Research Skill Development Framework Research Articles

Leveraging systematic review practice for research skill development in an undergraduate science course: a case study.

Information literacy skills are an important part of research skills for undergraduate science students. This case study presents a novel approach to developing these types of research skills. By deconstructing the research process into separate steps, explicitly defining, and practicing the skills involved, students can progressively develop these skills and apply them. In this course, systematic reviews are used as exemplars for the research process. We align the Research Skills Development Framework with the steps of a systematic review and present specific skills and accompanying activities for each step. This workshop-based course emphasizes skill development and can help overcome assessments that rely solely on a final paper, with no record or evidence of the student research process, that could be created by a generative artificial intelligence tool.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study presents a novel approach to teaching undergraduate science students rigorous research skills with scaffolded systematic review practice.

Achieving the competencies of an educational researcher

It is a long journey to become a competent educational researcher. The researcher requires both technical and non-technical competencies to become a skilled researcher (Baral, 2021). This editorial does not address the assessment and entrustment of these competencies. Rather it focuses on the competencies required to become an educational researcher. This includes conduct of research, research skills at the workplace, discipline-specific knowledge, professionalism, communication skills, critical thinking, leadership, management, and job market skills.
 The conduct of research is the practice of scientific investigation with integrity(Iqbal, 2021). It includes but is not limited to collaboration, managing conflicts of interests and commitments, data acquisition and its management, human research protection, mentoring, peer review, publication practices, and research misconduct whereas research skills at the workplace include searching for information, taking notes, time management, problem-solving and communicating results(Marks-Maran, 2015). Can we analyze and systematically develop these research skills? The answer is yes. The Research Skills Development framework developed by John and Kerry is a tool that can analyze and plan a curriculum for the systematic development of research skills (Hendriarto, Mursidi, Kalbuana, Aini, & Aslan, 2021). The framework is based on different facets of student research: curious, determined, discerning, harmonizing, creative, and constructive. These facets vary at different stages of students’ autonomy of researching skills: prescribed, scaffolding, open-ended, and unbounded researching (Willison & O’Regan, 2007).

Researcher development models and library research support

Purpose This paper aims to discuss with an introductory narrative on the models and its role in the context of librarianship. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores the relationship between researcher development and library research support. The authors observed the interconnectedness of the two concepts and how this should be studied more with respect to librarianship. Five major higher education and researcher development–related models are examined to assess which would be more suited for library’s research support activities. Accordingly, Prof Linda Evans’ conceptual researcher development model, the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF), the Research Skill Development Framework, Society of College, National and University Libraries Seven Pillars of Information Literacy model and Association of College and Research Libraries’ Standards for Libraries in Higher Education were reviewed. Review and examination of the frameworks, along with relevant literature on the topic, were examined. Findings The authors found that the Vitae RDF seemed most ideal, as it was comprehensive and detailed in presentation and could be used not just by the academic staff but also by librarians and researchers to their benefit. Research limitations/implications Further studies and thorough review of recent educational and library-related frameworks and models are required from the lens of library research support. Practical implications Application of frameworks needs to be actively adopted by librarians. Originality/value There are few studies that have examined researcher development and research support in librarianship in conjunction. The present study has aimed to bridge this gap.

Understanding the Implications of Research Skills Development Framework for Indonesian Academic Outcomes Improvement

The qualitative study aimed to understand the Research Skills Development Framework (RSD) implications for Indonesian master students' academic achievement. Experience proves that success at the master's level is closely related to mastering academic research competencies. A typical study at the master's level requires research skills to complete tasks and jobs that require research application acuity. To understand this study's problem, study the data we have done, including reviewing ten academic findings from international publications, observing and documenting data related to this topic. After the data was collected, we were then provided with analysis, including text analysis, description, coding, and immersion results. Every text is in a language, so we use a translation application to help us understand Indonesian. To determine whether the data constitutes a valid and reliable study finding, we review it and make sure we have answered the study questions. So the results we can report that the RSD framework has become a conceptual framework for the development of research skills for academic and educational needs. The reason is that the RSD framework is beneficial and useful in working on completing tasks that require skill in examining problems to find answers. Thus, these findings become meaningful input for the academic community and other professions.
 Keywords: Research Skill Development, Academic Outcome Improvement, Academic Achievement

