Pub Date : 2014-07-29DOI: 10.11120/ELSS.2014.00036
L. Strachan
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 lo...
{"title":"Assessing the Impact of an Industry-Centred Activity on Student Learning","authors":"L. Strachan","doi":"10.11120/ELSS.2014.00036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/ELSS.2014.00036","url":null,"abstract":"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 lo...","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114365481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-29DOI: 10.11120/ELSS.2014.00037
Kirsten Merrill-Glover, K. Edwards
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...
{"title":"Making it Work: Widening Participation in Higher Education for Adults in Employment","authors":"Kirsten Merrill-Glover, K. Edwards","doi":"10.11120/ELSS.2014.00037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/ELSS.2014.00037","url":null,"abstract":"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...","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122305559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-29DOI: 10.11120/ELSS.2014.00032
Sara Hattersley
AbstractThis 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...
{"title":"Transforming Pedagogy and Experience through e-Learning in Teacher Education","authors":"Sara Hattersley","doi":"10.11120/ELSS.2014.00032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/ELSS.2014.00032","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractThis 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...","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134238920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-22DOI: 10.11120/ELSS.2014.00034
Brenton J. Prosser, A. Greig, Shanti Sumartojo
In recent years, higher education institutions have paid greater attention to establishing learning thresholds, benchmarks and outcomes for the teaching of sociology. This paper explores how course...
近年来，高校越来越重视社会学教学的学习门槛、学习基准和学习成果的确立。本文探讨了课程如何……
{"title":"Introducing the Complete Case Study into an Australian Undergraduate Sociology Major","authors":"Brenton J. Prosser, A. Greig, Shanti Sumartojo","doi":"10.11120/ELSS.2014.00034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/ELSS.2014.00034","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, higher education institutions have paid greater attention to establishing learning thresholds, benchmarks and outcomes for the teaching of sociology. This paper explores how course...","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126662254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-01DOI: 10.11120/elss.2014.00035
Richard Harris, T. Nicholas, C. Souch, A. Singleton, S. Orford, C. Keylock, C. Jarvis, C. Brunsdon
Abstract 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.
{"title":"Geographers Count: A Report on Quantitative Methods in Geography","authors":"Richard Harris, T. Nicholas, C. Souch, A. Singleton, S. Orford, C. Keylock, C. Jarvis, C. Brunsdon","doi":"10.11120/elss.2014.00035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/elss.2014.00035","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract 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.","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132585184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-01DOI: 10.11120/elss.2014.00030
R. Cohen
Abstract 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.
{"title":"Playing with Numbers: Using Top Trumps as an Ice-Breaker and Introduction to Quantitative Methods","authors":"R. Cohen","doi":"10.11120/elss.2014.00030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/elss.2014.00030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract 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.","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125973043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-01DOI: 10.11120/elss.2014.00039
Lizzi O. Milligan, Jo Rose, Rich Harris.
Abstract 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.
{"title":"Convincing Students? Quantitative Junkies, Avoiders and Converts on a Cross-Disciplinary Course Using Quantitative Narratives","authors":"Lizzi O. Milligan, Jo Rose, Rich Harris.","doi":"10.11120/elss.2014.00039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/elss.2014.00039","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract 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.","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126442308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-01DOI: 10.11120/elss.2014.00028
G. Payne
Abstract 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.
{"title":"Surveys, Statisticians and Sociology: A History of (a Lack of) Quantitative Methods","authors":"G. Payne","doi":"10.11120/elss.2014.00028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/elss.2014.00028","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract 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.","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129350189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-01DOI: 10.11120/elss.2014.00033
K. Bullock, R. Meadows, I. brunton-smith
Abstract 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.
{"title":"‘DiscoverQuants’: Integrating Quantitative Methods (QM) and Substantive Teaching for First Year Undergraduate Sociology Students","authors":"K. Bullock, R. Meadows, I. brunton-smith","doi":"10.11120/elss.2014.00033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/elss.2014.00033","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract 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.","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127061511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-01DOI: 10.11120/elss.2014.00031
S. Fisher, N. Brimblecombe
Abstract 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.
{"title":"Doing it your way: The Variation in, and Importance of, Personal Style in Teaching Quantitative Methods for University Social Science Students","authors":"S. Fisher, N. Brimblecombe","doi":"10.11120/elss.2014.00031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11120/elss.2014.00031","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract 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.","PeriodicalId":147930,"journal":{"name":"Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127182881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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