Digital storytelling (DS) is a multimedia storytelling technique that has become an efficacious educational tool in tertiary environments. Individual students, supported by other students in a facilitated “Story Circle”, create short videos using digital devices, still images, and a cloud-based video editor in response to a targeted story prompt. The DS process aligns closely with an emerging trend in universities to instil in their students both critical reflection skills and strong digital, media, and visual literacies to enable them to thrive in their professional and personal lives. This paper proposes the adoption of DS as an additional and innovative pedagogical strategy by Learning Developers (LDs) within discipline-specific embedded teaching. Embedded teaching is a well-established method of developing student literacies, and LDs already employ this approach to support academics across disciplines. The integration of DS into this practice would further strengthen the capacity of LDs to enhance students’ capabilities as they move into post-Covid, 21st-century ‘graduateness’.
{"title":"Multimodal literacies and critical reflexivity: Digital storytelling as a 21st century tool for Learning Developers","authors":"Julie Wuthnow","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.02","url":null,"abstract":"Digital storytelling (DS) is a multimedia storytelling technique that has become an efficacious educational tool in tertiary environments. Individual students, supported by other students in a facilitated “Story Circle”, create short videos using digital devices, still images, and a cloud-based video editor in response to a targeted story prompt. The DS process aligns closely with an emerging trend in universities to instil in their students both critical reflection skills and strong digital, media, and visual literacies to enable them to thrive in their professional and personal lives. This paper proposes the adoption of DS as an additional and innovative pedagogical strategy by Learning Developers (LDs) within discipline-specific embedded teaching. Embedded teaching is a well-established method of developing student literacies, and LDs already employ this approach to support academics across disciplines. The integration of DS into this practice would further strengthen the capacity of LDs to enhance students’ capabilities as they move into post-Covid, 21st-century ‘graduateness’.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45647813","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}
In 2000, Sharpe proposed a framework for graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training based on three key principles: departmental training, faculty training, and accreditation. Sharpe’s paper culminated in a call for Higher Education (HE) institutes to adopt this framework. Whilst the principles of Sharpe’s work remain relevant, the shape and structure of HE and accrediting bodies has changed due to the increasingly competitive market environment. Herein we provide an updated framework for GTA training based around implementation at a large English Russell Group University. We identify seven key elements for effective GTA training based on literature. We then demonstrate how this framework and the key elements can be implemented in practice, using GTA role descriptors and input from staff in Departments and Faculty. We demonstrate how the framework is applicable on a broad subject basis and how training is now supporting the 950 GTAs annually who work across the nine Schools within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, at the University of Manchester. The developed modular training sessions are mapped out and are benchmarked against both the Vitae Researcher Development Framework and the UK Professional Standards Framework allowing postgraduate students to apply for HEA accreditation through Advance HE (after suitable practice). Finally, the report discusses the benefits of implementation as well as lessons for future action, providing a set of key principles for others who want to develop their existing GTA training provision or set up a new training programme.
{"title":"An Evidence-Based Approach to Developing Faculty-Wide Training for Graduate Teaching Assistants","authors":"J. Slaughter, Thomas Rodgers, Claudia Henninger","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.17","url":null,"abstract":"In 2000, Sharpe proposed a framework for graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training based on three key principles: departmental training, faculty training, and accreditation. Sharpe’s paper culminated in a call for Higher Education (HE) institutes to adopt this framework. Whilst the principles of Sharpe’s work remain relevant, the shape and structure of HE and accrediting bodies has changed due to the increasingly competitive market environment. Herein we provide an updated framework for GTA training based around implementation at a large English Russell Group University. We identify seven key elements for effective GTA training based on literature. We then demonstrate how this framework and the key elements can be implemented in practice, using GTA role descriptors and input from staff in Departments and Faculty. We demonstrate how the framework is applicable on a broad subject basis and how training is now supporting the 950 GTAs annually who work across the nine Schools within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, at the University of Manchester. The developed modular training sessions are mapped out and are benchmarked against both the Vitae Researcher Development Framework and the UK Professional Standards Framework allowing postgraduate students to apply for HEA accreditation through Advance HE (after suitable practice). Finally, the report discusses the benefits of implementation as well as lessons for future action, providing a set of key principles for others who want to develop their existing GTA training provision or set up a new training programme.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48902577","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}
In an era in which “all media are mixed media” (Mitchell, 2002), visual information is central in interpersonal and mass communication. Despite this daily consumption of visual information, “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001) are not prepared to critically engage with images (Brumberger, 2016). Scholars in the field of visual literacy identified a curricular bias towards written texts (Elkins, 2007), and the need for more training of visual literacy in higher education (Metros & Woolsey, 2006). However, the discussion of visual literacy in higher education is dominated by studies that measure teaching strategies (Bowen, 2017; Johnston et al. 2017) but rarely discuss the meaning of visual literacy from a student perspective. Visual reflection is a learning experience that involves reading, writing, thinking, and feeling with and through images. This study investigates undergraduate students’ experience with visual reflection in a visual studies class through a phenomenographic approach to 29 visual journals and a thematic analysis of 9 semi-structured interviews with students. The objective is discussing the potential contribution of visual reflection to students’ multimodal literacies. This study contends that the promotion of visual reflection needs to be systematically implemented in all fields engaged in knowledge production as visual reflection enhances academic learning, fosters multimodal literacies, and promotes the visualization of knowledge.
