Project team

Gareth Price, Diana Bracewell, Julie Jordan, Chris Olley, John Walker, Mark Windale

Partner organisation

Indian Institute for Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune (lead institution in India)

Project date

2016-2018

Promoting inquiry in university education

The Research-based Pedagogical Tools project involved consultants from SIoE's Centre for Development and Research in Education (CDARE) running development workshops in eight cities across India over three years involving over 1000 Indian university lecturers and researchers. The workshops concentrated on lecturers working in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The project was designed to encourage lecturers to use more active learning approaches in their teaching of undergraduates, and involved the development of a bespoke 5R model (Recognise, Require, Refine, Reward, Report) to help with the creation of resources and learning strategies.

The key outputs from the project included:

• a link with key educational bodies in India allowing further development between CDARE and Indian colleagues
• a 5R model to inform development of learning packages suitable for Indian contexts
• 1000 Indian teachers engaging in workshops which supported their development as expert educators
• a group of committed curriculum developers in India to expand and enhance the project leading to sustainability after the initial funding was over.

The project has already led to more Indian-run and organised workshops with colleagues in the country running their own regional workshops and developing exemplar resources to support lecturers. As an added benefit, CDARE staff are also involved in shared research projects with colleagues in IISER, Pune.

Funder

British Council's Newton Bhabha Fund