Students organise a seminar in which they work on developing their individual assignments. The teacher describes a number of tasks they must complete during the seminar.
I wanted to make room for the students to define and develop their academic skills themselves. This case gives me an insight into what the students view as valuable knowledge exchange.
To practise playing a part in decision-making processes and setting the framework for your own and other students’ learning.
To develop an understanding of your own learning processes by identifying which activities you need to engage in to progress with your assignment
To develop an assignment process in collaboration with and with help from others
To practise overcoming nerves
To improve your lifelong-learning and problem-solving skills
To increase your sense of academic affiliation and cohesion
To improve the quality of your learning environment
To practise making collective decisions and to develop the skills required to organise and run an academic seminar (necessary for many positions on the labour market)
THE PROCESS | |||
Planning the seminar(1 hour and 30 minutes) | Plenary session (30 minutes)
Group sessions (1 hour) In group sessions or in a student-led plenary session if there are fewer than 10 students in the class:
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Holding the seminar(2 hours and 45 minutes) | Within the allocated time, students complete the following activities, which relate to the tasks described above:
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Reflection on outcomes and learning(30 minutes) | Plenary session in the next class:
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RESSOURCES FOR STUDENTS | SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS |
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Strong sense of ownership.
Practice in being independent.
Increased confidence in completing open tasks.
Finding creative and innovative ways to complete tasks.
Productive reflections on how an exercise can improve learning (or miss the mark – and why).
Students get more leeway to make decisions when the teacher steps back from controlling the session (within a specified framework). Students who usually hold themselves back are given the opportunity to contribute in other ways and to take on new roles in the student community.
Students receive valuable feedback from each other, which also helps to foster a sense of academic community.
Class size. For large classes, it may be necessary to divide the class into two student groups and hold two seminar days or hold group presentations instead of individual presentations.
The teacher’s role. If students make hasty or unreflective decisions about the structure or content of the seminar, it may be necessary to help the students develop their ideas in the group discussions. This requires the teacher to ask questions about their choices or challenge their decisions – without providing them with the answers.
It’s important to keep the tasks open so that the students themselves can explore ways of solving them.
Be present when the students are discussing how they will plan and hold the seminar, but don’t interfere in their discussions too much. If you have something to say, say it at end of the process, once they’ve already made progress on their own.
Ideally, the teacher’s role should be more than just giving feedback on the presentations during the seminar, as this quickly grabs the students’ attention and tilts the balance in the room at the expense of the students’ contributions.
Remember to summarise afterwards so that the students can reflect on what the seminar gave them in terms of learning and experience.
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