About this Book

The third annual conference of the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) was held at Trinity College Dublin on 11-12 November 2009, and was attended by over 300 delegates. The theme--"Research-Teaching Linkages: Practice and Policy"--Was timely and generated some fascinating papers, workshops and debates, demonstrating that the research-teaching nexus is not only to the forefront of, but crucial to, current national discussions on the impact and future of higher education. Moreover, the importance of the research-teaching nexus is now central to dialogue surrounding strategies of investment in third-and fourth-level Ireland. This publication provides insight into some of the innovative, inspirational and highly effective methods used by third and fourth-level teachers in classrooms, laboratories and centres for teaching and learning both nationally and internationally. The success of NAIRTL, and the continued interest in its grant initiative, awards programme for excellence in teaching, workshops and conferences, publications and other activities points towards the importance of the objectives of the National Academy in the modern Irish educational landscape. Research, teaching and learning are in fact inextricably linked, and that linkage is a critical part of the education continuum; NAIRTL, through its activities and its support of research-teaching linkages on four levels, encourages teachers to speak about their own research, engage students in authentic research, investigate the inculcation of a research ethos and conduct research into teaching and learning itself. The latter--the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning--has universally and undeniably demonstrated the positive impact of that relationship at all educational levels. A key aspect of this conference was the interactive roundtable discussion involving representatives of the major educational funding bodies in Ireland. This publication contains the following papers: (1) Completing PhDs: The Perils and Enduring Promise of Deep Study (Jon Butler); (2) Enhancing the Student Experience through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Carolin Kreber); (3) Developments in Postgraduate Education and their Implications for Research Supervision (Anne Lee); (4) Moving Forward with Research-Enhanced Teaching: Perceptions of Undergraduate Students and Academic Staff (Brad Wuetherick);(5) Research and Professional Development Plan (RPDP) for PhD Students (Emer Cunningham, Janet Carton and Claire Rosten); (6) Creating an "Interdisciplinary Moment" in Graduate Education: The Theory and Philosophy Summer School (Alfred Moore); (7) Visions of Effective Doctoral Supervision: Disciplines and Traditions in a Time of Change (Jacqueline A. Potter, Mary Creaner, David Delany and Joan Lalor); (8) Lesson Study: Researching Learning about Teaching from Research Mathematics Lessons (Dolores Corcoran); (9) Workshop: Research--Teaching Linkages: Beyond Definitions (Or how to pitch your research proposal to maximise the integration of research, teaching and learning) (Marian McCarthy, Jennifer Murphy and Stephen Cassidy); (10) Learning by Doing: Introducing Research Skills to Geography Undergraduates (Niamh Moore); (11) Bauhaus, Crown Hall, FAU: A Comparative Investigation of the Curriculum Design in Schools of Architecture (Sarah Mulrooney); (12) Children and Global Diversity: Collaborative Development of Learning Materials (Jacqui O'Riordan, Shirley Martin, Deirdre Horgan, Ruth Murray and Caroline Shore); (13) Transforming Subjectives in Teaching and Learning: Bridging the Teacher-Learner, Theory-Practice Dialectic (Meabh Savage); (14) Making Connections for Mindful Inquiry: Using Reflective Journals to Scaffold an Autobiographical Approach to Learning in Economics (Daniel Blackshields); (15) Ireland's Multicultural Classrooms and Initial Teacher Education: The Convergence of Culture and Pedagogy (Maria Campbell); (16) Technological Change in Assessing Economics: A Cautionary Welcome (Brendan Kennelly, John Considine and Darragh Flannery); (17) First Year Students' Mathematics Learning Experiences at National University of Ireland Maynooth (Ciaran Mac an Bhaird and Ann O'Shea); (18) Forging Research-Teaching Linkages Through Action Research: An Example of Facilitating the Development of Competency in Critical Reflection (Catherine Lowry-O'Neill); (19) Exploring an Undergraduate Public Health Learning Environment through the Teaching for Understanding (TfU) Framework (Fiona MacLeod); (20) Certification as a SOTL Process: Some Steps Along the Way (Marian McCarthy); (21) Good Beginnings are not the Measure of Success: Using and Outcomes Logic Model to Track the Progress of the Irish Integrative Learning Project (C. Anthony Ryan, Bettie Higgs and Shane Kilcommins); (21) PAISAGE--Portal Audiovisual Intercultural sobre el Aprendizaje de Gaelico y Español (Pilar Alderete-Diez and Dorothy Ni Uigin); (22) The Teaching for Understanding Framework (TFU) and the Sherlock Homes Investigative Model (SHIM) for Teaching Undergraduate Arts Economics Students: A Pedagogical Case (Daniel Blackshields); (23) Developing.