Blended learning and postgraduate skills: rethinking MA History

Blended learning and postgraduate skills: rethinking MA History

Matthew McCormack, Natalie Hanley-Smith

Abstract

This study focuses on the implications of blended learning for taught postgraduate education. It takes as its focus the pilot year of the MA History at the University of Northampton, which had been redesigned to blend online and face-to-face delivery. By employing a student researcher to canvass students’ views, the project evaluates the implications of the delivery mode for the specific skills associated with the discipline of History. As well as evaluating this particular programme, the project uses it as a case study to develop a transferable framework for blended learning. The article argues that both online and classroom delivery can develop the key skills associated with postgraduate study in History, but in significantly different ways, so combining them in an effective blend can offer a pedagogical enhancement.

Keywords

Blended learning; e-learning; postgraduate

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References

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14234/elehe.v7i1.96


The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index

Doctoral Training Partnerships: review of postgraduate researcher experience

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a work-in-progress review of the postgraduate researcher experience

Rebekah Smith McGloin

Abstract

Recent changes in research council policy and postgraduate funding have seen the beginnings of a fundamental reconfiguration in how some PhD students are recruited and trained. This report is a work-in-progress review of early student evaluation data from a single doctoral training partnership (DTP) within this new doctoral training landscape. It gives a broad overview of historical and contemporary challenges in researcher development before summarising the results of evaluation data from the first year of the BBSRC DTP. It goes on to discuss how these preliminary findings might be followed up and what they might hint at in terms of the model’s potential to influence researcher development in the future.

Keywords

Researcher development; Student experience; Doctoral training

Full Text:

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References

Bennett, P. and Turner, G. (2013) PRES 2013: Results from the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey. York: HEA. Available online: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/postgraduate/PRES_2013_UK_report.pdf (accessed 15 November 2013).

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RCUK (2007) Career Development and Transferable Skills Training Payments: Summary of 2007 Reporting. London: RCUK. Available online: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/RCUK-Roberts-reporting-summary-2007.pdf (accessed 15 November 2013).

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14234/elehe.v5i1.70

The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index