{"title":"Redefining visual literacy in an era of visual overload: The use of reflective visual journals to expand students’ visual thinking","authors":"M. Guglietti","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.03","url":null,"abstract":"In an era in which “all media are mixed media” (Mitchell, 2002), visual information is central in interpersonal and mass communication. Despite this daily consumption of visual information, “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001) are not prepared to critically engage with images (Brumberger, 2016). Scholars in the field of visual literacy identified a curricular bias towards written texts (Elkins, 2007), and the need for more training of visual literacy in higher education (Metros & Woolsey, 2006). However, the discussion of visual literacy in higher education is dominated by studies that measure teaching strategies (Bowen, 2017; Johnston et al. 2017) but rarely discuss the meaning of visual literacy from a student perspective. Visual reflection is a learning experience that involves reading, writing, thinking, and feeling with and through images. This study investigates undergraduate students’ experience with visual reflection in a visual studies class through a phenomenographic approach to 29 visual journals and a thematic analysis of 9 semi-structured interviews with students. The objective is discussing the potential contribution of visual reflection to students’ multimodal literacies. This study contends that the promotion of visual reflection needs to be systematically implemented in all fields engaged in knowledge production as visual reflection enhances academic learning, fosters multimodal literacies, and promotes the visualization of knowledge.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42104179","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}
This Special Issue engages with the concept of ‘graduateness’ across Higher Education by looking at the skills, attributes, literacies, capabilities, and capacities we seek to foster and develop amongst those whom we teach. This discussion ranges from papers on pre-entry, through transition-in and undergraduate student skill enhancement, to developing academic colleagues’ teaching proficiencies and innovation in curricula. The challenge faced by contributing authors was to conceptualise the development of their students’ capabilities and capacities in the broadest and most practical senses. In the context of the global response of Higher Education to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dramatically impacted the rate of change in teaching practice within institutions, but often without time, distance, and space for critical reflection, we provide space though a process of considered analysis and evaluation of practices, to consider what has worked, what has not worked, and what would benefit us to take forward. In so doing, we highlight several key themes that emerge: graduateness and employability; literacies and skills; access for all; and curricula design for skills development.
{"title":"Skills, Attributes, Literacies, and Capabilities: Developing Our Students at Every Level","authors":"Andrew Straun, Jennifer Boyle, Scott Ramsay","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.01","url":null,"abstract":"This Special Issue engages with the concept of ‘graduateness’ across Higher Education by looking at the skills, attributes, literacies, capabilities, and capacities we seek to foster and develop amongst those whom we teach. This discussion ranges from papers on pre-entry, through transition-in and undergraduate student skill enhancement, to developing academic colleagues’ teaching proficiencies and innovation in curricula. The challenge faced by contributing authors was to conceptualise the development of their students’ capabilities and capacities in the broadest and most practical senses. In the context of the global response of Higher Education to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dramatically impacted the rate of change in teaching practice within institutions, but often without time, distance, and space for critical reflection, we provide space though a process of considered analysis and evaluation of practices, to consider what has worked, what has not worked, and what would benefit us to take forward. In so doing, we highlight several key themes that emerge: graduateness and employability; literacies and skills; access for all; and curricula design for skills development.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42296613","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}
Learning Development is a field of practice concerned with supporting students to develop their study skills, including academic and assessment literacies. It is strongly rooted in values that are student-centred, collaborative and emancipatory rather than remedial or deficit. However, in the wider dominant culture of UK HE institutions, Learning Developers are often placed in an implicitly hierarchical relationship with students, "giving advice and guidance", at odds with these values. Without a clear model for practice to help them enact their values in a student-centred and dialogic way, Learning Developers may risk pathologizing the student, depriving them of agency and expertise, in an overly prescriptive and instrumental approach to skills development. This paper explores formulation, a core skill in Clinical Psychology, and its applicability in Learning Development. Formulation is a method of integrating theory and practice, clinical expertise with the client’s own experience and insight, through its meaning to the client. With a focus on equality, person-centred practice and co-created meaning, it is well aligned to Learning Development values. This paper examines how formulation can be adapted for Learning Development one-to-one work and other forms of provision, and proposes a practical model, the Five Ps of LD, which integrates multiple perspectives with longitudinal, cross-sectional and socio-cultural factors into a holistic shared understanding of the Learning Development need.
