Re-designing the undergraduate curriculum

1. Re-designing the undergraduate curriculum Communication Collaboration Critical Thinking Zoe Handley & Poppy Nash Department of Education University of York 21st Century Skills Media Literacy Creativity Information Literacy

2. Promoting engagement and the development of 21st century skills in skills-based modules Communication Collaboration Critical Thinking Zoe Handley & Poppy Nash Department of Education University of York 21st Century Skills Media Literacy Creativity Information Literacy

3. The UGCurriculum Employability & Enrichment

4. The Skills Strand This theme focuses on skills for learning about education, skills for reading and undertaking educational research, and transferable skills. Skills developed through this theme include analytical, problem solving, critical thinking, communication, presentation, ICT, research literacy, data analysis, and data presentation… Feedback Introduction to skills “Topics could be done/covered in our own time rather than a 2 hour lecture. A lot of dragging out of small topics” Research methods “I just found this module very dull” “It can be quite boring but I understand it is necessary”

5. Educational Research Methods: Current module

6. Educational Research Methods: Innovations • 21st Century Skills (Dede, 2010; Humburg & van der Velden, 2013) • Group projects • Presentations • Research-based teaching (Healey, 2005; Pfeffer & Roglin, 2012; Robertson & Kingsley, 2013; Waite & Davis, 2006; Winn, 1995) • Student-led projects • Research-oriented teaching (Healey, 2005; Pfeffer & Roglin, 2012) • Lectures on advanced topics • Follow up research talks from staff and PhD students • Assessment tactics (Brown et al., 1997; Gibbs, 2006; Jessop et al. 2013) • Multiple-choice exam • Group student-led research projects • Research proposal

7. Educational Research Methods: Revised module

8. Communicating and Presenting Educational Ideas: Previous module

9. Communicating and Presenting Educational Ideas: Innovations • Communicating and Presenting Educational Ideas • Scaffolding (Blatchford et al., 2003) • Group projects • Presentations • 21st Century Skills (Dede, 2010; Humburg & van der Velden, 2013) • IT Skills

10. Communicating and Presenting Educational Ideas: Current module

11. Marking:Criteria for presentations (pass standard) • Good use of voice, i.e. • Mostly clear, well-paced verbal delivery at suitable volume for the environment • Somewhat lacking in variability of tone and expression • Audience is engaged by a number of devices which may include eye contact, reference to shared experiences, written and visual materials, attention to differences in audience (e.g. researcher, policy maker, teacher, parent, child) • The presentation consists almost entirely of reading from a script or the slides or the slides or the slides or the slides with no reference to audience either directly or in the content • Appropriate choice and use of supporting materials and media e.g. Video extract, tape recording, OHP, powerpoint, slides etc. But may not include pictoral/diagrammatic material. • Supporting media are of appropriate length; they support and do not replace the speaker.

12. Marking:Group work • You will receive an individual mark for your contribution to the group work • Your individual marks will be calculated as follows: • The marker will assign a mark to the presentation using the marking criteria • This mark will then be multiplied by the number of students in the group • Your group will then be asked to decide how many of the marks should be allocated to each member of the group • Your will be asked to take minutes of your group meetings and make a log of your contributions to the presentation (Gibbs, 1994, p. 12; University of York Guide to Assessment)

13. Our experience with Skills so far … • Attendance • 58 % in 2012/2013 • 79 % in 2013/2014 • Feedback • 55 % Excellent or good in 2012/2013 (response = 43%) • 7 % Excellent or good in 2013/2014 (response = 66%) • Quality of presentations • Most demonstrated presentation skills, but not argumentation skills • Many cooperated but did not collaborate “Some of the activities seemed really patronising, such as how to make a poster and how to insert images into PowerPoint. I think the content made people not want to come from lectures, as the vast majority of us already knew how to do these things” “I feel that rather then spending 8 weeks on qualitative and quantitative research, then crammed stats into 8 weeks and then done 4 weeks on things we already knew, we should have done term 1 and 2's work in the first 4 weeks of term one and then worked on stats”

14. Communicating and Presenting Educational Ideas: Future directions • Further evaluation (with Dr.Velda Elliott) • Pre- and post-module questionnaires and focus groups • Presentation, group work and IT skills self-efficacy • Actions • Consider how skills fits into the programmes as a whole • Consider integrating skills ‘just in time’ across the curriculum and/or • Consider a ‘deep-end’ approach in term 1 • Re-design tasks to require collaboration

15. Educational Research Methods: Future directions • Evaluation (with Dr. Lynda Dunlop) • Natural experiment • Questionnaires (Q) and focus groups (F) • Motivation for research methods, dissertation self-efficacy, experience of group work, and experience of dissertation. Year 2 Year 3 ERM Lectures Q Dissertation Q F Q ERM Lectures Q ERM Student-led Projects Dissertation Q F

16. Thank you! Contact: zoe.handley@york.ac.uk

17. References • Blatchford, P., Kutnick, P., Baines, R., & Galton, M. (2003). Toward a social pedagogy of classroom group work. International Journal of Educational Research, 39(1-2), 153-172. • Brown, G., Bull, J., & Pendlebury, M. (1997). Assessing student learning in higher education. London: Routledge. • Dede, C. (2010). Comparing Frameworks for 21st Century Skills. In J. Bellanca& R. Brandt (eds.), 21st Century Skills (pp. 51-76). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. • Gibbs, G. (2006). How assessment frames learning. In Bryan, C. & Clegg, K. (eds.). Innovative assessment in higher education (pp. 23-36). London: Routledge. • Healey, M. (2005). Linking research and teaching exploring disciplinary spaces and the role of inquiry-based learning, in Barnett, R (ed.). Reshaping the university: new relationships between research, scholarship and teaching (pp.30-42). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press.

18. References • Humburg, M., & van der Velden, R. (2013). What is expected of higher education graduates in the 21st century? Research Memorandum 2013/13, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA). Forthcoming in: J. Buchanan, D. Finegold, K. Mayhew, & C. Warhurst (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Skills and Training. Oxford: Oxford University Press • Gibbs, G. (1994). Learning in teams: A tutor guide. Oxford: The Oxford Centre for Staff Development. • Jessop, T., El Hakim, Y. and Gibbs, G. (2013) The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: a large-scale study of students' learning in response to different programme assessment patterns. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(1), 73-88. • Pfeffer, C.A. & Rogalin, C.L. (2012). Three strategies for teaching research methods: a case study. Teaching Sociology 40(4), 368-376. • Robertson, J. & Kingsley, B. (2013). “For a boring subject, you made it really quite interesting!” Teaching research methods to encourage the transition from ‘reluctant scientist’ to psychologist. HEA Social Sciences Annual Conference Liverpool 2013.

19. References • Waite, S. & Davis, B. (2006). Developing undergraduate research skills in a faculty of education: motivation through collaboration. Higher education research and development. 25(4), 403-419. • Winn, S. (1995). Learning by doing: teaching research methods through student participation in a commissioned research project. Studies in higher education 20(2), 203-214.