Research-rich education

Connecting research and learning doesn’t mean that students always conduct a full research project. They can engage with the research of others (including LSE academics), and interrogate or carry out specific parts of the research process. 

This table outlines possible activities, including simpler or light-touch approaches: students can find out about research; talk about research; do research; and produce research outputs. The guidance also addresses what the outcomes will be on the students’ learning. 

The LSE Assessment and Feedback Toolkit suggests ways to use research activities as a form of assessment.

Examples of how these ideas have been implemented across the sector can be accessed via Dilly Fung’s (2017) open access book A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education (Chapter 2 – Learning through research and enquiry).  

To dig deeper, you can use models of the ‘teaching research nexus’ to map your course/programme content and identify areas that may benefit from development. 

Each of these models assumes that whilst research-led teaching—structured around the content of the research interests of teaching staff—has its place in curriculum design, learners develop a more sophisticated understanding of the discipline when they engage in active and experiential learning. 

In Hodge’s ‘student as scholar’ model, the student moves from a simpler view of knowledge, and a reliance on authority, towards handling more complexity and developing their own scholarly identity. 

Levy (2009) proposed a model in which the student can provide existing answers to pre-set questions, but ideally works towards generating both their own answers and their own lines of enquiry. The vertical axis in this diagram contrasts staff-led and student-led learning, whilst the horizontal axis distinguishes information-led (existing knowledge) from discovery-led (new knowledge) inquiry. 

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It is worth highlighting that both Levy, and Healey and Jenkins (whose work underpins Levy’s), acknowledge that activities relating to all four quadrants of their models all occur in the curriculum. However, they believe that the top two quadrants more fully utilise the links between teaching and research and have the greatest potential to enhance students’ learning. 

Eden Centre departmental advisers can work with you to connect research and teaching in your curriculum.