Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL) in Humanities at Manchester Julia

Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL) in Humanities at Manchester Julia McMorrow Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning (CEEBL) Faculty of Humanities Coordinator Geography, School of Environment and Development The University of Manchester

Summary Slide Context What’s in a name? PCL, PBL, EBL Why use EBL EBL in Humanities at Manchester What students think of EBL Further information Discussion issues

Context The University of Manchester Largest single HEI site in UK 34k students (26k UG) 500 UG degree programmes, mostly specialist 3 yr 23 Schools, 4 Faculties; largest is Humanities (44% UGs) 11.7k staff (3.8k academic, 1.9k research) Britain’s only half billion university; 637m income pa 40% external research income

Centre for Excellence in EnquiryBased Learning (CEEBL) 1 of 74 government-funded Centres of Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETLs), 2005-2010 Aim: enable enquiry-based learning methods to be developed widely across the University at UG and PG levels 6 Core staff and 4 part-time Faculty coordinators Student sabbatical officer & Faculty interns Flexible learning spaces Run workshops Fund 1 major project per Faculty and 10-13 small projects pa Online resources http:// www.campus.manchest er.ac.uk/ceebl/

What’s in a name: ‘EBL’? Some Humanities team-based examples Task-based Learning (TBL) ‘crisp problem’ EBL / IBL Problem-based Learning (PBL) ‘messy problem’ Discovering answer to a scenario chosen to cover specific content/skills Devising solutions to a scenario chosen to cover specific content/skills Improving business colleagues’ French 220 1st yr French uncover pronunciation/ grammar rules by devising exercises for colleagues in an export company Technology strategy advisors 2nd Yr Organisations Management and Technology MBS advise a Board of Directors on the technology strategy of a firm PCL? Small-scale empirical investigations Fieldwork or case study Culturally-defined space fieldwork 200 1st yr Phonetics 160 Geographers 1st yr Linguistics produce rolelearn how to aelicit, specificand map, based transcribe analyse on walking their SWADESH words in chosen route. live interviews with Analyse decisionnative-speaker making informants process & participant map products. Projects and Research, often bibliographic Research-based approach to projects A profile of A.N. Other researcher Client-based Green City st 1 yr Geographers projects learn about the 3st yr Planning, etc work research process by with Manchester City interviewing a tutor Council on sustainable and writing group development projects. report Interdisciplinary community of practice compares strategies.

Why use EBL? (1) In practice, most people learn . 10% of what they read 20% of what they hear Lectures Passive learning 30% of what they see 50% of what they see and hear 70% of what they talk over with others 80% of what they do in real life 95% of what they teach somebody else EBL Active learning Biggs [1999], p78 UCLAN http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/toolkit/lrg groups/index.htm

Why use EBL? (2) Deeper learning; higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive educational objectives Judging the outcome Evaluation Pulling together several Synthesis Making sense analyses of the Analysis results Applying concepts Application Explaining concepts Comprehension Recalling Knowledge facts Depth of learnin g Greater responsibility for own learning; student-centred Improved motivation, especially when real-life examples Improved confidence; ‘authentic mastery’, self efficacy Social interaction, teamwork Skills development; employability, learning to be researchers Bloom, B.S. (ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals: Handbook I, Cognitive Domain. New York: Toronto: Longmans

EBL transferable skills Organisation Problem al, TOPIC solving, leadership verbal, TRIGGER communicatio n Apply Define what’s the been Team problem Analytical, learnt working, Identif Collate critical, verbal, y REFLECT REFLECT applying researc negotiation, what’ existing critical h s knowledge Do alread Allocat individu Studenty e al or centred tasks known joint to fill learning researc gaps Communicati Research, h on, Tutors time negotiation, facilitate managemen organisation t FINAL PRESENTATION /SOLUTION http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/ceebl/resources/general/ guide to fac v1 bookletlayout.pdf

Devolution of process and content of ce ss? n ie c e r pe pro x E L EB STUDENT-led Student decides content, tutor decides process Tutor decides content & process Scaffolded EBL Lectures TUTOR-led Student decides content & process STUDENTled Process Content TUTORled Projects, capstone dissertation Whole curriculum TBL/PBL Tutor decides content, student decides process

EBL in Humanities at Manchester Extent of usage hard to quantify because inherent, often not explicitly called EBL Very diverse Not whole curriculum, but most programmes include full EBL or blended modules e-EBL common Appropriate pedagogy for interdisciplinary work where transferrable skills paramount

Some CEEBL projects at Manchester STUDENT-led UG Interdis team project OMT PBL Literature PBL Clientbased project Process Content TUTORled Access program PG Interdis team project Medicine French & Dentistry TBL curricula TUTOR-led STUDENTled

UG Interdisciplinary Team Project Week 1: Icebreaker Introduction to course, teams and WebCT Week 2: Topic statement; students selected topics Week 3: Key problems and questions Week 4: Storyboard Week 5: Symposium Posters with oral presentations Week 6: Question Time and Plenary Cross-discipline briefing Peer and faciltator assessed Scaffolded process; WebCT posting required for each stage, Worked ‘AIDS’ example for each. WebCT for all documents, poster archive, etc. Discussion Board for group interaction & feedback

PG interdisciplinary module Invited PGs Geography, Medicine, Life Sciences, PREST, Education (6 international) compared solutions to 2 contrasting water quality scenarios PBL over 4 weeks, WebCT to ease timetabling, as with UG IDTP ‘Fatima scenario’ Arsenic poisoning of water supply in Bangladesh ‘Pennines scenario’ water supply issues in S. Pennines Groups of 4 Snowballing; groups negotiate solutions to form a common plan Plenary: compare plans for each scenario

What students think of EBL I felt that I was at university rather than at school [UG IDTP] This has been a very demanding course in terms of how challenging the work has been . [PG IDTP] Learning independently and presenting what you’ve learnt is very exciting, although can be nerve-racking [French TBL] * I found this very frustrating but have come away with some positive things [French TBL] We didn’t have any teaching. We had to learn it ourselves! [Comp Sci] You had to plan and so you learnt so much .it was work you WANTED to do because YOU CHOSE to do it [UG IDTP]

Further information: CD http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/ceebl [email protected]

Some discussion points Does EBL/PCL dilute the discipline? - Quality over quantity of content? External accreditation - Transferable skills over subject knowledge? Implications for assessment - Process as well as product - Team or individual mark Managing academic staff expectations - Teaching styles differ - Learning to let go; facilitation training Managing student expectations - ‘We had to learn it ourselves’ - Learning styles differ, cultural expectations, student interns - Good teamwork is not a given Resources - Learning spaces - Materials - Staffing