Active Learning and Active Citizenship: Theoretical Contexts Edited by Mike McManus and Gary Taylor CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by University of Lincoln Institutional Repository Published 2009 © Sociology, Anthropology, Politics (C­SAP), The Higher Education Academy Network University of Birmingham Birmingham, B15 2TT E­mail: enquiries@c­sap.bham.ac.uk Website: http://www.c­sap.bham.ac.uk © 2009 selection and editorial matter, the Higher Education Academy; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, criticism or review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, taping or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers. ISBN 1 902191 38 2 C­SAP Monographs Monograph No. 1: Benchmarking and Quality Management: The debate in UK Higher Education. Edited by David Jary Monograph No. 2: Teaching Rites and Wrongs: Universities and the Making of Anthropologists. Edited by David Mills and Mark Harris Monograph No. 3: Perspectives and Practice in Widening Participation in the Social Sciences. Edited by David Jary and Rob Jones Monograph No. 4: Engagements with Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Edited by Denise Carter and Michaela Lord Monograph No. 5: Teaching Race in the Social Sciences. Edited by Malcolm Todd and Max Farrar Monograph No. 6: Reflections on Practice: Teaching ‘Race’ & Ethnicity in Further and Higher Education. Edited by Malcolm Todd and Steve Spencer Monograph No. 7: Pedagogies of Teaching ‘Race’ and Ethnicity in Higher Education ­ British and European Experiences. Edited by Susie Jacobs Monograph No. 8: Learning and Teaching Social Theory. Edited by Jon Cope, Joyce Canaan and Dave Harris Monograph No. 9: Teaching Race in Social Science and Humanities Higher Education. Edited by Emily Horowitz Monograph No. 10: Active Learning and Active Citizenship: Theoretical Concepts. Edited by Mike McManus and Gary Taylor Contents Contributors v Part I: Active Learning 1. Introduction 9 Mike McManus and Gary Taylor 2. Active Learning and Active Participation in Higher Education 30 Yee­Wah Foo, Gary Taylor, Jo Long, Gary Saunders 3. The Role of Rich Media in Active Learning and a 50 Learner Centred Approach Richard McCarter 4. Online Issues for Active Citizenship 67 Karl Donert 5. A Pedagogy of Connection for Active Learning 93 and Citizenship Patrick Dillon Part II: Active Citizenship 6. Social and Moral Responsibility 114 Janet Kay 7. Community Involvement 132 Gary Taylor, Liam Mellor and Lizzie Walton 8. Political Literacy 150 Hugh Bochel 9. Conclusion 169 Hugh Bochel, Patrick Dillon, Karl Donert, Janet Kay, Richard McCarter, Mike McManus and Gary Taylor iv Active Learning and Active Citizenship: Theoretical Contexts Contributors Hugh Bochel is Professor of Public Policy, University of Lincoln. Recent publications include Social Policy: Issues and Developments (with Catherine Bochel, Robert Page and Rob Sykes) (2005), Welfare Policy under New Labour: Views from Inside Westminster (with Andrew Defty) (2007) and Making Policy in Theory and Practice (edited, with Sue Duncan) (2007). Patrick Dillon has degrees in biological science, economic history and education. He is Professor of Education at the University of Joensuu, Finland and Emeritus Professor at the University of Exeter. He has worked in higher education for twenty­eight years and before that he worked in industry and taught in primary and secondary schools. He has cross­disciplinary interests in culture, education and technology that encompass cultural heritage education, creativity, design education and e­learning. He also researchers and writes on landscape and environmental education out of which has emerged his belief in the value of integrating ecological perspectives into theories of education. Karl Donert is a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Director of Development at Liverpool Hope University. He is a geographer with interests in the development of ICT in learning and teaching and the establishment of responsible autonomous learners. He is coordinator of the HERODOT thematic network for Geography in higher education (www.herodot.net) and President of EUROGEO (the European Network of Geography Teacher Associations). Karl has acted as external evaluator to the ALAC project team. Yee Wah Foo is Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Policy Studies Research. Her research interests include Chinese modern history and inter­allied diplomacy during the Second World War, political theory and the environment. v Introduction Janet Kay is a Principal Lecturer in Children and Childhood at Sheffield Hallam University. She is currently completing a Ph.D. entitled ‘Parenting in Sibling Adoption’. Recent publications include Working Together in Children’s Services (with D. Fitzgerald) (2008) and a second edition of Understanding Early Years Policy (with P. Baldock and D. Fitzgerald) (2005) (2008). In addition, a chapter on citizenship and early childhood students arising from the ALAC project (by Janet Kay and Caroline Bath) is included in a book of papers from a conference at Anglia Ruskin in 2007 on Reclaiming Relational Pedagogy edited by Janet Moyles (2009). Jo Long is postgraduate tutor at Sheffield Hallam University. She specialises in teaching research methods and study skills and has published on work based learning and the community. Richard McCarter is a lecturer in e­learning at Sheffield Hallam University specialising in the use of rich media digital learning content and staff development. He has been a television producer since 1986 working in higher education and training organisations. Much of his work concentrated on the value of combining text and video in multimedia work and his interests are now focused on the use of web 2.0 technologies and its impact on learning. Mike McManus is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at Sheffield Hallam University. He was the Project Manager for the ALAC project from 2005 to 2008, having previously been involved in numerous educational projects. He has a long­standing interest in pedagogy, stemming from his early teaching days as a lecturer in the philosophy of education and a concern that the pursuit of high­ quality teaching should be given an enhanced status in higher education. Liam Mellor has recently completed his Masters in Political Communication at the University of Sheffield and is currently working with Gary Taylor on a range of projects on the politics of the media and on work­based learning. vi Active Learning and Active Citizenship: Theoretical Contexts Gary Saunders joined the University of Lincoln in 2007 as a research assistant in the Department of Policy Studies and now works as Research Officer in the Centre for Educational and Research Development at the University. He studied as an undergraduate at the University of Lincoln and as a postgraduate at Nottingham Trent University where he gained his degree in law and criminology and an M.Sc. in social research methods respectively. Gary has worked on numerous pedagogical research projects in the areas of action learning, collaborative learning, learning space, online learning and assessment feedback. In addition, Gary teaches on the undergraduate criminology programme and the postgraduate globalising justice Masters degree and is currently studying for his PGDE at the University of Lincoln. Gary Taylor is Principal Lecturer in Applied Social Science at Sheffield Hallam University. His teaching interests include social and political theory, the media and work­based learning. His recent publications include Ideology and Welfare (2007), Social Identities (edited, with S. Spencer) and Democracy and Participation (edited, with M. Todd). He is currently co­authoring book on health policy for Open University Press. Lizzie Walton is postgraduate student at Sheffield Hallam University. She is currently working on a CSAP project on the experiences of students with disabilities. vii Part I: Active Learning 8 Chapter 1 Introduction Mike McManus and Gary Taylor What does it mean to be a good citizen? How do we learn about our social and political environments? Are active citizens also active learners? These were the type of questions the authors of this monograph considered in the early stages of their HEFCE project on active learning and active citizenship (ALAC) and the issues we continue to debate in this monograph. Our intention is to provide a theoretical framework that can be used to discuss active learning, active citizenship and the relationship between the two. It is our belief that this taps into two important agendas. In terms of pedagogy, we are urged to move away from ‘chalk and talk’ methods and to embrace more participative, adaptive and lively approaches to our teaching. The authors contained herein share a commitment to the development of autonomous and active learners. But we also live in a political climate where the State has withdrawn from some areas of economic, social and cultural life. Instead of being passive recipients of what the State has to offer or defenceless victims of the free market, we are urged to take greater responsibility for ourselves and for the welfare of our communities. The idea of active citizenship has become increasingly evident in political discourse, and, whilst we might have some reservations about the ways