Linking Teaching and Research through Technology

ABSTRACT

This article looks at the relationship between the availability of a wide range of primary materials online and new kinds of teaching in English Departments. New teaching approaches and new forms of writing, I argue, are essential to properly take advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technology. These new forms of teaching involve, on the one hand, showing students how primary research is conducted and, on the other, allowing students to participate in that research through the development of new scholarly digital resources. As a means of testing these theories I took on the post of Project Officer for C & IT for the English Subject Centre from March 2003 to May 2004. The paper describes the three primary outcomes of the fifteen-month practical experiment I entered into to address these questions. My conclusion, as a result of this experimental work, is that digital technology provides an opportunity to develop complex interlinking scholarly dialogues that involved participants with a range of experience and expertise. This, I argue, is a positive move towards greater inclusivity and participation in the scholarly project.