The Politics and International Studies Ideas Bank

Welcome to the Politics and International Studies Ideas Bank. One of the aims of C-SAP is to disseminate interesting practice and so this area has been developed to be a ‘swap shop’ of ideas. Case studies and academic articles can be an invaluable resource, however, it is hoped that this collection of bite size examples of innovation in learning and teaching can offer a time-saving digest. Below you will find a brief overview of noteworthy practice and contact details for more information. Please do send in examples of innovative practice from your own institution and highlight the work of the unsung teaching heroes in your department.

Send contributions to the Ideas Bank to enquiries@c-sap.bham.ac.uk.

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Ideas Bank Transcripts

Our third year module, Critical Approaches to Security, uses weekly briefing papers to form part of the assessment for the module overall (20%). The aim of this weekly assessment is to encourage close critical engagement with the required reading, to develop the academic skill of critical summary and to provide a strong grounding in the relevant academic literature. The weekly briefing papers examine the ability to write fluently and coherently with close reference to limited sources and to engage critically with the assumptions and arguments put forward in the readings. The remaining skills and learning outcomes of the module (80%) are assessed through a research paper submitted in Term Three. The weekly briefing papers were introduced in the academic session 2008-09 and have proved very popular with the students, according to the Departmental evaluation forms. For more information, contact Laura Shepherd (l.j.shepherd@bham.ac.uk) or Cerwyn Moore (c.moore.1@bham.ac.uk) at the University of Birmingham.

A committee of staff have thoroughly revised the provision of our core module introducing the students to the academic skills and methods they will need to successfully complete their Political Science/ International Studies degree programmes. In the past, this module was heavily reliant on lectures and laboratory work, covering complex methodological techniques and philosophical debates. We decided to build the module ‘from the ground up’, making sure that the development of adequate academic skills was facilitated before moving on to introduce the students to philosophies and methods of social science research. The labs have been replaced with workshops that will give the students the opportunity to practice the skills and methods they are taught. The assessment regime of the module was also amended, to better test the new learning outcomes, and now includes a group presentation component (30%) and an extended essay (70%), in place of the usual timed unseen exam. For more information contact Robert Watt (r.n.watt@bham.ac.uk) or Laura Shepherd (l.j.shepherd@bham.ac.uk) at the University of Birmingham.

Studying European Politics can be a challenge! And this is not surprising: even the best academic minds of European politics still struggle to give precise definition to such a young, but already so complex and constantly evolving polity as the European Union, and are increasingly at odds with identifying its prospects for survival. One way to achieve a better understanding of the subject is to utilise a threshold concept approach, which is essentially a 'less is more' approach that chooses to work with a few 'founding' concepts, and identifies a 'road map' for independent learning of broader but essentially inter-connected issues of the subject. The threshold concept approach becomes even more effective if combined with enactive learning - that is, learning-by-doing, through role-taking and simulation of the threshold concepts during seminars. Such learning evidently exceeds the boundaries of conventional knowledge and becomes a useful transferable investment for the future.

For more information contact Elena A. Korosteleva-Polglase (ekk@aber.ac.uk) from Aberystwyth University.

One area where the School of International Studies and Social Science at Coventry is trying to be innovative with its teaching practice is in its efforts to expose students to primary sources more. Feedback has suggested that if students have the opportunity to work with primary sources, this brings subject matter more to life. Borrowing from colleagues' personal collections of copied (photographed/scanned) official archive material, 'virtual archives' are supplied directly to students on DVD data discs. With these DVDs, supported by explanatory workshops and subject background lectures, students have the opportunity to explore the documents that original policy decision makers used and formulated. Students report that this insight into how events unfold has given them a deeper understanding of the subject matter they are studying. For more information on this project please contact Alex Thomson at Coventry University (a.thomson@coventry.ac.uk).

5. The Use of Audience Response Systems to Encourage Student Engagement and Participation

Dr. Cathy Gormley-Heenan, in the School of Policy Studies, has recently completed a pilot project which considered the introduction of an Audience Response System (ARS) with a first-year politics class at the University of Ulster, to encourage student interactivity and participation via innovative teaching and learning technologies. ARS uses small hand-held remote control devices which are distributed to students in class and are then used by students to actively participate in class through using the devices to answer questions and give opinions on controversial and 'delicate' political issues related to the topic under discussion (similar to the concept of 'ask the audience' in the hit show 'Who wants To Be a Millionaire?'. Four key student-centred benefits were identified from the pilot project: increased student engagement, increased motivation and attendance patterns, a progressive learning experience, and self-reflective opportunities. Amidst concerns about students' political apathy and/or deficiencies in political literacy, her work suggests that political science and ARS might be natural bedfellows. Initial feedback on this work from the web and e-learning coordinator at the Higher Education Subject Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (C-SAP) and from others within the PSA's Teaching and Learning Specialist Group, would indicate that the use of audience response systems has not been in evidence within political science departments in the UK and Dr. Gormnley-Heenan feels that there will be considerable interest among colleagues across the discipline about the potential uses of this system in their own teaching and learning environments. For more information please contact Cathy Gormley-Heenan at the University of Ulster (c.gormley@ulster.ac.uk).