HOW PUBLICATION ON THE RESEARCH SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK AS USEFUL EVIDENCE FOR ACADEMICS WORKING DURING PANDEMIC DISRUPTION

This study reviewed some publications on the benefits of implementing the Research Skills Development (RSD)Framework as evidence for academicians and students at the higher education level in carrying out assignments involving research-based learning activities and other scientific work. Higher education learning experts believe that learning and working at a distance mode, especially in the pandemic disruption, is greatly assisted by developing research skills application. This paper has reviewed many scientific publications of the RSD framework and other research-based learning literature to gain a better perspective and understanding to prove this assumption. With the existing research evidence from seven publication materials, we could say that the evidence from the Research Skill Development framework's publications and advantages are constructive for academic and students in universities where the involvement of rich research skills is very high and specific as they now are working in the remote system during the crisis of infected pandemic. Therefore, we highly recommend academicians, students in the higher education environment. In addition, more researchers outside academia to restudy the conceptual framework and its assessment rubric matrix in their scientific work for publication or internal university marking purposes in future investigation.

HOW THE RESEARCH SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK MAY BE USEFUL FOR INDONESIAN HIGHER EDUCATION LEARNING PRACTICE

This qualitative research aimed to review the usefulness of Research Skills Development framework (RSD) among higher education students in Indonesia. The RSD concept has contributed to research-based learning models among students in Australia, both among elementary and tertiary school students. Due to this research framework's success in Australia, we plan to review and see the usefulness of the RSD framework to university students in Indonesia. To facilitate this introduction, we have tried to review several important documents related to this RDS concept, application, evaluation together with rubric assessment. Furthermore, we reported it as a document to the introduction to the research development framework. The results of this document review will be published in one of the higher education academic journals in Indonesia. With the hope that this document will be the forerunner of introduction and development among students, especially those who are completing academic assignments involving research skills for publication purposes to assess academic communication skills. However, many things will challenge this kind of study, something new to the concept of confirmative studies in Indonesia, including several new terms in the research framework that require new understanding notations.

Portraying Students Critical Thinking Skills Through Research Skill Development (RSD) Framework: A Case of a Biology Course in an Indonesian University

Because critical thinking is essential for scientific learning, academics and casual staff struggle to effectively develop students’ critical thinking. This study examined the integration of the Research Skill Development (RSD) framework into a Biology course in an Indonesian University and tested how it helped academics and casual staff develop students’ critical thinking. Specifically, the study focused on the benefits attained by the students and how the use of the RSD framework structured their lab reports. This study employed instruments, i.e., questionnaires, student open-field questions, semi-structured interviews, and a rubric. The results indicated two benefits: self-perception on critical thinking and appropriate student lab reports for the RSD framework

Developing 21st century student research skills through assessment matrix and edmodo in biology project

This reasearch aimed to develop 21st century student research skill by using assessment matrix and guidance through edmodo. An assessment matrix based on a research skill development framework modified by Venning & Buisman-Pijlmann. The study was using mixed method which combine qualitative and quantitative data. Design of the study was embedded experimental. Research subject used 2 class XI in senior high school that consist of RSD1 and RSD2. Instruments that used were assessment matrix and research skill test. The results showed that the students research skill by using assessment matrix were increased with recurring guidance in edmodo application. There was significant difference of research skill scores between class RSD1 and RSD2. The average student score in RSD1 class was higher than average score in RSD2 class. Our finding may aid in reforming 21st century student research skill, particularly in project learning by using assessment matrix and edmodo.

Evaluating the effectiveness of postgraduate research skills training and its alignment with the Research Skill Development framework

This exploratory research focuses on a one-semester subject designed to facilitate deliberate practice while explicitly aiming to develop postgraduate students' basic research skills: academic writing and its co-requisite skill, critical thinking. The research considers the alignment of the curriculum and assessment design of the subject 'Research and Communication Skills for the Natural Sciences' (SC5055) with the RSD framework. The research then identifies students who benefit most from a focus on the development of research and communication skills. The impact of SC5055 on students' achievement and their ability to self-evaluate the development of their skills and understanding is also explored.

