Session Summary:

This session focused on how to develop and leverage the varied resources needed to support research-based undergraduate education. This session assumed that research-based education is valuable and explored how best to deliver research-based education to larger numbers of students and to institutionalize research-based learning. Barriers to wider-scale adoption of research-based learning and some possible solutions were also discussed.

Although some funding is available to implement research-based learning initiatives – either through private foundations or internal university monies – the more vexing challenge is how to ensure that such short terms changes become systemic and penetrate the university’s institutional culture. Patty Iannuzzi shared University of California, Berkeley’s experience with a four-year collaborative project, funded by the Mellon Foundation, that aims to incorporate research-based learning into undergraduate courses. The project, in its second full year, continues a two year pilot project, relying on collaboration across academic and non-academic units and across administrative levels. This year the project is targeting large-enrollment courses. Patty also shared experiences and insights regarding how to raise funds to support undergraduate research through the university library’s programs and spaces.

Participants discussed the following:

• Individual and institutional experiences in integrating research-based learning into the undergraduate curriculum and in cultivating funding sources.
• How to build individual and institutional and commitment to undergraduate research-based education.

Questioning our Assumptions About Research-Based Education

At the beginning of the session participants filled out a brief worksheet that asked them to agree or disagree with a series of propositions about research-based undergraduate learning. For example, research-based learning:

• requires students to formulate their own question(s)
• results in a research paper or presentation
• is more time consuming for the instructor

This exercise affirmed that research-based learning can be highly varied and need not fit conventional models of laboratory or library research. It can include only one or several components of the research process, can be directed by the instructor to various degrees, and need not culminate in a research paper. Having a broad definition of research-based learning is essential to: effectively incorporate research-based learning in large enrollment courses; to deliver research experiences to larger numbers of students; and to reach more typical as opposed to high-achieving students.

The Parable of the Mellon Seeds

Patty gave a detailed account of UC Berkeley’s experiences obtaining funding from the Mellon Foundation and implementing the grant: “Library/Faculty Fellows for Undergraduate Research.” More information regarding all aspects of this project can be found at: http://library.berkeley.edu/MellonInstitute/.

The library partnered with the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (Christina Maslach), and submitted a grant proposal, “Library/Faculty Fellows for Undergraduate Research.” The Mellon Foundation awarded UC Berkeley first a two year grant for a pilot project for $138,000 and then a four-year grant for $750,000.

The project’s objectives were to:

a) build undergraduate knowledge of information resources
b) enhance student research and information competencies
c) connect faculty research more effectively with classroom teaching
d) provide expanded opportunities for faculty to mentor creative student discovery and research both within and beyond the classroom.

Additional concerns were to ensure that this educational initiative be both scalable and sustainable, beyond the duration of this particular grant.

Each year fifteen Library/Faculty Fellows for Undergraduate Research are selected. The fellows are faculty and lecturers who redesign an undergraduate course to include research-based learning. The fellows were envisioned as agents of change who would actively share their experiences with undergraduate research-based learning.

Faculty fellows participate in a three-week Summer Institute. This is an experiential, immersion experience that makes the Faculty Fellows into students. Occupying the position of students, they come to empathize with the challenges students face and to bring that knowledge back into the classroom. The institute curriculum was designed by staff experts from academic support units campus-wide. Each fellow is supported by an implementation team (I-team), made up of staff from the academic partners who work together to support the course. More information about the academic partners is available at: http://library.berkeley.edu/MellonInstitute/Mellon_Partners.htm.

Fellows also agree to participate in assessment efforts to evaluate the project’s effectiveness and the effectiveness of their particular course redesign. A video archive, with footage of other what fellows and students say about their experiences is available at: http://library.berkeley.edu/MellonInstitute/photos.html

Challenges Ahead

Mark Feldman briefly addressed some of the challenges to scaling up research-based undergraduate education and to institutionalizing these changes.

