Student as Researcher
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Ant Brewerton |
The 'Student as Researcher' programme is being developed by the Library in partnership with academic colleagues and other stakeholders to help to enhance the undergraduate student experience at Warwick. It will cover the student's journey from initial information finding, via academic skills to more in-depth research skills, and will focus specifically on the development of information fluency across the whole of the undergraduate course. It will support the University strategy to 'sustain a Warwick student experience of distinction' by offering 'all students the opportunity to work on an extended project or piece of research'. The programme will be based on experiential learning and – where possible – allow the student to enjoy fully the benefits the Library can offer in terms of resources, learning spaces and support. A key element of the programme will be the opportunity for the 'student as researcher' to discover and use primary sources and special collections unique to Warwick, and then for the 'student as producer' to enter the wider academic world of their subject by publishing in a departmental journal or repository, or alternatively presenting at a student conference.
The Library has worked with academic colleagues to identify seven academic departments in which to trial this approach in 2011/12: WBS, Law, Psychology, French, Film and Television Studies, German, and Education. Building on lessons leant during the pilot it is intended that the programme will be further developed then promoted to all other subject disciplines across the University. Ant Brewerton is Head of Academic Services in the Library. He is responsible for the strategic leadership of academic support services across the Library, including the departmental support offered by the Academic Support Librarians and the services delivered by the Teaching Grid, Learning Grid and the Wolfson Research Exchange. |