{"title":"The five Ps of LD: Using formulation in Learning Development work for a student-centred approach to ‘study skills’","authors":"H. Webster","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.07","url":null,"abstract":"Learning Development is a field of practice concerned with supporting students to develop their study skills, including academic and assessment literacies. It is strongly rooted in values that are student-centred, collaborative and emancipatory rather than remedial or deficit. However, in the wider dominant culture of UK HE institutions, Learning Developers are often placed in an implicitly hierarchical relationship with students, \"giving advice and guidance\", at odds with these values. Without a clear model for practice to help them enact their values in a student-centred and dialogic way, Learning Developers may risk pathologizing the student, depriving them of agency and expertise, in an overly prescriptive and instrumental approach to skills development. This paper explores formulation, a core skill in Clinical Psychology, and its applicability in Learning Development. Formulation is a method of integrating theory and practice, clinical expertise with the client’s own experience and insight, through its meaning to the client. With a focus on equality, person-centred practice and co-created meaning, it is well aligned to Learning Development values. This paper examines how formulation can be adapted for Learning Development one-to-one work and other forms of provision, and proposes a practical model, the Five Ps of LD, which integrates multiple perspectives with longitudinal, cross-sectional and socio-cultural factors into a holistic shared understanding of the Learning Development need.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45476696","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}
This practice example explores the inquiry-based relationship for students between case teaching and international competitions in Marketing. This work is based on the premise that undergraduate Marketing students in a College of Business should experience learning through and about inquiry and enhance their research literacy as a result. Although for many students research-oriented ways of engaging them with inquiry are fairly passive experiences, we believe student engagement in case study competitions offer a primarily active and exciting learning opportunity. In a broader sense, the framework offered by Healey & Jenkins (2009) which is explored in this example, is based on the argument that research-informed inquiry is a powerful way to reinvent or reinvigorate the undergraduate curriculum because the focus is on the student as a learner - in particular that the student can be viewed as a potential producer of knowledge - and by challenging what research and inquiry are in practice, provide interesting perspectives for the Marketing discipline to consider for future programme provision.
{"title":"Interfacing between blended case teaching and international case competitions as undergraduate student inquiry and literacy in Marketing programmes","authors":"R. Donnelly, R. Sherlock","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.16","url":null,"abstract":"This practice example explores the inquiry-based relationship for students between case teaching and international competitions in Marketing. This work is based on the premise that undergraduate Marketing students in a College of Business should experience learning through and about inquiry and enhance their research literacy as a result. Although for many students research-oriented ways of engaging them with inquiry are fairly passive experiences, we believe student engagement in case study competitions offer a primarily active and exciting learning opportunity. In a broader sense, the framework offered by Healey & Jenkins (2009) which is explored in this example, is based on the argument that research-informed inquiry is a powerful way to reinvent or reinvigorate the undergraduate curriculum because the focus is on the student as a learner - in particular that the student can be viewed as a potential producer of knowledge - and by challenging what research and inquiry are in practice, provide interesting perspectives for the Marketing discipline to consider for future programme provision.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48875067","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}
The concepts of ‘graduateness’ and graduate attributes became contested terrain before COVID-19 destabilised even the most assured of shared learning constructions. Indeed, for those of us immersed in the delivery of work-based learning (WBL), this has long been the case. Promotion of reductive notions of ‘skills’ acquisition to comply neatly with an employability agenda holds little relevance for those students already engaged in full time careers, and with a wealth of professional experience. What can hold influence and interest, however, is the opportunity to engage in meaningful, agentic, professionally-aligned reflective practices as a scaffolded route to promoting self-awareness and developing confidence in mapping competences from the professional domain to the academic (and vice versa). This paper shares an account of taking an embedded approach to supporting the development of academic literacies amongst work-based learners in one UK HEI. In particular, it will consider the use of reflective pedagogical tools and values in supporting work-based learners to become confident and adaptable writers. Discussion considers how work-based pedagogies and approaches may have far-reaching relevance in a post-pandemic landscape, where reskilling and professional agility are likely to become more prolific aspects of education and work. Writing itself is framed as an integrated communication practice that encompasses literature retrieval, reading, evaluation, synthesis and articulation of argument. The paper will describe pre-pandemic academic support activities and share qualitative survey data in which students consider their confidence as both professional and academic writers. It concludes with consideration of how some of the approaches outlined may have relevance for the wider academic community.
