Module EDUC40215: The scholarship of learning and teaching

Department: Education

EDUC40215: The scholarship of learning and teaching

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• In keeping with the Durham teaching and learning philosophy (as contained in the Teaching and Learning Strategy) the aim of this module is to enable teachers to become scholars of their own students' learning by exploring, within their own discipline contexts, and as a practical research assignment, some of the classic theoretical foundations of variation in their own students' learning. The purpose of teaching is thus viewed in terms of creating learning environments that respond to qualitative variation in students' approaches to learning.

Content

• The content of this module is grounded in the literature on students' experiences of learning and how their learning may vary in terms of their own conceptions of learning, prior knowledge, intentions, motives, self regulation as well as their perceptions of the learning environment, its implicit and explicit demands, and how it is shaped in terms of approaches to teaching. These influences on learning represent the key concepts as they are referred to in the research literature.

Learning Outcomes

• An ability to solicit, via an appropriate and formatively assessed (and ethically approved by the School of Education Ethics Committee) interview protocol, evidence of variation in the manner in which a small sample of three students approach their learning in context. An ability to locate, interpret, and evaluate such evidence in theoretical terms appealing, in particular, to the research literature on conceptions of learning, approaches to learning, and the modelling of learning outcomes. An ability to consider the implications of the evidence gathered, and its theoretical import, in terms of developing a basis for reflective practice and personal actionable theory.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• In keeping with the Durham teaching and learning philosophy the intended outcomes, the processes whereby they will be achieved, and the assessment criteria will be constructively aligned. The module commences with a workshop in which all participants, working in small groups, externalise their prior knowledge on students' approaches to learning. This prior knowledge is then discussed and formalised into a framework that forms the starting point of the module. Course participants are actively involved, through a process of research-based learning in which they interview students, in constructing their own appreciation of variation in student learning within their own discipline context. Prescribed and self-directed reading from current research texts, supported by expert seminars on selected topics on student-centred teaching establish the conceptual framework for this module. The assessment criteria have been directly developed from the qualitatively different categories of linking observation, theory and practice exhibited by participants undertaking the Core Module of the earlier PGCert. These criteria explicitly address the degree to which participants are able to present, locate, interpret, and reflect on their findings in a theoretically coherent manner.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment is provided for the construction of the interview protocol.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University