Learning to do Pedagogic Research and Researching Fieldwork in GEES Disciplines
This web page reports on the achievements and outcomes from the LTSN / HE Academy-funded project, 'The Pedagogic Research and Fieldwork Programme'.
Contents
- About the Programme
- Individual project details
- Fieldwork is good? - the student view
- Fieldwork in the curriculum - To what extent does fieldwork relate to Biggs' theory of constructive alignment?
- Fieldwork Education and Technology
- The impact on the learning and teaching experience of the removal of fieldwork from academic programmes in the GEES subject areas
- Learning to do pedagogic research
- Resources
- LTSN-GEES Teaching And Research In Geography, Earth And Environmental Sciences Residential Conference 2003
- Special Edition of PLANET (number 5) - Part B Pedagogic Research in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Resources (articles / URLs)
- Bid document (If you would like the bid document in a different format please contact Mike Sanders at masanders@plymouth.ac.uk).
About the Programme:
Between June 2001 and January 2003, LTSN-GEES ran a national programme of discipline-based pedagogic research, funded through the LTSN Development Fund. The main aim of the programme was to develop the capacity of staff in the GEES higher education (HE) communities to undertake research into teaching and learning. The Pedagogic Research and Fieldwork Programme enabled staff to work together on a series of pilot projects all concerned with fieldwork, a key mode of learning for students in geography, earth and environmental sciences.
Developing pedagogic research capacity is a key issue that has been recognised in recent initiatives by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). All the projects developed in the Programme adopted a common theoretical framework based on the idea of constructive alignment (Biggs 1999). Five distinct projects were undertaken which together involved about 50 members of staff from the GEES HE communities. Mick Healey (University of Gloucestershire) and Alan Jenkins (Oxford Brookes) led the programme. Critical to its success was the contribution of two pedagogic research consultants - Liz Beaty (HEFCE) and Glynis Cousin (Warwick) who provided generic advice and support to the projects on appropriate research methodologies.
The Pedagogic Research and Fieldwork Programme had three linked aims:
- To support staff in the GEES disciplines to better undertake discipline-based pedagogic research/research in higher education
- To raise the capacity for pedagogic research in higher education in the GEES disciplines and thus provide a model for the consideration of other disciplinary communities
- To contribute to the theoretical understanding of fieldwork in higher
education with an aim of improving practice and policy
There have been a variety of outputs from the programme, including material from the LTSN-GEES Teaching And Research In Geography, Earth And Environmental Sciences Residential Conference 2003 (which included contributions from all the programme projects plus other members of the GEES community) and a Special Edition of PLANET (number 5), which includes reports from this programme and from a related project on linking teaching and research in the GEES disciplines.
While the funding for this project is now finished, support for small pedagogic research projects in the GEES disciplines is available through our annual round of small-scale project funding and we would also encourage the submission of articles on such pedagogic research to forthcoming issues of PLANET.
Resources
Student perceptions of geography and environmental science fieldwork in the light of restricted access to the field, caused by Foot and Mouth Disease in the UK in 2001
Ian Fuller1, Steve Gaskin2, Ian Scott3
1 Division of Geography, Northumbria University, Newcastle
upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK. Corresponding author: Ian.Fuller@unn.ac.uk
2 LTSN Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University
of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK
3 Health Care Education Development Unit, City University, Northampton Square,
London, EC1U OHB, UK
© Journal of Geography in Higher Education
Abstract re-produced with permission.
ABSTRACT
Internationally, fieldwork is generally seen as intrinsic to the very nature of geographical education. However, objective experimentation comparing student learning experiences with and without fieldwork is rare. During 2001 in the UK, fieldwork was withdrawn from many university degree programmes as Foot and Mouth Disease led to restrictions on access to the countryside. This restriction provided an unexpected opportunity to assess student perceptions of fieldwork in the light of its absence and to review those alternative learning strategies which were put in its place (where appropriate). To this end, Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was applied to five groups of students from five separate UK Universities to obtain information on the groups’ perceptions of the value of fieldwork. NGT elicited almost 300 responses from 33 final year students representing a high level of group consensus on the issues involved. Rationalisation of responses identified 12 categories, which reflect and amplify key educational objectives addressed by fieldwork in geography and environmental sciences from existing theoretical literature. Results demonstrate that student perception of fieldwork (based on previous university-level field experiences) is overwhelmingly positive. The groups identified the experience of geographical reality, developing subject knowledge, acquiring technical, transferable and holistic skills and working with peers and lecturers, as being the most important perceived benefits of fieldwork. Negative impacts of fieldwork included high levels of time consumption. Using a systematic and objective methodology, these results confirm, in a novel rigorous multi-institutional approach, the conception of geography and environmental science fieldwork as being of significant value for the overall student learning experience.
