Small-Scale Learning and Teaching Research and Development Projects: 2007
- Exploring the use of internet-based problem-solving activities to enhance students’ understanding of 3-dimensional spatial relationships
- Stirling Employability E-Mentoring (SEEM)
- Second Life Androgogy and Pedagogy Project - Evaluation and Review (SLAPPER)
- Virtual Alps: virtual fieldwork on glacial & fluvial processes
- Screencasting for learning GIS theory and practice
- Evaluating the effectiveness of different styles of feedback on student learning
- The carbon footprint of field work: A tutor resource pack
- Google Earth, Virtual Fieldwork and Maths in Geomorphology
- Graduate employability skills: environmental responsibilities and the workplace
- Assessing the pedagogy of podcasting in science and social science undergraduate modules in geography.
Exploring the use of internet-based problem-solving activities to enhance students’ understanding of 3-dimensional spatial relationships
Alan Boyle, Department of Earth & Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool
The main aim of this learning & teaching project is to improve students’ cognitive understanding of 3-dimensional spatial relationships derived from 2-dimensional and abstract data sets by means of internet-based problem-solving activities. The project will initially involve Year 1 students following undergraduate courses in Earth sciences at Liverpool University. At the end of this one-year project it is intended to investigate how the project resources could be developed &/or adapted for use in one other of the three GEES disciplines (geography, Earth & environmental sciences). One of the project outputs will be in the form of electronic learning materials and it is hoped that, subject to the availability of additional funding to facilitate this process, these will be deposited as an on-line national learning materials resource.
Stirling Employability E-Mentoring (SEEM)
Carol Anne Salt, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences (SBES), University of Stirling
The project will develop an e-mentoring scheme which enables undergraduate students in GEES subjects to benefit from mentoring relationships with alumni graduates in relevant employment sectors. The scheme will be based in an academic department to build on existing links between staff, graduates and students, to provide a strong subject-specific context and to link into the curriculum. The underlying rationale is that transition into employment will be improved through better insight into: potential career choices and paths, applying for jobs, employer expectations, application of graduate skills and functioning of organisations. Ementoring is seen as an attractive mode of delivery since it allows mentees to select from a wide range of professions nationally and internationally and it offers a more flexible and less formal commitment for mentees and mentors. Students will be involved as partners in the design and evaluation of the scheme to promote ownership and development of reflective skills.
The project will deliver a set of resources for dissemination via the GEES Subject Centre (project web site, materials and templates; podcasts/blogs, case study report). The results will also be disseminated via a joint GEES/ESCALATE workshop, a contribution to a GEES Conference and a Planet Article. Evaluation of the scheme will predominantly be via student and mentor feedback in a variety of forms (blogs, podcasts, questionnaires, social event).
- Report: The Stirling Employability E-Mentoring Project (SEEM): A disciplinary focus on employability. Available as an article in Planet, Issue 22.
Second Life Androgogy and Pedagogy Project - Evaluation and Review (SLAPPER)
Glynn Skerratt, Faculty of Sciences, Staffordshire University
Second Life (SL) is a virtual world that offers opportunities for educators to engage with learners in many ways - some based on extensions of *conventional* real life teaching, others more innovative (and in many cases not yet understood). This project will capture learner's views about trial learning 'experiences' in SL - with a particular emphasis on the development of innovative feedback and assessment methodologies/processes - and offer an opportunity for both learners/tutors to reflect and report on the overall process. We will run an orientation programme for the student volunteers and, having reinforced that learners are involved *in* the research rather than merely being guinea pigs, then devise, in conjunction with the learners, a series of SL learning/research activities. These will not be a formal part of the modules, nor will they be formally assessed. The learners will be closely involved in the design and the execution of the activities. Activities will be timed to help avoid distractions; some will be individual, some collaborative. The focus will be on reflecting on the learning experience, evaluating what would have constituted useful feedback and considering what assessment processes might have been appropriate for the activities. Those carrying out the activities will work with those who designed them to reflect upon the whole process and review the experience. The outcome will constitute useful information about how best to utilise the SL environment to supplement/complement learning/teaching/assessment in order to better prepare tutros, and their institutions, for the growing influx of digitally native students.
- Interim report: Second Life Androgogy and Pedagogy Project- an evaluation and review. Available as an article in Planet Issue 22.
