Focussed Project Phases

Among the large number of funded projects in the various phases of TLRP, there have been two focused project phases, calling for targetted research in specified areas.

The first of these (in 2005) was on widening participation in higher education. The overarching aim was to support innovative research with the potential to enhance understanding, and inform and/or underpin future policy, practice and outcomes relating to widening participation in, and fair access to, higher education (HE) in England. Specific themes included the role of family, economic and social background; the development of innovative policies and practices to widen participation; the voices of diverse learners on the development of identities; and  the perspectives of teachers, teacher educators and trainers on developing pedagogies and practice for a diverse range of HE learners.

Studies funded under this call have investigated a wide range of issues, spanning more than a dozen projects. Topics have included:

• General studies to enhance the effectiveness of HE: for example: The Effectiveness of Problem Based Learning (phase 1); the enhancement of teaching and learning environments (phase 2);
• Projects aimed at specific targetted student bodies, for example: disabled students (phase 3); music students (phase 3); teacher-trainees (phase 3)
• Overviews of the widening participation issues: for example, quantitative analyses (phase 3); focussing on diversity (phase 3).

More recently, the EPSRC and ESRC have jointly funded two rounds of funding targetted specifically at the field of Technology Enhanced Learning. This interdisciplinary initiative, focusing on four overarching themes of  productivity, personalisation, includion and flexibility, led in the first call (2006/7) to the establishment of seven small-scale development projects (now completed) and three full-scale projects. Currently, a second round of this call is underway, with 95 outline proposals submitted during 2007, a shortlist of 17 established, and a commitment that final proposals will be commissioned in the first quarter of 2008.The overarching aim is to support innovative interdisciplinary research that focuses on the creation, development and exploitation of digital technologies for learning. A specific objective is to attract interdisciplinary projects that are likely to entail greater risk or require more analytic depth than the normal operation of the TEL market would provide.