Using Practice-Led Enquiry to Develop Resources for Time Management in Higher Education
Using practice-led enquiry to develop resources for time management in Higher Education
Kim Shahabudin & Judy Turner, University of Reading
Practice-led enquiry is a central concept in the work of the LearnHigher CETL: our ‘mission statement’ names it as our foremost method of research. Our project collatesthe expertise of members working in learning development roles in universities across England. One of its key aims is to formalise and build on thisfund of experience to produce a sound evidence base for effective interventions to enhance student learning. In this context, practice-led enquiry utilises our everyday interactions with students and teaching staff both as a source of evidence, and as a motivator for further research. In addition, our experience of using practice-led enquiry for research suggests that it can also contribute to another of LearnHigher’s aims: to reward and recognise excellence in learning development practice.
This paper will discuss our experience at the University of Reading of using practice-led enquiry in research for the LearnHigher project. In particular it will focus on the use of this methodology in developing and evaluating a new resource for supporting effective time management strategies. The methodology has had a dual impact: enabling the collection of data on the quality and effectiveness of resources; and enhancing our understanding of our own practices as learning developers.
Practice-led enquiry
Practice-led (or practitioner-led) enquiry adopts the same principles as the research methodology known as ‘action research’. Action research is characteristically conducted by practitioners working from within a field of operations, who undertake a process of “collective, self-reflective enquiry” (Kemmis & McTaggart 1988, 5) into their own practices in order to improve those practices. This contrasts with more traditional approaches to social science research which utilise impartial researchers observing and reporting on a situation from an external viewpoint.
In the context of this project, the practice-led approach has both strengths and potential weaknesses over more traditional research methods. In its favour, it gives access to a rich source of non-traditional knowledge in the qualitative experiences of learning development professionals, working directly with students across subject disciplines. It enables rapid evaluation of resources and strategies, expediting the development process. Continual access to students naturally facilitates longitudinal observations of some subjects to reveal changes in academic practices over their university careers. Perhaps most importantly, the iterative process of examination, reflection, development and evaluation utilised by practice-led research models the Self-Regulated Learning process we encourage in our students (Zimmerman & Schunk, 1989).
Criticisms of the practice-led approach query its academic rigour and objectivity. Practitioner-researchers typically observe and evaluate the practices of their peers. Consequently the negotiation of power relationships between researcher and subjects may cause difficulties. Relationships between researchers and student subjects also pose potential problems. Successful study advice interventions rely on a relationship of trust with the student. However, that positive relationship is likely to influence feedback.
Researchers must also beware generalising from the views of a relatively small and untypical (mostly self-selecting) sample. Student communities can differ radically in their learning development needs, across different institutions, disciplines within an institution and even demographic divisions between those taking the same module (for instance, mature, international or part-time students). At the opposite extreme, focusing on divisions may promote the fragmentation of data.
Investigating effective advice on time management practices
LearnHigher research at the University of Reading is conducted by the Study Advice team. Our work with students advising on effective study practices typically takes two forms: direct contacts (one-to-one advice sessions, workshops) and self-directed resources (paper and online study guides).Research began with the team reflecting on and sharing current practices. Points raised from this process informed the subsequent evaluation of existing practices and resources with students through focus groups and surveys.
The existing study guide on time management (A Guide to Organisation and Time Management) was in A4 format, with three pages of text plus cover. It covered: planning; effective study practices; organising resources and study space; avoiding distractions. The guide was evaluated through focus groups composed of students from all levels of study and subject disciplines. Participants liked the content of advice in the guide, but were critical of format and delivery. Typical comments described it as having “too much text”, and being “too prescriptive – not everyone works the same way”. It was felt that the A4 paper format associated the guide with lecture notes, and that it consequently tended to get lost among other papers. Other comments suggested that more pictures, informal language and humour would help to engage students. Finally many of the students surveyed were not aware of the guide: a typical comment was, “I wish I’d known about this earlier in my degree”.
In response to these comments, a new resource on time management was developed. Titled ‘Ten Top Tips for Managing Your Time’, the resource was formatted as a tri-folded single sheet of A4. The cover featured a picture of a juggler, and the ten ‘tips’ as brief phrases. The inner flap explained briefly typical time management issues for students, with more pictures. Unfolded, the ten tips listed on the cover were explained in more depth: one paragraph for each tip. The back cover included information on further reading, and contact details including the address for the Study Advice website. The rationale was that the leaflet could act as an entry-level resource, with directions to more detailed advice for those who wanted it. The format meant it could be pinned up on a noticeboard with the cover acting as an aide-memoire to the advice inside.
