Knowledge construction through research is central to every university. The implications associated with research are numerous and can vary among individuals and institutions. Some commonly shared interpretations of research include innovation, impact and change. While teaching also plays an important part in each university, its significance often appears to be overshadowed by research. Such imbalance in roles and representation can be traced to the historical development of research and teaching in academia, in which there seems to be an incompatibility between these two major activities (Oliver & Gourlay, 2018). To address this gap, pedagogic research brings together teaching and research, with teachers acting as researchers (Stenhouse, 1975). Suffice to say, educators investigate their own teaching and learning practice (Stenhouse, 1975; Nind & Lewthwaite, 2017). Within the context of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), pedagogic research remains an area for development, as we have only recently begun to support academic staff engagement in this research, over the past three years.

‘Knowledge construction through research is central to every university.’

This special issue does not aim to debate whether pedagogic research has less perceived or actual value (Cotton et al., 2018). Rather, it seeks to present two current teaching and learning initiatives that engage academic staff in pedagogic research and explores how these have developed into a support system through the Teaching and Learning Community of Practice (T&L CoP) at CUHK. Academic staff at the university can be broadly categorised as research-track and teaching-track staff. The former refers to research assistant professors, assistant professors, associate professors and professors, while the latter includes professional consultants, lecturers and senior lecturers, for example. A major difference in job duties between the two tracks of staff is that professoriate staff are responsible for research, teaching and service, whereas academic teaching staff are evaluated based on their teaching and service. Following the official job assignments, academic teaching staff are neither required to undertake disciplinary research nor explicitly required to research their own teaching practice. Likewise, professoriate staff will focus on disciplinary research and are not expected to conduct pedagogic research either.

While academic staff are not explicitly required to fulfil the pedagogic research requirement, some members of the T&L CoP, which comprises approximately 200 colleagues across 10 special interest groups (SIGs), expressed interest in conducting pedagogic research. Some of them would like to use pedagogic research as a lever to better understand their own teaching and their students, while others simply wish to satisfy their curiosity. We initiated this collection to capture various endeavours across disciplines in experimenting with teaching innovation, as well as their intention and attempt to move towards pedagogic research. These illustrative examples in this BERA Blog special issue come together to highlight different approaches and strategies employed by educators and provide insights into how pedagogic research has the potential to inform and improve student learning in Hong Kong and beyond.

In the first blog post, Vienne Lin and Paul Lam begin by providing the context about the support system developed to advance staff engagement in pedagogic research at CUHK. Ervi Liusman goes on to explore the role of virtual reality (VR) in the built environment discipline and whether the VR learning experience can improve students’ comprehension of retail space development. Lipika Chatterjee offers insights into how micromodules and flipped class activities can facilitate self-directed learning and student engagement. In her blog post, Joanna Yeung investigates the importance of simulation in interprofessional education, where an immersive environment allows students to practise procedures and engage with virtual patients in real-life settings. Ian Lee makes an interesting case for comparing students’ handwritten and typed examinations by asking the extent to which a pen is more effective than a keyboard. Chung-Shing Chan and his team conclude this special issue by sharing their teaching and pedagogic research projects on fostering sustainable tourism education using game-based learning tools.

These blog posts collectively establish the contexts in which teaching innovation and pedagogic research work or are still a work in progress at CUHK. Each post explores the meaning and value of pedagogic research, drawing perspectives from both the professoriate and teaching staff. While pedagogic research journeys can at times be isolated, this BERA Blog special issue exemplifies our endeavour to develop collaboration within our community. We walk this journey together.

References

Cotton, D. R. E., Miller, W., & Kneale, P. (2018). The Cinderella of academia: Is higher education pedagogic research undervalued in UK research assessment? Studies in Higher Education, 43(9), 1625–1636. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1276549

Nind, M., & Lewthwaite, S. (2018). Methods that teach: Developing pedagogic research methods, developing pedagogy. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 41(4), 398–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2018.1427057

Oliver, M., & Gourlay, L. (2018). The research-teaching nexus revisited. In J. Davies, & N. Pachler (Eds.), Teaching and learning in higher education: Perspectives from UCL (pp. 21–34). UCL IOE Press.

Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculum research and development. Heinemann Educational.