Student to Student research project
University of Bradford
Dr Lou Comerford Boyes
Ideological reasons……..
UNESCO framework:
 Participative
 Democratic
 Inclusive
 Co-created
Pedagogy: UoB Teaching & Learning
Strategy 2009-14
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Active, student-centred learning
Autonomy, independence, ownership
Stakeholder in assessment (PDP)
Collaborative
Trying to be less ‘risk averse’ in terms of staff
behaviour / tendencies
Reasons why …………
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Lack of staff capacity;
Staff perspective can be a barrier;
Opportunity for staff to learn from students;
Good way of raising the profile of
Ecoversity;
Sustainable: self supporting research
community so staff input can be less, builds
research capacity within student group.
More reasons why…….
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Feedback from students last year - ‘make the
research student friendly/ focussed’
Opportunity for students to work with other
students;
A chance for students to enhance their
research skills and process management
capabilities;
Opportunity for students to have a voice
within the institution.
Research and UoB students….
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Research methods UG and PG
Dissertations
Group research projects in modules
Paying students as research assistants
But collecting data about and understanding
student-led research?
Positive impacts for student
researchers………………
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Personal: ‘my confidence grew with each interview’
Professional development esp. further development
of research skills: ‘really helped me hone my
questioning skills…..improved my negotiating and
listening skills’
Pedagogic: student researchers supporting and
teaching other student researchers
Social: opportunity for students to work with other
students and learn about our student body
Positive impacts for Ecoversity
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Generates naturalistic, in-depth
conversations between students about the
initiative;
Learning about SD can be mutual;
Good way of raising the profile of Ecoversity;
Sustainable way of scaling up in terms of
field-operatives / participants and scale of
research that can be attempted.
Staff learning…………..
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Puts a spotlight on default power relations and how
they can be usefully disrupted But how hard it is to genuinely give control to others
What happens when we try and enact the spirit of
the TLA strategy – natural tendency to eliminate risk!
Deeply satisfying: the value-added in terms of data
about doing research this way, over and about
finding out about Ecoversity;
Lessons learnt that can usefully inform the formal
curriculum………….
Implications for student-led work
within the formal curriculum……
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Open ended tasks – are they really?
How do we manage students taking things in
directions we did not anticipate? Or even feel
comfortable with?
Do we constantly find ways of exerting control and
wresting back the agenda?
How do we cope with tension between truly student
–centric ideologies and what staff have to report
against?
Opportunities……..
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Student to student research is fertile learning
ground for:
Researchers
Participants
Staff
Opportunities to adopt the approach?