Queen’s University Centre for Educational Development
Case Study: Active and Interactive Learning at Stage 1
Title: ‘Deviant moments in Britain and Ireland, 1700-1900’
Context
School/Subject: History and Anthropology (History)
Degree Programme: History (BA)
Module:
This first-year course, ‘Deviant moments in Britain and Ireland, 1700-1900’ is part of
the Exploring History 1 module. All level 1 students have to take a Exploring History 1
course of their choice. ‘Deviant moments’ was capped at twenty-seven students in
2013.
Learning environment (eg. lecture, tutorial, lab., field work):
Students had a one-hour lecture and a two-hour tutorial (two groups) per week. In
week 8, they participated in a walking tour, which started at City Hall in Belfast.
Preferred room type: Flexible seating is preferable to facilitate group work.
Timetabling of session: The walking tour took place in week 8 during the tutorial time
slot (Tuesday 1-3 pm and Wednesday 9-11 am).
Activity
What do you do? (content, assessment etc.)
As part of the walking tour, students, in pre-assigned groups of three, researched a
specific crime that occurred in nineteenth-century Belfast using archival, newspaper
or other sources. Each group delivered a presentation at the identified site of their
selected crime as part of a class walking tour. Students were awarded marks for
tutorial participation in week 8 and were advised that the end-of-term examination
paper could feature a question about the walking-tour case studies.
How do you do it? (method including tips)
In the tutorial in week 1, students received specialist training from the history
librarian, Diarmuid Kennedy, which, coupled with subsequent lectures, interactive
tutorial tasks and demonstrations, ensured that they were familiar with relevant
resources for the study of ‘deviance’ in Britain and Ireland. Several weeks in
advance of the walking tour I asked students to write on post-it notes the type of
crime that they would like to research. I divided students into groups of three based
on their preferences. Each group had to assign a technician, who would record the
presentation, a researcher, who would take responsibility for finding sources, and
presenter, who would deliver the presentation on the day. Students could select to
research any criminal case that occurred in nineteenth-century Belfast but the
chosen site had to be within walking distance of City Hall. They identified their sites
by using nineteenth-century maps and contemporary sources.
After the tour, students had to submit a brief written report, essentially a summary of
the case and a bibliography of sources. This, coupled with the video presentations,
which were shared on QOL, could be used for revision purposes. At the beginning of
the semester, I prepared a handout outlining the different stages of the project, the
expectations, and questions that the presentation/report should address.
Why do you do it that way?
This project enabled students to develop skills as historians by researching case
studies, identifying limitations of sources, placing stories in a wider context and
communicating findings orally and in writing. I hoped that the inclusion of this project
in a level 1, first-semester module would encourage students to recognize that they
could, with the guidance of academic and support staff, direct their own learning and
delve into particular topics that sparked their interest. I also hoped to highlight the
importance of peer learning by encouraging students to use the work produced by
their colleagues as revision notes. In terms of transferable skills, students gained
experience in using audio and visual equipment. Peer-assessment and self-reflection
in consequence of watching the presentations and the online videos should also
have helped students to improve their presentation skills. The project also allowed
students (many of whom had recently moved to Belfast) to engage with their local
environment. Using maps and contemporary sources, they could identify how the
city’s built environment and social geography had changed over time. Visiting the
sites of the crimes or locations connected to the offences (place of work, residence
etc.) helped to remind students that we study real people rather than fictional
characters.
I scheduled the tour for week 8 for a number of reasons. Firstly, students submitted
their essays for this module in week 7 and thus would have time after submission to
perfect their presentations. Secondly, by week 8 students would have completed
sufficient topics to enable them to contextualise the case studies. Engagement with
primary sources was a gradual process. Initially, copies of particular sources were
provided and formed the basis of class discussion about strengths, limitations and
potential research questions. As the module progressed, students were expected to
locate newspaper, court evidence or case studies from specified databases and
devise their own research questions. Thirdly, students would be comfortable with
each other after seven weeks of class, which is important for successful group work
projects.
Technology (if any) used to support activity (brief description):
Pre-walking tour: I set up a thread for each group on the QOL discussion forum to
ensure that students could communicate with other members of their groups and
share documents and links. I used the tutorial discussion forum rather than the
module forum to ensure that only students registered for that tutorial would be able to
access the information.
Walking tour: I brought a video camera and audio recorder for use on the walking
tour. Each student technician operated the camera and voice recorder.
Post-walking tour: After the tour I combined the av and audio files to produce a clip
of each presentation. I uploaded these and the written reports to QOL so that
students could use them for revision purposes.
Evaluation/Reflection/Outcomes
How do you know it works? (measures you adopted, student feedback outcomes,
staff feedback)
Students commented positively on the walking tour in the end-of-semester module
reviews. Hopefully it has also helped to ease concerns about group work!
Challenges/Issues/Problems:
The unpredictability of Belfast’s weather threatened to impact but fortunately it
remained dry for the duration of both walking tours. It was, however, bitterly cold and
a light snow was forecast. I had warned students in advance to dress appropriately
for the cold conditions.
Some students dislike teamwork because they fear that some team members might
not pull their weight. The fact that students received individual rather than group
marks for the walking-tour task meant that they were not particularly concerned about
the capabilities of their team members. I hoped that the teamwork experience in
semester one of first year would help to alleviate fears about future group
assignments.
I had anticipated that passers-by might be interested in or might stop to listen to the
presentations on the day. I had advised presenters in advance of the tour to carry on
regardless of any distractions. In the event, those who joined our tour at particular
sites were respectful and merely listened to the presentations and asked questions
after filming was complete. Several groups had picked quite gruesome case studies
so it’s not particularly surprising that people stopped to ask when the crime had
occurred!
Advice and Tips:
Charge the camera and voice recorder (bring spare batteries if necessary) and bring
a map/satnav! It is also important to speak to students registered with DS in advance
to ensure that they are comfortable with the process.
Looking forward:
I would definitely incorporate the walking tour if I were to teach this course again. I
would, however, give students guidelines about requirements in week 1 rather than in
week 4 and I would set mini-deadlines along the way. I would spend more time
discussing effective presentation skills than the c.10-15 minutes that I allowed. It
might also have been useful to give students a template of the report rather than a
list of questions or to have created a sample written report. In future, I would
encourage students to visit the chosen site in advance of the tour or to use
Googlemaps to identify their chosen location and the directions from the previous
stop.
Support Material (please upload/attach or give URL)
References (if available)
Contact Details:
Elaine Farrell
e.farrell@qub.ac.uk
9097 3252