Integrated academic literacy development: Learner-teacher autonomy for MELTing the barriers

Effective and continuing development of tertiary students’ academic literacy during their undergraduate years has become a crucial issue for Anglophone universities into the 21st century. Research into pedagogies aimed at supporting students’ academic literacy development has pointed to the inadequacy of generic approaches delivered as remedial support services, and has called instead for the integration of the teaching and learning of academic literacy into discipline content courses. Successful models tended to require collaboration between discipline and communication specialists. However, reluctance by discipline specialists to engage with language in favour of content teaching, and financial implications of collaboration represent two major barriers to the uptake and scalability of curriculum-integrated academic literacy development. This paper describes a collaborative approach to genre pedagogy that has the potential for overcoming the content-language dichotomy and also the cost barrier. It provides a method for the discipline lecturer’s progress from initial dependence on the literacy specialist’s expertise towards learner and teacher autonomy. The pedagogy is demonstrated by two Models of Engaged Learning and Teaching (MELT) that are derived from the Research Skill Development framework. This paper describes the two models and their potential role in overcoming barriers to curriculum-integration of academic literacy development.

Evaluating the effectiveness of postgraduate research skills training and its alignment with the Research Skill Development framework

This exploratory research focuses on a one-semester subject designed to facilitate deliberate practice while explicitly aiming to develop postgraduate students’ basic research skills: academic writing and its co-requisite skill, critical thinking. The research considers the alignment of the curriculum and assessment design of the subject ‘Research and Communication Skills for the Natural Sciences’ (SC5055) with the RSD framework. The research then identifies students who benefit most from a focus on the development of research and communication skills. The impact of SC5055 on students’ achievement and their ability to self-evaluate the development of their skills and understanding is also explored.

Student engineers optimising problem solving and research skills

Problem solving and researching are connected activities in the engineering profession and across education. The empirical research presented in this paper considered the effectiveness for teaching and learning of a model that was based on this connection and derived from the parameters of the Research Skill Development framework. The model, devised by students for students, is called the Optimising Problem Solving (OPS) pentagon, and was piloted in a large first-year engineering course in 2014-2015 and in another university in the first half of 2016. This article presents data from formal research conducted on the 2016 offering of the course gathered from pre (n=221) and post (n=169) surveys, and semi-structured interviews of students (n=5) and student/tutors (n=5) sixteen months after course completion. Statistically significant (p < 0.01) changes from pre to post in items with medium to large effect sizes provided student perspectives on which problem-solving skills improved, and the interview data provided rich detail on the nature of changes and how these changes were effected. For the 2016 cohort studied, our evidence suggests that use of the OPS pentagon was associated with improved student problem-solving skills, and tutors’ capacity to teach problem solving.

Sitting on the same bench: complementing law learning outcomes

Academic skills are now an integral element of the Monash University Library‟s educational program, joining the more established library-taught skill of research. Librarians and learning skills advisers work to present combined classes, and jointly develop programs to deepen the educational experience of students, both through and alongside the curriculum (cocurricula). The Law Library team are fortunate in having a close association with the Monash Faculty of Law, thereby strengthening integration through the provision of shared classes in compulsory law units. Librarians and learning skills advisers have largely complementary skills: good academic writing is based on solid research, and academic argument and its expression are limited by inadequate research. On request from the Law Faculty, the Law Library team teach into a compulsory first-year unit which aims to improve students‟ research and writing skills. The learning skills adviser and the librarians planned, prepared and delivered classes jointly; starting with analysing the question, establishing a framework for the research, and ending with drafting the legal advice that utilises the research. Moreover, the recent educational drive to extend curricula and develop graduate attribute statements has consolidated the methodological foundation of the educational programs. In response to the 2011 curriculum review carried out by the Monash Law Faculty, the Law Library team drew on the draft Threshold Learning Outcomes for Law (Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2010) combining these with the Research Skill Development Framework (Willison & O‟Regan, 2006) to map the classes currently offered and suggest further directions.

Teaching clinical diagnostic reasoning and research‐mindedness in obstetric and gynaecologic sonography online using Research Skills Development Framework

AbstractThe Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) requires that graduates of postgraduate degrees have ‘specialised knowledge and skills for research, and/or professional practice and/or further learning’. Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry (ASAR) accreditation standards now emphasise that medical sonography graduates need to graduate with research capacity in addition to clinical skills and align with AQF framework. To meet these requirements, University of South Australia medical sonography programs, which are delivered externally and online, underwent a major curriculum redesign and changes implemented in 2015. Research Skills Development Framework (RSDF) was embedded across the program to develop sonography‐specific research‐minded thinking for clinical reasoning. RSDF is a conceptual model utilising six facets of enquiry which are ‘embark and clarify’, ‘find and generate’, ‘critically evaluate’, ‘organise’, ‘synthesise and analyse’ and ‘communicate’. This paper reports the experience with RSDF in the online environment to develop problem solving skills, critical thinking and clinical reasoning in one clinical course within the programs, that is, the obstetric and gynaecologic sonography course. This process can be easily translated to the face to face clinical environment and may assist clinical supervisors in clinical supervision and training.

