Paul Hyland

Case study 3

A divisional initiative to move all courses to resource-based learning

Division of History, Bath College of Higher Education
Originator: Paul Hyland
Reproduced with permission from Course Design for Resource Based Learning - Humanities (1994), James Wisdom and Graham Gibbs (Eds)

The advantages of a consistent approach by the staff team

Background

The impossibility of ensuring that all students can prepare for all seminars with current library provision

This initiative has been developed across all the courses offered by the division over the last six or seven years. It emerged from the need to make a virtue out of necessity, in particular the inability of the library to provide sufficient copies of essential texts to be sure that all students prepared for each seminar. The changes originated in the experience of two staff who had worked for the Open University; this experience was reinforced by a visit to colleges in the USA where RBL methods were widely used.

The need for historians to work with original materials, often unpublished

There are particular problems in the study of history, especially if the intention is that students should work from original sources and texts. Although the position is improving, there is not much published material that is appropriate for use as set texts. Some of the courses at Bath are developed around the particular interests and expertise of individuals, and as part of the planning of their courses they find themselves having to create particular resource materials.

Context

The value of a thorough, independent evaluation of the division as the basis for planning change

About 120 students each year join the courses offered by the History division, and the nine history staff work to an effective staff:student ratio of 1:24. The students may be following different programmes (BEd, BA, BSc, or the Diploma in Higher Education) or they may be overseas students on single semester studies. On the BA/BSc in Combined Studies course, each student chooses to study six modules each year, two from each of three subject areas. There are plans to build up a single honours history course soon.

The students come from a wide variety of academic backgrounds. Taking the 1990 entrants as an example, 36% were mature or non-traditional students, some of whom had come through regional Access courses. Using A-level points, it emerges that 34% of the 1990 entrants had 12+ points, 50% had fewer than 12 and the remainder had no A-levels at all. Only a minority had history A-level.

Before embarking on the changes to its courses, the division underwent a major two-year evaluation exercise conducted by a researcher in the Faculty of Education. This involved thorough course evaluations, making videos of classes, taping interviews with students, and carrying out extensive peer review activities. The process brought great benefits, in particular a real understanding of the variety of teaching approaches which were in daily use, a greater awareness of shared experience and a stronger community of co-workers who have come to treat openness about teaching as a natural element in their relationships. This has made it especially straightforward to integrate new staff into the college. The recent HEFCE Teaching Quality Assessment Report referred to the staff in the following terms: 'They are imbued with a vigorous spirit and have developed a wonderful doctrine of collective responsibility for the discipline.'

Aims

The central importance of the seminar

It is the clear view of the history staff that the seminar programme is the central medium for education throughout each course. The emphasis is on debating history. So it is compulsory for students to attend seminars but the lecture programme is voluntary. This emphasis on a shared experience means that students can help each other and work co-operatively. The staff encourage independent learning but not necessarily individual learning. The workbooks that support the courses are written to encourage this approach and to strengthen the students' ability to contribute to the debate. One of the general objectives for all courses is to develop students' skills in the analysis and critical reading of historical texts and sources; the workbooks act as a foundation for this work.

The move towards resource-based learning was not determined by the shifts in the staff:student ratio, though the approach has made the handling of the large first-year classes easier. The older model was not seen as producing the best educational practice -numbers were not a primary consideration. Even the courses with the smallest number (15) use the RBL approach and the creation of the resources is seen as a normal part of the academic staff's responsibilities.

Implementation

A consistent approach, encompassing many different teaching methods

Each course has a team of perhaps two or three staff with primary responsibility, who devise the workbooks. The process of introduction has been gradual, in each case starting with the first year of any course. The approach is flexible enough to encompass a wide variety of methods, for example the use of video and visits (which are strongly supported by the division, particularly as ancillary funding is made available for visits as well as paper-based resources. In the light of evaluations and of new developments in the subjects the workbooks are revised each year.

The advantages when new staff join the division

Conversion of an existing course to a resource-based approach is usually quicker than the creation of a new course, but there is now so much expertise and so many examples for the staff to draw on that the process of creation is seen as an interesting academic and pedagogical challenge. June is often the month in which updating is done, to allow time for production before the autumn start.

