Learning and Teaching Development Fund Projects: 2011
- Understanding and promoting student engagement in GEES learning communities
- Reading the World: innovative strategies for building textual skills in the undergraduate GEES curriculum
- Linking teaching and field research: student engagement with reusable learning objects
- Developing a geoscience e-trainer open educational resource to provide a stimulating and effective learning environment
- Real-time numerical weather forecasts to integrate teaching and research
- Teaching Historical Geographies: practice and pedagogy
Understanding and promoting student engagement in GEES learning communities
Andrea Jackson, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds
'Student engagement' is used as a catch-all term to describe behaviours characterising students who are said to be more involved with their university community than their less engaged peers and it has become the focus of attention as institutions locate themselves in an increasingly competitive environment. However, research shows that the language of 'student as consumer' has pervaded discussions about institutions' rationales for student engagement processes, and less emphasis has been placed on students as 'partners in a learning community'.
The proposed project will build upon recommendations of HEFCE's Study on Student Engagement (Little, 2009) and aims to:
(a) use a combination of student and staff focus groups, interviews and questionnaires to investigate the enablers and barriers to the engagement of students as 'partners in a learning community' within the School of Earth and Environment at Leeds;
(b) assemble a national network of likeminded practitioners to develop and promote good practice across the GEES subject centre;
(c) use the methodology developed and the outcomes of (a) to act as a pilot study and combine with the network established in (b) to run a national study to investigate whether the issues identified vary across a range of learner constituencies; are discipline or year of study specific; and whether there is variability across institutions.
The project will provide an assessment of how greater an emphasis should be placed on student engagement as being of central concern in creating cohesive GEES learning communities and a deeper understanding of how to most effectively achieve this.
Reading the World: innovative strategies for building textual skills in the undergraduate GEES curriculum
Deirdre McKay, Earth Sciences and Geography, Keele University
Most UK GEES undergraduate programs provide little explicit training on the use of literary texts as data sources other than in specialised upper-year modules. Although the use of literature in research is widespread (Bunkse, 1990) and the ability to interpret and apply texts contributes to graduate employability skills (QAA, 2001 and 2007), our pilot research indicates most GEES graduates are poorly equipped in this area. They lack confidence in using literature as data source, inspiration, or method to engage with alternative views on global environments, resources and cultures. However, using texts as ‘data’ is an ethical, cost-effective way of pursuing GEES studies and promotes interdisciplinarity (Sharpe, 2000; Saunders, 2010). As Rose’s (1996) approach to pedagogy for visual images in Geography shows, skills in handling apparently commonplace forms of data are too often assumed, rather than actively taught. Such assumptions may disadvantage students who come to GEES subject from particular socio-economic, ethnic or educational backgrounds. This project will a) identify barriers to the widespread incorporation of literary techniques in GEES undergraduate training and b) provide a template for curriculum redesign that incorporates literary material as one of the many valid types of data in introductory GEES modules. Using a cross-disciplinary approach to engage both social and natural/earth science teaching, we will explore using literary sources to 1) enhance graduate skills; 2) increase student and staff awareness of cultural and environmental diversity; and 3) develop OER teaching materials and transferable teaching strategies for the use of the wider GEES teaching community.
Linking teaching and field research: student engagement with reusable learning objects
Philip Porter, Division of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Hertfordshire
Fieldwork is vital to effective teaching within the GEES subject areas and also provides an extremely valuable means by which to integrate teaching and research to the benefit of students and teaching staff alike. However, feedback from Undergraduate Geography and Environmental Science students suggests that a lack of knowledge and experience of research field techniques not necessarily routinely taught as part of undergraduate programmes limits student uptake of field-based research in pursuit of dissertation and research project datasets.
In order to enhance student engagement with field research and to increase the number of students opting to undertake field-based research projects we will create an online resource of reusable learning objects comprising step-by-step video and photo-storyfiles that demonstrate a wide variety of field techniques that students can use for research fieldwork in Geography and Environmental Science and that academic staff can also use in the teaching of field techniques.
In order to enhance student engagement with research fieldwork, current undergraduate students will film these techniques during a field visit to Saas Fee, Switzerland, under the supervision of academic staff who have extensive experience in the fields of geography and environmental science. If prospective dissertation students can ‘see’ their peers undertaking field research when viewing our reusable learning objects, we believe this will encourage them to engage with field research and enhance the uptake of field-based research projects and dissertations.
Developing a geoscience e-trainer open educational resource to provide a stimulating and effective learning environment
Jamie Pringle, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, Keele University
This e-project will tap into current undergraduate interests in virtual gaming technologies, using this to provide a novel and alternative learning method for geoscience teachers and practitioners to employ. Pilot study results show this approach is well received by current undergraduates and provides an important complementary learning tool to more traditional course materials and learning styles.
The scenario employed will allow the viewer/user to work through a geoscientific investigation of a forensic search for a clandestine burial of a murder victim. This is directly based on the PI’s experience of such a case that has been recently published.
Key learning outcomes will be for students to be engaged with an applied geoscientific investigation, enhanced knowledge of a subject and gain virtual employability skills, gain an appreciation of real-world problems and their solutions and hopefully showcase their virtual placement experience for job interviews.
Project deliverables will include the e-project available on the internet for registered academics to utilise, together with a Planet publication and an academic journal article to be published.
Real-time numerical weather forecasts to integrate teaching and research
David Schultz, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester
Currently in the UK, universities (or the public) do not have access to real-time scientific graphical output and the raw output files from numerical weather prediction models. Such output would be a valuable component of teaching in geography, environmental science, earth science, and atmospheric science courses and would provide a source of data for final-year undergraduate research projects and postgraduate dissertations across the UK. Our team proposes to draw upon our existing resources and expertise—as well as matched funding from four UK universities and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science—to implement a UKwide, real-time numerical weather prediction model and open-access Web portal to the data. We will implement the state-of-the-art Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model because several members of our team already have experience running and using this model in their teaching and research. The portal will comprise graphics and animations of meteorological quantities and a comparison to observations to verify the model output in real time. The team will present seminars to educate and train students and other academics interested in using this resource. The potential users of this resource include all levels in the academic community: undergraduates, postgraduates, and research students. In addition, a specially designed page to the portal would be available to the general public and could serve as a resource from which students and academics could draw upon for public outreach.
Teaching Historical Geographies: practice and pedagogy
Nicola Thomas, Geography, College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter
The proposed workshop will provide an overdue opportunity for historical geographers to critically engage with the historical geography curricula. Recent discussion within the RGS-IBG Historical Geography Research Group has identified a need to engage with our teaching pedagogy, to review the teaching of historical geography in the curriculum and initiate a network to support and mentor colleagues’ teaching practise. It is recognised that there are examples of excellent active learning approaches in our work, however there are not currently the opportunities to showcase and exchange ideas. This workshop will initiate the exchange and transfer of best practice.
It is proposed to bring together colleagues from across the UK to share best practice, exchange ideas and develop a shared ownership of the place of historical geography within the 21st century curriculum. Workshop themes will reflect on (1) the position of historical geography within the curriculum, (2) the role of active learning and use of archival sources, (3) designs and visions for a 21st century curriculum, (4) the role and practice of assessment in historical geography, (5) the delivery of employability strategies in the teaching of historical geography. In addition the workshop will be used to launch an open source teaching resource and consider the use of the RGS-IBG archives within our teaching.
The workshop will provide space for reflection and material that will be disseminated through a HGRG research series publication in 2011, JGHE and Planet article and will be supported through the long term development of a teaching resource website.