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Advanced educational practices in psychology at GU

This page offers a list of "new" features in learning and teaching practice in psychology at Glasgow University. (The idea is, this is a personal view of what might be used in AMRs (Annual course Monitoring Reports), or reports on Enhancements.)

What does "new" mean? Everything we do has a relevant precedent somewhere else in the world: so "new" doesn't mean an international innovation. On the other hand, if most departments are doing it, it certainly isn't new, but has become common practice. Yet we don't want to report only things in the first year we use them: that would mean reporting it only once, and so failing to give a picture where we continue to be ahead of most others. So the meaning of "new" here is: that we have reason to believe it is a beneficial innovation, and is not widespread practice at least at GU.

My research is in learning and teaching in HE, and I've been involved in many practices in other subject areas in the university. This list is just about innovations in Psychology; but is almost certainly incomplete, just focussing on ones I know plenty about. It is material for a definitive report on the department to draw on, not a complete list itself.

In the lists below, I just point to other pages, or sections of pages, where the practice or issue is reported. You need to follow links perhaps several times to find explanations, reports, etc. They are lists, not self-sufficient explanations, on this page.

Contrasting companion pages

• List of most issues and innovations in GU as a whole that I've been involved with in some way.
• List of innovations I think all subject areas should seriously consider adopting right now (not that have been adopted).
• My own personal practice: [TEA]

Learning and teaching enhancements in GU Psychology

• PAL
• Reciprocal Peer Critiquing Some tutors do this in level 3, with students valuing it after they have done it.
• "Podcasts": audio recordings of lectures on the web. The department normally provides these for lectures in levels 1 - 3. In addition, in one level 4 course, students produce podcasts for their class.
• Use of Interviewer to give our students practice at job interviews (in house PDP employability training).
• ExpExp The above is an early link. I've developed, and run a few times, some workshops aimed at giving our students skills they need, particularly for exams.
• MCQ quizzes online: ?Level 1 and 2 courses now arrange for quizzes to appear online in stages throughout the year for ?self-assessment.
• Induction Some psychology students in the last two years have been given a novel form of induction session on arrival. This includes having previous students give advice to the new incoming students. (This was done by faculty.)
• Student led learning / Student contributing pedagogies / Student generated content. There is a general area of learning designs in which what one student produces significantly contributes to the learning of other students in the class. Some would say that the ancient format of seminars embodies this; but in actual academic practice, it is rare for one student's contribution at a seminar to change what another learns. However some learning designs do accomplish this. In my Jigsaw learning design for my Positive Psychology course students produced materials (published in a wiki) that other students used and were examined on, and which were not covered by staff lectures. Another example (below) is the PeerWise supported idea of students authoring MCQs that other students use.
• Assessment in/of non-traditional formats. While most of our assessment is on individual paper products, submitted either on actual paper on in Word documents, we have introduced some assessment for credit for student-produced podcasts and wikis. This is partly because of the inherent role of these in the courses concerned, but also because it allows students some experience of authoring more modern formats, which they feel may enhances their employability.

• Feedback Calendars
• AAW We now have a web resource for supporting students in improving their academic writing.
• PeerWise: there is now software to manage having students author MCQs and the rest of the class use them. ??Is Jason introducing a use of this?

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