This case study relates the way that Sheffield Hallam's 'Drug use in Context' module has evolved into a paperless, situated learning experience that students find relevant and engaging.
Crossing the disciplines of politics and psychology, this module examines the context of illegal drug use, engaging students with topical debates and discourses. Supplemental use of the web was adopted early, largely due to the fast-changing nature of the field, which meant that the most recent data was not yet available in a physical format. The module is now paperless, excepting the final exam, and is delivered through a blend of lectures, seminars and online interaction. Resources used include texts on illegal drug issues, policy reports, social-economic data and political research. Key skills developed by the students are in presentation, communication, development of argument linked to policy development and extensive online research.
The study equates the module’s approach with Lave's concept of ‘situated learning’ conducted in ‘authentic contexts’. Although I associate this concept with Brown et al (1989) after the H800 course. The subject area certainly lends itself to online research and collaboration. There is plenty to debate and this is presumably a key way in which the field is moved forward in practice. The students can put together a practical portfolio which is useful in demonstrating their skills to employers. The study also discusses how a ‘community of practice’ (a concept I do associate with Lave) is built, whereby the students build knowledge through sharing experiences and viewpoints.
I'm not sure how innovative this is, it seems like common-sense. But then I think often good ideas do seem obvious in retrospect! I think it seems to be fairly similar to the way the MA ODE courses work, in terms of elearning activities and collaboration. Maybe the discipline is a bit more fast-moving though, a day is a long-time in politics! Perhaps, it seems less innovative to me because I am already immersed in this type of learning context. I'm interested in how easily this discipline lends itself to elearning, it seems particularly suited, being rooted in current and changing events. Next, I'm going to look at Glasgow Uni’s case study on using Moodle to support active learning in Classics, that should offer an interesting contrast in terms of discipline!
Hallo Sharon,
ReplyDeletethat is a really good summary and reflection on the case study. You are good with words. I am still having problems coming to the point and describing it in such a fashionable way. I just read the team-based approach to developing e-resources and try to summarize it in some way. I experienced the same problem figuring out what the innovation is, because like you point out it is normal practice (well not everywhere) to have resources online or have forums. However, if we think of innovations as added value and to bring a change, then at the time the project was started it can be considered as innovative.
Sylvia
Hey there - I love the cartoon! SO true!
ReplyDeleteThe very mention of the word 'paperless' gets me all excited! Yes, trees are renewable, but I do think we have to worry about depleting the world's resources; and if we can deliver a curriculum with no need for paper copies of lectures, and heavy textbooks, and bound projects, then GREAT!!!!
Although I am generally dismissive of blogs I get your point of how useful it could be here. In the context of society's view of drugs things do seem to be very fluid, including the government and police view. I understand how a blog (in the context of this course) is really the only way of keeping the material up to date. Tutors can post material from academic papers, the press, government releases think tanks as they occur, rather than wait for the next edition of the course manual (too late for the current cohort).
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