How far can feminist pedagogy facilitate a positive learning experience for the student? I explore this question by offering a critical reflection of teaching a Gender Studies module to two cohorts of students: part-time mature and full-time ‘traditional’ learners. I offer a candid exploration of my personal journey, exposing the strengths and sometimes contradictions found in feminist pedagogic principles. By documenting feminist pedagogy in action I offer a pragmatic approach to its application and refined understanding of it as a method of teaching while attending to feminist pedagogy's core values. My approach empowers the learner, at the same time it enables the tutor to cover module learning outcomes without compromising a feminist agenda. This appropriation is informed by a project designed to put feminist pedagogy (as an approach) and gender studies (as a subject) under critical scrutiny with a view to the refinement of pedagogic practice.
While respecting the intellectual rigour of social constructionism, it is problematic that much of current UK sociology remains fixed in a qualitative research methods fugue. Despite programmes like Q-Step and its ESRC predecessors challenging this narrow approach, most sociologists are trapped by their lack of numeracy, projecting it onto new generations of undergraduates and new entrants to the profession. However, to explain why this situation has arisen, and why an innovatory programme like Q-Step cannot on its own neatly solve all of our difficulties, needs a better understanding of the discipline's history and the social context which determines the form that sociology takes.This article seeks to demonstrate how the framework of higher education social institutions has shaped sociology's evolution before, during, and since the 'great expansion' of the discipline in the 1960s, from a tiny cadre to a substantial professional group. The rapidity of growth from small beginnings is emphasized, when the initial teaching of 'social research methods' actually consisted almost exclusively of mathematical statistics and survey methods, often taught by non-sociologists. This turned new generations of young sociologists against quantitative methods, leaving them open to the attractions of new intellectual schools like social constructionism and feminism. Whilst acknowledging other contributory causes, such as the cost of survey research, this review of early sociology's approach to research methods prompts the lesson that today's Q-Step and similar reforms should aim to assist the great majority of undergraduates to acquire quantitative skills, rather than producing a small number of statistical experts.
This paper outlines a classroom activity to help students engage in research methods and lessen anxiety and apprehension commonly associated with research methods courses. The described class activity offers students a shared research experience to promote the skills necessary to understand, conduct and translate research into ethical social science practice. The activity was conducted in a graduate social work programme but is applicable across the social sciences. Content covered includes sampling, research design, ethical considerations, brief evaluation and helping students think critically about ways to improve research methods in order to facilitate competencies necessary for evidence-based practice (EBP). An introduction to the activity, class discussion points including integration throughout the course, and implications for curricula and practice are discussed.
Amidst growing concern about the shortage of social science undergraduate students with even basic quantitative methods skills, student apprehension is recognised as a barrier to learning quantitative methods. A recent ESRC-funded project has sought to overcome such fear and anxiety through the design of a cross-disciplinary social sciences unit for first-year undergraduates. The unit aimed to capture students' imaginations by the use of 'quantitative narratives' – descriptions of current social issues or controversies that allow quantitative concepts to be introduced in a contextualised way. This paper presents findings from the qualitative evaluation of the unit. It considers the attitudes and experiences of students who covered a spectrum of social science subjects, self-cited levels of confidence and prior experience of statistics. A typology of students taking the course is presented, revealing the challenge of meeting the needs of all students. Conclusions consider the implications of this evaluation both for the development of quantitative methods curricula and wider considerations for cross-disciplinary teaching in higher education.
This report is drawn from a project funded to better support the teachers of quantitative methods in UK social science. In it we identify the types of quantitative methods taught in the geography curricula for UK schools and universities, and discuss attitudes towards those methods amongst students and teachers. We argue that geography has benefitted from its position at the intersection of the sciences, social sciences and humanities, retaining a quantitative component. Consequently, levels of basic numeracy and data handling have remained relatively high, leaving the discipline well placed to respond to the call for greater quantitative training within the social sciences in the UK. However, we also suspect that the typical levels of quantitative training in university human geography courses are not sufficiently high to compete on the international stage. As the title suggests, our report is focused on geography. However we raise issues germane to other disciplines including what actually we mean by quantitative methods, what should be taught in a twenty-first century curriculum, how to meaningfully embed those methods in the substantive themes and teaching of a discipline, and whether more should be expected as a minimum standard of quantitative competence than the existing Quality Assurance Agency benchmarks require.
ELiSS now publishes papers online when they are ready for publication and then organises them into a specific volume and issue number with accompanying editorial at a later point. This ensures acce...
Inadequate quantitative methods (QM) training provision for undergraduate social science students in the United Kingdom is a well-known problem. This paper reports on the design, implementation and assessment of an induction module created to test the hypothesis that visualization helps students learn key statistical concepts. The induction module is a twelve-week compulsory unit taught to first year social science students at a UK university, which they complete prior to a more traditional statistical, workshop-based QM module. A component of the induction module focuses on the use of visualization through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to teach the process of hypothesis generation to students while they also are introduced to the basics of QM research design and univariate and bivariate forms of data analysis. Self-reflexive evaluation indicates that visualization could assist students with more advanced QM statistical skills.
Recent decades have seen an increasing acknowledgement of the positive contributions to be made by higher education interventions targeting adults in the workplace. In addition to the economic bene...
This paper provides a case study and discussion of a curriculum design model using technology in the Initial Teacher Training context. It describes the transformation in design thinking which took the Adult Literacy Subject Specialist teacher training programme from a fully taught face-to-face model to one where technology acts as the ‘delivery mechanism’ and a space for problem-based learning.TThree discrete, but connected, themes are discussed here, which marked significant successes in the course, but which also raised issues for teacher educators and students. Firstly, an example is given of a shift in curriculum design thinking, incorporating the flipped classroom model in the delivery of a key ‘threshold concept’. Secondly, a case is made for a ‘persistent curriculum’; one which ensures students endure and succeed through the technologies used. Finally, a critical analysis of the success and issues around the use of blogs as the principal tool for reflective practice and formative assessment...
