Researching Learning in Higher Education

Book excerpt: Across the world, universities are transforming their teaching and learning practices to meet the challenges facing Higher Education in the 21st century. Research into teaching and learning in Higher Education has never been a more important issue. Growing numbers of academics across disciplines are conducting research in their teaching. This book presents contemporary approaches to researching university teaching and learning to address this rising demand. The author provides a much needed comprehensive yet basic approach for conducting this type of research. A perfect resource for new lecturers, professional developers, researchers and graduate students; this book provides useful and effective guidance for conducting teaching and learning research in Higher Education. Filling a clear gap in the market, this book covers all the essential methodological and theoretical bases needed to engage in Higher Education research. This book offers a refreshingly light yet serious approach to research which has proved to yield significant advances in the field, allowing new academics from any discipline to effectively conduct higher education research. Each chapter covers the following: FRAMING HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH Generating an ETHICAL FRAMEWORK QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS FOCUS GROUP RESEARCH SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS NARRATIVE INQUIRY ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACHES CASE STUDY RESEARCH ACTION RESEARCH APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY PHENOMENOGRAPHY RESEARCHING THRESHOLD CONCEPTS VISUAL RESEARCH EVALUATION APPROACHES This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in up to date theories and methods for conducting teaching and learning research in Higher Education.