Postgraduate Course: Working with large student groups (EDUA11390)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Working with large student groups¿ option on the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) will provide an opportunity for participants, who are all staff from across the University, to gain a critical understanding of how to organise and design large courses, and to teach large groups of students. |
| Course description |
First, this course will address the question of teaching at scale in higher education. Much teaching is done in large classes, often of 200 or more students, and there is a need to consider the kinds of learning environments that can be cultivated in this context. Indeed, the demand for a course of this kind is being raised by staff themselves through avenues such as the networks for experienced teachers and for UG course organisers. Further, there is a need to problematize what we mean by scale in large group teaching. At one end of the spectrum there is the example of the tutorial group that operates with large numbers and, at the other end, the example of Massive Open Online Courses. It is important that our staff consider the kinds of learning environments that can be created in these different sorts of large group teaching.
Second, the course will examine the pedagogies that are important in teaching large groups. This will consider questions of both course organisation and of course design. There will be opportunity to question the opportunities and challenges of teaching at scale, and how to use these productively to create high quality learning environments. A key emphasis will be on strategies and pedagogies for dealing with large groups including lecture recording, peer learning and flipped classrooms, as well as assessing and giving feedback to large groups. Throughout there will be an emphasis on the use of technology to support learning activities, as well as on questions about how to ensure that teaching is inclusive, accessible and gives due regard to questions about equality and diversity.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate critical awareness and understanding of key themes, issues and research on teaching at scale
- demonstrate in-depth understanding of the opportunities and constraints of teaching at scale
- demonstrate critical analysis of the different pedagogies and strategies that can be used to support learning at scale
- demonstrate understanding of how to apply relevant theory and research findings to design large group teaching
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Reading List
Lund, K. and Wright, S. (2016) Embedding engaged learning in high enrollment lecture-based classes. Higher Education doi:10.1007/s10734-016-0070-4
Maringe, F. and Sing, N. (2014) Teaching large classes in an increasingly internationalising higher education environment: pedagogical, quality and equity issues. Higher Education Volume 67, Issue 6, pp 761¿782
Prosser, M and Trigwell, K. (2014) Qualitative variation in approaches to university teaching and learning in large first-year classes. Higher Education Volume 67, Issue 6, pp 783¿795
Stephanie A. (2014) A critical perspective on large class teaching: the political economy of massification and the sociology of knowledge. Higher Education Volume 67, Issue 6, pp 721¿734
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critically appraise challenges of scaling up teaching for large groups and developing effective solutions to these challenges |
| Keywords | Teaching large groups |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Hazel Christie
Tel: (0131 6)51 6669
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Emily Salvesen
Tel: (0131 6)51 6661
Email: |
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