Many academic staff believe that promotion is too dependent on published work, and that there is too little on devotion to teaching. Teaching is sometimes regarded as the poor relation to research, something which everyone can do - yet it is something for which few University academics have received more than token training.
This Guide gives an overview of the issues relating to the teaching and learning of Geography in UK higher education, and provides an overview of the other nine Guides in the series. It also looks at implementing change via educational development, drawing on specialist expertise to demonstrate how to initiate the good practices identified in the other Guides.
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The aims of this Guide are to:
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The Guide presents a clarification of the potential value of small-group teaching; explores some of the challenges which staff face; suggests remedies for specific difficulties; and presents case studies to show how departments and individuals have improved their small-group teaching.
Some of the key problem areas with small-group teaching are discussed, such as the authority and the role of the staff; the role of the students; the syllabus, coverage and progression; participation and assessment; and the size of a 'small group'.
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Practical work is important as it can improve students' understanding of the methods of scientific inquiry; develop student skills such as measurement, observation and reasoning; develop professional attitudes to safety and equipment; develop specialist techniques; bridge the gap between theory and practice; and break down barriers between students and staff.
This Guide discusses the purpose of practical work, with a review of research on the effectiveness of laboratory teaching in science; the role of postgraduates who support practical work; and alternatives for laboratory work. Transferable skills in practical teaching and learning are considered. Checklists to assist in analysing the purpose of practicals are provided. The Guide provides a set of thirteen case studies of ideas for practical and laboratory sessions in geography. Throughout the Guide the emphasis is on practical advice.
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The fieldwork unit discusses some of the key issues in the provision of fieldwork in higher education: the purpose of fieldwork; preparing students and follow-up activities; types and styles (including virtual fieldtrips); costing (staff time and student finances); choosing locations; equal opportunity; assessment; and where fieldwork fits into the curriculum.
The dissertation unit looks at the appropriateness of dissertations in geography undergraduate courses; discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of using this form of assessment; and analyses the ways in which students can be supported.
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Resource-based learning (RBL) refers to learning schemes where the emphasis is on the use by students of learning resources. The schemes range from ones where the tutor facilitates their use to ones which are designed for independent learning. They vary in length from resource-based exercises used to stimulate active learning in lectures, through study guides designed to replace or supplement a lecture or a block of lectures and readers compiled to supplement library resources, to whole courses which are delivered through learning packages.
This Guide shows that not only can RBL help meet the kind of challenges currently facing geography in higher education, but also that suitably designed RBL packages and exercises can enhance the quality of the learning experience your students receive and can have advantages for you, including, under specific circumstances, saving you time. The Guide also provides a framework by which you can evaluate the benefits and problems of developing and using RBL. Numerous examples from geography departments worldwide are provided to illustrate where RBL has been used effectively.
The contents of this Guide complement the materials covered in the Guide on Teaching and Learning Geography with Information and Communication Technologies.
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The Guide is divided into three parts. The first part discusses some of the key issues in the application of ICT to geography teaching, adopting the FAQ ('Frequently Asked Questions') format widely adopted on the World Wide Web (WWW). The second part reviews a range of problems that may be solved and opportunities that are opened up by using ICT, through a set of 25 case studies drawn from around the World. The final part considers the educational potential of three technologies that are currently 'hot topics' in the world of educational technology: multimedia, the Internet, and the WWW. With so much (dis)information and marketing hype surrounding these technologies, it is often difficult to form a clear view of what they have to offer in the classroom, and to geography in particular. This section gets to the heart of these technologies, and offers a preliminary assessment of their educational strengths and weaknesses.
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The purpose of this Guide is to help you to look critically at the skills and employer-links elements in your existing courses and modules. Case studies from geography are provided for the two main sections: transferable skills and work-based learning. These case studies have been chosen to illustrate some of the diverse ways in which geography is responding to the challenge of skills and employability. The Guide addresses concerns about transferable skills and work-based learning, such as how to assess skills, how to design a skills curriculum and how to minimise the administrative burden in work-based learning.
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The Guide contains ideas and examples of how students can be involved in the assessment process through self and peer assessment. It also considers how the students may be involved in the assessment of group work and reviews some aspects of using new technology, particularly with regard to objective testing, which superficially may seem a way of saving staff time. The Guide contains case studies which outline various methods by which geography departments have set student assessments.
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This Guide is mainly addressed to a course team. It discusses an overview of the curriculum, setting out its meaning and importance and the political context in which geography curricula are designed. A model of curriculum design is presented through the analogy of an ouija board, where the curriculum is seen as shaped by a range of forces which we seek to control. Case studies are presented for four departments of geography, in each case focusing on a key principle that has shaped that curriculum (staff research interests; integrating physical and human geography; value added; and cybermedia). The Guide concentrates on the undergraduate curriculum as that is the 'core activity' of most departments, though the basic principles can be applied to the growing number of taught postgraduate courses.
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Page last updated 24 November 1998
