Written by three researchers at Oxford Brookes University in the UK, this book is based upon the idea that bringing teaching and research more closely together will improve the quality of student learning. Because knowledge has become fluid and contestable, the students of the future need the skills of inquiry to be employable. Involvement in research is also central to the motivation of faculty. However, the linkage between teaching and research is not automatic. Rather, it has to be carefully cultivated at many levels ranging from the individual course or instructor to national systems and planning.

A review of the research on the teaching-learning nexus shows that, despite what many academics believe and what institutions enshrine in their mission statements, most of the statistical research at the level of the individual academic does not support the assumed relationship between teaching and research. However, more recent qualitative studies indicate that the teaching-research relationship can have a positive effect on student learning. A chapter on student motivation is intended to be a bridge between the discussion of research evidence and chapters on strategies to enhance the relationship at a variety of levels.

In a chapter on designing the curriculum to link teaching and research at the level of the individual academic and the course team, the authors propose a number of strategies for course design to link teaching and research. These are grouped into the general categories of developing students' understanding of research, developing their ability to carry out research through introductory and advanced courses, and managing their research experiences. At the institutional level, the authors advocate seventeen specific strategies divided into the areas of developing institutional awareness and mission, pedagogy and curricula, research, and staff and university structure. The authors note that many U.S. institutions have created first year experiences that focus on developing inquiry learning and capstone or synoptic style courses that focus on integrating knowledge of research and scholarship in the discipline. Honors programs at major U.S. research universities emphasize rese arch-based inquiry and are able to reach larger numbers of students than such programs in the UK, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Although the authors assert that linking teaching and research requires action through both teaching and research strategies, they find that few institutional research policies are aimed at creating teaching and research synergies.

The authors present eleven departmental strategies to enhance the teaching-learning nexus. As with other levels discussed, there is little or no research on how departments should be organized to manage and support the teaching-research relationship. In the final chapter on the national and international levels of action, the authors note the tendency of governments to concentrate research in particular departments and institutions. Governments create dual or separate support systems for teaching and research and show little concern for how the two functions are linked. The authors suggest seven strategies that could be developed at the national and international levels to support the teaching-research relationship. Involvement of all faculty members in scholarship and research, achieved through the scholarship of teaching and research on discipline-based pedagogy, is crucial to achieving the teaching-learning nexus.

With a wealth of suggested strategies and an abundance of supporting examples, this book is a useful road map for any individual, department, or institution wanting to enhance the relationship between teaching and research and its impact on student learning. The review of the research, which challenges commonly accepted myths and demonstrates the need for further research, is probably the most enlightening part of the book. The chapter on student motivation is the least interesting, consisting of speculative and somewhat unimaginative suggestions as to how to use faculty research to enhance student motivation. The chapter on taking action at the national and international level hits closest to home, realistically examining the serious obstacles that must be surmounted by university systems before the desired relationship can be achieved. Unfortunately, the book does not make a very strong case for the impact of the teaching-research nexus on student learning. Readers who did not approach the book already convinced of the connection probably will not be converted by it.