In the description of the duties of universities and university colleges in the “Act relating to universities and university colleges” it is emphasised that, besides scientific and artistic research, staff should also engage in academic development work. Pedagogical development work could be understood as one specific form of such work. At the university and university college level, pedagogical development work will be characterised by some specific traits, and be concerned with, for example:
- testing new ways of learning and teaching and/or practices of assessment
- strengthening the connection between research and education
- involving students and/or colleagues in ongoing artistic or scientific research
- creating an inclusive learning environment
- involving students as partners in teaching and teaching development
- developing new teaching material, preferably in collaboration with students
An important premise of pedagogical development work is the intention to elicit experiences and/or knowledge that contribute new perspectives to the subject area and that reach beyond the interest and development of the individual staff member and towards enhancing the knowledge of the professional community. In addition, the work should be conducted in systematic and intentional ways. It should also lead to results that can be publicly shared, and be initiated on the basis of institutional or individual professional needs. Pedagogical development work may take place in interconnection with scientific or artistic research, and may as such happen in the interstices between different forms of R&D.
Project examples
Examples of ongoing or recently completed projects that encompass pedagogical development work, are:
- Education IN Music
- Core portfolio
- The co-playing chamber music teacher (in Norwegian)
- TIGER (in Norwegian)
- The Hammerfest project
The projects linked to above are all relatively large. It is important to remember, though, that pedagogical development work may equally well comprise small-scale projects. Whatever the size, the projects should be conducted in systematic ways and the findings should be shared, both internally and externally.