Political Economy, Pedagogy and Student Enthusiasm
Year: 2009
Type: preprint
Abstract: The signature pedagogy of political science has remained static for many decades in European universities. However the character of the student body has altered radically. The challenge for lecturers is to motivate (and inspire) a body of students who are increasingly job oriented and less likely to value education for the sake of education. Political economy with its focus on international institutions, trade and production is often a remote and an unpopular choice among students. This paper will outline and contrast two approaches employed in teaching political economy in different years. Both were focused on development education and designed to engage students with some of the critical issues surrounding globalization, world poverty and inequality, trade and environmental sustainability. The first approach was problem based learning. Students were required to take case studies from Southern Africa and address five generative topics on poverty and poverty reduction strategies, presented in question format. The questions drive the learning process. The learning is self directed and paced by the students themselves. The assessment required students to write a report addressing the questions applied to their case study and make a presentation at a one day seminar based on their research. The second teaching approach was to use the theme of “the politics of trade and environmental sustainability” as the starting point for a module project for the entire class. The students were asked to organise a one day conference, based on the principles of task based learning. They were required to research the theme, select speakers, organise the event and finally present their own research on an aspect of the theme using a poster presentation at the conference. In both cases, the work was organised around specialist seminars, invited lectures, dedicated tutorials and staff supported group meetings. Transferable skills development and political economy knowledge and experience were key objectives for both approaches. This paper will evaluate and compare the two approaches and assess the use of dynamic and active learning strategies for engaging students with core questions of political science. It will explore the extent to which self directed learning and reflective learning were achieved, drawing on minute essays conducted in class, formative and summative assessment material and the final exit surveys which students completed for both projects. Finally, it will compare assessments from the two years and consider the extent to which student understanding was deepened using these more action oriented approaches.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Theresa Reidy
Institution: University College Cork
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1489416999