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Authors:

Dr Ewan Woodley Dr Stewart Barr Dr Richard Jones Richard Stones Liam Taylor

Developing Transformative Learning between Further and Higher Education

Exploring geographical debates along the Jurassic Coast

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Developing Transformative Learning between Further and Higher Education: Exploring geographical debates along the

Jurassic Coast

by Dr Ewan Woodley, Dr Stewart Barr, Dr Richard Jones, Richard Stones, and Liam Taylor

Contents

Cover photo: Looking east from Sidmouth, with coastal protection in the foreground and the largely unprotected, eroding coastline towards Beer Head.

Back cover: The harbour at Lyme Regis, looking towards Black Ven.

Exploring geographical concepts: project rationale 2

Project aims 3

Project description: Stage 1 - Explore Geography 4

Project description: Stage 2 - Exploring geographical concepts 5

Stage 2: Exploring geographical concepts - impact on student learning 6

Project description: Stage 3 - Exploring concepts through the lens of the Jurassic Coast

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Stage 3: The Jurassic Coast Fieldtrip 8

Stage 3: The Jurassic Coast Fieldtrip - impact on participant learning 13

Project findings and recommendations 16

Acknowledgements 17

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Exploring Geographical Concepts: project rationale

Increasing financial pressure on undergraduate students has placed an even greater onus on uni-versities to address student satisfaction and the ways in which this connects to expectations about higher education and its value for future career development. One major challenge for meeting this goal is the disparity in subject content and teaching styles in Geography between further education (A-Level) and higher education, leaving many students to question the nature of the degree pro-gramme to which they have enrolled and leading to potential dissatisfaction and confusion with course content. To address this problem, academics need to find ways to engage with teachers and students in further education to better understand the ways in which subject knowledge is con-structed and consumed so that student expectations, and the educational transition to university, can be managed more effectively.

Place

Space Time

Scale

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Project aims Enabled by the University of Exeter’s Annual Fund, this project aimed to bring together Geography staff and students from Exeter College and the University of Exeter to explore the challenges and opportunities of engaging with geographical enquiry in higher education. The project developed the following aims: • To enable A-Level students to better understand the core concepts underpinning Geography

and the ways in which research and teaching operate within higher education; • To allow academics to gain a greater appreciation of student perceptions of and attitudes to

higher education and engagement with contemporary environmental debates; • To adopt a stepwise group learning and lecture-based approach to learning in a range of fa-

miliar and new environments (Exeter College, the Streatham University campus and the Ju-rassic Coast);

• To collaborate with local subject specialists and organisations (the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Coast Team) to illustrate the role of geographers in contributing to important socie-tal issues, such as coastal management and hazard mitigation/adaption, and to demon-strate the links between research, teaching, and practice.

Opposite: The Hooken Landslide with Sidmouth in the distance. Above: Participants explore Lyme East Cliff from the new sea wall (bottom), and The University of Exeter (top).

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Project description In order to address the project aims, three successive learning events were developed and took place within a single week in June 2015. The three stages of activity, explained in subsequent para-graphs, sought to employ existing knowledges surrounding barriers to student engagement to pro-vide engaging and comfortable learning environments. In so doing, the project was designed to: 1. Provide participants with sufficient time to become familiar with the purpose and nature of the

project; 2. Allow participants the opportunity to meet as a group in a ‘new’ but informal learning environ-

ment (Streatham campus); 3. Offer a series of group-based learning activities to redress potential anxiety surrounding

knowledge hierarchies and dichotomous ‘answers’. 4. Encourage students to share their knowledge and understanding of the learning process and

the extent to which they engage with environmental debates.

Stage 1: Explore Geography

This one-day event was co-produced with Exeter College and aimed to better understand the needs of prospective geography students by examining three key challenges, identified by College and University teaching staff. The event was held at the Streatham campus, providing College students with an opportunity to experience the University environment. The day consisted of the following sessions:

1. Bridging the Gap: making the transition between further and higher education. Developed by three undergraduate Geography students (Liam Taylor, Jamie Charlton, and Victoria Naylor), this interactive session provided an excellent summary of the experiences of existing stu-dents in making the transition to higher education and allowed prospective students to discuss their concerns.

