Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Sep 3:10:61.
doi: 10.15694/mep.2021.000061.2. eCollection 2021.

Pedagogic Interest Group: a novel and proven collaborative, adhocracy research group structure

Andrew Martin Lunn  1   1 , Andrea Manfrin  1   1
Affiliations

Pedagogic Interest Group: a novel and proven collaborative, adhocracy research group structure

Andrew Martin Lunn et al. MedEdPublish (2016). .

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: Teaching is a core activity for universities, and pedagogic research is essential for improving student experience, staff satisfaction, and research and teaching quality. Pedagogic research is often performed as a secondary research area or by part-time staff, requiring good collaboration. Existing research structures in universities often result in pedagogic research falling through the gaps and for quality work and pedagogic improvements to be missed. Aim: The aim was to develop a clear and flexible structure to improve participation and output of pedagogic research in the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Lancashire. Method: A collaborative adhocracy called the Pedagogic Interest Group (PIG) was created in January 2020. It was designed to allow collaborative, flexible research projects to be easily set up by any staff member. The group supervises and organises a bespoke team of people for each project, drawing on all previously involved staff's expertise and contacts through an initial project meeting organised by an independent group chair. Each project group runs independently, with further help available from the group chairs. Results: Under the PIG structure, seven projects have been undertaken in less than one year. Two papers were published, one under review, two in preparation, one abstract accepted at an international conference, and fifteen funded undergraduate research projects completed. Part-time teaching staff are more involved in the research. Internally, three departments and externally, three other UK universities have been collaboratively involved in research projects. Conclusion: The PIG structure works and depends on staff's continued engagement and at least two independent chairs for impartiality and transparency.

Keywords: Education; Management; Pedagogy; Research; Strategy; Structure.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:. The typical process for running a project using the “collaborative adhocracy” structure of the Pedagogic Interest Group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Birnholtz J. P.(2007) When do researchers collaborate? Toward a model of collaboration propensity. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 58(14), pp.2226–2239. 10.1002/asi.20684 - DOI
    1. Bland C. J., Ruffin M.(1992) Characteristics of a productive research environment: literature review. Academic medicine: journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. 67(6), pp.385–397. 10.1097/00001888-199206000-00010 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Borlaug S. B. and Langfeldt L.(2019) One model fits all? How centres of excellence affect research organisation and practices in the humanities. Studies in Higher Education.pp.1–12. 10.1080/03075079.2019.1615044 - DOI
    1. Chirikov I.(2013) Research universities as knowledge networks: the role of institutional research. Studies in Higher Education. 38(3), pp.456–469. 10.1080/03075079.2013.773778 - DOI
    1. Cotton D. Miller W. and Kneale P.(2018) The Cinderella of academia: Is higher education pedagogic research undervalued in UK research assessment?. Studies in Higher Education. 43(9), pp.1625–1636. 10.1080/03075079.2016.1276549 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources