Great to see these views ... would like to hear more about Nick's collaborative-reflection approach too. Moving towards more student partnerships-in-learning generally is behind the use of the term 'learning development' for this area of work. I think it's a valuable phrase for engaging academics as well describing additional services that focus on learning.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Becka Currant
Sent: 04 December 2009 11:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Student Control of the agenda
That sounds really exciting Nick. I've been working with faculty over
the last (too many years!!) to help staff embed skills activities more
within the curriculum. One of the ideas behind SaPRA when I first
designed it was that staff could move away from setting the agenda for
the 12 week skills module, and instead students would do this themselves
by reflecting on their levels of confidence in different areas. We have
had lots of negative feedback from staff and students in the past about
the value of stand alone skills modules and I was hoping that this
approach would empower the students more to engage in the activities as
they would be working on areas they had identified themselves as needing
development. Hopefully one or two modules will be piloting this approach
in the next academic year but it would also be good to incorporate some
of the activities you have identified below too.
Becka
Becka Currant
Dean of Students
University of Bradford
Tel: 01274 236821
Mob: 07917 241214 (or 1739 internally)
Twitter: beckacurrant
Nicholas Bowskill wrote:
> Becka, I was struck when you mentioned the points below because its exactly
> what our technique is set up to address
>
> "I'd love to move more to a situation where students were in control of the
> content of a skills module themselves, where it was fully contextualised into
> the subject area and where they felt empowered and motivated as a result of
> the developmental activities they were engaged in."
>
>
> Through the collaborative reflection process, the students co-construct the
> agenda for the discussion that follows. Because the whole-group issues are
> made visible (through the voting/whiteboard technology) it allows others to
> then respond to *their* agenda. It is very much socially situated and we are
> currently exploring the value for learning support and subject-based issues in
> the research. Next week its going to be used for collaborative placement
> review for example.
>
>
> cheers,
> Nick
>
> Nicholas Bowskill,
> Faculty of Education
> University of Glasgow
>
> http://www.sharedthinking.info
>
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