Student Empowerment through 'Area Analysis'

As a result of the teaching quality assessment at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences in Groningen (Netherlands), the course 'Gebiedsanalyse' (Area Analysis) was set up in spring 1998. The aim was to provide an opportunity for the development of transferable and geographical skills in the context of a group-based research project at level II. In addition, an effort was made to move from tutor-led to student-led learning. Experiences from the past 3 years have shown that Area Analysis has been largely successful in providing an opportunity for the application of geographical and transferable skills but also for the 'deep empowerment' of undergraduate students.     

'Walking the walk and talking the talk': Bodies,conversation, gender and power in higher education in England

Combinations of speaking, listening and bodily behaviour have been neglected in accounts of the operation of power. Although often described as fluid and interactionally produced, power has been the subject of few empirically based analyses at micro-interactional scales. Drawing on interviews with undergraduates and extracts from teaching interactions at higher education institutions in England, this article focuses on talk as a situated practice. It describes how verbal and bodily behaviours together are fundamentally involved in the enactment of instructor and student roles and power relations, and the collective interactional (re)production of teaching spaces. It discusses two broad types of teaching interaction in terms of gendered differences in the structure of talk, drawing attention to how these are shaped by differences in how instructors enact power. I suggest that men may routinely engage in conversations with 'feminine' structures in teaching spaces without this compromising heterosexual masculinity, and present reasons why it may be more likely that women be problematized for using 'masculine' verbal styles. I also argue that rather than simply being inscribed on to instructors' bodies in ways that accord with the hegemonic discourses of gender, authority and respect have to continually be earned from students, and verbal behaviour is deeply involved in this process. It is not enough to 'walk the walk', instructors must also 'talk the talk', in ways that students deem legitimate.     

More on assessment

This paper calls attention to the difficulties of broaching issues of 'race' and 'sex' in the classroom in the context of nation-wide institutional calls for multiculturalism. I argue that critical multicultural objectives can only be successful if: (1) faculty who take curricular and pedagogical risks are able to count on strong support from colleagues, departmental chairs and university administrators; (2) classroom realities of homophobia, sexism and racism are acknowledged at an institutional structural level to be societal in reach and global in scale; (3) we engage in evaluative strategies that are educative about the learning process; and (4) we stress to students the emotional realities and practical skills involved in learning about, and working through, social conflict and difference.     

'Enlivening' Development Concepts through Workshops: A case study of appropriate technology and soil conservation

In comparison with the teaching of most other geography topics, where fieldwork can be conducted relatively easily and seminars can be based on some pre-existing knowledge and first-hand experience of the issues, the range of resources and approaches available to tutors teaching the geography of development is necessarily more limited. Tutors often have to rely more heavily on 'top-down' teaching and more passive learning approaches, such as using videos, slides and lectures. While students may gain a theoretical understanding of development concepts, issues and problems, they may be left without a deeper 'experience' of such material. This paper describes a practical workshop designed to communicate to students the idea of 'appropriate technology'. The workshop enables students to actively 'experience' a development concept rather than simply understand it in theory. It tests comprehension and understanding, through the application of a concept to real examples, stimulates discussion and debate, and draws upon problem-solving and critical thinking skills.     

Some Ideas and Reflections on Teaching 'Ideas' in Geography

This paper outlines the characteristics of a seminar on realism which forms part of the teaching of 'ideas and methods in geography' in the department concerned. The seminar requires each of about a dozen students to answer a specific question by reading a single paper, writing a summary answer to the question based on this source, and delivering an oral presentation. The questions are structured to deal with abstract theoretical issues at first, and then to consider the implications of these issues for research practice. The experience of the seminar is intended to help students prepare for an open-book examination, and to develop the research planning for their dissertations. Student feedback is reviewed, and ideas for modification of the seminar structure are discussed.     

Predictable Achievement Patterns for Student Journals in Introductory Earth Science Courses

Student journals encourage more frequent thinking about course topics, foster development of writing skills, provide feedback about course content and administration, and mitigate exam anxiety. Measures of academic 'ability' and other student characteristics were found to correlate with journal grades. This was unexpected. For example, grades correlated positively with exam scores and GPA, and correlations varied widely among the disciplines represented by the students. Females consistently earned higher journal grades than males. Segmentation modelling (SPSS) identified important subgroups involving gender, age, exam scores and major subject. The journal assignment is, therefore, not equally beneficial for all students.     

