Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Small group (teams of 4-6)
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
1Creativity and Innovation
2Opportunity recognition‚ creation and evaluation
3Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5Reflection and Action
6Interpersonal Skills
7Communication and Strategy
0Digital and Data Skills
The key message is in line with the QAA guidance on Enterprise Education, for example there are direct links to the following statements from the guidelines:
“The aim of Enterprise Education is to produce graduates with an awareness, mindset and capability to generate original ideas in response to identified needs, opportunities and shortfalls, and the ability to act on them, even if circumstances are changing and ambiguous; in short, having an idea and making it happen.
“Delivery of Entrepreneurial Education should enable students to express the notion of their value propositions both within their studies, and in relation to external stakeholder perspectives. These could be financial, social or related to sustainability, and should include ethical considerations. Centralised Enterprise Teams or Centres that sit outside of academic departments may lead or support these approaches, especially when interdisciplinary responses are the goal.” (QAA, p11)
As the BA (Hons) Teaching and Learning Studies degree has only been validated in the last six months and is yet to receive its first cohort of students, I have chosen to focus on a very recent activity that took place on the BA (Joint Hons) English Language Teaching degree for this case study. Previously, students on the BA (Joint Hons) English Language Teaching degree, who held a Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) certificate, worked on the module which was based on delivering IELTS exam classes for learners. The exam classes were held every Wednesday afternoon, in the Loudoun Square Hub in Butetown, which is a socio-economically deprived part of the city. The university’s Widening Access Department had arranged the teaching space and contacted the potential students who were on their list of people who were interested in taking IELTS classes in order to access courses at the university. Alongside many other activities, this was curtailed by the 2020 outbreak of the coronavirus in the UK.
The activity that best represents the entrepreneurial nature of this course is the group consultation on how to meet the challenge of continuing to authentically assess the students in an online format. In the wake of Covid19, I realised early on that it was not going to be possible to conduct the classes in the way that they had been up until 2019. Rather than make unilateral decisions, I felt that it was important to the principles of the ELT degree to involve the students as decision making stakeholders.
In keeping with the Andragogical Approach (Kearsley, 2010) mentioned in the main part of the application, I felt that the challenge of adapting our more traditional teaching approach to a post Covid19 world represented an authentic opportunity for the students to use their problem solving skills in order to minimize the impact of Covid-related restrictions. The issue was one that was confronting private language schools on an international basis and was one where only the most agile of schools would survive.
All available level 6 students were called together on a Zoom meeting where I presented an outline of how the module’s authentic assessments were intended to run, prior to the Covid19 lockdown and how we needed to rethink them (Villaroel et al, 2020). I also introduced the various stakeholders in our ‘school setup’ i.e. the student teachers, the teacher assessor (as the module leader, this was me), the learners and the university’s Widening Access and asked the students to form small groups in ‘breakout rooms on Zoom. I asked the students in each to consider the problem from the perspective of one of the stakeholder groups. Following an opportunity for each group to discuss and analyse the problem from their prescribed perspective, I asked them to then take on another of the roles and discuss the issue from that perspective. After each group had taken on two roles of the stakeholders, I brought the whole group together for a plenary, where we shared ideas and provided what we though would be the best solution to this real-world (and quite pressing) problem.
The end result was not particularly surprising; that the students would pre-record lessons to offer asynchronous learning online. What was useful was that those students who had been reluctant to record themselves teaching had eventually come around to the idea through the process. The idea that lessons were pre-recorded rather than delivered in a synchronous (live) format was not only to allow the students to submit their best possible lessons for assessment, but also to benefit learners who can repeat the lessons as many times as possible and also for the Widening Access Team, who would be able to offer the lessons online after the degree had ended. Students also considered the idea that recorded lessons may in turn reduce the need for ‘real’ teachers in the future, but it was decided that being recognised as being able to produce high quality lesson is much more of an opportunity than a threat.
The outcome of this exercise was that students were able to be assessed in a way which represented changes throughout the industry of English Language Teaching, while also having a sense of ownership in their studies and how they are assessed. As such, the students were able to demonstrate their own project management and negotiation skills alongside the experience of actualising an enterprising concept. As noted above, these directly relate to the QAA guidelines that form the ‘key message’ of this activity.
In addition, the learners were able to improve their English for Academic Purposes and exam skills, the Widening Access Team were able to meet their goals of increasing the number of non-traditional learners through a very sustainable means. It is not clear how many people the bank of asynchronous lessons will assist in the future but it is reassuring that they will be available long after the degree, which is in its final year, has finished.
Most significantly, the students were able to make informed and realistic decisions based on a real-world problem that will likely leave a legacy in the field for ever more. Rather than shielding the students from the problem, they were empowered and were able to test out their decision making in a real marketplace environment but with relatively low-stakes in terms of their own personal losses.
The feedback from the students was that they appreciated the opportunity to take ownership of their own practical learning experiences and, as trainee teachers, take initiatives in the education of others. They felt that this Problem Based Learning was reflexive and responsive to a potential threat to their teacher-training, instead turning it into an opportunity which will increase their own employability.
A trainee teacher delivering an IELTS class in the community.
Kearsley, G. (2010). Andragogy (M.Knowles). The theory Into practice database [online]. Available at: http://tip.psychology.org Accessed: 14/09/20
Roberts, G. J. (2011) 'Strategies for Change: The Language Testing Barrier' in Thornton, M. and Wankhede, G. (eds.) Widening Participation and Social Cohesion amongst Diverse, Disadvantaged and minority Groups in Higher Education. Mumbai: Tata Institue of Social Sciences. pp. 93 – 99
Villaroel, V., Boud, D., Bloxham, S., Bruna, D. and Bruna, C. (2020) Using principles of authentic assessment to redesign written examinations and tests. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 57(1), pp.38-49.
