Educational Enhancement in the Disciplines: Models, Lessons and Challenges from Three Research-intensive Universities

In this chapter we argue for the centrality of the unique languages, cultures and traditions of the academic disciplines to university teaching and learning and for the need to redefine the relationship between disciplinary and educational experts when enhancing education in research-intensive universities. We propose a conceptual framework that privileges the discipline as a key factor in designing educational enhancement strategies, while acknowledging institutional and national contexts. This framework guides an examination of three specific case studies from three different research-intensive universities (University of Copenhagen (UCPH), University o Leuven (KU Leuven), University of Oxford), each with its own history of educational development and enhancement strategies for the past several decades. We outline the method for writing and interrogating those cases. The cases highlight challenges associated with efforts to enhance teaching and learning in research-intensive universities and the role the disciplines can play in those efforts. We conclude with recommendations for educational enhancement practice drawn from this analysis of multi-institutional cases.