Alexios ANTYPAS
Environmental Sciences and Policy
Developing Podcasts and Popular Articles as Learning Tools in Environmental Policy Education
Context:
This project covers two courses—Introduction to International Environmental Policy and Advanced Topics in Environmental Governance—that are taught in consecutive semesters. The courses are currently not linked through any course activities, though thematically the second semester course builds upon the introductory course in many respects. This project proposal arose out of intensive discussions with current master’s students who took the Advanced Governance course about the desirability of intensifying the integration of the two courses as well as designing a methodology for teaching a subject that is in a constant state of real world development, and whose political and technical environment has been undergoing rapid change.
This project has the following aims:
1. To develop a methodology for teaching a subject that is changing rapidly and in which significant shifts can occur in short timeframes, including during the course of teaching itself;
2. To make the student assignment in the second semester contribute to public knowledge and to increase the visibility of the excellence of master’s education at CEU;
3. To give students practical skills in translating academic information and analysis into common language, thereby contributing to the public discourse on environmental policy issues;
4. To increase the critical thinking capacities of students
Teaching innovation and development:
This project will link the two courses so that they become on integrated whole learning experience for the students by creating a bridging research assignment that is begun in the first semester and then taken forward in the second course in which the research will be transformed into publically available podcasts and short, published articles or op-eds for popular journals, environmental web sites, or newspapers. The Advanced Topics in Environmental Governance course currently requires up to three 1-3 page papers each week that are based upon the readings. This project will entail redesigning the weekly written assignments so that they provide a scaffold for the student produced podcasts and the final written output. The podcasts and final written assignment will be more than just end-of-course assignments but will be made public, thus contributing to broader knowledge and enhancing the visibility of the university. In terms of student learning, the integration of academic research and writing with the production of podcasts and popular articles will require the development of complex professional skills in writing, speaking and summarizing, and translating academic work into publicly accessible knowledge.
Additionally, this project will develop a mid-term student feedback mechanism as well as a tailored end-of-term assessment of the variety of assignments—the academic research component, the redesigned weekly paper assignments, the podcast and the final written output.
Dissemination:
The results of the project will be disseminated within the department through a departmental level seminar in which the professor and the students discuss the methodology and outputs of the course. For the broader CEU community I propose to hold a workshop with other professors who have integrated podcasts into their courses. As there are currently several faculty members developing a podcast component for their courses this is a realistic objective. Should this not be possible the departmental seminar with students can be opened to the CEU community.
Floris Bernard
Medieval Studies
Methodologies and Medieval Literatures: Integrated Research-Based Learning and Teaching Program
Many students and researchers at various departments of CEU are grappling with issues relating to literary methodology: how to engage literary texts as historical sources, how to arrive at sound interpretations of texts, how to solve the tension between diachronic developments (literary traditions, genres) and synchronic influences (contemporary sociological contexts). A cross disciplinary platform for reflection and debate about these issues is as yet absent from CEU, and this course may be a first step towards amending this.
The proposed teaching project is an innovative fusion of a traditional comprehensive literature course, in itself sorely underrepresented across the present and projected curricula at CEU, and an interactive learning program designed to mutually benefit and engage all participants in the learning and teaching process. The project has been designed with a keen sense of the reciprocity of the learning and teaching process whereby, in addition to the traditional, one-way “student learning” scenario, the educators also learn and exchange ideas about teaching, and advance their own research with the involvement of students.
As seen from the dovetailed activities in the Program Schedule attached, the primary goal of the course and associated activities is to gain insight into research-based learning and teaching, as well as acquire and teach methodological thinking through the prism of medieval literatures. The topic is far from narrow: apart from covering a wide range of medieval literary traditions and their intersections (French, Dutch, Italian, English, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Hungarian), the invited lecturers and the expected student body will be sufficiently diverse to be able to address current discourses ranging from translation theory, digital humanities, gender or nationalism studies, through learning to approach medieval textual sources from a variety of perspectives.
The goal is thus twofold. On one hand in the Fall Term students will have the opportunity to work together with senior researchers and learn to articulate and disseminate their experiences and new insights in an academic environment. This interactive phase is then followed by a more traditional learning scenario in the course of the Winter Term, in which tables are turned and students have the opportunity to try their hand at teaching. On the other hand, the teachers involved will be able to reflect on their teaching methods through direct conversations and input both in the preparations during Fall Term and in the “Teaching Assistant” element of the Winter Term course.
The course concludes with an open “show and tell” and roundtable event to facilitate the exchange and sharing ideas and produce a summary piece for dissemination results.
The invited mentor-lecturers are senior scholars from other Hungarian universities and institutions, which not only contributes to CEU’s continued efforts to remain deeply embedded in Hungarian academia but also exposes students to research and teaching practices outside the familiar environment of their home departments. The support offered for TDG recipient projects by the Center for Teaching and Learning will be invaluable throughout all the components of the program and we are confident that together we will find ways in which we can integrate this support into the activities of all participants in meaningful and organised ways.
