"Am I alone in thinking......?"
overcoming student concerns and
isolation using a 'Shared Thinking‘
approach to FIMS Induction.
Nicholas Bowskill (Education)
Q. Cutts (Computing Science) S. Brindley (Education), V.
Lally (Education), S. Draper (Psychology)
3rd Annual University of Glasgow Learning and
Teaching Conference, April 22nd 2010
Research Thesis
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If students can be supported to collaboratively
construct a public view of their collective thinking,
from reflective dialogue, then this will create new
pedagogical and methodological possibilities for
development and research
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Shared Thinking is the process by which this might
be achieved using a generative discussion protocol
supported by network-based classroom
technologies
Core Problem:
Students are learning in parallel
Yet university students are part of several
communities (learning with & about others)
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Research
Subject
Institutional
H.E.
Year-group
STARTS WITH INDUCTION
Shared Thinking (ST)
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Inter-disciplinary PhD project
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Education, Psychology &
Computing Science
Kelvin-Smith Scholarship funding
About Group-Oriented Enquiry
Based Learning (EBL/IBL) with
EVS
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Learning using the group as a
resource:
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FOR COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
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FOR SITUATIVE
DEVELOPMENT
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Methodology = 5 case studies
Research Design
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New & Old Universities
Different countries
1st, 2nd and Final Year students
Support Staff at a Conference
Teaching Staff in an academic
department
Science and Social Sciences
Induction, Transition and
Placement Review
Staff CPD
Web site: http://www.sharedthinking.info
Shared Thinking as Group-Oriented
Cooperative Inquiry
Cooperative Inquiry

Research is usually thought of as something done by people in universities
and research institutes. There is a researcher who has all the ideas, and who
then studies other people by observing them, asking them questions, or by
designing experiments. The trouble with this kind of way of doing research is
that there is often very little connection between the researcher's thinking and
the concerns and experiences of the people who are actually involved. People
are treated as passive subjects rather than as active agents. We believe that
good research is research conducted with people rather than on people. We
believe that ordinary people are quite capable of developing their own ideas
and can work together in a co-operative inquiry group to see if these ideas
make sense of their world and work in practice. (Heron & Reason, 2001)
Shared Thinking Recipe
Basic ST Recipe
 Individual Writes concerns
 Small Group Discussion
 List Construction and Voting
 Whole-Group View
 Response of others
FIMS Adaptation (Q.Cutts)
 Individual Writes concerns
 Small Group Discussion
 List Construction and Voting
using Texting
 Whole-Group View
 Response of others
Shared Thinking Structure
Basic ST Structure
1.
2nd year session
2.
1st Year session
3.
Cross-Year Mentoring
FIMS Adaptation (Q.Cutts)
1.
Level 2 session
2.
Level 1 session
3.
Cross-Year Mentoring
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In same session
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In break-out session
Typically n = 30-40
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n = 250+
Whole-Group View as Mediating Artefact
Whole-Group View
Cognitive
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I saw from other students many
things I hadn’t thought of that I
would face [L1 Male Student]
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Situative
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“I personally found it very rewarding
to throw out the concerns…into the
public and getting to know it’s pretty
much the same thing we’re all
worried about” [L1 Male Student]
Yes, quite a lot of things like how
exams might go….hadn’t thought of
that before [L1 Female Student]
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“as soon as you see them you can
start thinking about…lots of
solutions in your head and things to
say or advice to give” [L4 male
mentor]
“It did bring everyone closer
together…made you feel less of an
outsider” [L1 Female Student]
Outcomes of Induction as GroupOriented Enquiry Based Learning
Changed Perception of the University &
Providers
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Group-Oriented EBL
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“It was like questioning ‘What is this for?’
What is that about? And going into more
depth” [L1 Female Student]
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“done with us not for us” [L1 Male
Student]
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It was presented like ‘What did you learn
about it?’[L1 International Male Student]
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“Otherwise you think ‘well this is for other
people’” [L2 Male Student]
I think the people that have organised it
have thought about almost everything [L2
Male Student]
It gave me a feeling of good
organisation…from the moment you
become a student at the university [L1
Male Student]
I found it was a great method of the
university..to welcome the students and
make their landing a lot smoother [L1
Male Student]
Any questions or comments?
Web site for Shared Thinking
http://www.sharedthinking.info