Riding on the RSD: a library–faculty partnership in a cross-cultural context

We describe a successful library–faculty collaboration at Monash University Malaysia which saw the implementation of the research skill development (RSD) framework in a Masters of International Business Law unit, ‘International Trade Law’. In identifying a disconnect between the pedagogical frameworks available to guide academics in Business Law, and the skills that students require to cultivate ‘research mindednesses’ for this unit, the teaching partnership looked to the RSD framework to meet this gap. In an exemplary library–faculty collaboration that has since served as a model for RSD adoption across the University, the team has successfully applied the RSD framework to design a curriculum that explicitly articulates and embeds students’ research skills in assignments and corresponding marking rubrics. We trace the development of our approach and share the benefits that collaboration underpinned by the RSD has brought to our partnership that remains strong today.