Virtual Alps: virtual fieldwork on glacial & fluvial processes
Tim Stott, Faculty of Education, Community and Leisure, Liverpool John Moores University
The Alps offer a fascinating and dynamic environment in which to study glacial and fluvial processes. However, for various reasons it is not always practical (or necessarily desirable) to take large groups of students there on fieldwork. Even those who do manage to visit the area do not usually get to witness changes over large timescales or to see infrequent events such as major floods or landslides which shape the landscape. Hence we propose to develop a web based interactive resource developed from our recent and planned fieldwork at two established field locations in the Alps.
This Virtual Alps website will use digital images, video clips, quicktime panorama movies and numerical datasets (e.g river discharge, microclimate and glacier velocity time series) to provide students with a virtual experience of these environments. The resource will be highly interactive rather than just a photograph album. It will be based around assessment and will give students feedback via student exercises stimulated by images, video etc and followed up by students completing exercises on real datasets, which will develop and enhance interpretive and numeracy skills
The resource will provide materials suitable for students at all levels of university study and also sixth form students studying A level geography. The intention is that this will encourage future generations of students to choose to continue their geography studies at university.
- Report: Design, development and student evaluation of a Virtual Alps Field Guide. Available as an article in Planet, Issue 22.
Screencasting for learning GIS theory and practice
Sandy Winterbottom, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling
The aim of this project is to develop a series of Screencasts designed to improve the teaching of GIS for large classes. The Screencasts will link the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject into a single package that can be delivered in a computer-based lab class and can also be used by the students outside formal teaching times. The Screencasts will provide short bite-sized chunks of theory intermixed with practical demonstrations of GIS software using relevant case study material and also provide set-tasks for the students to complete during the 3 hour sessions. The Screencasts will also be available outside the timetabled sessions so that students can repeat and revise the material.
This new approach to GIS teaching will be evaluated via questionnaires and by comparing exam performances with results from previous years. After the project, the Screencasts will be packaged into a web-based resource to be made available to other institutions.
Evaluating the effectiveness of different styles of feedback on student learning
Jasper Knight, Department of Geography, University of Exeter
This project focuses on evaluating which out of different styles of assessment feedback are most useful and effective in developing and enhancing student learning. The project does this by taking a standard mode of assessment (the essay), set for a single first year undergraduate module in Geography, and providing different styles of feedback from this essay to randomly-selected groups of students. The methodology used is student-centred and longitudinal and involves (1) pre-assessment evaluation of students’ attitudes to feedback, using an anonymous online questionnaire; (2) provision of feedback to different groups of students in six different styles following submission of the assessment. These styles include combinations of peer and tutor feedback in verbal, written, face to face and online (audio and video) formats. These styles are compared against a ‘control’ group comprising standard written tutor feedback; (3) students’ responses to the usefulness and effectiveness of the different feedback styles, evaluated using an anonymous online questionnaire; and (4) semi-directed discussions in focus groups comprising the students based in the six feedback groups identified above, plus two control groups. The focus groups will be led by an undergraduate student assistant employed specifically for this purpose. Overall, the project will identify the most effective means of providing feedback to students in a form that they find useful and which helps maximise learning. Outcomes from the project have wide implications in any learning scenarios within and beyond the discipline.
The carbon footprint of field work: A tutor resource pack
Chris Ribchester, Geography & Development Studies, University of Chester
Within the broad context of the UN’s Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2015), the GEES disciplines are being asked to embed sustainable development themes more thoroughly into their curricula. Evaluating the carbon footprint of fieldwork is an effective and accessible way of engaging students actively with this topic.
This proposal seeks funding to facilitate the development of a resource pack to support tutors wishing to explore the carbon footprint of fieldwork activities with their students. It builds upon two ‘pilots’ within the Department during this academic year, which have explored the feasibility of making an accurate estimation of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with both national and international field trips. It will also draw upon Departmental expertise developed through close involvement in two innovative local projects: Ashton Hayes – Going Carbon Neutral (http://www.goingcarbonneutral.co.uk) and CRed Chester.
Key elements of the tutor resource pack will be:
• an adaptable carbon calculator for fieldtrips – it is anticipated that this will be based around four key impact areas: travel, energy use, food and waste.
• strategies for engaging students actively in the collection of information for, and calculation of, the carbon footprint, during fieldwork
• examples of strategies which can be used to embed this topic more fully into the student learning experience, for example exploring the ethics of undertaking fieldwork (including offsetting)
• examples of possible assessment strategies linked to this topic
• comprehensive bibliography of supporting resources and further reading
The resource pack is available here.
