Edinburgh Napier University

  This guide discusses a project that was funded by Northumbria University’s research-informed teaching (RiT) initiative: ‘The Impact of Enquiry-Based Learning: student perspectives of the links between discipline-based research, teaching and studentship.’ Whilst many of the university’s RiT projects have tended to focus on final year
undergraduate students working on their capstone projects or dissertations, enabling a few selected students to publish
the outcomes of their research activities, this project sought to engage relatively large numbers of students in research based
teaching in the early stages of their undergraduate studies. It focused on redesigning a year-long introductory theory module to encourage active and autonomous learning in the first year. The aim was to ensure that 76 undergraduates, all new entrants to the university, gained experience of conducting research, becoming actively involved in gathering, analysing and ‘publishing’ primary research data. This type of ‘research-based teaching’ (Griffiths, 2004) encourages students to think of themselves as developing researchers.