2. Exploring contemporary geographical debates.

Facilitated by two academics within Geography at the University (Ewan Woodley and Matt Finn), this group-based exercise introduced students to geographical enquiry in higher education and the key advances from further education. In co-producing knowledges, staff were also able to better un-derstand student perceptions on subject content and levels of engagement with key geographical debates, particularly within the local area.

3. Where can geography take you? (Employability)

This session (delivered by David Pritchard – U.o.E. Careers and Employability Service) enabled stu-dents to understand the diversity of a Geography degree and the opportunities for developing em-ployability potential throughout higher education.

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Stage 2 Exploring Geographical Concepts

Building on the introduction to higher education and geographical enquiry provided by Explore Ge-ography, this two-hour event (held at Exeter College by Ewan Woodley and Stewart Barr) ex-plored geographical concepts in greater detail, specifically in relation to contemporary environ-mental debates along the Jurassic Coast. In studying core geographical concepts such as space, place, scale, and time, students were engaged with the ways in which research has developed through the history of the discipline and approaches to teaching and learning about relatively ab-stract perspectives across physical and human geography. In preparation for the fieldtrip, students were engaged critically with local debates surrounding how different groups apportion ‘value’ to nature and natural environments, changes in the planning process through time, the conservation and protection of landscapes, and the contradictions and controversies that emerge from govern-ing highly dynamic and hazardous coastlines that are under pressure from tourism and development. The exercise encouraged students to think about these practical issues and how they relate to the core concepts of the discipline.

Above: Tide times at Budleigh Salterton (top), and the view from Peak Hill, looking towards Sidmouth (bottom).

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Stage 2: Exploring Geographical Concepts - impact on student learning Stages one and two of the project succeeded in providing an engaging introduction to the ways in which geographers teach, research, and contribute to contemporary debates. The fol-lowing statements from lecturers at Exeter College demonstrate the impact of these activities on student learning. “The pre-lecture talk provided a good context for broad themes in university geography of place, space and time, and certainly got the students thinking. Most students felt comfortable contributing to questions / discussions (more so in the classroom than out in the field). Get-ting students to work in smaller groups to discuss the issues you raised before sharing their ideas worked well as it built confidence and allowed all of the students to participate and be involved”. Anna Moore, Lecturer, Exeter College “Some students commented that they particularly liked the way that topics were linked togeth-er. At AS level the emphasis tends to be topic by topic and most current specifications expect synopticity in year 2. One of the students said that it made her think more about other inter-relationships and improved her comprehension of the wider subject. At this stage any infor-mation that the AS students can learn about university courses and expectations is useful to help them make important decisions”. Keith Lawson, Lecturer, Exeter College “The students found the pre-lecture useful for providing a geographical framework context and background information that they could follow up to prepare themselves for the trip. Many commented on the field day on what they had expected to see. Your positive responses to their oral contributions were very useful in building up their confidence in themselves”. Fiona Easeman, Lecturer, Exeter College

Above: Transparent background of Exeter College.

Opposite: The crumbling Jurassic rocks at East Cliff, Lyme Regis (top) and Lyme Regis rock armour protection and sea wall (bottom).

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Stage 3

Exploring concepts through the lens of the Jurassic Coast

Due to the continual and visible conflict between natural and human environmental interactions, the Jurassic Coast provides a very appropriate lens through which to study significant controversies and debates across physical and social science. The two study sites selected for stage three of the pro-ject (the fieldtrip to Sidmouth and Lyme Regis) offered students an excellent opportunity to experi-ence these issues and to relate their understanding to geographical enquiry. “The conflicting issue of protecting the natural coast by allowing it to erode verses protecting the de-veloped coast from erosion. The two are diametrically opposed; the natural interests are maintained

by erosion while the built assets are threatened by erosion. Our approach over the years has been a pragmatic one, working with coastal engineers and communities to find schemes that can deliver coast protection while not compromising, or minimising the impact of those works on the natural inter-ests. Lyme Regis East Cliff is a perfect example of that approach, hence the reason for visiting the recently completed scheme. Pennington Point, at Sidmouth is an example where that balance is far harder to achieve, made more complicated by the engineering challenge of finding some form of in-tervention that will do the job at a cost that is economic and without damaging the natural environment, the three tests in any coastal engineering scheme”. Richard Edmonds, Jurassic Coast Team (Earth Science Manager)

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Stage 3 - The Jurassic Coast Fieldtrip

The fieldtrip took place on Wednesday 24th June 2015 and involved 24 AS-Level (year 12) students from Exeter Collage and staff from the College and University. To introduce students to the knowledge controversies and debates outlined on page 5, the day included a comprehensive exami-nation of coastal management at both Sidmouth and Lyme Regis.

