Teaching and Learning > DOCUMENTS
Inquiry-Based Learning in Theology and Religious Studies: an Investigation and Analysis: 3.4.a.i Fieldwork Recording: the videos
Rebecca O'Loughlin
Six students participated in the dig, and, working in pairs, produced three videos between them. What was noticeable immediately upon watching the videos was their professionalism, not to mention their educational and, it has to be said, entertainment value. The videos give the students the opportunity to apply and display their skills in ways which writing an essay does not. Apart from displaying Biblical Studies/Archaeology-specific skills in the videos, the students have also clearly developed technical skills as a consequence of making films. They also display team working skills in the videos, necessary for both participation in the dig and the production of the videos. The sections of the videos where the students interview academics also clearly involved the application of interpersonal skills.
One of the things that the videos convey most powerfully, in a way a written piece of work could not, is the authenticity of the students' research in Israel. The videos document the participation of undergraduates in genuine research, illustrating vividly their membership of a research community. The students are researching with, conversing with, and interviewing academics. The knowledge and experience they have acquired as a result of actually 'doing' their subject is likely to be much more memorable than that they would acquire through reading about it. I was also struck, when watching the videos, by the students' creation of original knowledge; for instance, in one of the videos, two students discovered vessels of significant importance to the dig. The dig director is recorded on the video as calling this 'a once-in-a-lifetime find' and ordering for the dig to be re-directed to the site of the find. Again, such knowledge is likely to be more memorable and empowering for the students because it has originated with them.
1. Introduction to the research project
2. Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning and its potential benefits
3. Case Study institution A: University of Sheffield
3.1 Generic student focus group
3.2 Interview with CILASS student ambassador
3.4.a Fieldwork recording project
3.4.a.i Fieldwork Recording: the videos
3.4.a.ii Fieldwork recording: staff and student interviews
3.4.a.iii Fieldwork recording: student focus group 1
3.4.a.iv Fieldwork recording: student focus group 2
3.4.c Tandem learning at the University of Sheffield
4. Case Study institution B: University of Manchester
4.1 Students Facilitating and Validating Peer Learning
4.2 Engaging with Early Christian Communities: An IBL Approach
4.3 The Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology
5.1 TRS and the CILASS framework for IBL
5.2 The disciplinary culture of TRS
5.3 Pragmatic considerations: employability, IBL and TRS
5.4 Conclusions and notes of caution
This page was originally on the website of The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. It was transfered here following the closure of the Subject Centre at the end of 2011.
