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C-SAP Findings

Browse Findings

As an introduction to C-SAP's commissioned project work, you may wish to browse through a list of all the completed findings, ordered alphabetically. This gives an indication of the range of mini-projects which C-SAP has funded. Alternatively, project reports for each subject area are listed in the Subject Areas section of our website.

Search Findings

Use the form below to search the database of findings. At present, this search facility is most effective with single keywords, such as curriculum, sociology, voluntary, VLE. Phrases can be used to provide more exact matches. 

Overviews

We have commissioned the following Overviews from academic contributors:

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Problem Based Learning (PBL) is a term used within education for a range of pedagogic approaches that encourage students to learn through the structured exploration of a research problem. Reworking the familiar lecture/tutorial model, students work in small self-directed teams to define, carry out and reflect upon a research task, which can often be a ‘real-life’ problem. The tutor acts as a facilitator and resource person to whom they can come to for advice or guidance. It is used in a variety of disciplines and teaching situations, whether within one course unit or to deliver a whole degree curriculum, and with undergraduates just as much as postgraduates. Some commentators adopt an evangelical approach to ‘marketing’ the PBL acronym and approach, and seek to distinguish pure ‘PBL’ from a broader set of related approaches that they label ‘pbl’. This overview questions such a distinction.

Assessment and the Social Sciences

Assessment can be defined as ‘obtaining and interpreting information about the knowledge and understanding, or abilities and attitudes’ of a student (Rowntree 1987, 4). Assessment has two forms: Formative - the process of diagnosing the capabilities of students at any point in a course of study in order to enhance future performance Summative - the measurement of student attainment against various yardsticks at the end of a course of study, for the purpose of providing a signpost to external stakeholders and/or awarding credit within an academic or professional programme of study

Student Volunteering – its place within the curriculum

Student volunteering is a way for students to make a contribution to their local community through voluntary action. Through volunteering, they learn to work within an organisation, form relationships, take responsibility, and develop skills. Volunteering can involve students firsthand in previously unfamiliar situations, and through this activity negative stereotypes can be challenged and insights into social conditions gained. While some students will choose volunteering for altruistic reasons, others will have more instrumental reasons related to enhancing career-related skills. Volunteering is relevant to most disciplines, including sociology, social policy, social work, politics, anthropology, cultural studies, women’s studies, environmental science, geography, management, medicine and law. In the social science curriculum, volunteering can help develop students’ critical awareness of the link between theory, policy and practice, and bring to life current debates about citizenship, ‘active community’, social capital and social exclusion.

Research Training: The Web as a Research Tool

One of the major issues academics will face over the coming years is how to utilise, and teach students to utilise, the Internet in their research. Not only has this issue emerged with the growth of information technology in higher education but as more students come to university having used the Internet fewer seem to have been introduced to the various techniques available to maximise its research potential. As a result, many academics and universities have started to integrate web-based resources into their syllabuses. Some, such as the Open University, are even experimenting with e-moderating; using programmes such as Web-CT and FirstClass, to a deliver computer moderated course (CMC) where they once provided face-to-face (FTF) or TV/Video based courses. However, while the academic community is increasingly becoming aware of, and using the Internet as a source of information for, their courses, relatively little attention has been given to the issue of teaching students how to systematically exploit the resources available via the Internet.

Community-Based Learning in Sociology and related disciplines

Community-Based Learning (CBL) refers to learning in higher education, which takes place outside of the institution, and draws on student experiences and encounters with members of the surrounding community. The CoBaLT project – standing for Community-Based Learning Teamwork – involved a consortium of partners from Liverpool Hope University College Department of Sociology, The University of Liverpool Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work and The University of Birmingham Department of Cultural Studies and Sociology. It was funded by HEFCE’s Teaching and Learning Development Fund, Phase 2 (reference 65/97) from 1997-2001, to investigate good practices in this area, and has disseminated these through workshops, conference papers, videos and workbooks.

If you would like to offer to write an Overview on a teaching and learning issue, following the Overview Pro forma below, please contact enquiries.

Pro forma for completing a C-SAP Overview (pdf document)