- Report: "How big's your engine, mate?" Encouraging active participation in ESD by assessing the carbon footprint of field work. Available as an article in Planet, Issue 22.
Google Earth, Virtual Fieldwork and Maths in Geomorphology
Varyl Thorndycroft, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London
Mathematics is a key part of geomorphology and effective quantitative analysis is an important skill for geography students as it enhances understanding of the subject as well as develops generic skills in numeracy and computation. There is strong evidence to suggest, however, that there has been a decline over the last 15-20 years of fluency in the basic mathematical skills of students accepted onto degree courses. This project aims to investigate an innovative approach to the problem of teahcing mathematics in geomorphology using Google Earth. The project will focus on small group teaching that will link virtual fieldwork through Google Earth with practical use of geomorphological equations in order to stimulate enhanced learning and understanding of mathematics in geomorphology. The programme of work will be divided into three workpackages encompassing: a) design and preparation of teaching resources for small group teaching in a computer laboratory, using Google Earth for virtual fieldwork and spreadsheets for subsequent data analysis; b) the research methodology, to investigate the impact of the Google Earth seminars on student learning (based on diagnostic tests, student feedback, focus groups and course assessments; and c) project deliverables and dissemination, which will include: on-line teaching and learning resources, a sample resource pack for dissemination, and a project report including research outcomes and a guide of best practice.
- Report:Google Earth, virtual fieldwork and quantitative methods in Plysical Geography. Available as an article in Planet, Issue 22
Graduate employability skills: environmental responsibilities and the workplace
Zoe Robinson, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, Keele University
Companies in all sectors, including the traditional GEES graduate employers, are increasingly encouraged to address their environmental and ecological responsibilities. Currently there is little explicit training provided within higher education curricula on this important new area of employability skills, despite an increasing focus on generic employability/transferable skills of graduates. The higher education sector, and particularly the environmental disciplines, have a responsibility to generate ‘environmentally-literate’ graduates who have an awareness of environmental considerations relevant to potential future employers and the skills to direct change in the work place to enhance their employers’ sustainability practices.
This project will develop an interdisciplinary module entitled ‘The environment in the workplace’, which will incorporate an introduction to environmental responsibilities of businesses, introductory training in environmental auditing, and an investigation of ways of improving companies’ environmental performance. This course will be designed to provide students with a framework within which to consider employers’ environmental responsibilities, and to provide the practical skills and knowledge to enable them to drive change in these areas. This module will be developed and taught in close collaboration with professional environmental auditors and environmental professionals, to ensure the relevance of the syllabus to the working environment.
The benefits and outcomes of this project include: environmentally-literate graduates capable of directing changes in environmental practices in the work place; increased student awareness of environmental careers and the role of the environment in other industries; student-led university environmental audits; an evaluated case study of corporate environmental responsibility teaching applicable to students from different discipline backgrounds.
- Report: Linking employability and sustainability skills through a module on 'Greening Business'. Available as an article in Planet, Issue 22
Assessing the pedagogy of podcasting in science and social science undergraduate modules in geography
Justine Kemp, Division of Geography, Northumbria University
Podcasting technology has been increasingly used to distribute content to wide audiences but its broader benefits to undergraduate student learning have not been considered in the pedagogic literature. In particular, the use of student- produced podcasts offers an original and innovative approach to learning and teaching with learning opportunities attractive to students from different backgrounds, cultures and with different learning styles. This project explores the potential of student-produced podcasting for developing presentation and web-based skills in geography programmes by incorporating podcasting into a science-based and a social science module in 2007/8. In the science-based module, students would be asked to produce a 10 minute podcast related to the outcome of a small research project in the manner of a radio broadcast in which important findings are explained in simple language and their significance explored within the context of important social and environmental issues. In the social science module, podcasts would be developed after seminar discussions based on a methodology called “future planning”. The exercise aims to develop students’ ability to manage projects, undertake research, communicate results and arguments effectively and persuasively, and develop competence in modern Web-based technologies. Differences in the learning experiences of these student groups will be evaluated in seminar and conference presentations and will provide the basis for a future pedagogic study on the benefits of this evolving and under-exploited technology. A straightforward technical guide to installation and use of podcasting technology in undergraduate geography modules will be made available to geography lecturers through the GEES website.