Research-Led Teaching And Learning At VUW Discussion Paper
Case 1: Humanities (Level 3)

[At the suggestion of the AVC, three VUW academics were interviewed for the purposes of collating cases of good practice in RLT for inclusion in this paper. They have not been identified.]

As noted previously, our proposed model of Research-led Learning and Teaching (RLT) incorporates three distinct (but not unrelated) approaches:

• Research-led Teaching
• Inquiry-based Learning
• Research on Teaching and Learning.

The cases of good practice we have briefly investigated on our own campus provide evidence that many academics (and importantly, students) are engaged in activities which encompass more than one of these dimensions. Core elements of those activities, as reported by academics teaching at undergraduate level, are summarised below.

• Course content changes each year to incorporate the academic's own research as well as the nature of current exhibitions which students are required to critically review
• The academic is able to provide students with privileged access to the field on the basis of her own personal and professional background and expertise
• Each student carries out their own individual research project on a NZ artist. Source material is invariably limited so students 'have to become detectives'
• Students become aware that their own research is in new and contested areas, and that they themselves are contributing actively to 'knowledge in the making'
• At the end of the course students prepare for and take part in a round table discussion with professionals external to the University, to reflect on ideas underlying the course
• Many students go on into Honours or Masters and graduates have good success rates in obtaining jobs in museums, galleries etc.