CEEBL Projects 2005/06
Using Participatory Image Based Research to Inform Teaching and Learning about Inclusion in Education
Images can play an important role in developing skills in critical reflection, both in schools and universities. Working with school students to take their own photographs as a way of exploring their school and its culture has great potential as an EBL approach. As such, University students in Education stand to gain invaluable skills in learning and engaging with this participatory methodology. This project will engage with six LEAs in the North-West to develop a 15 credit course unit which will also be available as an online resource. Aspects of the unit will be piloted in the second semester with PGCE students.
Project Team: Susie Miles, Ian Kaplan Faculty: Humanities
Project report
Improving the PBL Experiences for First Year Nurses
Staff contact with students will be modified to bring about a change in stimulus for learning. Variations in students' backgrounds results in some feeling unchallenged whilst others are confused, discouraged and fall behind. This along with a full curriculum, leads to tutors falling back into a didactic approach to facilitation. The new weekly format will offer an introductory lecture and time for students to undertake some self study before they come together for group discussions around a PBL case.
Project Team: Ingrid Gouldsborough, Elizabeth Sheader Faculty: Life Sciences
Project report
Innovative Student Assessment in EBL
The aim of this project is to make students full partners in the teaching and assessment of an EBL engineering mathematics course. The objective is that students will work in small groups using EBL to specialize on a particular part of the course syllabus. They will then teach their specialist part to their peers and formulate a suitable assessment question by which their peers' learning will be gauged. The desired outcome is to empower students' learning through having them experience the entire 'life cycle' of a taught course module, from preparation, through delivery to final assessment.
Project Team: Paul Grassia, Grant Campbell Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Project report
A Structured Approach to Preparation for Group Project Work
The Embedded Systems Project (ESP) is a major student-centred PBL activity where students work in small groups throughout the second semester on the design of a microcontroller based product. This development project will generate a series of linked activities focused on the three key areas of team working, project planning and presentation skills, which the students previously identified as areas of difficulty.
Project Team: Peter Hicks, Norman Powell Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Project report
Being a Student: An Ethnographic Perspective
The use of ethnography to teach a course in ethnographic methods exemplifies the project's commitment to a research-led approach to learning. Students will learn about qualitative research methods by researching their own learning and university environment. The approach will identify and challenge the students' own notions of responsibility and learning. In this way, students will learn about ethnography and will become more aware of how their own learning works.
Project Team: Alberto Corsin-Jimenez Faculty: Humanities
Project report
Assessment and Enterprise through EBL
The aim is to development a robust method of assessment based upon the application of enterprise skills to an investigation. It is difficult to devise fair assessment when learning is characterised by a lack of rigid structure as in EBL. The project will develop a guiding structure for EBL assessment. This will provide some guidance and constraint to the lines of enquiry being followed and yet still allow students considerable freedom when making their investigations.
Project Team: Tim Jones Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Project report
An Integrated Model of EBL in Practice
Previous development work will be evaluated using appropriate custom-designed instruments. This will help identify defining principles and describe working relationships that give access to the current experiences of students. From this the project will activate and embed EBL in the teaching programme and devise approaches to formal assessment.
Project Team: David Pottage Faculty: Medical and Human Sciences
Project report
Manchester Access Programme: EBL Masterclasses
This project aims to engage non-traditional FE students with the process of enquiry-based learning through a series of masterclasses. The masterclasses will focus on the theme of sustainability and will touch on various curriculum areas. The masterclasses will be facilitated by trained University of Manchester students and will take place in Spring 2006. Year 12 students participating in the masterclasses are involved in a wider series of activities aimed to support and encourage their application to The University of Manchester. Involvement with the Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning at a pre-University level will benefit both the institution and the students by better preparing them for the alternative learning and teaching methods practiced at the University.
Project Team: Patricia Clift, Stephanie Lee
Watch Video about this project: 
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Project report
Embedding Interdisciplinarity: Developing a Generic Undergraduate EBL Team Project Module
Global and societal issues are best addressed by
interdisciplinary teams. This requires graduates to be able to communicate their knowledge and skills across interdisciplinary boundaries. Building on previous work, this project will develop an undergraduate interdisciplinary EBL module which will be open to all disciplines across the university. 24 students from 5 disciplines will work together and provide feedback on their experiences of the module so as to identify institutional issues, including support for WebCT.
Project Team: Julia McMorrow, Charlotte Woods, Isobel Braidman, Susana Lorenzo, Caroline Bowsher Faculty: Humanities, Medical and Human Sciences, Life Sciences
Project report
Medical Assessment via EBL
The integration of a new self-assessment function will capitalise on the MedLea Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which provides online resources for electronic PBL casebooks in order to support EBL. The new function (MAEBL) will enable students to contribute to a sustainable, formative self-assessment resource as well as enhance their own understanding of the subject of study.
Project Team: Andrea Owen Faculty: Medical and Human Sciences
Project report
An Enquiry-Based Learning Approach to Drug Development and Design
In this enquiry-led exercise, groups of students will use data to select therapeutic targets and screening methods and will evaluate simulated results from screening experiments and clinical trials to identify drugs to bring to market. They will present their findings in a poster. Three suitable clinical targets will be identified and simulated datasets will be generated for the trial during semester 2.
Project Team: Richard Prince Faculty: Life Sciences
Project report
Pedagogic Development - Enquiry-Based Learning for Constructed Textiles
Learning how to weave can be problematic for designers. The discipline demands the visualisation of 3D structures and manufacturing processes. Weave design has traditionally been taught through a technology-based route using lectures, laboratory classes and written exams. Observations and analyses of exam results have shown that the design students find constructed textiles difficult to master. Through this project we will translate some of the lectures from TX2009 Weaving for Designers into Problem Based Learning.
The aims of this project are to:
- Match the teaching methods more closely with the learning style of the students
- Promote deep and holistic learning
- Promote a more vibrant and stimulating learning experience
- Ensure students are at the centre of the learning environment
These aims will be met by creating an EBL environment for constructed textile design through a blended learning approach, converting weave design lectures into PBL, and creating a WebCT portal in which curriculum objectives and study techniques are clarified.
Project Team: Kate Sayer Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Project report
Partnerships in Pedagogy
Post-qualification support for secondary school teachers is less well provided than other aspects of their professional preparation. This project will develop materials that will enable school-based mentors to work together with trainees, using an EBL approach, to investigate and develop pedagogic beliefs and practices. Findings from this project will be captured and made available to other areas of the university where training for professional practice is carried out.
Project Team: Geoff Wake Faculty: Medical and Human Sciences
Application of Chemical Knowledge to the Clinical Understanding of Medicines
The aim of this project is to encourage pharmacy students to take an integrated approach to their learning across the subject areas of this multi-disciplinary degree. The objectives are for groups of pharmacy students to select a therapeutic area and select four drugs, complete an information retrieval and processing exercise and apply knowledge of their chemical properties to appreciate their clinical effectiveness. The desired outcome is the development of generic skills (databases, IT, teamwork) and enthusiasm for self-learning which will support them through their degree and in a career committed to CPD.
Project Team: Sally Freeman Faculty: Medical and Human Sciences
Project report
