This Weblog was originaly set up to support the Research into Higher Education Forum which took place at the University of Gloucestershire on the 12th June 2008. This Forum was organised by the Pedagogic Research & Scholarship Institute (PRSI). The PRSI is an institute established in 2006 to support and enhance research into teaching and learning in higher education. We have since decided to continue the blog to facilitate discussions and exchanges of ideas thorugh the comments function realting to posts and linking to events we organise
The spirit of this Forum is to provide a space to share ideas for pedagogic or higher education research (PedR) and developmentand capacity building activity among their staff. There are a number of HE institutions in the UK undertaking similar intiatives and we could avoid duplication and increase the effectiveness of our research development activity by discussing opportunities for further collaboration. There are diverse reasons for strengthening PedR links with our colleagues within HEIs in the broader region: to explore potential shared research agendas as well as potential collaborators for bidding, writing, advisory panels and project evaluators. If possible, there should be incentives put in place to carry forward the potential collaborative outputs from this Forum event.
The University of Gloucestershire has identified several key research themes that tie into its strategic planning for teaching and learning. These have the overarching remit of ‘Informing active engagement in learning and teaching for a 21st Century University’ and involve:
• Internationalisation, learning and teaching and the curriculum
• Linking research, knowledge exchange, practice and teaching
• Education for Sustainable Development
• Technology enhanced learning
• Engaging diverse communities in the curriculum (including employers and other stakeholders)
We will also have a catch-all theme under ‘Informing active engagement in learning and teaching for a 21st Century University’’ where we will have a particular focus on ‘Leadership and Learning in higher education/academic work’. We recognise that many other HEIs will have overlapping research interest and look forward to discussing areas of research synergy!
We welcome comments and feedback on these issues.
