Learning Community BA Media Studies

Samenvatting

De Faculteit der Letteren start in september 2015 met de nieuwe Engelstalige internationale bacheloropleiding Media Studies. De opleiding zal naar verwachting een grote instroom hebben van Nederlandse en buitenlandse studenten. Het is van groot belang voor de kwaliteit van de opleiding waarin active learning en de international classroom centraal staan om binnen de opleiding een vruchtbaar en samenhangend leerklimaat te creëren. Het concept Learning Community kan studenten en docenten van allerlei nationaliteiten succesvol laten samenwerken om zo de leerdoelen te bereiken.

In relatie tot Learning Communities zijn vier vragen leidend:

• Hoe kan een activerende en stimulerende leeromgeving worden bewerkstelligd?
• Hoe kunnen aandacht en ruimte voor interculturele verschillen worden gegarandeerd
• Hoe kan binnen het programma ruimte voor persoonlijk contact en een hechte sociale band tussen studenten en staf worden gecreëerd?
• Hoe kan dit bijdragen aan het vergroten van studierendement en het bereiken van leerdoelen?

Best Practices

The BA Media Studies is a new international programme with a diverse student population (in 2016 students from 30 nationalities enrolled). The programme started in September 2015 and learning communities are an integrated part of the curriculum. Students are divided in year classes of 20 students each which take all courses together. Each group has a lecturer as tutor who monitors the social dynamics in the group and provides individual support to students.

The programme focusses on active learning: the idea that students learn most from applying theory, concepts and methods. A core concept in the teaching philosophy are so-called learning labs. In these labs students work on in-class assignments while the lecturer acts as a coach, giving short instructions and immediate feedback on student work. Students come to class prepared; they do readings and prepare (group) assignments. Formative assessment is a leading principle. Moreover, students learn to developing intercultural competences which is one of the learning outcomes of the programme.

In the past year this teaching philosophy has been very successful: 92,5 % of the students acquired their BSA, with 61,5 % of them obtaining 55 or 60 credits. Moreover, student evaluations were very positive. Students acknowledge the value of the learning community concept, although they not always label it as such.

In the first year of the program a student association was founded (Mesa) that organized all kinds of social activities for fellow students. As of 2016-2017 the extracurricular activities get more shape in the “Meet the Makers”-series, organized by the students with support of the staff. In this series of short “pub lectures”, media professionals present and discuss their work – offering a window on the job market in addition to the professional learning pathway of the programme.