The intensive and interactive journey in literary studies, methodologies and research will span two terms and will be documented and disseminated by the participants in a Research Blog. The blog is expected to develop into a focused and content-managed panorama of current methodologies in literary research and opinions. The blog’s integrity and the academic quality of the texts will be ensured by an appointed PhD student, who will be in charge of streamlining processes and quality, especially with regard to copyrights and proofreading. It is hoped that an active and lasting research community will be borne out of the interrelated web of activities and the involvement of academics from outside CEU.
Preliminary questions concern two disparate strands. As for medieval literature and research methods, the project is expected to present a state-of-the art view of modern methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and approaches which the students can then use in their own research, text-based or otherwise. At the same time, the project will also address current questions of research-based pedagogy, which are at the heart of all teaching activity in higher education. We all do it, it is time to reflect on how we do it and how we can improve and reanimate our teaching practice. The project aims to provide a structured, but at the same time open and democratic platform to intentionally blur the boundaries between academic research and student learning and provide an academically rewarding experience for all participants.
Katalin Farkas
Philosophy
A New Look at Teaching Epistemology and Philosophy of Law
“Epistemology” has been a core subject in the 2-year Philosophy MA program for 8 years. It has been taught in a traditional lecture/ discussion format. After a 3-year break, I will return to teaching this course again in the next academic year. I would like to use this occasion to overhaul the course. In particular, I would like to look into the following:
- explore the possibility of including interactive learning in addition to lectures. Identify particular topics/ questions where eg. group work could usefully contribute to the class
- explore the possibility of including more forms of formative assessment, in addition to the summative assessment that was the main form of assessment for the course
- explore the possibility of including more female authors in the syllabus. In the last few years, there has been a growing concern about the situation of women in philosophy. Compared to other humanities subjects, and compared to nearby disciplines like psychology or linguistics, philosophy has a noticeably lower representation of women among higher education faculty. According to some suggestions, aspects of the climate in the discipline do not sufficiently encourage women to participate. Several remedies have been suggested, one being that more female authors should be included in student readings, thereby offering a positive model of women effectively contributing to the profession.
I would like to apply the lessons of this exercise when developing a new course on the Philosophy of Law for the second term of the academic year. I will incorporate in the new course design the elements that worked best for the epistemology course. I will also make efforts to include female authors in the Philosophy of Law syllabus. The purpose of this grant is to work on the above issues in close cooperation with two PhD students, who will then have a chance to do a teaching practice in one of the two courses. The students would do background research on interactive learning and formative assessment methods, and together we would design the appropriate elements in the course. The students would also identify influential female authors whose work is relevant to the topics taught in the course. One student will be responsible for epistemology, one for philosophy of law.
Viktor Lagutov
Environmental Sciences and Policy
Experiential Learning through Internships and (guided) Reflection
The “Environmental Practicum” course has been running by Viktor Lagutov at the Department of
Environmental Sciences and Policy since 2013. It is dedicated to practice-based learning of
environmental students, who in addition to academic theoretical studies have to face real life
contemporary environmental issues and be able to tackle corresponding arising challenges in order to be successful in their professional career (see current course syllabus – Annex 1). This course is focused on students’ experiential learning through individual internships conducted at participating environmental organizations with various research as well as political mandates. The internship hosts are chosen based on students’ research topics, organization requests, and final host organization decision. The course is worth 3 credits and allows both local and remote internships. Involved organizations include UNECE, UNDP, UNOOSA, REC, WWF, GRIDA, Black Sea Commission, TRAFFIC, various CEU offices, etc. This course is trying to connect theoretical academic knowledge with practical experience through solving real-life problems, what is highly appreciated by students. Yet, it is a challenging task for a professor to insure successful practice-based learning and assess students' understanding and efforts. Diversity of inviting organisations, individual schedules and variety of assigned tasks may complicate evaluation of student’s progress. Currently, the assessment scheme utilized within the course is based on three main course stages:
1) internship work plan development;
2) interim evaluation (progress report confirmed by internship supervisors); and
3) final report and its public presentation. The course have overall good feedback by students, appreciating introduction to and practical work with world leading organizations. However, few years of experience in running the course suggest the need for improving the existing students’ assessment scheme.
Professor’s personal judgment of student’s progress is not sufficient, and new grading approaches (e.g. guided self-reflection) should be incorporated into syllabus.
To ensure notable development in student’s understanding of research field, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking, more reflective and innovative learning strategies should be introduced to the current course. Meaningful reflection on experience is the key aspect of successful practice-based learning. Without systematic thinking and reflection on experience actual learning outcomes might be minor or fragmented. It is not enough just to ask students to “go and reflect” on what they are doing.
In many cases, their reflection must be guided to ensure successful learning, and at the same time, it should be purposeful and not too difficult. This course should not only enable students to experience and explore real-world complex problems, but also to promote application of theoretical knowledge from other courses within the masters programs and facilitate critical and reflective thinking.
