Publishing your work on teaching and learning in Higher Education

Professor Christine Jarvis, Dean of the School of Education and Professional Development and National Teaching Fellow

Three Types of publication

• Teaching and Learning literature

• Research Work that makes a contribution to knowledge – that adds to our understanding of the topic. May include work that would not be included in the REF using current criteria and

• REF-able writing

Teaching and Learning Literature

• Guides to good practice; descriptions of projects; discussions of new

teaching and learning techniques; text books; reflective accounts of

innovations and experimentation.

• It shares existing knowledge

• It might show how something worked in a specific context, without

generating significant transferable new knowledge

• It helps promote excellent practice

• It can be significant in building a CV for UTF or NTF.

• It may be very scholarly and informed, powerfully argued and well

written, but is not research because it is not generating new knowledge.

Research

• Work that makes a contribution to knowledge – that adds to our understanding

of the topic.

• May include work that would not be included in the REF using current criteria,

because it is not internationally excellent or world leading (3* or 4*) i.e. could be

1* or 2* research

• Might include the analysis of empirical data that challenges or adds to existing

understandings of the topic

• Might include an engagement with or challenge to, existing theories or practices

• Would normally be located in a theoretical framework or at least firmly linked to

existing literature on the topic

• Meet usual expectations for research with respect to reliability and validity etc.

Research likely to be included in a REF exercise

• Warning: the rules may change!!!

• Work that is internationally excellent or world leading in terms of its significance, rigour

and originality (3* or 4*).

• It will therefore include all the things mentioned in the slide on research generally, AND

• It will do some (not necessarily all) of the following:

– Produce ideas about teaching and learning that are new and important – that either

develop existing knowledge significantly or reframe it in some way

– Be situated in a theoretical framework

– Challenge existing theory , practice or policy using carefully articulated and

theoretically sound processes

– Have a strong empirical base – either based on substantial data or on data of

significant depth and richness