ARTICLE #2 | 17
16 | JADE
SAMI ULLAH AND ALEKSANDAR RADU
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ARTICLE | #2
Title
Teaching and Research Synergy in a
Competency Based Education Era
Author(s)
Angelo Leone(1)
Rosalyn Jurjus(2)
Alice Gerges(3)
Aldo Gerbino(1)
Abdo Jurjus(4)
Contact
[email protected]
Department
Department of Experimental
Biomedicine and Clinical Neuroscience,
Section of Histology, (BIONEC),
University of Palermo- Italy (1)
Department of Anatomy and
Regeneration Biology, George
Washington University Washington DC,
USA (2)
Department of Experimental
Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences,
Section of Anatomy, ( BIONEC),
University of Palermo Italy (3)
Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology
and Physiological Sciences, Faculty of
Medicine, American University of BeirutLebanon (4)
Introduction: Formal definitions and tensions
The Oxford English Dictionary defines “teaching” as a way
to convey knowledge; giving instruction or lessons, or
communicating something to a person by way of instruction.
It also defines “Research” as being the act of searching closely
and carefully for or after a specified topic or person; an
investigation directed to the discovery of some fact by careful
study of a subject or a course of critical and scientific inquiry.
This juxtaposition is interesting since the dictionary definition
of research might also be considered learning in comparison to
teaching.
In the last decade, there has been a significant increase in
the attention paid to teaching and to the dynamic our view
of teaching and learning; research-to-teaching links and
teaching per se are much contested issues. The basic aim of
the “scholarship of teaching movement” has been to promote
the integration of research and teaching (Kreber, 2002), but
there is still a considerable literature, which suggests that
these roles or functions are in tension (Blackmore, 2009). In
brief, the basic issue is how we to value research and teaching
together, and how these might be brought together in a more
symbiotic relationship (Elton, 1986). After all, most academics
are employed for the purposes of research and teaching and
research-led universities aim at promote learning by linking
research, teaching and scholarship.
This article highlights the importance of a balanced integration
of research into teaching, a synergistic relationship for a highly
valued competency-based education that could enhance
learning. It discusses different levels of synergy between
teaching and research, thus depicting the added value of each
component in an integrated curriculum promoting self-learning
and aiming to produce life-long learners.
What is teaching and learning?
If the term “learning and teaching” incorporates both teaching
and research (i.e. student research in the teaching setting as
well as teachers’ research in their teaching context(s)) then
perhaps there is an obvious synergy between teaching and
research. Recent research has addressed the convergence and
harmonization between teaching and research by focusing on
curriculum and learning design which offer the best potential for
connecting students and academics to knowledge communities
and linking the research, teaching and scholarship mission
(Adeyeye,2004;Berret,2011).