Higher Education (HE) in Ireland has become a far more diverse learner environment. In the past ten years alone, participation in HE by learners with disabilities has increased tenfold. Irish cultural diversity has also increased rapidly and mature, as well as part-time learners, have increased in numbers in both higher and further education. Research skills have long been identified as essential skills for a graduate student embarking on a career, either for further graduate study or, increasingly in industry. The core competencies of critical thinking, scientific enquiry and independent thought are all considered fundamental attributes of modern graduates today. This chapter will present a case study of the redesign of a research methods for business studies module that was undertaken for an undergraduate business module at Technological University Dublin, in September-December 2019. This was completed as part of a universal design digital badge micro- credential process in which the author took part during this time.
The objectives of this work are to present an undertaking to reflect, review and redesign an academic module of study that was completed in partnership with learners in a manner that promoted authentic assessment and engagement via the universal design for learning lens.
Background
The literature around the topic of research methods, mainly textbooks and other published works, is often expressed in an overly academic, inaccessible style that can be very intimidating to a novice researcher. This learning and teaching challenge is then exacerbated for all-particularly when working with learners of varying preferences and requirements in the same classroom. The author, as a research-active member of staff, had the opportunity to teach a one-semester research methods for business module to three separate cohorts of business students. Having completed this for one year using traditional methods, in 2018, it was decided that the module was ideal for an evaluation, review and restructure with regards to its mode of delivery and assessment.
In 2019, the author enrolled on a digital badge for Universal Design in Teaching and Learning. This credited module was designed and run by the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD) Ireland and University College Dublin’s Access and Lifelong Learning division. A key part of engaging with this module/micro-credential is to be actively involved in teaching and to select an element of that teaching for redesign. In addition, the author was, from 2018-2020, appointed as a Teaching Fellow of her institution and worked with several of her colleagues on a new curriculum framework . This curriculum framework has now formed part of the educational model of the institution and featured over a year of data gathering from key stakeholders, students, staff, employers and community beneficiaries with close contacts to the institution. As part of the data gathering process for curriculum design for the framework, the author consulted with the research methods group involved in the case study in this chapter. This will be discussed in the ‘Authentic and Engaging Assessment‘ section.
AHEAD, the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability, is an Irish, independent, non-profit organization that works to promote full access to and participation in further and HE for students with disabilities as well as to enhance their employment prospects on graduation (AHEAD - About Us, n.d.)
The overarching purpose of University College Dublin’s Access & Lifelong Learning (UCD-ALL) is to be the ‘bridge to inclusion’ offering connections, engagement and building relationships between communities that are ‘distant’ from HE and the University community. This is achieved by developing and implementing a suite of responses to widen access and ensure participation by diverse student cohorts. UCD-ALL also provides support to integrate and embed the principle of equity of access throughout the institution (UCD Access and Lifelong Learning, n.d.)