African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Research Course 1/Face-to-Face /Day 3/Session 13 (R1_F2F-D3-S13)
Title: Introduction to Day 3: Review & Recap
Session Description:
(Overall time: 30 mins) The purpose of this session is to introduce learners to the schedule and learning
outcomes of day 3, to share some of their reflective journals contributions assigned at the end of day 2 as well
as to go through the comments they shared on the mood monitor. The facilitator can use this session to
refresh the knowledge on the basic concepts covered during day one and two, and clarify or address possible
areas of confusion highlighted by either the comments on the mood monitor or the reflective journals and
thus make sure that learners can actively engage with the activities planned for the day.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Illustrate the learning outcomes of day three
2. Discuss the comments of the Mood monitor from day two
3. Recall concepts covered during day one and two
Recommended Modality:
 Face-to-face
Learning Activities:
1. (10 mins) Introduction of the learning outcomes of day three and 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 one (LO 2-3)
Formative Assessment:
 Mood monitor
 Questioning
Learning Resources:
 [R1-P12-S13] Power Point Presentation Session 13: Introduction to Day Three 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 days, prompting learners to share their reflections.
Course Materials:




Plain/Coloured paper or post-it notes
Pens
Flipchart paper (prepared in advance)
Projector
1|P a g e
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 Three
Research 1, Session 13, Day Three
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).
2|P a g e
African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 2
(10 mins)
Facilitation: Introduce the outcomes of Day 3. With regard to the first learning outcome, clarify that
researchers might tend to assume the validity or value of their research without ensuring that it does either
fill a gap or build on previous research, or embark on a new strand of research. This point should be stressed
in order to help participants understand the value of justifying their research and ensure support for their
research.
Content: Over the last two days, you were asked to reflect on how current approaches to research transformed
your own thinking about your current research paradigm.
The purpose of Day 3 is to:
1. Justify your research in your academic context
a. Researchers might tend to assume the validity or value of their research without ensuring that it
does either fill a gap or build on previous research, or embark on a new strand of research. And if
this isn’t undertaken, your research might be rejected by publishers, funders etc. (whoever you’re
pitching your research to). For instance, at the PHD level a candidate will not be successful unless
they demonstrate explicitly the contribution their research is making.
2. Analyse a broader range of information resources, including academic journals, books, social media, and
places.
3. Apply key elements associated with quality research e.g. originality, credibility, transferability etc.
4. Critically use and evaluate information retrieval tools
Formative Assessment: Setting clear expectations and outcomes at the beginning of the session is important to
address possible questions at the very beginning of the session and avoid additional confusion during the
activity.
3|P a g e
African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 3
Reflection: Share your Reflective journal
Share your reflective journal entries and, as a group, comment on:
1.
The reflective quality of the journal entries shared by some of your peers
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: Ask participants to volunteer and read 1 to 3 reflective journal contributions from day 2. Then,
read some of the comments from the mood monitor exercise from day 2 and ask participants to share their
thoughts.
Please consider that this session may change depending on the ability of the group. For instance, the
facilitator may have to review the practice (and value) of writing reflective journals if the group have
struggled with this activity.
Content: I would like a few volunteers to share 3 reflective journal contributions from day 2 that should cover
the items below:
1. The networking mapping exercise
2. Crafting research questions
3. Justifying your research question
4. Learning modalities: what approaches & how can you incorporate into your practice
Can you share another ‘aha’ moment?
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.
4|P a g e
African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 4
Recap from Mood Monitor
The reflections from Day Two 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 two
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 three.
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
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
5|P a g e
African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
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:
Now, I (the facilitator) will read some of your comments from the mood monitor you completed yesterday
(during day 2)
6|P a g e
African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme: Course Pack
“Engaged excellence in teaching and research”
aura
Slide 5
7|P a g e