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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:01 | All replies by this member

Teaching and Research in higher education

This thread deals with what Jenkins et al. (2003) describe as ‘perhaps one of the most significant
developments in thinking about teaching and learning in higher education in recent
years’ (2003, p. ix), the inter-relationship between teaching and research. The intention of
the thread is to analyse the connections between teaching and research and to suggest
mechanisms that may assist in linking these activities for the benefit of undergraduate and
postgraduate student learning (Willis & Harper, 2000). Given that the curricula of international
tourism programmes vary widely, and that research in tourism covers a very diverse
range of issues, the purpose of this thread is not to provide a single definitive account of
how ‘effective’ links may be made. Instead, the aim is to discuss a range of factors that
influence what Neumann (1994) has termed the ‘teaching/research nexus’, to review literature
on this topic and to present examples of good practice in the integration of tourism
research into teaching and learning activities. The thread will end with consideration of
key issues and challenges for the future.
For a number of years there has been a wide-ranging, international debate (see for
instance Boyer, 1990; Brew & Boud, 1995; Fox, 1992; Jenkins et al., 2003; Woodhouse,
1998) concerning ‘the vital but vexed relationship between teaching and research’ (Jenkins
et al., 1998, p. 127). As far back as 1963, the Robbins Report in the UK (NCEHE, 1963)
argued that able students should be encouraged throughout their studies to aspire to postgraduate
activities and to access their full academic potential. The Dearing Report of 1997
(NCEHE, 1997) similarly reinforced the importance of scholarship and research in underpinning
teaching in higher education. A number of studies undertaken in the late 1990s and
early 2000s (see, for example, Elton, 2001; Healey et al., 2003a; Lindsay et al., 2002;
Jenkins et al., 1998; Zamorski, 2000, 2002, 2004) suggest that there is evidence both that
linkages between teaching and research do exist, and that they have the potential to be beneficial
to student learning. There are, however, those who argue that the benefits of linking
teaching and research are at the very least unproven. Ramsden and Moses (1992), for
instance, found little or no evidence of a positive link between teaching and research.
Similarly, Hattie and Marsh, state that ‘the common belief that research and teaching are
inextricably entwined is an enduring myth. At best, research and teaching are very loosely
coupled’ (1996, p. 529). Thus, as Willis and Harper (2000) comment the linkage between
teaching and research is more widely assumed to exist than proven to do so. Even where
such an inter-relationship has been found to exist its exact nature may not be fully understood
(Brew & Boud, 1995). More recently, the Department for Education and Skills in the
UK has stated controversially that:
it is clear that good scholarship, in the sense of being aware of the latest
research and thinking within a subject, is essential to good teaching, but not
that it is necessary to be active in cutting edge research to be an excellent
teacher (DfES, 2003).
It has also been suggested that from the 1990s onwards there has been a gradual, often
structural, separation between research and teaching in higher education (McNay, 1998)
exacerbated in the UK, according to Brown (2002), by the Research Assessment Exercise
(RAE). In the RAE, the quality of submitted university research over a given time period
(in the last RAE this was 1996–2001) is graded (a scale of 1–7 was used in the RAE,
2001), to determine the selective allocation of research funds in different subject-related
Units of Assessment (Tribe, 2003b). In 1990, the Boyer Commission in the US commented
that despite the fact that many academics had entered the profession to teach, the
route to academic status and success was now widely viewed as being inextricably linked
to publishing (Boyer, 1990). Similarly a study by Drennan and Beck (2000) concluded
that many academic staff viewed research as the primary route to career advancement creating
a need for institutions to do more to motivate and reward excellent teachers. These
anxieties have given rise to renewed efforts to explore the ways in which the
teaching/research nexus can be developed to overcome potential problems caused by separation
of research and teaching.