{"title":"Building a risky-safe-space: Using reflective pedagogies and values to support writing development in work based learning","authors":"V. Boyd, Colin Wilson, C. Smith","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.06","url":null,"abstract":"The concepts of ‘graduateness’ and graduate attributes became contested terrain before COVID-19 destabilised even the most assured of shared learning constructions. Indeed, for those of us immersed in the delivery of work-based learning (WBL), this has long been the case. Promotion of reductive notions of ‘skills’ acquisition to comply neatly with an employability agenda holds little relevance for those students already engaged in full time careers, and with a wealth of professional experience. What can hold influence and interest, however, is the opportunity to engage in meaningful, agentic, professionally-aligned reflective practices as a scaffolded route to promoting self-awareness and developing confidence in mapping competences from the professional domain to the academic (and vice versa). This paper shares an account of taking an embedded approach to supporting the development of academic literacies amongst work-based learners in one UK HEI. In particular, it will consider the use of reflective pedagogical tools and values in supporting work-based learners to become confident and adaptable writers. Discussion considers how work-based pedagogies and approaches may have far-reaching relevance in a post-pandemic landscape, where reskilling and professional agility are likely to become more prolific aspects of education and work. Writing itself is framed as an integrated communication practice that encompasses literature retrieval, reading, evaluation, synthesis and articulation of argument. The paper will describe pre-pandemic academic support activities and share qualitative survey data in which students consider their confidence as both professional and academic writers. It concludes with consideration of how some of the approaches outlined may have relevance for the wider academic community.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42452878","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}
M. Joubert, Anita M Larsen, B. Magnuson, David Waldron, E. Sabo, A. Fletcher
The COVID-19 pandemic forced universities worldwide to move their teaching online within an unprecedentedly short timeframe. Whilst the move online learning has increased the reach of tertiary educational delivery it has also raised significant issues of equity, accessibility and student engagement. This includes concerns around access to technology and reliable internet connectivity, academic and digital literacy, and other factors such as mental health and work-life balance. This paper examines two studies of student engagement with online learning during 2020 when then pandemic began. One study was conducted in South Africa the other in a small regional university in South-Eastern Australia. A mixed method approach was used in both studies and then student responses were analysed using the student engagement framework presented by Kahu and Nelson (2018). A key focus in this analysis is the critical importance the educational interface and shared mutually formative experience of learning between students and universities. Findings show that despite the two different contexts, student concerns around digital literacy and engagement in an online learning environment share many similarities.
{"title":"Global challenges: South African and Australian students’ experiences of emergency remote teaching","authors":"M. Joubert, Anita M Larsen, B. Magnuson, David Waldron, E. Sabo, A. Fletcher","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.09","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic forced universities worldwide to move their teaching online within an unprecedentedly short timeframe. Whilst the move online learning has increased the reach of tertiary educational delivery it has also raised significant issues of equity, accessibility and student engagement. This includes concerns around access to technology and reliable internet connectivity, academic and digital literacy, and other factors such as mental health and work-life balance. This paper examines two studies of student engagement with online learning during 2020 when then pandemic began. One study was conducted in South Africa the other in a small regional university in South-Eastern Australia. A mixed method approach was used in both studies and then student responses were analysed using the student engagement framework presented by Kahu and Nelson (2018). A key focus in this analysis is the critical importance the educational interface and shared mutually formative experience of learning between students and universities. Findings show that despite the two different contexts, student concerns around digital literacy and engagement in an online learning environment share many similarities.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44034019","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}
L. Konjarski, John Weldon, S. Ashley, Traci C. Freeman, Jai A. P. Shanata, Meghan Yamanishi, Erin Lotz, C. Gilde, A. Ganzel
This paper will contribute to our understanding of the Block, its pedagogical rationale and value, and explain why, apart from pandemic conditions, these might constitute a compelling alternative to traditional academic calendars. Current research highlights the need for further research on the nature of the Block, driven by an increased global focus on student outcomes and retention in Higher Education. This paper offers five case studies from institutions that have adopted a version of the Block at some time over the last 50 years. The authors seek to define the features that comprise block courses whereas the nature and functionality distinguish blocks from other intensive formats. A survey of the limited literature on this topic was based on theoretical underpinnings offered by one-course-at-a-time delivery, scholarship of teaching and learning on compressed education, and experiential learning. Using the research question, “Other than scheduling alternatives, what does the block offer HE institutions?”, this project uses research that is qualitative in nature drawing on a controlled comparison of case studies which enables a cross-institutional evaluation. The case studies explain why each institution adopted the Block, how these schedules work, and discusses the challenges and affordances of teaching in this intensive format. First findings of this cross-institutional exploration suggest that blocks are unique in their delivery, often experiential in nature, and effective in their outcomes. The various versions of the Block described within, provide ongoing transformative models of teaching philosophy, curriculum, student success, and more.
