TESEP influenced and helped support the teaching approach of the
individual practioners involved in a rich range of ways, and benefited
their learners likewise.
Below you can access case studies that explore the experiences
of many of the practitioners involved in TESEP, covering a range
of subject levels and disciplines.
Mel
Bradley, Lauder College, HNC Acting and Performing
|
 View
case study |
| Mel's case study
describes how she integrated online resources into her course
to minimise passive learning and make the learning experience
more effective for her learners. Mel created a Community of
Practice using the college VLE and gave the learners group
tasks that integrated research, practical presentation and
evaluation. Wikis were used for collaborative learning and
text messaging was used for informal communication. |
Allan Hanretty,
Lauder College, BSc Networking Computing
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case study |
| Allan’s
case study explores the use of social software to support part
time learners to learn and work together collaboratively. The
learners used Wikis and SMS to communicate. Allan also encouraged
the groups to make their own decisions on their method of working
and the focus of their projects to provide a more personalised
learning experience. |
Liz Foulis, Lauder
College, Art and Design - Figure/Life Drawing 1
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case study |
| Liz’s case
study describes how she engaged learners for deepened learning
through the personalisation of their learning, by giving the
learners choice in the order and the way in which they learned.
To further enrich the learning experience group collaboration,
the opportunity to produce ‘content’, and self/peer
evaluation and assessment were introduced. Liz wanted the learners
to be able to choose how, what, and when to learn the various
elements of the module at times which would suit the stage
they were at in the learning. The aim was to change the class
dynamic from one of passive learning to one of excitement,
engagement, and mutual support in their learning for the learners. |
Alicia
Salazar-Dawes, Edinburgh’s
Telford College
Languages - Spanish 1: Life in another Country
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case study |
| Alicia’s
case study describes how she used collaborative learning to
help develop learners’ oral language skills. Alicia wanted
to explore how emerging technologies such as podcasting and
Skype could be used to create real life scenarios and a learning
community. Alicia also introduced peer assessments to encourage
learners to learn from each other. |
Tracey
MacDonald, Edinburgh’s Telford College
HNC Acting and
Performance - Theatre Styles
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case study |
| Tracey’s
case study explores how to engage and inspire learners to
investigate a potentially alienating subject – in this
case the theatrical context and conventions of Shakespeare’s
theatre style. A key aspect of Tracey’s approach was
putting the learners in the role of researcher and teacher.
Learners were empowered by giving them the opportunity to present
their findings to their peers. |
Natasha
Prescott, Edinburgh’s
Telford College, Higher Psychology
|
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case study |
| Natasha’ case
study describes how she moved from the traditional lecture
and tutorial format to one where the learners were encouraged
to work as researchers, independently and collaboratively.
The approach also involved establishing a learning community
and extending opportunities for discussion and feedback. The
overall aim was to raise the level of learner engagement and
gradually increase their control over the learning activities. |
Construction
Case Study
Dennis Savage, Lauder College, Brickwork
Frazer
Walker, Lauder College, Carpentry and Joinery
Martin Hobbs,
Edinburgh’s Telford College, Painting and
Decorating
|
View
case study |
| Construction
subjects are traditionally taught by dividing the practical
and theory into separate areas. Theory generally involves a ‘chalk
and talk’ approach in a classroom. Learners tend to be
passive and are spoon fed with the required information. The
3 projects described in this case study have attempted to make
the learning process more effective. The tutors believe that
the revised approach will encourage learners to think more
deeply about what they are learning and help them to develop
transferable problem solving skills that they can use continue
to use in their working lives. |
Ken Dale-Risk,
Napier University, Enthusing and Engaging Legal Researchers
|
View
case study |
| Ken’s case
study describes how collaborative learning and social software
was used to encourage learners to engage more in a module which
traditionally they felt was of little value to them. The approach
required learners to take more ownership of the process of
exploring different research methods and to reflect on the
effectiveness of those methods, individually and in groups. |
Anne Hardie,
Napier University, Bachelor of Nursing Degree
|
View
case study |
| Anne’s
case study describes how Problem Based Learning (PBL) was introduced
to foster active learning, collaboration and learner empowerment.
Learners were encouraged to manage their own group, identify
their own learning needs, negotiate with each other in sharing
the work, discuss and interpret findings and reflect on learning
and assess their own input to group learning. The University’s
VLE - Web CT was used to support the module by providing some
learning materials, links to useful sites, revision quizzes
and articles, providing discussion facility for sharing findings
and assessing the module by MCQ exam. |
Angela Benzies,
Napier University, Case Studies in Engineering Design
|
View case study |
Angela’s
approach was designed to enhance learner engagement.
Engineering learners typically do not like management subjects
and need extra help to recognise their importance to the professional
engineer. The key challenge in this teaching and learning environment
was to provide engaging, relevant content in a format which
would busy part-time learners could easily and flexibly access,
while promoting early and consistent engagement with module
activities. The project also explored how a range of technologies
could help support this.
|
David Stevenson,
Napier University
Marketing and Research – Peer Assessment
|
View case study |
| David’s
case study describes how a peer e-assessment mechanism was
used to encourage the learners to take more ownership of their
own
learning and take a more measured approach to what they were
doing. It was also hoped that the peer assessment system would
help to alleviate some of the inherent problems with assessed
group work, most notably variable contributions to the work
from the learners. David hoped that this approach would help
learner with deeper learning because of the transferable skills
they would develop, like negotiation and differentiation of
workloads. |
| Jill Stavert, School of Management and Law, International Law in Contemporary Society |
Jill's
study currently being updated
|
| Jill’s case study describes how she introduced a blended approach using the University’s VLE - Web CT. Collaborative classes and assessed online activities were introduced to provide the learners with the opportunity to learn independently of the lecturer in a collaborative environment. It was hoped that the learners would also find the experience enjoyable and rewarding as well as enhancing their learning. The role of the tutor became that of a facilitator during the collaborative class sessions and online moderator for the online activities. |