[ by Tourism at 3-13-2009 23:13 edited ]
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:02 | All replies by this member
In relation to the position of tourism research and its perceived strengths and values
within the UK, Tribe suggests that:
from the cosy world of the inside, tourism research seems to be developing
quite nicely. It seems to be expanding (2003b, p. 225).
This, he argues, is evidenced by the fact that there are more than 37 journals publishing
over 500 tourism-related articles per annum. It would appear that tourism research is
flourishing and is therefore in a good position to influence curriculum and teaching on
tourism programmes. This notion is supported by Botterill and Haven (2003) who highlight
the impressive growth of tourism research in UK universities. This was exemplified
by the fact that during the RAE (2001) there were over 354 tourism-related outputs submitted
by 146 staff across 7 Units of Assessment (Botterill & Haven, 2003, p. 6). As Stuart
points out, this proliferation of research has the potential to strengthen ‘the Tourism academic
community’s case for academic respectability for their subject …’ (2002, p. 15).
There are, however, concerns that the UK’s RAE has presented particular challenges for
tourism researchers. According to Botterill and Haven (2003) the structure of the RAE
assessment panels has tended to ‘invisibilise’ tourism submissions potentially impacting
negatively upon future funding of work in this area. This state of affairs seems likely to
continue, with government plans for the future of research funding in the UK failing to
address these concerns (Tribe, 2003a). The Government proposals (DfES, 2003) have
given rise to concern that ‘divorcing the processes of knowledge creation and knowledge
dissemination would [could] lead to a weakening of academic standards, a stifling of the
teaching of research methods and a dilution of the breadth of knowledge and expertise
within disciplines’ (Johnes, 2004, p. 47). An increasingly competitive culture within higher
education in the UK (Stuart-Hoyle, 2004) has intensified the pressures placed on academic
staff teaching on tourism programmes. Such external factors have a significant influence
on the extent to which staff teaching tourism have the opportunity to incorporate research
into their teaching.
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:03 | All replies by this member

Defining the Terms: Teaching, Research and Scholarship

Research by Brew (1999) has revealed important differences in the way in which
‘research’ is defined by staff and confusion concerning which activities constitute relevant
scholarship for the purposes of supporting teaching. When considering the linkages
between ‘teaching’ and ‘research’ it is thus useful to reflect briefly on what is actually
meant by these terms. While there is always a danger of over-simplification in adopting
concise definitions, it is important to distinguish what is meant by these concepts if we are
to examine the links between them. For the purposes of this thread ‘research’ is taken to
refer to those activities that involve elements of primary investigation (Jenkins et al., 2003)
and the term ‘teaching’ to encompass the range of activities involved in engaging students
in learning and in the sharing of knowledge with students.
There is, additionally, a third concept that is assuming an increasingly central role in
discussions of the links between teaching and learning — that of ‘scholarship’. Jenkins
et al. define ‘scholarship’ as ‘careful reflection on practice and review of the literature and
research evidence’ (2003, p. 9). According to the Boyer Commission (1990) recognising
the value of ‘scholarship’, may assist in highlighting the synergies between teaching and
research. Boyer (1990) offered a now widely adopted typology of scholarships as: the
scholarship of discovery (advancing knowledge); the scholarship of integration (synthesizing
knowledge); the scholarship of service (advancing and applying knowledge); the
scholarship of teaching (advancing and applying knowledge about how to teach and promote
learning). These forms of scholarship should not be viewed hierarchically but as
interlinked and complementary. Some or all of these scholarships may be used in teaching
and learning.
Griffiths (2003, cited in Healey et al., 2003b) suggests that there are a variety of ways in
which research can be integrated into teaching and curriculum design. Teaching can be:
‘research-led’ as characterised by a one-way transfer of research findings from staff to students;
‘research-oriented’ in that the processes of undertaking research and producing knowledge
inform the curricula rather than just the outputs; ‘research-based’ through the adoption
of inquiry-based learning designed to enhance the interaction between staff and student; and
finally ‘research-informed’ through pedagogy. Within her studies of the student perspective
of linking teaching and research, Zamorski (2000, 2004) identifies five principal ‘modes of
research-led and research-based teaching and learning’ (2004, p. 3). These are categorised as:
● those teaching activities where students on taught courses are provided with knowledge
based on research carried out by their lecturers or others;
● those where students gain greater understanding of the complex inter-relationship
between knowledge and its production through research;
● those in which students are encouraged to acquire or develop their own research skills
throughout their courses;
● specific modules, such as Research Methods, in which students focus on these issues;
● the opportunity for students to undertake their own research project within a course or
particular module.
Many of us teaching on tourism courses will recognise a number of these activities as
already embedded within our programmes etc. Teaching and learning strategies involving the
use of group working, problem-solving and reflective practice have traditionally been linked
with the delivery of vocationally and/or professionally oriented programmes of study. For this
subject area in particular then, a broad definition of research, encompassing key elements of
scholarship, is likely to be beneficial in terms of any exploration of the links between teaching
and research. The ideas put forward by both Zamorski and Griffiths demonstrate that there
is unlikely to be one single ‘right approach’ to link teaching and research. Thus good practice
in this complex task will necessarily encompass a variety of strategies aimed at enhancing
both students’ knowledge of research outputs and developing their research skills.
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:04 | All replies by this member