High quality reflection is crucial, yet it remains difficult to apply in practice1. Thus, the goal of the
proposed project is to identify and introduce innovative strategies of reflective learning, particularly guided reflection, in the “Environmental Practicum” course, to ensure successful and meaningful experiential learning and its adaptation to the postgraduate academic program. The current course will be enhanced through the refined teaching strategies. As a result, the list of required activities and assessments will be expanded by relevant reflective exercises, depending on the analysis of the available information on the reflective learning, innovative strategies and practices. Additionally, the feedback form from host organisations might be refined in accordance with introduced reflective exercises (for instance some additional questions might be added to the form). Some of the potentially useful alternative techniques were identified through brief literature review, for instance - online survey for guided reflection, integrative seminars, group discussions, short written reflections, etc.
First, the course instructor in liaison with Center for Teaching and Learning and some help from
teaching assistant will conduct a literature review and explore available resources on innovations in teaching practices and tactics. Through this analysis, instructor will be able to identify relevant
techniques and select the most suitable for our case. A detailed schedule with tentative deadlines for the implementation of selected exercises will be developed. At the next stage chosen activities will be introduced to the ongoing “Environmental Practicum” course. Following the feedback deadlines, students’ progress and response to proposed innovations will be monitored and analysed. In case of identified issues, instructor will act accordingly and adjust the assignments and contact the host organisation if needed. At the end of the course, instructor will conduct concluding discussion with students on their achievements and challenges. Teaching assistant will be helping with the collection of final reflections from both students and host organizations. Then, comprehensive analysis of information accumulated throughout the course will be carried out to identify positive and negative features of this experience, successful and problematic aspects.
In the end, through these experiments with various exercises and tactics we plan to:
- foster students’ habit to act and think as “reflective practitioners”, which can serve as valuable skill for their further careers;
- secure instructor professional development by learning new reflective learning techniques;
- potentially, outline a reflective framework, which would include a number of activities proved to be successful in supporting students’ experiential learning.
Dissemination: The "Environmental Practicum" course serves as a focal point for applying students' theoretical
knowledge and skills obtained from other Environmental Sciences Department's courses in solving real-life problems. Integration of practical experience and theoretical knowledge facilitates students' learning, while introduction of innovative reflective techniques will ensure that this experiential learning is successful. Meaningful reflection not only indicates the results achieved during the students’ practical work, but also greatly helps them to integrate theory with practice. It will as well provide additional feedback to the instructor and support interconnection between students and mentors from both university and host organization.
At the same time, promotion of reflective thinking supports professional development of the instructor, for instance, by the encouragement of reflective teaching. Enhanced and tested feedback loop between the instructor and students will provide better understanding of the students’ learning during the internships, expand opportunities for teacher to guide leaners through this process, advance instructor’s teaching technics, and improve the final assessment. To promote reflective thinking a number of integrative seminars, in the beginning, middle, and at the end of the course will be conducted. That would help students to better understand course' structure and goals, give them an opportunity to discuss with professor and each other anticipated and undergone challenges, share their experiences and concerns. Such discussions as well as feedback collected through guided reflection and interim assessments can help instructor to identify problematic aspects in the learning experience and promptly provide required support and adjust the working plan or step in the communication with host organization, if it seems necessary.
Tested reflective techniques and strategies of the meaningful experiential learning can be successfully applied in other courses, which incorporate practice-based teaching. Outlined reflective framework might be suitable for the entire CEU community, since the explored practices can be implemented regardless the specific discipline. Through dissemination of successful practices and teaching strategies across CEU, the project can support and enhance cross-departmental cooperation. Similar courses, featuring integration of theory and practice, already exist at other CEU’s departments (for instance – Policy Labs, School of Public Policy). Framework will be published on the Departmental and Systems Laboratory webpages, will be advertised through Facebook groups. Potentially, based on this experiment, a university-wide seminar/workshop might be conducted during the 2018 Spring semester, to increase awareness about the benefits of reflective learning and facilitate the implementation of such innovative teaching technics.
The framework, developed based on the results of this project, will include:
- a number of sections featuring selected and conducted reflective exercises (consisting of short
description of each exercise, explanations with examples of how it was introduced into the ongoing course, identified issues, potentially advantages/disadvantages);
- overall conclusions regarding the project and some recommendations;
- list of other strategies, tactics, and exercises (with short descriptions), which were identified during the literature review stage, but were not actually implemented into the course.
Moreover, the project could greatly contribute to the Internship Initiative by the CEU Administration, currently working on development of the new Professional Internship Scheme and to be facing the similar challenges in grading and introduction of practice-based learning into academic curricula. In this way, the results of the proposed project could be quite useful for improving both existing practicebased courses (syllabi and professor’s teaching skills) and shaping this university-wide internship scheme.