When considering contemporary thinkers known for causing academic controversy, Leo Strauss certainly ranks among the top. His writings, motives, ideology(s) and more recently, students, have been t...
This paper discusses the Swansea Student Engagement Project and presents findings from a survey conducted with undergraduate students and teaching staff to evaluate their degree of engagement with ...
This paper draws on the views of students on a human rights course concerning their reasons for choosing such a course of study, in order to highlight the importance of understanding the emotional relationship between students and their subjects. It contends that while such an understanding is important in respect of all subjects, it has a particular relevance in the topic of human rights because the nature of the material and content of the course is necessarily challenging to the humanity of the student. As such, the human rights classroom is transformed from being a space of learning to a space of feeling.
Abstract This paper explores how the blended use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) can impact on student learning in a specific module within a small university in the UK. Students studying a module about crisis situations faced by children in different parts of the world were asked to contribute to online forums as part of their learning. Forty-seven students participated in the study. Student questionnaires, Moodle reports and student assessment grades were analysed to explore the benefits of online forums. In line with previous research, online forums were found to be popular with students and multiple perceived benefits were identified, such as flexibility, greater sense of community and enhanced higher learning skills. Analysis of student assessment grades suggests that online forums may also enhance student performance. However, a larger scale longitudinal study is necessary to determine this more clearly. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of viewing VLEs as a communication, collaboration and knowledge focused medium with the potential to enhance higher learning skills through the use of interactive online activities such as forums.
As Payne points out, the failure of most undergraduate social science degree programmes in the UK to give students a good grounding in social statistics has been a chronic problem for some forty ye...
This article draws on Bernstein's model of democratic education to explore the experiences of post-Access students who enter higher education within the subject area of art and design. It considers areas of difficulty in relation to enhancement, inclusion and participation among non-traditional students who perceive themselves as being in the minority on an art and design degree alongside ‘traditional students’ who have come through school/college rather than Access. It argues that post-Access students are constructed as the ‘pedagogised other’ through the signature pedagogies of art and design and the horizontal discourses of the studio. It can also be seen that their presence upsets the mythological solidarities based on age and creativity. The discussion focuses on an understanding of democracy with a stress on the importance of political action by marginalised ‘others’ in order to construct new educational orders that consider their needs. The narratives of post-Access students suggest that they do not always feel included on their course and they also do not have the confidence to call for change or participate in political action.
This paper reviews and discusses ideas and advice on quantitative methods teaching in the social sciences that were presented and debated in a series of workshops led by experienced university teachers of quantitative methods for social science students. Despite considerable similarity in course content for introductory statistics modules at the undergraduate level, there is often great freedom for teachers and so huge variation in how statistics is taught. This involves different approaches to theory, examples, practical exercises and so on. We argue that there is no single style that would be most effective for everyone, but instead it is important for teachers to teach in a style that suits them.
Statistics anxiety has been widely documented among both postgraduate and undergraduate social science students and shown to be an obstacle in engaging students in quantitative methods. This article builds on previous studies that have highlighted the utility of fun and games in productive learning and overcoming anxiety. A personalized version of the game Top Trumps was developed for use with a class of postgraduate sociology students in the UK. This game provides an ideal way for students to inductively learn about basic statistical concepts, such as range and dispersion. The game also creates opportunities to engage students in critical discussion of measurement and social categorization. The article suggests that the employment of such hands-on learning exercises, especially when used in the first week of a quantitative methods module, can stimulate student interest, ameliorate statistics anxiety and encourage critical discussion, thereby positively impacting learning goals in the rest of the module. The article ends by briefly outlining how to adapt the game for use within an undergraduate module.
This paper assesses the impact of an industry-centred activity on student learning in higher education. Twenty two students studying an advertising module took part in a real-world project for a local employer and were also asked to take part in a research project to measure its impact. The methods used to evaluate the module’s effectiveness included an appraisal of the students by employers, tutor observations, university module evaluations and an online student questionnaire. The findings highlight the significant importance of real-world learning as a vehicle to enhance the student experience and to develop students’ employability skills in preparation for graduate employment.
This paper considers the rationale for, design and outputs of a project, based at the University of Surrey UK and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which sought to integrate aspects of teaching substantive and Quantitative Methods (QM) teaching across first year sociology undergraduate programmes using a blended approach. The paper considers the nature of concerns regarding teaching QM within social science undergraduate programmes. It goes on to describe the rationale for this project, its design and its primary outputs. We consider a range of data related to student attitudes towards studying QM at university as well as their perspectives on the project and the implications for practice.
In this paper, we report a postgraduate led project at the University of Hull to build upon and develop transferable skills for postgraduates.The PhD Experience Conference 2013 was developed as a way of providing a blended learning experience for researchers and key speakers, to share good practice as an alternative, or in addition to, the more formal classroom experience.One of the innovative approaches of this conference was to use the Vitae RDF wheel to structure the key themes of the conference, relating its formal organization to areas the students felt relevant to their need for development, to achieve the PhD degree and subsequent career goals.This approach enabled research students to have an additional support mechanism to overcome issues of isolation, to comprehend what a PhD is all about, and to submit a reflective journal (5 credits) or a report on chairing a conference (10 credits) to gain transferable skills and credits towards their Postgraduate Certificate in Research Training at the University of Hull, alongside their research degree."This project is