Studying the Teaching/ Research Nexus in Higher Education

A number of studies have analysed various facets of the teaching/research nexus as it is perceived
by undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students in Australia (Neumann, 1994),
the UK (Healey et al., 2003a; Jenkins et al., 1998; Lindsay et al., 2002; Thomas & Harris,
2000, 2001; Zamorski, 2000, 2002, 2004) and in New Zealand (Willis & Harper, 2000). Such
studies have identified many advantages to student learning from the integration of research
into teaching activities. Benefits perceived by students to accrue from staff research include:
● stimulating interest in learning about a subject because a particular member of staff is
more interested in teaching it;
● courses informed by research are seen to be up-to-date and therefore of particular value
in preparing students for employment;
● students may feel more empathy with staff whom they get to know as researchers rather
than simply disseminators of knowledge;
● research-active staff are perceived as talking more authoritatively about the processes of
doing research, thereby increasing student awareness of methodological issues;
● the prestige linked to staff research and consultancy may extend beyond the individual
to enhance the status of the university in the eyes of students and their peers at other universities;
● students may be more motivated to undertake their own research and go on to postgraduate
study by staff who are themselves researchers.
Research into student perceptions of the teaching/research nexus indicates that the most
positive experiences of research enhancing the learning experience occur when students
themselves are actively involved either through undertaking their own projects or where
tutors utilise their research as a basis for lectures (Elton, 2001). Brew, for instance, identifies
benefits of ‘using research and scholarship as models for university teaching’ in terms
of: student development of problem-solving skills; encouraging students to be ‘open to
changing their conceptions of the world’; encouraging collaboration in learning, for
instance through use of peer review processes; inclusion of personal issues within studies;
and encouraging students to adopt a professional approach to their work (1999, p. 1).
In concurrent studies by Healey et al. (2003a) and Jordan (2003, 2004) students on vocational
courses such as tourism expressed particular interest in staff links with industry whether
or not these might constitute ‘research’ as defined in academic terms. Student participants in
these studies believed that an up-to-date knowledge of industry trends and business practices
was very appropriate given the vocational nature of the subject. Lecturers undertaking
industry-based research and consultancy projects were perceived as keeping in touch with the
‘real world’ and this was viewed as having potential benefits for students’ employability.
Studies of student perceptions of the teaching/research nexus have also identified problematic
issues in relation to the impact of staff research on student learning. Some students
point to a tension between the benefits they themselves acknowledge as accruing from
staff involvement in research/consultancy and their frustration in feeling that staff research
may take priority over their learning experiences. Jenkins et al. (1998) highlight four
potential difficulties associated with staff research as perceived by students. These are:
lack of staff availability to students; staff preoccupation with research to the detriment of
teaching; staff research steering curriculum content; and a lack of involvement of students
in staff research. In research by Healey et al. (2003a) students themselves suggested a
number of practical strategies for minimising such detrimental impacts, including:
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:04 | All replies by this member
● enhancing electronic contact between staff and students;
● giving students as much information as possible about why staff are not available to see
them;
● ensuring that students are warned in advance of prolonged staff absences for research
purposes and provided with other means of support during these times.
These relatively simple strategies can help to ensure that students are clear about
exactly when and how their learning needs are being addressed by research-active staff and
may also assist in enhancing communications between staff and students more generally.
In addition to exploring student perspectives of the teaching/research nexus, a number
of studies have examined the views of academic staff on this topic. In the US Colbeck
(1998) studied departmental working practices, cultures and policies for integrating teaching
and research at two universities. She concluded that structural and cultural factors were
significant in shaping staff perceptions of the teaching/research nexus. Smeby (1998) studied
staff perceptions of the relationship between teaching and research at universities in
Norway, concluding that staff are more likely to have their postgraduate teaching influenced
by research than their teaching at ‘lower’ levels. Studies undertaken in the UK (see
for instance Ball, 2003; Botterill, 2003; Rowland, 1996; Thomas & Harris, 2000, 2001)
have suggested that staff view the linkages between teaching and research as valuable in
terms of both teaching quality and university status. Academic staff in some studies have,
however, expressed concern that external pressures such as funding and expanding student
numbers can impinge on their abilities to make these links effectively.
Overall, investigation of the teaching/research nexus has tended to suggest that these
links are regarded by both staff and students as potentially beneficial in terms of the student
learning experience, university prestige and the development of academic staff themselves.
However such research also shows that the linkages require active management if
these benefits are to be achieved and potential drawbacks avoided. The next section outlines
some examples of good practice in how these links may be developed in tourism.
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:04 | All replies by this member

