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Student Focus Group 2007

Danielle Lamb

We invited students from all Philosophy, HPS, Theology and Religious studies departments to apply to attend the focus group, and received approximately 100 responses answering the question, 'What do you plan to do with your degree?'. Of these we invited 20 to join us, and of those 12 were able to come to the two-day event. Of these students, 6 were studying Philosophy, 2 were studying Theology, 1 was studying Religious Studies, 2 were studying Theology and Religious Studies, and 1 was studying Philosophy and Religious Studies. They came from a variety of HEIs, including Brighton, Bristol, Durham, Glasgow, Lancaster, Leeds, Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan, Nottingham and SOAS. There were 5 students who were level 3, and 7 who were level 2. One student was a mature student and the rest had entered HE either straight from school or after a gap year.

The aim of the event was for the SC to gain a perspective on the issues affecting students in PRS, what they consider to be important with regards to their learning and teaching, and to give the students an opportunity to reflect on their own experiences of studying their subjects. The two days were split up into sessions on different topics, which are outlined below with summaries of the session outcomes.

Session 1: Sell your subject

This session gave students the opportunity to reflect on why they chose their course of study, what attracted them to the subject, and the benefits of degree level study that would 'sell' their subject to GCSE or A level students. Reasons for choosing their degrees included, for the TRS students, excelling at the subject at school, developing one's self, in particular by learning to articulate ideas and to argue and debate, to understand one's own faith, to learn about other faiths, to explore contemporary political issues and to consider ethical issues. The philosophy students chose their degrees because they enjoyed the subject at A level, to look at things differently and understand one's self differently, to explore the 'big' questions, to win arguments, to have the freedom to think, and to use their reasoning skills to interact with other disciplines. The TRS students felt that the key selling point of their subjects was usefulness in a multi-cultural society like the UK. They thought that it should be stressed that TRS was 'not just for nuns and priests!' but was relevant to everyone, including atheists. The philosophy students felt that their subject offered the possibility to question what they had been taught at school, using rational argument. They thought the idea of questioning and inquiry was the key selling point.

Session 2: e-Learning

This session focused on the students' experience of e-learning in their studies, the benefits of e-learning and any potential problems. In general they considered e-learning to be something that occurs outside the classroom environment, and none of them had any experience of using e-learning tools during classes. They thought that classes were for traditional kinds of interaction between students and lecturers/tutors, e.g. face to face discussion and debate. They saw three main benefits to e-learning: i) improved communication (especially in terms of access to staff via e-mail, discussion boards etc), ii) as an aid to research (e.g. via online journals, discussion lists, blogs), in particular in terms of variety of sources and how up to date information is, and iii) as providing easier access to organisational/administrative details, e.g. course info, essay submission etc. The problems they saw with e-learning were the variability of the quality of information found (e.g. Wikipedia), that reliance on technology can exclude those with specific needs, that there is a lack of emotional tone when discussions are conducted electronically that detracts from the experience of debate, that e-learning can produce feelings of isolation and alienation, and that there are problems with assessing online contributions, e.g. to discussion boards.

Session 3: Progression

The aim of this session was to explore the students' experiences of the transition from studying for AS/A2 or Highers (AH) qualifications to degree level work. The philosophy students did not appear to have as many issues surrounding the transition from AH to undergraduate study as the TRS students. The TRS issues generally centred on the (perceived) lack of training in critical and independent learning. It was TRS students who raised the issue of 'spoon-feeding' at AH and went on to explore the ways in which this can negatively impact on their undergraduate studies. The progression issues raised by philosophy students were more to do with departmental behaviour and teaching styles, including poor time keeping, failure of lecturers to adhere to schedules, and boring and rigid lectures. This was counterbalanced with praise for lively and informative discussions in the smaller tutorials and seminar groups. It was felt that the active part to philosophy (discussion-based seminars and tutorials) helped to keep the student motivated.

Session 4: Assessment and Feedback

This session aimed to gather information about the students' attitudes towards assessment and feedback. They saw the purpose of assessment as testing what had been learnt, informing staff and students of progress, and as providing a vehicle for feedback so that they could improve their performance. They were usually assessed by essays or exams, but had experienced other forms of assessment on occasion, including presentations, group work, in-class tests or quizzes, oral exams or mini-vivas, VLE assessments, and portfolios. Despite feeling that exams, essays and presentations provided the most fair and helpful forms of assessment, when asked what they would change about assessment they said they would like a greater variety of forms of assessment, as well as the choice of which method they wanted to be assessed by on a particular module. They received feedback via comments on essays, discussion in tutorials, one-on-one sessions with lecturers/tutors, and 'tick box' feedback forms of generic statements adapted to each student. They felt that feedback was generally helpful, but could benefit from being more personal, with more precise and detailed comments that helped students apply the feedback to further work. They complained that some lecturers/tutors provide little or no feedback, but recognised the frustrations of students not taking adequate notice of feedback.

Session 5: Design Your Own Module

The session was intended to introduce the students to the kinds of things their teachers have to think about when designing a module, and, by designing their own module gain a deeper appreciation of pedagogical issues. The students were asked, in groups of three, to set out the course aims, module content, teaching methods and class structures, and assessment method(s), taking into account the following four topics:

Session 6: Best/Worst Learning Experiences

The aim of this session was to get the students to reflect on positive and negative learning experiences, from any point during their education (primary school to university), and then to think about what those experiences suggested were the characteristics of a good teacher. The things they thought were important in a good teacher included passion and enthusiasm for the subject, a natural and comfortable manner, including the ability to employ humour, and respect for their students and concern for their welfare. They also thought that good teachers need to be able to engage students while keeping control of the tutorial/seminar/lecture, and that while it was necessary to give students freedom there also needs to be a certain amount of organisation and structure.

Session 7: Employability

This session aimed to introduce the students to the concept of 'employability', and to get them thinking about how the skills they are developing through their studies can equip them for the world of work. Interestingly, a very large proportion of students who applied to attend the focus group said that they planned to go on to post graduate study, either MAs and ultimately Phds in their subjects, or to complete a PGCE course in order to teach at primary or secondary school level, and their applications showed a high level of understanding of the kinds of skills they were gaining from their studies. In the session, the philosophy students thought that some of the skills they were developing were, critical thinking, the ability to formulate an argument, time management and how to prioritise, problem solving and lateral thinking, understanding complex concepts, independent thought, and working to constraints. They thought that employers look for, reliability, the ability to work independently and under pressure, communication skills, hard working individuals, and intelligence. The TRS students thought that the skills they were developing were; debate and argument, interdisciplinarity, analysis, commitment, appreciation for other cultures, interpersonal skills, public speaking and confidence, and awareness of current issues. They thought that employers wanted; creativity, reliability, leadership, critical analysis, cultural awareness, confidence, variety or all-roundedness and intelligence.

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.

 

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The British Association for the Study of Religions
The Religious Studies Project