Using industry professionals in undergraduate teaching : effects on student learning

Tutorials are a common complementary method of achieving student engagement with material covered in lectures, as students achieve deeper understanding by being involved in small group discussions. However, in an attempt to provide students with a taste of everything the industry has to offer, the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Western Australia has until 2014 conducted its undergraduate unit, Mysteries of Forensic Science, as a series of seminars by current industry professionals. This approach was implemented initially as a good opportunity to expose undergraduate students to many fields of forensic science from practising industry professionals. While links between universities and industry are largely seen as beneficial, particularly in research and development, simply inserting industry professionals into the role of undergraduate teacher may not be an effective way to introduce students to a subject area. In 2014 it was decided to introduce tutorials to the unit, to provide students with an opportunity to discuss and clarify material covered in lectures, as well as to allow for continuous feedback both from the teacher and peers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate this unit taught almost entirely by industry professionals and the effect this had on student learning. Further, recommendations for the further restructuring of the unit for 2015 have been made based on student feedback, and are applicable to any undergraduate course having close ties to industry, and considering utilising these ties to expose undergraduate students to industry professionals. This study demonstrates a case in which industry professionals were perhaps over-utilised as undergraduate teachers, with a detrimental effect on student learning due to the sacrificing of lecture/tutorial benefits such as small group discussion, recorded lectures and a unit reader. Results indicated that students appreciate and acknowledge the benefits of learning from practising industry professionals; however, they overwhelmingly supported the reintroduction of tutorials, recorded lectures and a unit reader. [Author abstract, ed]