major northern university with an established record in the field.

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20
RES-139-000187
Learning to perform: instrumentalists and instrumental teachers
Principal applicant: Dr JI Mills
Royal College of Music
Tel: 020 7591 4392 E.mail: jmills@rcm.ac.uk
Co-applicants: Dr A Williamon (Royal College of Music), Prof GF Welch (Institute of Education, London), Prof DJ Hargreaves (Univ of Surrey, Roehampton)
£611,435

Abstract:
Almost all classical performers studied at a conservatoire, and yet the ways in which they learn through instrumental tuition from the distinguished musicians there have not been widely researched. A 5-year study tracks groups of students through their career at a conservatoire, from pre-entry to graduation, examines how they learn over periods of up to 4 years, and investigates whether their learning may be enhanced through metacognitive interventions, and through a range of other strategies that have been pre-tested in an earlier research project. Three 2-year studies in other institutions (during years 2-3 of the five years) that provide complementary but differing instrumental tuition for adult learners (classical music in a university; pop and jazz through FE, HE and community programmes in a music college; Scottish music in a conservatoire) broaden the range of instrumental tuition considered and provide opportunities for cross-fertilisation between contexts. A fourth concurrent 2-year study examines advanced adult classical instrumental learning in private practice. Finally, we consider whether the learning and teaching styles observed could be applied, to useful effect, to other areas of music education, or more broadly within higher education or lifelong learning.

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