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 [email protected]

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 Enquiry Based 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.man

chester.ac.uk/ceebl/

What’s in a name: ‘EBL’?

Some Humanities team-based examples

EBL / IBL

=

PCL?

Task-based Learning (TBL) ‘crisp problem’ 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 1 st yr French uncover pronunciation/ grammar rules by devising exercises for colleagues in an export company

Technology strategy advisors

2 nd Yr Organisations Management and Technology MBS advise a Board of Directors on the technology strategy of a firm

Small-scale empirical investigations Fieldwork or case study

Culturally-defined space

200 1 st yr map products.

Projects and Research, often bibliographic Research-based approach to projects

A profile of A.N. Other

1 st 3 st

researcher

yr Geographers projects learn about the yr Planning, etc work research process by with Manchester City interviewing a tutor 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 • 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

Lectures

Passive learning

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 Pulling together several analyses Making sense of the results Applying concepts Explaining concepts Recalling facts Evaluation Synthesis Application Comprehension Knowledge

Depth of learning

• 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

FINAL PRESENTATION /SOLUTION Problem solving, verbal, communication Organisational, leadership TOPIC TRIGGER

•

Student centred learning

•

Tutors facilitate Apply what’s been learnt Define the problem Team working, verbal, negotiation, critical Collate research Do individual or joint research Identify what’s already known Allocate tasks to fill gaps Research, time management Analytical, critical, applying existing knowledge Communication , negotiation, organisation

http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/ceebl/resources/general/guide_to_ fac_v1_bookletlayout.pdf

Devolution of process and content

STUDENT-led

Student decides content, tutor decides process

TUTOR led

Process Scaffolded EBL Projects, capstone dissertation Student decides content & process

STUDENT led

Tutor decides content & process Lectures

TUTOR-led

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 TUTOR led STUDENT-led

Process UG Interdis team project OMT PBL Literature PBL Access program Client based project PG Interdis team project French TBL Medicine & Dentistry curricula

TUTOR-led STUDENT led

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] We didn’t have any teaching. We had to learn it ourselves! [Comp Sci] * I found this very frustrating but have come away with some positive things [French TBL] 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