Thematische Academic Learning Communities

Contactpersoon

prof. dr. M.C. Timmerman. m.c.timmerman rug.nl

Samenvatting

In Bachelor-2 gaan studenten zich langzamerhand meer oriënteren op een afstudeerrichting, of differentiatie. We kennen bij Pedagogische Wetenschappen twee afstudeerrichtingen, Orthopedagogiek en Algemene Pedagogische Wetenschappen/Onderwijskunde, waarbinnen verschillende keuzes voor differentiaties mogelijk zijn. Om studenten zich, binnen de leeromgeving van de Academic Learning Communities (ALC’s), te laten oriënteren op deze afstudeerrichtingen en differentiaties, willen wij in Bachelor-2 een pilot ontwikkelen (en uitvoeren) met thematische ALC’s.

Het basisidee van de ALC’s blijft hetzelfde als in de propedeuse: er worden aan het begin van het studiejaar jaargroepen gevormd van max. 15 studenten met een vaste tutor en de studenten voeren vakoverstijgende onderzoeksopdrachten uit met een duidelijke praktijkrelatie. Voor het Ba-2 jaar is echter een overkoepelend thema gekozen, nl. passend onderwijs. Studenten kunnen hierbinnen kiezen uit een aantal subthema’s, gerelateerd aan de afstudeerrichtingen en Aanvraagformulier Project Learning Community › 3 aan de inhoudelijke vakken die in periode 1A en 1B gegeven worden. Daardoor krijgen studenten een concreter beeld van actuele vraagstukken die zich in de orthopedagogiek, de algemene pedagogiek en de onderwijskunde voordoen en van de wetenschappelijke bestudering daarvan.

Door thematische, vakoverstijgende onderzoeksopdrachten in de ALC’s krijgen studenten meer kennis, inzichten en onderzoeksvaardigheden op thema-gebieden die binnen de afstudeerrichtingen van de (ortho)pedagogiek en de onderwijskunde relevant zijn. Daarmee leveren thematische Learning Communities een bijdrage aan het realiseren van onderwijsdoelen en eindtermen die meer vakspecifiek geformuleerd zijn.

Best Practices

In 2014-2015, the Bachelor programme Pedagogical Sciences introduced Academic Learning Communities (ALC’s) in the first year; the pilot of 2015-2016 extended the ALC’s to the first semester of the second year. The ALC’s at Pedagogical Sciences have classes ( yeargroups) of up to 15 students, working on a research project, supervised and coached by their own tutor/mentor. The assignment is always research oriented and content related to the three courses of that term, challenging students to make connections between the courses. Furthermore, the assignment of each term requires a different approach, in order to introduce students to different aspects of doing research. The learning aims of each assignment are formulated in line with Bloom’s taxonomy of critical thinking. Activating didactics are used to develop a critical academic attitude. The tutors make sure there is an atmosphere of mutual trust, inviting students to learn from each other and have constructive discussions.

In this second year we build on the expertise we developed in the first year, using the same principles as stated above. However, the link to the content of the courses is organized thematically: students choose for one theme out of three. These themes are related to the different tracks within the Bachelor programme, that students will have to choose from after the first term. This way, the development of research related, critical skills is connected to one of the different tracks and with the research that is done within that track.

The experiences of 2015-2016 have shown that being able to choose for one theme addresses the wish of students to focus more on their chosen specialization. Secondly, students feel that the content of the assignments, aiming at writing the final parts of a research report, is useful and practical. This is partly due to the fact that students have to do a research project for one of the methodology courses in their second term: the ALC-assignment is closely connected to that research project. Students report that they have further developed their critical thinking skills, however, so far we have not used standardized tools to assess their critical thinking skills. In 2016-2017 we will start a pilot with Perusall: a collaboration tool for stimulating the development of critical thinking. At the same time, a standardized tool for assessing the level of critical thinking will be used in the ALC’s in order to have a more objective assessment of the learning aims.

Finally, the student evaluations remain very positive about the community atmosphere in their class / year group, and about having one tutor throughout the year, even though for the Bachelor 2- year, the year groups have been re-formed. For the tutor to fulfill his/her role in the ALC’s, i.e. to be able to supervise and coach students in a non-directive but activating approach during their research oriented assignments, ongoing intercollegial didactic reflection and discussion, as well