Using Films in Teaching About Africa

Didactic approaches to teaching about Africa are problematic for several reasons: they do not benefit students pedagogically; they cast Western academy/academics as guardians of truth about Africa; and they cast students as possible receptacles of objective knowledge of Africa. An approach based on 'border pedagogy' offers a helpful alternative. This paper outlines the advantages of using films from/about Africa to achieve this. A level 3 UK undergraduate module is outlined, and the eight films used in the module are briefly described. Finally, attention is given to students' reactions to the use of films, and some of the issues raised by these.     

Engaging Students in the Learning Process: The learning journal

This paper explores the usefulness of the learning journal as a means of actively engaging students in the learning process, based on a case study of a third-year undergraduate geography course. After briefly reviewing the literature on journal writing in different contexts, the paper outlines the approach adopted in the new geography course, in which students were given guidelines on how to write a journal that would be assessed as part of the course. Extracts from students' journals for this course are used to illustrate how they approached the task, and how they viewed the experience. It is concluded that the learning journal has good potential to increase student interest in and engagement with course material, to encourage and empower students to take more responsibility for their own learning, to be more reflective in their study, and to allow them to have a voice and provide valuable feedback to the teacher.     

An Inter national Perspective on Developing Skills through Geography Programmes for Employability and Life: Narratives from New Zealand and the United States

If there is a universal question that most academic geographers have been asked by students, it is “What can I do with geography?”. We argue in this paper that an important dimension of quality improvement in geography education is closing the gap between the perceived social usefulness of the subject (suggested by evidence to be relatively low) and the realities of what a subject offers as preparation for workplace roles (rated on evidence as relatively high). A potentially central part of the International Network in Learning and Teaching (INLT) Geography in Higher Education, therefore, is communicating information about skills for employment and life that are obtainable from geography-inspired instructional programmes. But behind the seemingly straightforward task of communicating a message is in fact a much more fundamental issue-getting to grips with socio-economic changes that are rewriting the nature and place of geographic learning and teaching. We suggest that positive outcomes from efforts to improve the quality of learning and teaching of geography will depend in part on strengthening and stabilising geography's image, particularly in the eyes of school and university students. We conclude that initiatives, already underway in several countries to popularise the 'skills profile' of a geography education, offer a framework for reimaging the subject.     

'An Unbelievable Academic and Personal Experience': Issues around teaching undergraduate field courses in Africa

This paper explores the teaching of geography field courses in Africa for UK university undergraduates. Using largely qualitative feedback, the experiences of students, staff and local communities involved in field courses to Kenya, Zimbabwe and The Gambia are evaluated. Benefits and disbenefits of these field courses to the participating students, the local community and teaching staff are scrutinised. The paper concludes that such field courses to 'exotic' destinations are an effective means to student recruitment and certainly achieve their aims while providing meaningful teaching and learning experiences. Furthermore, the analysis shows that field courses to 'poor' destinations in sub-Saharan Africa can avoid dangers of 'development tourism' if conducted with ethical sensitivity.     

Teaching Geography to Non-traditional Students: Inducting,nurturing and retaining them

The Department of Environmental and Biological Studies at Liverpool Hope University College recruits an above-average number of students who could be classified as 'non-traditional'. Many are mature and many have gained entry to higher education via routes other than A level. In addition, and increasingly, many have selected or been allocated to the first-year geography modules with little or no experience of geography education. These students undertake a carefully structured programme of small-group teaching, designed to induct and train them in the practices of higher education and through which they are introduced to key geographical concepts. This paper highlights some of the issues arising from teaching non-traditional students and identifies as case studies elements of the programme, which support the development of students' skills and geographical understanding.     

Learning from experience: Cultural policies and cultural democracy in the 20th century 1

Abstract

The discussion of the multicultural society has long been current in Danish social and educational policy, but it is only at the turn of the millennium that the issue has been placed on the agenda in a serious way in relation to the Danish national cultural policy. The transformation from a homogenous identity concept to the acceptance of a diversity of voices and interpretations is occurring only slowly in both the production and dissemination of art and culture. In the cultural policy discourse up through the 1980s there is an acute lack of discussion about the ethnic or multicultural. Far up into the 1990s, the cultural political contributions within the multicultural field are left to the social or humanitarian organs, with integration as the general goal. At the advent of the millennium we can identify greater openness and interest for the multicultural field. In the evaluation of The Ministry of Culture's Development Fund I have analysed the subsidized activities according to the strategies of ethnic revival , interculturalism and hybridisation , and in the article I discuss the problems of formulating criteria for artistic quality in an area new to members of the board. On this background I discuss the relation between multiculturalism and cultural diversity , where I find the concept of cultural diversity to be a better reflection of the new hybrid cultures, which not only transcend boundaries and traditional cultures but dissolve them and create new expressions across genres and cultural forms.     