In addition to the paper guide, the same advice was also produced as a webpage, and as an oral presentation with a single Powerpoint slide. This was motivated by the perceived need to extend our research outcomes to include data on accessibility and format preferences. We also wanted to consider the practicality of producing the advice as a minimal intervention resource for subject academics to present as embedded advice within subject modules. The resource was presented in all three formats to c.300 1st year students in three departments in different Faculties across the university (Classics, Psychology, Geography). Delivery took place in Week 6 of a ten week term (noted from our records as being a period of increased requests for advice on time management) and students were surveyed at the beginning of the next term after their first assignments had been submitted. Questions were posed about the effectiveness of the resource, as well as general attitudes towards time management at university, and the teaching of effective practices.
Responses were received from approximately 20% of the students. 96% of those who responded said that the resource had helped to improve their time management practices. There were few criticisms about the content of advice. Typical responses noted that it was “mostly commonsense” or “what I know already but don’t do”. When asked what was missing, 86% wanted more advice on how to avoid time wasting. Also mentioned were the more specific needs of mature students. Of the three formats, the paper leaflet was preferred in all questions on the specific resource. However, when asked about general attitudes to advice, students liked the accessibility of online resources. Another trend in this section was a preference for advice on study practices to be embedded into subject teaching.
Following this generally positive feedback, the Ten Top Tips resource has been circulated in the university in paper and online formats.
A continuous process of evaluation and development
In an early description of action research, the social psychologist Kurt Lewin described the process as forming “a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action” (Lewin cited in Cooke Cox, 2005).Following our original reflection, evaluation and development, this second evaluation has suggested ways to improve our current practices as well as directions for future research which are currently in progress.
In academic year 2006-07, only 13% of students requesting Study Advice came for help with time management. This contrasts with 62% of respondents in the survey who acknowledged that they were able to manage their time “sometimes”, “rarely” or “never”, and the very high percentage of students (96%) who agreed that the resource had helped to improve their time management. The discrepancy may be explained bya widespread conception that good time management is an innate ability rather than something which can be learnt (Fontana, 1993). In addition, time management and organisation problems can be viewed by academics as ‘lifestyle’ rather than academic issues, in contrast to more obvious practices like essay writing. However, the importance of good time management in academic study is widely recognised; for instance, Pickford and Brown describe it as “the skill which above all others can make the difference between graduating and drop out” (2006, 47). Developing ways to engage both students and academic staff in encouraging better time management practices must be seen as a valuable endeavour.
These results have motivated new directions for our research, from a focus on content to more emphasis on delivery. We are now working on ways of producing and promoting minimal intervention resources that can be embedded in subject teaching, thus reaching the students who would not actively seek advice on time management otherwise. In addition we are looking more closely at the needs of specific student groups – not only the mature students mentioned in the survey results, but also other groups like postgraduate students and Freshers.We are also considering best-practice strategies for avoiding time wasting and maintaining motivation to study. This is a particular area of concern at present with the increase in social networking sites and chimes with recent work on the complex relationship with academic motivation of the Generation Y student.
Conclusions
Taking a practice-led approach to investigating time management has proved valuable in many ways, providing a model for continuous evaluation and development of all of our practices and resources, and prompting new and productive directions for research. There has also been an unexpected effect in its validation of our existing practices with students, and its concrete demonstration of our ability to successfully develop those practices. Explicit appeal to the practice-led approachhas conferred a methodological authority to the reflective working style we already employed. It has prompted a new conception of our roles as learning developers, as embodied knowledge resources in ourselves.
References
David Fontana (1993)Managing Time (Leicester; British Psychological Society).
Kurt Lewin (1946) ‘Action research and minority problems’, Journal of Social Issues, 2, 34-46. Reprinted in Cooke, B. & Cox, J.W.(eds) (2005) Fundamentals of Action Research Vol. 1 (London: Sage).
S. Kemmis & R. McTaggart (1988) The Action Research Planner (Geelong, Victoria: DeakinUniversity Press).
Ruth Pickford & Sally Brown (2006) Assessing Skills and Practice (London: Routledge).
B.J. Zimmerman & D. H. Schunk (eds.) (1989) Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Theory, research, and practice (New York: Springer-Verlag).