African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Research Course 1/Face-to-Face /Day 2/Session 8 (R1_F2F-D2-S8)
Title: Recap of Day 1 and Introduction to Day 2
Session Description:
(Overall time: 30 mins) The purpose of this session is to introduce the learning outcomes of Day 2. Learners
will also have a chance to share some of the reflective journals they wrote on what happened during Day 1,
and the facilitator might address those areas that need further clarification.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Illustrate the learning outcomes of Day 2
2. Discuss the comments of the Mood monitor from Day 1
3. Recall concepts covered during Day 1
Recommended Modality:
 Face-to-face
Learning Activities:
1. (10 mins) Short recap by the facilitator (LO 1; 3)
2. (15 mins) A sharing activity during which a few learners will share their reflective journal with the learning
community and comment on what they learned during Day 1 (LO 2-3)
Formative Assessment
 Mood monitor
 Questioning
Learning Resources:
 [R1-P07-S8] Power Point Presentation Session 8: Introduction to Day 2 and its outcomes. This presentation
outlines the learning outcomes of the session, and guides the facilitator through a quick recap of what was
covered during the previous day, prompting learners to share their reflections.
Course Materials:
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Pens
Flipchart paper (prepared in advance)
Projector
Computer
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African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Presentation Slides
Slide 1
aura
Engaged Excellence in Research and Teaching Practices
Introduction to Day Two
Research 1, Session 8, Day Two
Points in bold are facilitation instruction - for example, they might indicate how to run a group discussion or
brainstorming session.
Points in italic indicate things you should tell the audience. You can express them in your own words.
Underlined points refer to formative assessment techniques and indicate what you can learn from learner
responses (although it is impossible to be comprehensive about all of the insights).
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African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 2
(5 mins)
Facilitation: Introduce the learning outcomes of Day 2 and quickly run through the schedule for day 2
highlighting breaks and close for the day.
Content: The outcomes of Day 2 are to enable you to:
1. Distinguish between research questions that are ‘wicked’ and ‘tame’, ‘closed’ and ‘open’
2. Identify the characteristics of research questions in terms of the nature of the research process
3. Identify research questions you would like to explore and categorise the type of questions
4. Map the research landscape (discipline(s), subject(s), stakeholders) to justify your research
Formative Assessment: Setting clear expectations and outcomes is important to address possible questions at
the very beginning of the course or session and avoid confusion.
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African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 3
(2 mins)
Facilitation: Introduce the learning outcomes of this specific session
Content: At the end of this session you will be able to:
1. Comprehend the learning outcomes of Day 2
2. Discuss the comments of the Mood monitor from Day 1
3. Recall concepts covered during Day 1
Formative Assessment: Setting clear expectations and outcomes is important to address possible questions at
the very beginning of the course or session and avoid confusion.
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African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 4
Reflection: Share your Journal
Share your reflective journal entries, as a group comment on:
1. The reflective quality of the journal entries
2. How journals could be improved, (i.e. the reflective qualities/language)?
• I feel like…
• I concluded…
• I will do…. in future.
(15 mins)
(15 mins)
Facilitation: Give a short overview of what participants have learned so far and the approaches chosen to do
so. Clarify to the participants that their journal contribution should show reflection rather than merely
capturing what happened during day 1. Through a group discussion, clarify how journals could be improved
(i.e. how they could be improved in terms of language)
Ask three volunteers to share their reflective journal contributions with the rest of the group.
Content: The course is focused on better understanding some key distinctions to different approaches to
conducting research. These ideas seem to be useful and helped capture different approaches. During day 1, you
familiarised yourself with some examples of current research approaches and applied the theory to practice
through experiential activities.
Today, you will learn how these approaches can be applied to your own research and the crafting of your own
research questions.
Also, how these approaches can be applied to your own research and the crafting of your own research
questions. We will also invite you to use your understanding of research to explore the possibilities of
translating your personal and specific interests through adopting a range of appropriate research techniques.
Finally, you will conduct a net mapping of your research questions.
I would like one to three volunteers to share their reflective journal contributions with the wider group. Please
read your contribution out loud and think to what extent this is a reflective journal.
Formative Assessment: the facilitator could take into consideration some of the points captured by the
reflective journal contributions to make sure of participants' understanding before moving to a new topic.
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African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 5
Recap from Mood Monitor
The reflections from Day One included:
Highs
• [facilitator should insert reflections from mood monitor here]
Lows
• [facilitator should insert reflection from mood monitor here]
(5 mins)
Facilitation: The facilitator should create a summary slide highlighting the comments from Day 1 participants
posted on the Mood Monitor. Comments should be separated into highs and lows, and the facilitator should
state 'how' they plan to address concerns (or low points) in Day 2.
Prepare a summary of the comments left on the mood monitor and explain how you plan to address the low
points.
A mood monitor is used to collect feedback. It can be used to collective formative feedback during a course
or summative feedback at the end. The AURA programme particularly made use of the former, using it as
formative feedback at the end of each day of its workshops. The team did this through dividing a piece of
flipchart paper into 4 equal parts to form 4 different sections. These sections are: high points (represented
by a smiley face); low points (represented by a sad face); questions (represented by a question mark); and
more information (represented by an exclamation mark).
Participants are then asked to give feedback using post-it notes, and each of their notes is then attached to
one of the 4 above sections. What the sections mean is self-explanatory: A happy face is where participants
attach post-it notes giving positive feedback. A sad face for things that you are unhappy about. The question
mark is for points covered in the session that need further clarification. And lastly, an exclamation mark is
for those points requesting additional information or general comments.
During our courses the AURA team would take a look at the mood monitor at the end of each day. The team
would then put the post-it notes into themes: so where numerous post-its said something similar they were
grouped together to form a reoccurring theme. The team then raised these points back to the class on the
following day, discussing them and getting further clarification if needed, but then ultimately agreeing with
participants on measures they’ll be using to address particularly the constructive criticism. This approach
has had a lot of positive feedback from participants, with participants claiming it’s helped them get involved
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African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
with the content and design of the workshop on an ongoing basis. However, in order for this activity to work
it needed to be introduced at the beginning of the workshop, so that participants are aware of they’ll be
feeding back on. Furthermore, as the day approaches it’s important for he facilitator to encourage all
participants to attach their post-it notes onto the mood monitor.
Content: Here is a summary of the high and low points from yesterday.
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African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 6
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