Maggi Savin-Baden

Narrative Inquiry: Theory and Practice

This article offers an overview of the method of narrative inquiry and explores competing trends in the use of the approach. It not only examines the theories relating to the method but also offers practical guidance on using narrative inquiry, including an exploration of what might count as a narrative and ways of analysing narrative data. The final section of the article presents two different examples of how narrative inquiry has been used. The first example is the use of narrative inquiry as a reflective learning process for students in an undergraduate curriculum. The second example is a narrative inquiry into staff experiences of role change in problem-based learning. Suggestions are also made as to how narrative inquiry might be adapted for use in geography in higher education.

Virtual patients in a virtual world: Training paramedic students for practice

Collaborative learning through case-based or problem-based learning (PBL) scenarios is an excellent way for students to acquire knowledge and develop decision-making skills. However, the process is threatened by the movement towards more self-directed learning and the migration of students from campus-based to workplace-based learning. Paper-based PBL cases can only proceed in a single direction which can prevent learners from exploring the impact of their decisions. The PREVIEW project, outlined in this article, trialled a replacement to traditional paper PBL with virtual patients (VPs) delivered through a virtual world platform. The idea was that an immersive 3D environment could provide (a) greater realism (b) active decision-making and (c) a suitable environment for collaboration amongst work-based learners meeting remotely. Five VP scenarios were designed for learners on a Paramedic Foundation Degree within the virtual world second life (SL). A player using the MedBiquitous VP international standard allowed cases to be played both within SL and on the web. Three testing days were run to evaluate the scenarios with paramedic students and tutors. Students unfamiliar with the SL environment worked through five PBL scenarios in small groups, shadowed by ‘in-world’ facilitators. Feedback indicated that the SL environment engages students effectively in learning, despite some technology barriers. Students believed SL could provide a more authentic learner environment than classroom-based PBL.

Understanding the impact of assessment on students in problem‐based learning

This article explores assessment in the context of problem‐based learning (PBL) at three different levels. Firstly, it examines the position of assessment in the current system of higher education and, secondly, it examines students’ experiences of assessment in problem‐based programmes. The article draws on research into PBL that explored staff and students’ experiences in four different disciplines, and it is argued that many forms of assessment still largely undermine collaborative learning and team process in PBL. The final section argues that the way forward for the PBL community is to recognize disciplinary differences in PBL and adopt assessment approaches that fit both with PBL and the discipline into which it is placed.

Staff Development in Problem-based Learning

It is argued here that for problem-based learning (PBL) to succeed, a sound programme of staff development is required. This paper highlights, from both the literature and from experience, that there is limited research into the process and management of PBL staff development. The current shift towards PBL within higher education suggests that staff development needs to be a key component in any PBL implementation strategy. This paper focuses on the experience of introducing PBL into Nursing and Midwifery curricula at the University of Dundee. It is argued that the staff development described played a key role in the effectiveness of the subsequent implementation of PBL. The key components of such a programme are described with evaluatory evidence to support its efficacy. Recommendations are made for those considering implementing PBL into the curriculum.

Situating pedagogies, positions and practices in immersive virtual worlds

Background: The literature on immersive virtual worlds and e-learning to date largely indicates that technology has led the pedagogy. Although rationales for implementing e-learning have included flexibility of provision and supporting diversity, none of these recommendations has helped to provide strong pedagogical location. Furthermore, there is little, if any, exploration of the kinds of e-learning spaces that are commonly adopted in higher education or the rationale for their use. Purpose: This article explores the current arguments for the use of immersive virtual worlds in higher education and examines the impact the use of such environments is having upon teachers and teaching. Design and methods: A comprehensive literature search and review was undertaken by a team of researchers in order to explore issues of pedagogy, staff role and digital literacies, and explore perspectives that might inform the higher education community about views on the use of immersive virtual worlds. Conclusions: It is suggested that an exploration of digital literacies and the use of pedagogically informed models may offer higher education some purchase on the complex issues and implications of using such immersive virtual worlds for learning.

Exploring and Implementing Participatory Action Research

This paper explores the research method of participatory action research, first by examining the roots of this approach and then analysing the shift to using more participatory approaches than in former years. It begins by considering the reasoning and theoretical underpinning for adopting this approach and provides an overview of the steps to be undertaken when implementing participatory action research. The latter section of the paper presents an example and suggests how participatory action research might have been used instead for a study that utilized open-ended questionnaires undertaken in geography. Finally, tips on how to use it are proposed along with a consideration of the challenges and opportunities.

ACHIEVING REFLEXIVITY: MOVING RESEARCHERS FROM ANALYSIS TO INTERPRETATION IN COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY

The idea of ‘teaching’ reflexivity might seem to some to be a nonsense but many students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, struggle with ‘it’ as a concept, a process and as a means of moving away from simplistic themed research categories towards in‐depth interpretation. This paper will examine the nature of reflexivity from the perspective of a personal stance and suggest the use of particular strategies for interpreting data reflexively. Such strategies include the use of biographical accounts and organising principles, the exploration of metaphor and metonymy and the utilisation of poetry as an interpretative device. It will offer particular ways of undertaking reflexive interpretation that have been used successfully with many postgraduate students and researchers.

Modernising Fieldwork, Part 2: Realising the New Agenda

In recent years, many discussions have taken place regarding the need for new and different forms of fieldwork education. Research was undertaken to explore the capacity for and barriers to placement provision in the West Midlands Region (reported in part 1 of this article) and to investigate the views of fieldwork educators about the Role Emerging and the Collaborative (2:1) Models of Fieldwork Education. While these have been reported to be viable approaches, as yet few attempts have been made to implement them in practice and issues of context were found to have an impact on their implementation and the provision of placements. Part 2 of this article examines these two models of fieldwork education in the light of the findings of this study and an innovative approach that emerged from discussions with participants is presented. It is argued here that choice and diversity, in terms of the different models of fieldwork education meeting the needs of different service environments and different students, is valuable; however, the development of an appropriate infrastructure and the provision of adequate resources to support these alternatives are key issues.

Integration of qualitative evidence: towards construction of academic knowledge in social science and professional fields

In this article, we present an overview of the growing field of the integration of qualitative evidence. Based on an analysis of 177 syntheses published in a variety of professional and social science fields, they introduce a way of categorizing the various approaches that synthesists use to combine evidence derived from primary qualitative studies. Finally, they argue for the place of a constructionist approach when synthesizing findings from primary qualitative research.

Disciplinary Differences or Modes of Curriculum Practice?: Who Promised to Deliver What in Problem-based Learning?

Although problem‐based learning has become increasingly popular in the last five years or so, particularly in the United Kingdom, the arguments about it still seem to rage. The ones that seem to be most problematic are, first, those about the relationship between problem‐based learning and other similar active learning approaches, such as project‐based learning; and second, those arguments about sustaining problem‐based learning curricula in the face of cuts and poor university administration. Meanwhile, the blame‐it‐on‐problem‐based‐learning attitude still seems to prevail worldwide, with little real consideration of the broader concerns about some of the educational issues. For example, there seem to be too few debates about what it means to facilitate problem‐based learning or how we might develop the kinds of curriculum modes that support problem‐based learning, and even what might count as a curriculum. This article seeks to unpack two of those issues by drawing on research into facilitation and modes of curriculum practice.