Practical Strategies for Linking Teaching and Research

Jenkins et al. (2003) suggest that strategies designed to enhance the linkages between
learning, teaching and research should be adopted at all levels of higher education from
national policy-making, through institutional missions, at a departmental level, on an individual
staff basis and through curriculum design. The examples of practice presented here
primarily focus on strategies adopted at the level of the individual member of staff and curriculum
design. As Jenkins et al., point out however:
… one has to be careful in taking research from one national context and
applying it to another…[in] that there may be important differences in how
teaching and research are funded and audited, and how institutions and academics
see their roles (Jenkins et al., 2003, p. 24).
A number of the examples of good practice identified here have been drawn from
resources available through the UK’s Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN)
Subject Centre in Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism now the Higher Education
Academy Subject Network for Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism and can be
accessed at www.hlst.heacademy.ac.uk. The Subject Centre’s newsletter LINK no. 9 contains
further information and examples of linking teaching and research and can be
accessed at via the website address shown above. It should also be noted that the examples
referred to here often have application beyond the subject of tourism.
The first task facing academics in linking teaching and research is simply to make students
aware of who is undertaking what research and where it can be found. Practical suggestions
offered by students to help increase their awareness of research (Healey et al.,
2003a; Jordan, 2003) include:
● use of departmental notice boards as a means of publicising research events and outputs;
● lecturers using their own publications (for instance texts, articles or industry reports) as
a basis for examples in lectures;
● introducing staff research interests as early as induction so that students become used to
the idea of staff as researchers rather than simply teachers;
● compiling staff research and consultancy CVs and making these available as an easily
accessible electronic resource publicised in module guides or other student documents;
● circulation of a student-friendly newsletter detailing the most recent research/consultancy/
scholarship activities of staff and relevant forthcoming events.
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The most effective strategies for integrating research into teaching are those that move
students from passive consumption of research concepts to active engagement in researchrelated
activities. One example of how to integrate research directly into the curriculum is
provided by Altinay (2003), who has devised a tutorial and resource-based module in
which Masters level students select their own topic but based on current staff research
expertise. Staff members set questions and tasks related to their particular area of interest
and students are required to write an academic article conforming to publishing conventions
for the subject. In this way, students are both made aware of staff research and also
provided with the opportunity to develop their own research and academic writing skills.
When encouraging students to develop their research skills through such project work it is
essential to ensure that sufficient support is available to them. Robinson and Kay (2003)
have created an online resource called the Research Gateway .
This tool supports students through all phases of a research project including
topic selection, reviewing literature, collecting data and analysing and presenting findings.
In research by Healey et al. (2003a) students suggested that they tended to become more
aware of research towards the end of their studies rather than regarding it as an integral element
of their course from the beginning. In addressing this issue, Lyons and Nield (2003)
advocate developing research or ‘investigation’ as a strand running through all levels of a
student’s programme so that it is seen as a natural part of studying. This process is underpinned
by an ‘investigation skills’ module that runs throughout the first year and is
designed to provide students with an introduction to literature and academic writing. It
may also be useful early in programmes of study to raise the question of how research contributes
to tourism generally and to explore different types of research used in various
tourism contexts. This could be combined with a practical exercise on resource selectivity
requiring students to produce work using a minimum number of academic resources of different
types (for instance conference papers and journal articles rather than electronic
resources). This may also be an appropriate time to introduce students to the ethics of the
research process and the guidelines that they need to follow. Encouraging students to
regard research skills as a natural part of learning may assist in overcoming any fear of
research that they may have.
comprises of a research poster for which each group member takes responsibility for a
specific element. Groups must then present and ‘defend’ their poster as a group. This
approach can assist in overcoming the tendency for some students to be passive recipients
of information, particularly at the beginning of their studies. Placing emphasis on problemand
enquiry-based learning, and the adoption of assessment criteria that explicitly assess
reflective and analytical skills, is not only useful in developing research skills but is also
appropriate for the vocational nature of many tourism programmes. Strategies that actively
encourage students to be researchers can also act as a springboard for students to develop
their own research agendas within their undergraduate programmes and beyond.

