Educational Research Awards
The Education and Student Experience directorate has recently approved six Educational Research Awards (ERAs) to academics across the Faculties to support practitioner research during the academic year 2022-23. These focus on strategically important themes. They aim to provide valuable information that can inform and enhance University practices being implemented to improve the equality of continuation, awarding gaps, student satisfaction and quality teaching.
The ERAs are integral to the University’s wider strategy to establish mechanisms and processes that provide valuable information on students’ academic experiences, success and outcomes, especially relating to the most disadvantaged groups. Emphasising their importance, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience Dr Julie Brunton stated that “whereas the University now has in place a “data dashboard” of detailed metrics that can be disaggregated according to distinct student groups, the ERAs will generate findings from deep dives into specific local initiatives that advance priorities or University-wide initiatives.”
The ERAs are also important, as seeds of change, to nurture an evidence-based culture, supporting academics to design and conduct research in areas that align with their own professional interest and advance their experience in quantitative and qualitative research. Student co-production and direct involvement in the research activities will also advance this agenda.
During the selection process, the ERA projects were reviewed by a cross-University panel to sharpen their focus and alignment with priority areas, and their methodological rigor. Their implementation will be monitored and supported by the Academy of Learning and Teaching Excellence. Research findings will be presented at the University’s Learning and Teaching Conference to be held in September 2023.
The awards include:
Embedding graduate employability development opportunities
| Enhancing the curriculum in business courses through the creative use of authentic assessments. | Research Lead: Dr Sajeel Ahmed |
| Assessing the effectiveness of the curriculum in Community, Health and Social Care undergraduate courses to achieve graduate outcomes: perspectives of employers. | Research Lead: Dr Faith Ikioda |
Personal Academic Tutoring (PAT)
| Evaluating the effectiveness of the current PAT system to support students on applied courses in the School of Education and English. | Research Lead: Dr Kathryn Nethercott |
Faculty Inclusivity Projects
| Auditing units in the University of Bedfordshire Business School to enhance embedding EDI into learning, teaching and assessment. | Research Lead: Dr Alexander Kofinas |
| Belong@Beds: Exploring opportunities and effective approaches to enhance a sense of ‘belonging’ within teaching and learning and the student experience, as part of the University of Bedfordshire’s inclusivity and well-being strategy. | Research Lead: Dr Fiona Factor |
| Identifying barriers faced by students of African and Caribbean heritage and exploring approaches to direct and support change and equality. | Research Lead: Dr Jim Clack |
Retention and Continuation
| Belong@Beds: Creating a landscape of belonging across teaching, learning and the wider student experience, to increase students' retention and continuation within a values-driven, inclusive academic community. | Research Lead: Dr Fiona Factor |