There is a need for lecturers and administrators in Scotland’s colleges to develop research skills because they can be called upon to carry out some research as part of their job. A lecturer may need to investigate ways of improving learning for a particular group of students, or may have embarked on a research degree or other postgraduate course that requires they carry out some kind of investigation. Or an administrator may need to collect and analyse information on issues and problems at individual, group or institutional level, as an aid to decision making and determining policy.
However, many college staff lack the experience and skills, and thus con dence, in conducting an investigation. They can be put off even by the thought of research. Many think that research is not for them but that it is for outside experts and professional researchers, not realising that it is something that they can do already in other circumstances based on common sense. They are not aware that they can easily gain some of the experience in strategies, methods and analytical techniques of the professional researcher by carrying out worthwhile studies that are of relevance to their job.
Furthermore despite the fact that there is a need for college staff to develop research skills, they tend not to receive formal training in research skills – even though developing such transferable, research skills will help staff to work more effectively within a college and lead to improving the quality of college education and other college services.
One of the aims of the ‘Towards Regional, Accessible, and Inclusive Learning’ (TRAIL) project implemented at UHI Millennium Institute (UHI) was to address such a gap in staff research training and development. The research and development aspect of the project set out to provide a way of assisting staff and postgraduate students across the colleges and research institutions of UHI to develop research capabilities.
The TRAIL project brought together both college staff interested and experienced in conducting research and provided them with appropriate seminars to learn and develop their research skills. Each seminar was written and presented by a UHI member of staff with research experience and expertise. The seminars were delivered weekly for one hour on Friday lunchtimes via video-conferencing across the UHI Academic Partners.
The purpose of the series of video-conferencing seminars was to encourage and support both practitioners doing research and staff thinking about doing research. In particular, the seminars provided a general introduction to research skills, methods and issues for those unfamiliar with what is involved in carrying out research. The range of seminars delivered covered the whole research process from planning and writing a research proposal, through developing an appropriate methodology, selecting and implementing data collection methods, analysing the data, and to presenting the results and writing the report.
Conclusion
Overall, we found that the series of research VC seminars has demonstrated that there is a way of developing research capabilities and generating a research culture in colleges through:
• sharing staff expertise and experience
• connecting people with similar research interests at a convenient time and place.
This article by Stephen Addison was first published in Broadcast 74 in 2007.
You can read the original article here: Developing_Research_Capabilities_Via_Video_Conferencing