[ by Tourism at 3-13-2009 23:12 edited ]
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:14 | All replies by this member

Key Issues and Future Challenges in Linking Teaching and Research in Tourism

The final section of this thread will highlight some of the key issues and future challenges
facing tourism educators in seeking to enhance the links between teaching and research.
While a number of these are common to higher education providers in many countries, others
are more specific to the UK. Healey and Jenkins (2003) identify one of the most significant
challenges in linking teaching and research as stemming from rapid global progress in
information technology. While the Internet has undoubtedly proved a very valuable
resource for students and academic staff alike, it also constitutes a potential impediment to
students developing research and investigative skills. Increasingly students are becoming
reliant on instant downloading of information in order to complete assessed work rather
than the more time-consuming task of reading around published research outputs. Students
thus need to be taught both to discriminate between the many available sources of information
in terms of academic quality and to be critical and selective in their use of sources.
According to Zamorski (2004) the rising costs of higher education in a number of countries
may result in students focusing almost exclusively on the assessed elements of curriculum
required to successfully complete their programme of studies rather than
exploring their educational potential more broadly. If research-led curricula are perceived
as less time-efficient than those that are more assessment-driven students may opt for less
research-intensive programmes. Zamorski (2004) also argues that the move towards students
as paying customers of universities coupled with more litigious societies (for
instance, the US and increasingly the UK) may serve to stifle innovations in researchbased
teaching as educators become more cautious in their approaches.
The nature of tourism as a subject area presents its own challenges in terms of both
research and teaching and correspondingly the linkages between the two. Key issues related
to researching and/or teaching in tourism include: the multi-disciplinary nature of many
tourism courses spanning a wide variety of management and social sciences perspectives and
topics; the vocational and industry-oriented nature of many tourism management courses; the
rapid expansion of tourism programmes and the shift towards modularity (Airey & Johnson,
1998; Stergiou et al., 2003); pressures on individual teaching staff (Stuart, 2002); the overreliance
of tourism research and corresponding curriculum development on a scientific positivist
epistemology (Botterill, 2001; Tribe, 2001); a lack of pedagogic research in tourism
(Stergiou et al., 2003; Tribe, 2002) the underdeveloped and/or marginalised position of
tourism research in the UK (as discussed earlier); and debates centring on the status of
tourism as a distinct discipline or subject area (see for instance Echter & Jamal, 1997; Tribe,
1997, 2000).
Despite these contentious issues, and the more general challenges faced by many higher
education providers, it is suggested that there are significant benefits to be realised by both
staff and students from linking teaching and research. These benefits centre on staff enthusiasm
and on their contribution of up-to-date, industry-related knowledge in the context of
these vocational and/or professional programmes. The key to managing the research/teaching
nexus appears to lie in adopting a broad definition of research (possibly to further
incorporate notions of scholarship as suggested by Boyer) and in encouraging staff to further
integrate their own research interests into their curriculum design. In addition, further
strategies aimed at making information about the research and scholarship activities of
staff more freely available to students (for instance through staff talking at lectures and/or
circulation of newsletters) may assist in limiting negative outcomes and in developing
greater empathy between students and staff as both learners and producers of knowledge.
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