Dr Siobhan MacAndrew

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Dr Siobhan MacAndrew

• Psychology Network Scotland

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Didactic or Socratic?

• Expressing your academic identity in your teaching

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Ariadne or Prometheus?

• Pedagogy, academic identity, and the employment
  of problem based learning techniques

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Siobhan MacAndrewPsychology Network Scotland
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The project

• I focused on practicalities for day-to-day
  teaching
• I emphasised listening to practioners,
• plus PBL/EBL involves less listening on part of
  students (?)

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The method

• Structured interview of 23 lecturers
• Action research - responsive to participants,
  resulted in change of focus during our project

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I have a clear notion of PBL

• Of course!
• Is there one?
• Oh no, not that again!
• Abstain

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I use PBL in my teaching

• Yes
• Sometimes
• No

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Lectures preclude students engagement

• No
• Yes
• Depends on the lecturer
• Depends on the student
• Rather not engage, thanks!

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I see PBL as a useful tool in my armoury

• Strongly Agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly Disagree

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Everything I do is problem based

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• What does that mean?
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

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Lectures versus PBL sessions
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I worry about the sessions subject content

• Yes
• No

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I worry about academic standards

• Yes
• No

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Two camps

• More lectures than PBL (especially in early
  stages of degree)
• More PBL than lectures (especially in early
  stages of degree)

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Why?
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Context of discipline

• Discursive subjects with focus on intellectual
  skills
• Vocational subjects with focus on professional
  skills

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Lecturer authority versus student authority
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The gift of knowledge

• or whats Promethean about our profession?

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Without question, I am the expert!

• Thats what Im paid for
• Thats what theyve paid for
• Irrelevant dimension in teaching (but not
  research)

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My students are capable of PBL

• Strongly Agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly Disagree

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Our participants

• Widespread concern about dumbing down
• Concern students cant rise to challenge
• Concern lecturers cant rise to challenge

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Why?
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• Loss of consensus about excellence
• Students may not meet breadth and depth of
  knowledge
• Lecturers may have difficulty in management of
  activities and understanding of students

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Its your call . . .

• any other factors youd note?

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Cogito ergo sum

• Identity as an academic

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The creator, the possessor, and the seeker after
knowledge
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But whos who?
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I identify myself most as

• A creator of knowledge
• A possessor of knowledge
• A seeker after knowledge
• All three

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Might that also be true of our students?
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Wiki world

• 1.74 billion words in 9.25 million articles in
  approximately 250 languages
• All at the touch of a key

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So whats the point of us?
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The geographers of knowledge?

• State funded sat navs for intellectual journeys?

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The Seven Approaches to PBL

• You heard it here first - look out for MacAndrew
  (forthcoming!)

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Operational focus

• Duration
• Location
• Number of students

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Knowledge focus

• Level of subject knowledge of students
• Do students need to do research before session?
• Level of their own knowledge
• Does lecturer need to do research before session?

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Graduate attribute focus

• Focus on students abilities independent of their
  subject knowledge
• Critical thinking, team work, goal setting
• Professional skills/employability

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Relative contribution focus

• Involvement of students versus lecturer
• Role assignment by students or by lecturer
• Boundaries of the task, how much help given to
  reach goal

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Student engagement focus

• Student ownership of the session and its results
• Group dynamics, interpersonal issues, social
  loafing
• Tailored to year of study
• Recognition of students as expert learners

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Student self-monitoring focus

• Making script for behaviour clear
• Know if they are doing it right
• Encourage reflection and metacognitive awareness

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Want to know more?

• Email me at s.macandrew_at_abertay.ac.uk
• I can supply my full report, and am happy to chat
  about psychology/teaching/Psychology Network
• Thanks for listening!