Resource
Database: Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
| Title
| Replacing Blocks of Lectures with Resource-based Learning Packages
|
| Originator
| Sue Watts and Bob Gant
|
| Department
| School of Geography, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston-upon-Thames,
Surrey, KT1 2EE, UK
|
| Tel.
| +44 181 547 2000
|
| Fax
| +44 181 547 7497
|
| Email
| s.watts@kingston.ac.uk, r.gant@kingston.ac.uk
|
Summary: This case study examines the introduction of course packs into a range of modules in response to an increase in student numbers. The packs typically replaced about a quarter of the lecturing time. The RBL materials were compiled and written by module tutors in consultation with an educational developer working in the library. The students using the packs experience a greater variety of learning experiences. There is evidence that the students have obtained higher marks in objective tests on material delivered through the packages compared with material covered through conventional teaching.
Background
In response to a major increase in student numbers in 1990/91 the School of Geography at the University of Kingston embarked on the production of several print-based RBL packages, usually to replace blocks of between one and four lectures in a range of modules and covering discrete subject areas. The development of the packages was helped by a successful bid to a central Academic Development Fund established to pump-prime changes in learning delivery.
Context
In 1991-92 student FTEs in the School were 350 with an SSR of 19.4 rising to 565 and 28.3 respectively in 1994-5. In 1997-8 FTEs were 437 with an SSR of 19.9. Over 20 geography modules, out of about 90 on offer in the School, currently use RBL packages to cover blocks of material. This is the largest number of packages developed by any single School in the University. The modules currently using the RBL packages vary in size from 40 students to 90 students enrolled. The course is modularized and semesterized with 12 weeks of academic work per semester. The formal teaching programme occupies 11 weeks with the remaining week being used for Field Work or as a Study Week. Timetabled contact time per module is a maximum of 5 hours a week. The RBL packages typically have replaced up to about one quarter of the contact time, although some are used primarily to structure out-of-class activities. The packages cover both human and physical geography modules, with an emphasis on introductory modules. There are also some packages used in techniques/skills-based modules.
Aims
The aims were:
- to give students an improved learning experience by increasing the variety of learning methods used in the course, largely through replacing blocks of lectures with RBL materials;
- to reduce the amount of contact time on the modules where this innovation was implemented so that staff were better able to cope with the increased student-staff ratios that the School faced.
Implementation
The RBL materials were compiled and written by the module tutors in consultation with an educational developer working in the library, who happens also to be a geographer. There are three types of package:
- Study Packs - cover course content and up to three readings;
- Study Guides - include three readings put within a learning framework;
- Resource Packs - consist of collections of supporting reading materials; four copies available for loan only.
The educational developer edits all the packages; checks that copyright permissions have been obtained (Kingston University has a Copyright Clearance Officer based in the library) for diagrams and articles reproduced; designs the packages to be user-friendly and sees them through the printing process. A brief guide has been produced on 'Writing study packages for your students'.
The packages are sold or loaned to students through the library. They are priced at a level (between £2 and £5) to recover some of the production and copyright permission costs. It is cheaper to purchase a package than it is to photocopy it. The resultant income is returned to the School. Experience shows that 85-100 per cent of students enrolled on the modules using RBL buy their own copy of the package and the loan copies are not heavily used. As a separate venture a few of the packs have been sold externally on a full cost recovery basis.
Student induction
The concept of RBL is introduced to the students during induction week when every student is given a free folder in which to store the packages as they are purchased. Each of the packages is an integral part of the module and they are introduced by the module tutor who explains why the package is being used; what the students are expected to do; what they should achieve from using the packages and how they will be assessed.
Assessment
Questions are included in the packages for students to judge their own progress, although the answers are not normally given. The RBL material is assessed in the end-of-module examinations along with other topics covered. A related project on the use of the optical mark reader encouraged several module tutors to introduce objective questions as part of the summative assessment, particularly for Level 1 modules. Objective questions are used in some of the physical geography modules while short-answer questions are more common in the human geography modules. Essay questions based on RBL material were more common in examinations during the early years of the project when it was found that, although fewer stu dents attempted such questions, the marks achieved were either the same or higher than those for other questions.
Costs
Funding made available to the project by the University during 1991/2 and 1992/3 paid for a member of the geography staff to be seconded to the project full-time for the first year as well as providing administrative and technical support, travel, and material costs for both years.
Evaluation
- Strong support from the Head of School led to a large number of packages being developed in the first two to three years; production has slowed since and some module leaders are developing computer-assisted learning packages as an alternative to the paper-based ones.
- A comparison of the marks obtained by students answering examination questions covering the material in the RBL packages with those they obtained on questions taught traditionally by lectures and seminars showed that they did as well or better on the RBL materials.
- Student end-of-module evaluations rarely highlight the RBL method of teaching either positively or negatively.
- In several cases new lecturers have continued to use the packages which were developed by others who previously taught the modules. A few packages are no longer used because the modules they supported are no longer taught.
- Some of the early RBL packages are now due for revision and updating, but this will require some up-front investment of time.
Conclusion
Kingston University has invested in a sizeable collection of geography learning packages (see table below). Their students have gained from a greater variety of learning experiences. The packages have been used mainly to enable the amount of staff-student contact to be reduced so that the increased student numbers can be managed effectively. The evidence available suggests that the quality of learning has remained the same or has improved with RBL. The School now faces the need to invest further to maintain and update the collection.
List of learning packages at Kingston University
- Geography Study Packages (SP)
- SP1: Biological basis of evolution
- SP2: The Atmosphere (No longer used)
- SP3: The Atmosphere (No longer used)
- SP4: Aeolian processes and landforms
- SP5: Location of industry and economic activity
- SP6: Principles and results of rock weathering
- SP7: Atmosphere
- SP8: Introduction to soil science (including soil practical)
- SP9: Ecosystems
- SP10: Statistical information sources for the study of social and economic change in the UK
- SP11: Inner city decline
- SP12: Glacio-fluvial and glacio-lacustrine processes and landforms
- SP13: Urban fringe agriculture
- SP14: Social surveys and geographical investigation
- SP15: Questionnaire analysis using SPSS
- SP16: Study skills
- SP17: Stress, strain and earth materials
- SP18: Water and health in England and Wales
- SP19: The advanced urban economy
- Geography Study Guides (SG)
- SG1: Deforestation of tropical moist forests
- SG2: Marine pollution
- SG3: Climate change
- SG4: Water and health in developing countries
- SG5: Paris and the Ile de France
- Geography Resource Packs (RP)
- RP1: Soil conservation
- RP2: Thermoluminesence
- RP3: Water and health in developing countries
- RP3: Welsh identity
- RP4: Celtic geography
- RP5: Ireland
References
Gibbs, G., Pollard, N. & Farrell, J. (1994) Institutional Support for Resource Based Learning(Oxford: Oxford Brookes University, The Oxford Centre for Staff Development) pp.46-7
Rolls, D. & Watts, S. (1994) Study packages used mainly to replace part of first-year lecture programme in a modular degree course, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 18(2), p.249
Keywords
Course packs
Resource based learning
Resource packs
Study guides
Study packs
This is one of the case studies which appears in the GDN Guide "Resource-based Learning in Geography"
Keywords can be used to search for specific topics
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Page created 2 October 1999
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