Sidmouth Led by Tony Burch (former Environment Agency Coastal Engineer) and Richard Edmonds, the first part of the trip introduced students to the complexities of coastal management at Sidmouth, including 1) the weak nature of the Triassic geology, 2) the development of the town and the development of coastal management schemes through time, 3) the scale of beach erosion and uncertainties in as-sessing long-term movement of beach material, 4) the controversies surrounding the effectiveness of off-shore artificial bars, 5) the policy of managed retreat at Pennington Point, and 6) the vulnerability of the town to coastal flooding, particularly under climate change-induced sea level rise. This introduction to the controversies and uncertainties hampering scientists, coastal managers, and communities gave participants the opportunity to engage with the spaces and places affected by coastal processes and highlighted the scale and timeframes associated with dynamic coastal pro-cesses.

Opposite: Sidmouth Esplanade and beach warning sign (inset).

Above: Rock groynes and offshore rock breakwaters designed to protect Sidmouth (top); Students examining the ero-sion at Pennington point and discussing coastal management policy.

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Above: The former sea wall and concrete/wood groynes at East Cliff, Lyme Regis.

Opposite: The former concrete sea wall at East Cliff (top), and students discussing coastal protection on the new sea wall (middle). Fossil casts on The Cobb at Lyme Regis (bottom).

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Lyme Regis

The second part of the trip focused on the new £19M coastal defences at East Cliff, designed to pro-tect 380 metres of coastline and 480 homes between Church cliff and East Cliff.

Students were introduced to the unstable geology beneath Lyme and the significant scale of erosion along Black Ven. Discussion covered 1) the complexities and costs of updating existing coastal de-fences, 2) the challenges of stabilising a significant area of cliff, 3) balancing the necessity for active coastal management with geological and ecological constraints, 4) adhering to different scales of governance in formulating an acceptable new form of coastal defence, 5) the conflict between rock fall risk and tourism focused around palaeontology, 6) consideration of aesthetics in coastal protec-tion, 7) the economics of defence and the lifespan of such constructions, 8) building in projected sea level rise to defence schemes, 9) artificial beaches for tourism, and 10) continuing vulnerabilities to storm events.

The trip encouraged students to think critically about the material discussed in the first two stages of the project and to gain an appreciation of how to relate these and other environmental debates to geographical enquiry.

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Above: Coastline measurement and monitoring of retreat at Lyme Regis in summer 2012.

Opposite: Transparent background of Exeter College.

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Jurassic Coast Fieldtrip - impact on participant learning

The following comments, made by lecturers at Exeter College, demonstrate the likely impact of the fieldtrip on student teaching and learning:

“It was great for students to think in more depth about coastal management and to see the types of geographical debates that they may experience at university level. A lot of the issues raised were beyond what we had studied in coastal units in class, so it was useful for students to see the com-plexity of what is involved in coastal management. The links to potential geographical careers was also useful and might get students thinking about where geography could lead them”. “On the fieldtrip day itself the students were impressed with the level of knowledge of the Jurassic Coasts team and commented on the fantastic location. Most of the students were asking us ques-tions about what they had seen and heard, so they were clearly engaged and interested in the de-bates raised, though they perhaps lacked confidence to raise questions in front of the whole group. Perhaps if we had encouraged students to take a few notes they would have found it easier to reflect on what they had been told – but this is all part of the learning process for them – moving from being told what to record and given set tasks in class at college, to becoming more independent and making their own notes and records from lectures at university”. Anna Moore “When the students embark on the ecosystems unit, which involves conservation and conflicting pri-orities, they will find that they have acquired useful place information. The visit was helpful in raising career possibilities and thus aspirations”. Fiona Easeman “Student feedback in class the following day was very positive. It was really useful to see “Engineering Geology” in action at Lyme Regis - this will prove useful in their next module in Septem-ber. Students really liked the way different perspectives were illustrated so clearly”. Keith Lawson

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Above: Looking from Jacob’s Ladder in Sidmouth towards Ladram Bay.

