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The experience of academic learning: uneven conceptions of learning across research and teaching

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Abstract

Research and teaching are often construed by academic staff as incongruous activities that have little overlap in practice. Many studies on the relationship of teaching and research assume an inherent competition or “rivalry” between these two practices. In this study, we draw on a framework that conceptualizes these academic practices not as distinct and irreconcilable, but rather as analogous practices with a common essential goal: the advancement of learning and knowledge. Taking a phenomenographic research perspective, we investigated how 39 early career, research active academic staff at a research-intensive university conceive of learning across their academic experience and practices. We identified five distinct conceptions of academic learning within three general categories: disconnected, transitional, and connected.

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Notes

  1. The authors recognize that there are academics who teach but do not actively research in the field and others who do research but do not teach or do not teach undergraduates. In this paper we focus on those who do both (see below).

  2. Tenure in this research context is primarily granted on the quality and extent of the academic staff member’s research and scholarship. While teaching quality is also examined, it plays a minor role.

  3. For details about this program see [http://www.northwestern.edu/searle/programs-events/faculty/searle-fellows/index.html].

  4. The authors, of course, focused on research active academic staff. Extending the study to include a pool of academic staff which is not research-active and/or which includes more variation in the experience of learning in research, would provide additional evidence about such a disconnect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, Northwestern University, 627 Dartmouth Place, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Greg Light & Susanna Calkins

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  1. Greg Light
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  2. Susanna Calkins
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Correspondence to Greg Light.

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Light, G., Calkins, S. The experience of academic learning: uneven conceptions of learning across research and teaching. High Educ 69, 345–359 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9779-0

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