Developing your teaching practice in Islamic StudiesDr Deirdre BurkeCourse Leader Religious Studies, University of WolverhamptonDeirdre.burke@wlv.ac.uk

Session contenthttp://www.humbox.ac.uk/1444/

Changes

Phenomenology

First-hand contacts

Technology

Pedagogy

Changing times the times they are a’changin! 1967 Ist department of Religious Studies

Lancaster Religious Education in the school curriculum- 1971 School Council Working Paper 36 * 20 years for curriculum change to filter

through 1988 Education Reform Act

2010 Reform of Higher Education and student finance

Times have changed Students from all faith/ belief backgrounds

study religion/ employed as teachers

Phenomenological approach to religions

Faith literacy valued by many employers

Incitement to religious hatred: monitoring Islamophobic/ antisemitic acts

Changes experiences teaching Islam Islam in School TextbooksMuslims in South Yorkshire:

guidance for teachers/ faith trailsWolverhampton Inter Faith

Network- Faith Guides- English Heritage

Phenomenology Underpinning method for approaching religion

in the classroom

Epoche see from perspective

Eidectic vision of believer Empathy

Methodological skepticism/ atheism

Case Study

http://eportfolio.wlv.ac.uk/viewasset.aspx?oid=1927100&type=webfolio

Critical essay on non-Muslim biographies of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.)

Information literacy Quality of discernment: CARS- Credibility - Accuracy- Relevance- Support

Emic (insider) / etic (outsider) sources

Case Study: Biographies of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.)

- Awareness of perceived weaknesses- Assess Western biographies against emic

criteria

Uses of technology HumBox; Open Education ResourcesMuslims in Wolverhampton Collection:

http://humbox.ac.uk/1444/

Opportunity to share resources- Handouts- PowerPoints- Media resources

- Peer Review- can add comments, share adaptations, suggestions, developments.

Pedagogy: supporting learning from tutor feedback

Feedback collection in Humbox: http://humbox.ac.uk/2333

Linked webfolio: http://eportfolio.wlv.ac.uk/viewasset.aspx?oid=2211482&type=webfolio

Making written feedback more effective

Students:using tutor feedback

Students:using tutor feedback

Text

how can we make it easier for students to understand our comments and act on them?

what strategies can students use to unpack feedback and take actions to develop skills?

Tutors: providing feedback

How can we help students get more out of feedback?

12 Chart Helping students

Provision Unpacking

Action

Feedback/ Feedforward

Main area to work on

Hyperlinks to follow up

Preparing for a tutorial

Tutorial discussion

Provision of support materials-Information-Online tutorials-Skills tutorial-Exemplars

Stephani, 1998students want information onhow to develop their work. Students often fail to follow up tutor feedback

because they don’t know what to do with it (Burke 2007).

This process can help to make transparent the ‘academic conventions’ that tutors may take for granted (Lillis & Turner, 2001: 66).

use of subject specific examples helps students ‘see’ how skills requirements for planning, structuring and referencing look within their own discipline.

Linked webfolio: The Study of Islam: http://eportfolio.wlv.ac.uk/viewasset.aspx?oid=1927100&type=webfolio

13 Providing hyperlinks Tutors:

providing feedback

Try this tutorial on Structuring an argument http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writin

g/arts/english/2.2.xml

Template provides a way of structuring and recording tutorials The learning need identified in the essay feedback is identified discussion with student indicates their understanding of this

learning need follow-up information: online tutorials: Exemplars:

Hyperlink added form emailed.

14 Recording a tutorial

14

Tutors:providing feedback

Feedback Tutorial Example Summary of Learning Needs to be developed: Your tutor noted that you demonstrated a good understanding of the general topic but that you needed to develop your planning so that you use the information to answer the set question.

- specific feedback from Tutor

- identified from looking at work

We looked at the tutor feedback and comments on the text of your essay to see where you could have used material more explicitly, and also at the importance of cutting out material that was not relevant.

Hyperlinks: These links will take you to sources that will support your learning: Try this tutorial on Structuring an argument http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/arts/english/2.2.xml

Lecturing/ teaching careers options

Higher Education time of change/ cutbacks/ See if there are options to undertake a

course at your university for a PG Cert in HE, such qualifications are required for new lecturers in higher education.

There is a teaching practice element in such courses, and you may be able to negotiate some teaching (even if it is unpaid).

School Teaching - You need to have appropriate subject

knowledge for a curriculum subject to qualify for a PGCE course. It is worth contacting providers for guidance on how to develop your subject knowledge. Religious Education- one year conversion course covering main religious traditions

- PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) http://www.gttr.ac.uk/

- Graduate Teacher Program http://www.tda.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/teacher-training-options/gtp/Search.aspx

Burke, D. (1986) An Analysis of School Textbooks on the life of the Prophet Muhammad and eth Qur’an, in A. Ashraf. (ed.) Resources for the Teaching of Islam in British Schools. Pp. 67- 89. Cambridge: The Islamic Academy.Chapter drawing on research for MA to assess the suitability of textbooks, considering factual accuracy, and appropriateness of presentation.

Burke, D. (2007a) Engaging students in personal development planning: profiles, skills development and acting on feedback. Discourse: Learning and Teaching in Philosophical and Religious Studies, 6(2): 107–42.Report on personal development planning approach with Religious Studies students, which focused on the benefits of resubmitting assignments in the light of tutor feedback.

Burke, D. (2007b) Getting the most out of feedback, in D. Nutt and J. Tidd (eds) European First Year Experience: Conference April 2006, Teesside, University of Teesside: 36–49.An exploration of the benefits for student learning from tutor feedback by way of the Using Feedback Effectively form.

Burke, D. (2008) Using electronic sources to help students get more out of tutor feedback, in J. Pieterick, M. Lawton and R. Ralph (eds) European First Year Experience Conference 2008, University of Wolverhampton.Report on the use of hyperlinks in tutor feedback to direct students to materials to enable students follow up issues in feedback.

Burke, D. (2009a) Strategies for using feedback that students bring to their degree course: an analysis of first year perceptions at the start of a course in Humanities. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 34(1): 41–50.Report on induction research with a large cohort of humanities students, which identified the range of starting points in relation to understandings of tutor feedback and its place in student learning.

Burke, D. & Pieterick, J. (2010) Giving Students Effective Written Feedback. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill & Open University Press.Text for lecturers to explore their feedback practices, with an aim to making feedback more effective for student learning- in both provision by tutors and use by students.

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