Dr Christina Hughes is a Reader in the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick. Her research interests encompass feminist theory and also qualitative research methodologies. Her recent publications include Women’s Contemporary Lives (London, Routledge, 2002); Key Concepts in Feminist Theory and Research (London, Sage, 2002) and Disseminating Qualitative Research (Maidenhead, Open University Press, 2003). She is co-author of the best selling methodology text How to Research (Maidenhead, Open University Press, Third Edition, 2006). She recently led a C-SAP funded project Teaching and Learning in a Research Oriented Department of Sociology that involved student-led research into undergraduate experiences at the University of Warwick.

Embedding Undergraduates in the Research-Teaching Nexus: The Case of Money Sex Power in Global Context

The overall aim of this research project is to develop a curriculum which is not only research led and student centred but is co-managed and co-taught by students. Principally, students will research and deliver teaching sessions on the third year undergraduate module in sociology Money Sex and Power in Global Context and, as part of the participatory action research model being used, to form a Student Steering Committee that will contribute to the management and evaluation of the project.

The research is being developed through three stages. The first stage (Spring, Summer 2005-6) forms pilot research to ascertain the skill sets and support structures that are required for students to develop competencies in the research and delivery of teaching sessions. The second stage (2006-7) includes training in learning and teaching methodologies and will focus on student experiences of teaching preparation, lecturing and seminar facilitation. Whilst each stage contains evaluative elements, the third stage (Autumn 2007) forms a final evaluation. This includes an assessment of the contribution of the project to the development of transferable skills. Evaluation will also be concerned with how, and in what ways, student engagement in the project has enhanced (or otherwise) their substantive knowledge of the module’s intellectual concerns. More generally, and at the level of the affect, evaluation is concerned to explore how teaching and learning innovations of this kind can create a more active and engaged student response to the curriculum.