Curriculum Reform Presentation to Steering Group

Mind the Gap!

Dr Christine Laennec & Dr Mary Pryor,Senior Academic Skills Advisers

Student Learning ServiceCentre for Learning & Teaching

January 2008

Curriculum Reform Presentation to Steering Group

Introductions

• Student Learning Service works with students:– at all levels of study (UG, TPG, RPG), across the

university

– at all levels of academic achievement

– in groups (workshops, in-course sessions) and individually (study advice sessions)

– How many? Approximately 2000 in 2006-07

• Ourselves:– Job share (.5 each)

– Work closely with CASS, because of arts backgrounds

Curriculum Reform Presentation to Steering Group

Introductions

• This presentation:

– Will look at 5 aspects of academic

engagement that pose challenges both for

students and for staff – the gap to be bridged

– Will address considerations of the ‘how’ of

learning and teaching, more than the ‘what,’

as a crucial part of the process of Curriculum

Review / Reform

Curriculum Reform Presentation to Steering Group

Mind the Gap!Active Learning

• Challenges facing

students:

– Taking responsibility

for own learning

– (for some) Breaking

with past experience

of ‘spoon feeding’

• Challenges facing staff:– What to assume as a

starting point?

– Mixed group teaching (some students well-practiced in independent learning)

– How / when / who to help?

Curriculum Reform Presentation to Steering Group

Mind the Gap!Critical Thinking

• Challenges facing students:– Difficulties with this

term: ‘Who am I to criticise?’

– ‘Am I allowed to give my opinion?’

– May have been discouraged from questioning

• Challenges facing staff:– Communicating

expectations

• discipline-specific

• at different levels

Curriculum Reform Presentation to Steering Group

Mind the Gap!Formulation & articulation of thought

• Challenges facing students:– Little practice of

discussion / debate

– Living in culture of the sound-bite

– Often difficulty with vocabulary and basic English grammar

• Challenges facing staff– How to encourage

discussion?– How to encourage

critical thinking in discussion?

– Living in working environment / culture where being articulate is taken for granted

Curriculum Reform Presentation to Steering Group

Mind the Gap:Academic Writing

• Challenges facing students:– Often only versed in

directed / supported writing

– Lack of practice with writing discursively / analytically

– Lack of reading experience

• Challenges facing staff:– How much guidance to

give? (How much do you assume?)

– Being explicit about expectations

– Differentiating between generic and discipline-specific expectations

Curriculum Reform Presentation to Steering Group

Mind the Gap:Intellectual Accountability

• Challenges facing students:– May previously have

been rewarded for ‘cut and paste’

– In some cultures, unacknowledged citation is seen as respectful

– ‘How can I have anything to say – all I know is from other people!’

• Challenges facing staff:– What does it mean to

expect students to ‘do their own work’?

– How to teach accountability (and thus avoid plagiarism) without terrifying / inhibiting students?