Constructive alignment and the Research Skills Development Framework: using theory to practically align graduate attributes, learning experiences, and assessment tasks in undergraduate midwifery

Midwifery educators have to provide students with stimulating curricula that teach academic and vocational content, as well as transferable skills. The Research Skills Development (RSD) framework provides a conceptual model that allows educators to explicitly scaffold the development of their students’ research skills. This paper aims to demonstrate the effective use of the RSD framework and constructive alignment theory to redesign a second-year Midwifery assessment task. The assessment task was changed into a scenario-based question to better reflect the unit learning objectives and expected graduate attributes. Students were provided with extra time in class to explore the assessment task in a peer environment. Following the return of their assessments, students were asked to complete a questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of the assessment redesign. We show that using a constructively aligned scenario-based assessment task in a second year unit more successfully articulated the expected graduate attributes of midwives. Qualitative and quantitative feedback suggested that students and staff appreciated a more clinically-relevant assessment task. This paper demonstrates that the use of the RSD framework to constructively align graduate attributes, learning experiences, and assessment tasks allows for the transformation of undergraduate assessment into a learning experience relevant to clinical practice.

The Research Skill Development Framework: A Lingua Franca for Undergraduate Research Collaborations

The Research Skill Development Framework: A Lingua Franca for Undergraduate Research Collaborations

Shifting dimensions of autonomy in students’ research and employment

ABSTRACTThis study considers the conceptual space, or extent of autonomy, given to coursework Masters students before, during and after a Business Ethics course that explicitly developed and assessed their research skills. This vocationally oriented and academically challenging course used the Research Skill Development framework as its conceptual model to reshape the learning and assessment environment, articulating to students not only the research skills required, but also clarifying the resulting autonomy in their research-orientated learning. In the study, seven students attended semi-structured interviews and transcript analysis of interviews revealed the level of student-declared autonomy before commencing coursework Masters, while completing the Business Ethics course, and near the end of their Masters degree. All of the students interviewed were studying part-time and working part-time, and so the applicability of the research skills to students’ work environment emerged as a major issue of interest. This paper richly represents the students’ perceptions, and is the first paper to directly address coursework Masters student autonomy in research in a longitudinal manner; as such it provides a deep and nuanced understanding of the conceptual space that students need for success in study and as preparation for employment.

Extra-curricular Undergraduate Research Training: Notes on the Pedagogical Practices Behind the Sydney Undergraduate Journal of Musicology

Although there is a clear body of evidence supporting the idea that undergraduate students benefit from participation in original research projects, many units of study – particularly in the creative arts and humanities – have been slow to embrace curriculum renewal along these lines. In this paper, we detail a pragmatic approach to meeting this curriculum challenge in a music faculty through an extra-curricular initiative that embraces, rather than challenges organisational structures already in place. The writing workshop associated with the Sydney Undergraduate Journal of Musicology provides a pathway for students looking to develop papers they have written for class assignments into original research projects. The design of the workshop uses the Madeline Hunter Direct Instruction Model as a vehicle for introducing students to the central tenets of the Willison and O’Regan Research Skills Development Framework – an increasingly popular tool for the development of original research skills. The effect of the workshop on students’ engagement with the requirements of original research and their eagerness to engage in original research projects is then explored through the presentation of data derived from a focus group comprised of workshop participants that took place one year later.

Commonly known, commonly not known, totally unknown: a framework for students becoming researchers

Providing undergraduate students with research experience has been asserted as a way of reinventing university education. This assertion lacks both substantial empirical evidence and a coherent theoretical framework. In this paper, the authors consider both research and theory relating to undergraduate research and present the Research Skill Development framework, which can be used to both chart and monitor students’ research skill development. An example is given of the practical application of this framework, together with associated preliminary research findings. Further related research directions are also suggested. I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious. – Albert Einstein