Research-Oriented University Instruction: The Research Skill Development Framework and Communities of Practice

Abstract

AbstractTo address higher education teaching efficacy, this chapter describes how the Research Skill Development (RSD) framework has been successfully applied to underpin professional development programs, namely through Communities of Practice (CoP) that explore research-thinking and a host of research-oriented teaching practices in two universities. These universities are, respectively, located on the Canadian prairie and in the Midwestern United States. In our professional roles, we provide professional development for university educators (UEs) across all disciplines and modalities. The RSD framework sparked interest amongst university educator participants by encouraging discourse on research thinking and by providing a common language to interrogate existing practice and to envision new teaching possibilities. The RSD framework catalysed and supported individual and group research thinking. In turn, university educators engaged with research-oriented teaching practices and publishing on teaching practice in the field of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Our findings indicated that lasting and meaningful change to research-thinking, in research-oriented teaching practices, and in SoTL, can be enabled through CoP that are underpinned and guided by the RSD framework. This chapter positions the RSD as a valuable and strategic tool for improving teaching while mitigating changing university agendas and concomitant challenges.