As the initiative was successful with both staff and students, this approach has been generally adopted by the division and has not needed a 'champion' to implement it. It has proved to provide an excellent framework for the induction of new staff, as long as they are prepared to change their conception of lecturing from the mere presentation of facts by an expert to fostering good learning among their students. There is a simple rule of thumb for evaluation - if you have to hand something out in a lecture or seminar, then the course has not been planned properly!

Student induction

Creating a culture of co-operation

There are very few difficulties with students' expectations, and so the main induction process involves creating a culture of sharing and co-operation as a counterbalance to the ethos of individual competition which is the experience of many straight-from-school students. The RBL approach is valued by the students, as is shown by the decisions they make when choosing pathways and options. But some of the students who enter without A-levels need to be carefully inducted, though they soon learn to appreciate the different learning methods required. Students find that they do more work in history than in other courses as the approach is thorough and there is peer-pressure to participate and contribute.

Resources

The library can focus its investment on more specialised materials

Most courses provide a student handbook, a lecture book, a seminar book and a bibliography. Some courses have a course book and a documents book with a bibliography. In size the books may vary from a 40-page reading guide to a 212-page handbook. The framework is flexible enough to accommodate lots of Open University materials and videos. The development of the workbooks has left the library better able to invest in a wider range of advanced texts.

The lecture book typically includes a synopsis of each lecture, with copies of the documents, texts and data used to support its presentation. The seminar book typically contains reviews, a reading guide and alternative sources, together with preparatory self-assessment questions and exercises.

Operation

Most courses have a timetable of two one-hour lectures and two one-hour seminars each week. The lectures take a variety of forms - straight speech, film or video, a debate, a framework for future study, demonstrations, etc. The seminar sessions are student-led or tutor-led; if student-led, then students generate the handouts necessary for their presentations. In some courses there is a workshop programme (to work on documents, for example). There is also a programme of (usually monthly) tutorials, given individually or in small groups.

In their second year all students have the option to take an Independent Study course, which may develop into a dissertation in the final year. The emphasis on skills development in the first year is partly to prepare students for these faster-paced and more demanding courses.

Assessment

A common pattern allows for significant development in students' skills

The assessment pattern is similar for all courses. Within the year of the course each student writes an essay (20%), gives (possibly with one or two others) a seminar presentation (20%), completes a negotiated assignment (such as a short project) (20%) and takes an examination (40%). Very full guidance is given in the student handbook on how best to carry out these assignments. A seminar presentation assessment form is provided to allow the students to specify the criteria against which they wish to be assessed; the other participants in the seminar also play a part in assessment - a feature which grows in importance through the three years.

Costs

The growth of expertise amongst the staff makes the process both better and more efficient

The costs of producing the handbooks are carried by the divisional budget for materials (£5000 per year) and have no impact on the library provision. As the materials are workbooks and students are expected to work in them, in most cases the materials are given to the students, though some data or text packages (such as copies of parish registers) are returnable.

Evaluation

Positive feedback, good academic results and students who appear to be enjoying the experience

The annual evaluation procedure shows that students' views are consistently positive (though their expectations are getting higher), and their reactions are more positive than for other courses. The external examiner now spends some hours in seminar presentations as well as in covering the examination assessment and is enthusiastic about the standards achieved. Some students find their seminar presentations quite hard, especially if they take a traditional view about their own authority as experts.

The students' academic achievements, both for non-traditional and traditional entrants, are consistently high: 56% of the 1993 examinees were awarded a first- or upper-second- class degree. The recent HEFCE Teaching Quality Assessment Report describes the standards achieved as 'unquestionably impressive' and says of the students in the seminars that 'most strikingly, [they] appeared to be enjoying themselves.'

Developments

The college is developing a modular, semester-based framework and in the immediate future will focus on the remodelling required. Now that the teaching programme of the division has been developed to a point where it satisfies the aims and objectives of the courses and the college, the division will concentrate on building up its research base.

Conclusion

This case study shows how the careful design of resource-based learning allows students to make the main contribution to the study and learning of their subject. The course materials are so thorough and the planning is so extensive that the whole emphasis of the division's work has moved from the performance of the academic staff to the individual experience of each student. The students debate and discuss history and their involvement contributes to their colleagues' learning as well as their own. The division could not succeed in this approach without ensuring that all students have access to the essential materials, which would not be possible if they were dependent on the library. Another significant feature of the development is that a common approach - stimulated by a thorough evaluation exercise - has strengthened the relationships between staff. The results of these changes show clearly in the students' academic achievements.