Raising educational research capacity: a discipline-based approach
Paper presented to 10th International Improving Student Learning Symposium on 'Improving Student Learning: Theory and Practice - 10 Years On', 4-6 September, Brussels
Rust, C (Ed) (2003) Improving Student Learning: Theory and Practice - 10
Years On, Oxford: OCSLD, Oxford Brookes University , 296-306
Glynis Cousin (Coventry University), Mick Healey (University of Gloucestershire) and Alan Jenkins (Oxford Brookes University) with John Bradbeer (University of Portsmouth), Helen King (University of Plymouth) and other members of the Learning to Do Pedagogic Research Group 1
Download article here in Word, PDF.
If you require the article in another format please contact masanders@plymouth.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
Central to the ISL conference has been the attempt to forge productive links between 'teaching staff' and 'educational research/researchers'. We report initial findings of a project conducted by the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Subject Centre that is seeking to develop and strengthen such links, by having specialist researchers support discipline staff to carry out discipline focused pedagogic research projects.
Initial findings include: grounding the research on issues central to the discipline produced high practitioner involvement; and central practitioner concerns in doing such research was more about issues of 'objectivity' and the degree to which such educational research approaches were close to their 'parent' discipline, than competence at particular techniques. The overall conclusion is that specialist researchers working alongside discipline staff to raise their pedagogic research capacity is an effecive model.
The ISL symposia have sought to bring "together those who are primarily researchers into learning in higher education and those who are primarily practitioners concerned more pragmatically with improving their practice." (OCSLD, 2002)
"In general, academics in higher education value research above pedagogy. To approach pedagogy through research 'goes with the grain' of academe ..." (Yorke, 2000, 124)
Qualitative data analysis
Riley, J. (1996) Getting the most from your data: A handbook of practical ideas on how to analyse qualitative data (Wiltshire: Cromwell Press).
Case study research
An introduction to case study research, some guiding questions and guidelines can be found on the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) website.
Fieldwork in Geography Teaching: a critical review of the literature and approaches
Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1997, 313 - 332
Martin Kent, David D. Gilbertson, Chris O. Hunt
Fieldwork in the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Higher Education
Curriculum - An Annotated Bibliography
Claire Cottingham, Mick Healey and Phil Gravestock
This annotated bibliography is part of a project to identify the main recent
English literature about fieldwork in geography and the earth and environmental
sciences in higher education. A few key references to literature relating
to fieldwork in schools are also included. Most of the references have been
written since 1990.
View annotated bibliography on the Geography Discipline Network website
Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What the Student Does
Chapter 2
Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for quality learning at university: What the student does. Buckingham UK: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Teaching Geography In Higher Education - A Manual of Good Practice
John R. Gold, Alan Jenkins, Roger Lee, Janice Monk, Judith Riley, Ifan Shepherd, David Unwin
View textbook on the Geography Discipline Network website
BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work)
enables collaboration over the Web. BSCW is a 'shared workspace' system which supports document upload, event notification, group management and much more.
Effect of Field Activities on student Learning
Kern E.L., and Carpenter J.R., 1986, Effect of Field Activities on student Learning, Journal of Geological Education, v. 34, p.180-183
Enhancement of Student Values, Interests and Attitudes in Earth Science Through a Field-Oriented Approach
Kern E.L., And Carpenter J.R., 1984, Enhancement of Student Values, Interests and Attitudes in Earth Science Through a Field-Oriented Approach, Journal of Geological Education, v. 32, p.299-305
An ethical framework for educational research (with a school bias but transferable to higher education)
Ethical Issues for Teacher Researchers - Joyce Watt (link to the Scottish Council for Research in Education website).