Opposite: Transparent image of the University of Exeter.

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Jurassic Coast Fieldtrip - impact on participant learning

The project aimed to maximise the value of the learning experience for College students but also sought to better understand student perception of and attitudes to learning. The fieldtrip provided a valuable opportunity for College students to discuss the challenges and opportunities of higher edu-cation with an education specialist and current geography undergraduate student.

“As someone who teaches to both FE and HE students, I felt the field trip provided a valuable link be-tween studying geography at A-level and University; how critiquing core concepts provides the intel-

lectual learning framework. The combination of teachers, academics and practitioners also created a connection between research, education and professional practice, whereby students could not only develop geographical inquiry but also understand opportunities in employment from studying geogra-phy; particularly within the field of coastal erosion. This field trip is a valuable and engaging resource

for colleges and universities and a unique pathway for students”. Richard Stones - Associate Lecturer and education consultant for the Jurassic Coast fieldtrip “From the perspective of a current undergraduate, it was rewarding to see the students learning about higher education through practical experience. One student spoke to me about the field trip, saying it was good to experience the ways higher education is taught (lecturing) while being outside of the tra-ditional learning environment. This was an important point for another student in particular, who was questioning her future path and establishing whether higher education was for her. It was also good for students to realise the importance of independence at higher education – many were given the opportunity to roam Sidmouth alone during our breaks and it was the responsibility of students to ask questions to make the most out of the day. As the transition to independence is a topic that was heav-ily emphasized prior to the trip in the Explore Geography day, it was encouraging to witness that stu-dents who understood this came out with a better understanding of coastal management and what higher education involves”. Liam Taylor - Geography undergraduate student, University of Exeter

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Key findings and recommendations

Innovative approaches to learning

• Through combining ‘traditional’ lecture-based teaching with co-productive approaches to learning, students were able to engage with ‘new’ concepts, ideas and routes to critical geo-graphical enquiry.

• Through a staged, multi-environment learning process, students were given sufficient time to

become familiar with new learning environments (campus and field-based learning) and were guided through the project in a stepwise manner.

• Current students are often better placed to recognise the academic and social challenges fac-

ing prospective students and can be effective change agents • Academics can benefit significantly from this learning process by better understanding teach-

ing in secondary education and student perceptions and attitudes to geographical enquiry and learning styles.

The importance of the engaging with local and regional stakeholders

• Learning in the field is beneficial to students in demonstrating contemporary debates within the local area and the ways in which geographers can contribute to such environmental is-sues.

• Collaboration with local/regional specialist organisations and practitioners can be effective at

enabling the design and delivery of a comprehensive, place-based educational experience. Such collaborations are also valuable in illustrating to students the differing disciplinary ap-proaches that need to be considered in dealing with contested and complex environmental concerns.

• In line with the University of Exeter’s commitment to working with the local community, this

project has demonstrated the many benefits of collaborating with Exeter College and advo-cates maintaining and building on the successes of this relationship.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the University of Exeter Annual Fund for a grant to E. Woodley, S. Barr, R. Jones, and D. Mansell, without which this project would not have been possible.

© University of Exeter (2015)

Particular thanks go to Richard Edmonds (Jurassic Coast Earth Science Manager) and Tony Burch (Coastal man-agement specialist) for their role in developing and leading the Fieldtrip.

The report authors would also like to thank the staff (Peter Hawes, Anna Moore, Fiona Easeman, Keith Lawson, and Rebecca Rixon) and students at Exeter College for their organisation and participation in the project, and those staff and students at the University of Exeter who contributed to Explore Geography 2015 (Matt Finn, Laura Smith, Lewis Winks, Dominic Walker, David Pritchard, Jamie Charlton, and Victoria Naylor).

Photographs © Exeter College (transparent image of Exeter College), University of Exeter (transparent image of the University of Exeter), all Jurassic Coast photographs - Ewan Woodley, Stewart Barr, and Richard Jones.

The University of Exeter warrents that all reasonable skill and care has been used in preparing this report. Not with-standing this warranty, the authors and University of Exeter shall not be under any liability for loss of profit, business, revenues or any special indirect or consequential damage of any nature whatsoever or loss of anticipated saving or for any increased costs sustained by the client or his or her servants or agents arising in any way whether directly or indirectly as a result of reliance on this report or of any error or defect in this report.

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