Are South African Geography education students ready for problem-based learning?

Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of the possible training strategies that could be more fully implemented in the South African formal education system. The intention to migrate from teacher-centred to learner-centred instructions in higher education institutions and schools makes PBL a plausible option. Geography education students might be exposed to PBL because their training implies the acquisition of abilities to solve real-world situations at various geographical scales. This paper explores the perception of second- and third-year students in a BEd programme in Potchefstroom, South Africa. The study uses a mixed-method research approach based on questionnaire application, students' learning journal entries and field notes. Findings from the study indicate that students show very positive perceptions of PBL as a training strategy for teaching and learning. A gender difference regarding general aspects of PBL, independent learning, workload, assessment rubrics and the different role-players in PBL indicates that female students hold more positive perceptions of the PBL experience. Overall, the results indicate that students with higher academic performances in most instances hold more positive perceptions of the PBL experience.     

Combining research-based student fieldwork with staff research to reinforce teaching and learning

This paper addresses the relationship between teaching and research in a fieldwork context by seeking student views over 3 years across two institutions to assess the perceived value of blending staff research activity with student fieldwork. Student views were solicited using questionnaires. Despite the contrasting environments, locations and approaches of the institutions’ respective field courses, student perceptions are remarkably similar. Engaging in research activity in fieldwork (and specifically combining research-based student fieldwork with staff research) is perceived strongly to add value to study for a degree, as well as stimulate interest in the subject and improve understanding of methodologies employed.     

AQAL Integral: a holistic framework for pedagogic research

AQAL is a methodology for the holistic mapping of multiple perspectives and worldviews. Developed by Ken Wilber and colleagues, AQAL Integral analysis is founded in AQ quadrant mapping, which assesses four viewpoints for every situation. These are the Interior Subjective intentional (I) perspective, the Interior Collective cultural (We) perspective, the Exterior Individual (It, she/he) behavioural perspective and the Exterior Collective (They, many, its) social perspective. Each AQ map may be further elaborated as part of a many-layered system. AQAL Integral has a small but growing footprint in Education and, independently, in Geography – especially Urban Studies and GIS.     

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.     

Teaching Geography to Non-geographers at Glasgow Caledonian University

This paper discusses the teaching of geography to 'non-geographers' at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). GCU is one of the so-called 'new' universities in the UK and it shares with many of these institutions a mission to facilitate access to groups that have traditionally been under-represented in higher education. Human geography is one of the six subject area streams within the interdisciplinary social sciences degree programme, although geographical subject matter is taught in many other degree programmes, in each of GCU's three faculties. The arrangements for teaching human geography at GCU present pedagogical challenges for staff. Means to address these problems have been implemented. In this case study, it is argued that the experience of teaching human geography to 'non-geographers' at GCU may be of more general significance to the discipline, to the teaching of geography in both 'old' and 'new' universities and to those responsible for the delivery of mainstream geography degree programmes.     

Female Representation in the Discipline of Geography

This report updates earlier findings of women's progress in the discipline of geography from a feminist perspective. A variety of data sources are used in the analysis, including survey data from doctorate-granting US geography departments. Results reveal that there has been progress; however, significant inequity remains in student and faculty representation, particularly in the upper levels of the discipline.     

'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.     

Humanising the Technology Landscape through a Collaborative Pedagogy

A major shift in educational paradigms from a competitive model to a more collaborative model is now under way in higher education. Using collaborative theories espoused by Freire, Bruffee and other scholars working outside the discipline of geography, this paper presents an argument for integrating their collaborative approach into distance education courses at the postgraduate level. The Step Up to Geography Through Distance Learning project is used to provide one innovative model that integrates not only the collaborative method of instruction, but also the use of a multi-layered system of instructional technologies including use of desktop videoconferencing and the Internet.     

Teaching Postgraduate Development Studies: Possibilities within geography

This article outlines theoretical insights generated at the crossroads of geography and development studies, and elaborates their implications for postgraduate education. Reflecting on curriculum design and teaching experiences at one university (the University of Colorado, Boulder), the analysis focuses on the strengths of geography as a disciplinary home for postgraduate training in development studies. To this end, and based on faculty and student projects, it examines the relevance of geographic debates around space, place and scale for understanding specific development questions. While most postgraduate education in development geography already takes account of these themes, this article aims to make explicit the intellectual rationale behind such a focus, and to provide specific substantive strategies relevant to putting geography at the centre of postgraduate development studies education.     

The limits of library user education: arguments for a lecturer‐led,student‐centred approach

Abstract

The author discusses some of the thinking behind programmes of library instruction in higher education. The shortcomings of such courses are examined, with particular reference to a course for first‐year students at Portsmouth Polytechnic. The author argues that library instruction can only succeed when fully integrated with the teaching of the subject. This requires greater consideration by geography teachers of the relationship between bibliographic knowledge and substantive knowledge.