Internationalisation of the Curriculum: Designing inclusive education for a small world

Responding to the globalisation of commerce and communication and driven by competition in the multi-billion dollar international market for higher education, many universities are seeking to market their educational provision internationally. Feedback from some disappointed 'customers' has created pressure for change in the way that instruction is designed and delivered. This pressure is beginning to affect teachers in subjects perceived as international in perspective. This paper reviews the strategies suggested by Western universities to achieve internationalisation of the curriculum. Internationalisation is a major project that affects all aspects of a university's provision, including its priorities for staff development and career rewards. The challenge for course developers is to design a curriculum that serves global rather than national priorities, which does not rely on prior knowledge of local provenance, where students from all sources share equal opportunities for advancement in an inclusive learning environment, and which serves to introduce stay-at-home students to the demands of an increasingly multinational world of work.     

On the edge: A tale of skaters and urban governance

The 'problem' of skating has been conflated with a 'problem' with young people in public spaces, reflecting a rise in fear of crime from the mid-twentieth century and referencing more general questions about public space and citizenship. My task in this paper is to highlight some of the tensions between skating and urban governance in Franklin Square, Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania in Australia. This task is indebted to ideas about governance and citizenship advanced by Nikolas Rose; about the proper city as conceived by Michel de Certeau; and about fortress strategies and species of spaces promulgated by Stephen Flusty. Franklin Square functions in two ways in this work. First, its examination encourages consideration of local cases. Second, it can be deployed as a heuristic device through which to explore the edges of public space and citizenship. The essay is intended to make two contributions to social and cultural geography, one enlarging on some well-rehearsed debates about situated and contested socio-spatial relations in what I hope are innovative ways, the other unsettling particular strategies that place skaters 'on the edge' and yet draw them into particular domains of citizenship via specific practices of urban governance.     

Lucretius: Atoms and Opinions

Abstract

Since 1859 influential attempts have been made to fit the peculiarities of the human species into a 'Darwinian' frame. The most prominent have portrayed a human nature fixed by naturally selected genes. A more recent, alternative system is based on units called 'memes', analogous to genes. Memes include concepts and practices and are described as moving directly from mind to mind, as a result of imitation. They are also said to be selfish, to reproduce themselves, and to be subject to a process similar to natural selection. In its most extreme form, memetics reduces a human being to a 'memeplex' evolved for the benefit of memes. Ideas and skills do not, however, evolve merely by competition or by a form of natural selection. Imitation does not provide an account of how we learn from each other, and still less of social change, for this often arises from dissent and originality. Memetics also ignores the complexities of language, and it conspicuously disregards the elaborate exchanges during the crucial activity of teaching. Nonetheless, memetics has made an advance by turning away from the current obsession with genes, and by provoking interdisciplinary debates about humanity as a 'political animal'. If memetics can allow that human beings are argumentative and sometimes rational, it is possible to suggest ways in which it can generate fruitful studies.     

The University of the Future

Abstract

The economic and social pressures on universities will require a more flexible approach to education to be evolved if the system is to survive. An increasingly multicultural and multiethnic mix of students and the growing number of older students demand the ability to tailor programmes to the individuals concerned. Use of fibre optic and other high speed communications technology will be crucial in this endeavour, allowing courses to be pooled between institutions, while multimedia facilities and virtual reality offer students unrivalled opportunities to expand their educational experience. The future must also rest on increased collaboration with industry and in closer integration of universities into their local communities.     

Professional Standards and Values for University Teachers of Geography

This paper introduces the theme of 'teaching geography to non-geographers'. It is set against the context of learning and teaching with the 'Other' in geography. At the outset a working definition of a 'non-geographer' is provided. The resource and pedagogical implications arising from teaching geography to non-geographers are then outlined. Finally, the contributions to this broader debate from the five case studies that comprise this JGHE symposium are summarised.     

ODE to a geography teacher: Sexuality and the classroom

Abstract

This paper explores some of the ways that sexuality is an issue in the course of teaching. It includes discussions of crushes between students and staff, consensual personal relationships between staff and students, sexual harassment and how to create an atmosphere in the classroom/institution that enables lesbian, gay and bisexual students and staff to ‘come out’.