learning - Academic Conferences Limited

Andrea Benn
pedagogical strategy, in order to fully appreciate how we want the students to react so we have to
experience the same process for ourselves, to understand the concerns, fears and high points that
the students will go through.
The literature review finds that careful planning and consideration of how the problem is introduced to
the students will enable them to identify the learning issues and therefore which theory concepts need
to be researched. As a Team the planning needs to include the structure of the problem, how many
stages it should be broken down into, over how long a period of time it will take to complete, the
resources that need to be made available as and when the students request them and what the end
product is going to look like before moving onto discuss the format of the tutorial sessions with the
students to facilitate discussion and progression of the task. For this a suggested model as an initial
guide has been provided by a UoB colleague based on an example illustrated by Barrows & Tamblyn,
1980 and is shown below:
Table 1: Facilitating Initial Discussions:
1
INFORMATION
What facts do we have?
What do we already know?
What is our experience of this situation?
Move to: what do we still need to find out?
3
QUESTIONS
What do we need to learn/understand before we
can deal with/improve the situation?
2
IDEAS/HYPOTHESES
Define the situation/the “problem” strengths,
negatives
Move to: how to manage the situation in light of
the present understanding?
4
ACTION PLAN
How/where will we learn these things?
What resources will we need/use?
This model can be adapted to support the task within our discipline and help to create an environment
where discussion and brain storming can be promoted and deeper exploration of the topic developed.
Turning to the student experience, Parrott (2009) warns that the first year at UG level represents a
major challenge for students, acknowledging that students can benefit from greater levels of support
during the early stages of the course. It is essential to offer the students a carefully planned
transition period. The Course Team will need to consider what our expectations of the students will
be for this new strategy which will have to be explained, demonstrated, reflected on and reiterated
through an active transition period. The expectations will also include ‘course rules’ explicitly informing
students of their tutor’s availability, whether online or face-to-face and the preparation required from
them for all tutorials.
The ideas already under discussion for the new course include students from the higher levels
offering peer support to the newer students through mentor schemes already in operation with UoB
but also during the course of their academic year by presenting research that they have undertaken.
Demonstration of the IT tools that will be used through the course should be provided at this stage ie
any discussion or group forums and in particular the journal facility where the concept of reflection
should be introduced.
3. Conclusion
The reason for exploring alternative learning and teaching strategies is to bring about a change in the
students in their approach to their learning which will last beyond their academic careers. The ultimate
aim is to change the students’ behaviour from being passive to active learners.
The literature review argues that the reason for the way the students currently behave is because of
the way they are taught and the expectations we as tutors are portraying. It would therefore suggest
that the change initially needs to come from us and our approach to our teaching and the resources
we wish to utilise in doing so.
This change however, will not be without some substantial challenges that the teaching team will
encounter not only from the students’ perspective but their own too. It will require the teaching team
to let go of the responsibility for providing the information while relying on the co-operation of the
students to find out for themselves, albeit with guidance and support from the teachers.
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