Promoting active learning in research methods
Hilary McDermott and Terry Dovey (both School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University) have just published an article entitled “A Strategy to Promote Active Learning of an Advanced Research Method” in the journal of Psychology Learning and Teaching.
The abstract reads: “Research methods courses aim to equip students with the knowledge and skills required for research yet seldom include practical aspects of assessment. This reflective practitioner report describes and evaluates an innovative approach to teaching and assessing advanced qualitative research methods to final-year psychology undergraduate students. An active-learning approach involving auto-photography was developed and implemented as the assessment requirements for a qualitative component of an advanced research methods module. The authors suggest that this student-centred active-learning exercise is a useful and successful strategy to promote the construction of knowledge.”
In their eminently readable article, McDermott and Dovey offer plenty of food for thought, as well as ideas, regarding how to engage students and how to deepen their learning in what often proves to be one of the more difficult aspects of their studies. Indeed, the innovative and hands-on approach to assessment employed in this module, as well as the space offered for reflection and interaction both within and beyond the group of students directly involved, are just a couple of the ways in which the authors suggest how research methods can be effectively applied and innovatively delivered.
This is the first in what we hope will be a series of blog posts regarding publications by Loughborough University staff on pedagogical issues. Further information regarding this particular publication is available online via LUPIN; the full citation follows: HILARY J. McDERMOTT, TERENCE M. DOVEY (2013) Strategy to Promote Active Learning of an Advanced Research Method, Psychology Learning & Teaching, 12(1), 92-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/plat.2013.12.1.92.