1) Separation of Research and Teaching
Some possible ways to redress this include:

a) To broaden what counts as research.
b) To change promotion policies to incentivize innovative and effective teaching.
c) To require departmental statements on how they see the nexus between their research and undergraduate learning. For instance, Southampton University in England, requires that “each academic department develop a … teaching and learning strategy … [that] will include a statement of how research [is part of] its teaching.” (Jenkins et. al., 95)

2) Scarce Resources
Some suggestions for maximizing the impact of money already being spent and making optimal use of faculty time are:

a) To require internal research grant proposals to include a statement about how this research will benefit undergraduate education.
b) To include research-based learning in already required courses.
c) To minimize duplication of efforts through greater coordination between units that support educational technology, pedagogy, library research, and undergraduate research.
d) Support faculty innovation through assistance from units that deal with pedagogy and instructional technology and by librarians.

3) Scaling Up
Delivering research-based learning to more students is challenging. Some suggestions regarding how to do this:

a) Focus on large-enrollment courses.
b) Include a research component in already required undergraduate courses.
c) Create a breadth requirement such that all students would take a research-intensive course, as Duke University has done.
d) Make the ability to teach and mentor undergraduate research a factor in faculty hiring.

Pedagogy of Place

Patty shared some ideas regarding how to cultivate donors and raise funds to support undergraduate research. University libraries provide naming opportunities and bricks and mortar projects can be recast as learning environments, as part of a “Pedagogy of Place.” A historic reading room can be transformed and presented to potential funders as a dynamic laboratory for humanities research. Donations could be used to renovate the space and also for library programs that support undergraduate research.

Some recent examples from UC Berkeley’s Library include:

• The Evelyn Chambers Research Consultation Room
• Exhibit cases that display undergraduate research in the library
• Library Prize for Undergraduate Research. More information at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/researchprize/index.html
• Free Speech Movement Café: constructed with a $5 million donation, the café commemorates the Free Speech Movement and the funds have also been used for the Mario Savio/Free Speech Movement Endowment for library materials and a digitized archive focusing on the Free Speech Movement.

Recommendations:

• Create teams that include individuals with expertise in pedagogy, library collections, research skills and educational technology to support and implement undergraduate courses that involve research-based learning. This recommendation is based on the success of UC Berkeley’s implementation teams (I-teams) that support courses funded by the Mellon Library / Faculty Fellows for Undergraduate Research.
• Use the products of exceptional undergraduate research as a visual aid or exhibit to elicit funding for research-based undergraduate learning. For example, the products of a class that has been redesigned to include a research project could be used to interest donors in funding the course’s ongoing implementation.
• Create an incentive and promotion structure that more fully rewards innovative and effective teaching, in order to encourage faculty to adopt research-based undergraduate curricula.

Resources/References:

Websites

1. For information regarding UC Berkeley’s “Library/Faculty Fellows for Undergraduate Research” project visit: http://library.berkeley.edu/MellonInstitute/
2. The Mellon Library/Faculty Fellowship on Undergraduate Research encourages UC Berkeley Faculty to explore creative and effective ways to encourage students by integrating research skills into the classroom and the curriculum. http://library.berkeley.edu/MellonInstitute/Mellon_Partners.htm
          a. For a photo and video archive of this program visit            http://library.berkeley.edu/MellonInstitute/photos.html
          b. Pedagogy of Place: The University of California Berkeley’s Doe Library provides an excellent
              example of how funds can be used to renovate space to attract potential funders and to support            programs for  undergraduate research http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2002/08/21_nudoe.html
          c. The Library Prize for Undergraduate Research http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/researchprize/index.html
          d. The Free Speech Movement Café in the Moffitt Library is a casual place where students can gather            with friends and colleagues http://lib.berkeley.edu/LDO/fsmcafe.html and participate in educational            events http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/fsmprograms/

Publications

1. Boyer, E. (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professorate. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
2. Jenkins, A., Breen, R. and Lindsay, R. (2003) Reshaping Teaching in Higher Education: Linking Teaching with Research. London: Kogan Page.