How to use student's research for society

Do you:

  • Want to make the outcomes of student research available for society, education or other researchers?
  • Feel the necessity to change your course to make it more interesting and/or motivating for you and your students by creating authentic assignments?

We suggest two ways to go about this:

  1. Consider the examples on this website. Be inspired by them and adapt them to your course.
  2. Choose if you want students to either publish or create a product based on their research findings. Below we show some tips for these two options.

Tips in case you want to create possibilities for students to publish their research results

  1. Consider what publication would be suitable for the research topic of your student.

    Example: one of your students wrote a Master’s thesis on the use of Ritalin among students without ADHD in higher education, who use the drug for better concentration. You think the results are very interesting for the national media.
     
  2. Consider what is needed before an article or press report gets picked up and is accepted by a professional journal, the media or a website or before a video gets published online.
    - What are the author/producer instructions?
    - How can the journal or website be informed about the research?

    In the case of the example: the student would need to write a press report. It would be good to have the student find information on how to write a press report, and to have the student make contact with the communication advisor of the department.
     
  3. Consider whether the students would need any kind of protection from you:
    - Should you inform the student about the possible risks of having contacts with the media?
    - Should you prevent the student from reactions on a blog post?
    - Should you prevent the student from posting their work on a website when the subject or quality of it can influence how future employers judge them?
    - Are there any other pitfalls that need to be tackled?

    In the case of the example: You might decide that you will be the first contact person for the press. Together you practice doing an interview with the communication advisor.  
     
  4. Consider whether you yourself would prefer a role in the process, e.g. as co-author of a professional article.

    In the case of the example: You might want to prepare the press report together with the student and the communication advisor .

Tips in case you want students to create a product based on their research results

  1. Consider the contacts in your network for each of the three target groups (research, education, society). This might be: People that you know that might be the ‘customer’ of your students product, working in an organization for which students can do research or a school for which students can produce educational materials (maybe you yourself)?

    Choose the most inspiring contact/possibility to create a product (for you and for the students).
     
  2. Consider what product you can ask the students to make for that contact that fits the assessment criteria of your course and translates their research to a specific audience.

    For example: Students in your course need to be able to conduct qualitative research. For a science museum in Utrecht, students could do research on the interests and questions that young children have with respect to science and technology. As assessment products, they would have to make a research report and, for the museum as main stakeholder, an infographic of the main findings.
     
  3. Consider what criteria would be appropriate to consider the product as “good”, “sufficient” and “insufficient”?

    For instance: The research report would need to fit the usual criteria for research reports. The infographic would need to contain the main findings, be clear and easy to understand for the museum, and look attractive.
     
  4. Consider what the students would need to learn in order to meet the product criteria. What learning activities would be helpful for them? What kind of practice do they need?

    In the example: The students can study examples of existing infographics and determine ways in which infographics can be made clear and attractive. They may need a workshop on making infographics, as well as a round of peer-feedback on their first drafts of the infographics.
     
  5. Consider how the assessment would relate to the learning objectives of the course: What would students need to be able to do to meet these criteria? Maybe you can add this to the learning objectives of the course.

    In the example: To the existing course objectives the following objective could be added: Students are able to plan and conduct research for a real stake holder, present the study in a research report and in an infographic.

Questions?

If you have any questions on how to, do not hesitate to ask for a professional consult.

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