{"title":"The Block: A catalyst for ongoing innovation","authors":"L. Konjarski, John Weldon, S. Ashley, Traci C. Freeman, Jai A. P. Shanata, Meghan Yamanishi, Erin Lotz, C. Gilde, A. Ganzel","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.13","url":null,"abstract":"This paper will contribute to our understanding of the Block, its pedagogical rationale and value, and explain why, apart from pandemic conditions, these might constitute a compelling alternative to traditional academic calendars. Current research highlights the need for further research on the nature of the Block, driven by an increased global focus on student outcomes and retention in Higher Education. This paper offers five case studies from institutions that have adopted a version of the Block at some time over the last 50 years. The authors seek to define the features that comprise block courses whereas the nature and functionality distinguish blocks from other intensive formats. A survey of the limited literature on this topic was based on theoretical underpinnings offered by one-course-at-a-time delivery, scholarship of teaching and learning on compressed education, and experiential learning. Using the research question, “Other than scheduling alternatives, what does the block offer HE institutions?”, this project uses research that is qualitative in nature drawing on a controlled comparison of case studies which enables a cross-institutional evaluation. The case studies explain why each institution adopted the Block, how these schedules work, and discusses the challenges and affordances of teaching in this intensive format. First findings of this cross-institutional exploration suggest that blocks are unique in their delivery, often experiential in nature, and effective in their outcomes. The various versions of the Block described within, provide ongoing transformative models of teaching philosophy, curriculum, student success, and more.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45982580","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}
Internationalised higher education literature draws attention to the tension between the economic returns of recruiting overseas students and the personal, social and cultural possibilities offered. This paper advances the idea that fostering cosmopolitan values might be an educational focus for internationalisation. However, it appears that the creation of higher education learning environments which promote such values, offering opportunities for students to become more interculturally aware is yet to be achieved. Drawing on the ‘capability approach’ of Amartya Senand Martha Nussbaum, an ‘intercultural capability set’ was constructed as a means of operationalising cosmopolitan values within higher education. Analysis of data from 44 interviews with undergraduate home and international pharmacy students through the lens of capability enabled the identification of factors within the academic environment which act to promote or inhibit the development of intercultural relationships, learning and more cosmopolitan selves. Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment should be therefore examined for their potential to enhance opportunities for intercultural engagement and capability expansion, with participatory dialogue, including staff, students, university departments and stakeholders, about valued outcomes for a university education. It is argued that the capability approach provides a sound basis for operationalising and evaluating efforts to develop students with cosmopolitan values for the present and contributing as future members of society.
{"title":"Conceptualising, evaluating and supporting the development of cosmopolitan values in internationalised higher education: A capabilities approach","authors":"Stephanie Bridges","doi":"10.53761/1.20.4.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.4.15","url":null,"abstract":"Internationalised higher education literature draws attention to the tension between the economic returns of recruiting overseas students and the personal, social and cultural possibilities offered. This paper advances the idea that fostering cosmopolitan values might be an educational focus for internationalisation. However, it appears that the creation of higher education learning environments which promote such values, offering opportunities for students to become more interculturally aware is yet to be achieved. Drawing on the ‘capability approach’ of Amartya Senand Martha Nussbaum, an ‘intercultural capability set’ was constructed as a means of operationalising cosmopolitan values within higher education. Analysis of data from 44 interviews with undergraduate home and international pharmacy students through the lens of capability enabled the identification of factors within the academic environment which act to promote or inhibit the development of intercultural relationships, learning and more cosmopolitan selves. Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment should be therefore examined for their potential to enhance opportunities for intercultural engagement and capability expansion, with participatory dialogue, including staff, students, university departments and stakeholders, about valued outcomes for a university education. It is argued that the capability approach provides a sound basis for operationalising and evaluating efforts to develop students with cosmopolitan values for the present and contributing as future members of society.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44855976","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}