Gaining a “sense of place”: students’ affective\ud experiences of place leading to transformative\ud learning on international fieldwork

This paper reveals the extent to which undergraduate students demonstrate transformative learning whilst on international fieldwork in Barcelona, Spain. Groups of students create a series of discrete active learning situations that allow them and their peers to engage more fully with their locale and in turn experience a deeper understanding of “place”. Reflective field trip notebooks are used to capture the experiences of students. Results show that through the use of the affective domain (Krathwohl’s taxonomy) and applying cyclic experiential learning (Kolb) combined with critical reflection (Mezirow), students demonstrate progression and, in some cases, regression along Krathwohl’s taxonomy

Gaining a “sense of place”: students’ affective experiences of place leading to transformative learning on international fieldwork

This paper reveals the extent to which undergraduate students demonstrate transformative learning whilst on international fieldwork in Barcelona, Spain. Groups of students create a series of discrete active learning situations that allow them and their peers to engage more fully with their locale and in turn experience a deeper understanding of “place”. Reflective field trip notebooks are used to capture the experiences of students. Results show that through the use of the affective domain (Krathwohl’s taxonomy) and applying cyclic experiential learning (Kolb) combined with critical reflection (Mezirow), students demonstrate progression and, in some cases, regression along Krathwohl’s taxonomy

Unravelling the geographical palimpsest through fieldwork: discovering a sense of place

Fieldwork enables students to gain a greater understanding of the people and places that they encounter. Urban areas are popular destinations for fieldwork because they present a landscape that is in a continual state of change. Yet, as this article indicates, the past is ever present in the urban landscape as each place can be regarded as a palimpsest, where layers of history, geography, culture and politics co-exist. Through active participation in fieldwork, students have the potential to unravel this palimpsest and discover a deeper sense of that place. The example used here reflects upon urban fieldwork in Barcelona as experienced by a group of undergraduate students who, as they carry out and reflect upon their field work, benefit from gaining a sense of place informed by a range of geographical processes and meanings. The article concludes with a series of suggestions for those embarking on fieldwork and wishing to unravel the geographical palimpsest

Communities of/for learning: enhancing student engagement in changing HE environments

The shifting environment of HE has undoubtedly led to changes in the relationships between students and their learning. The neoliberal agenda, full-fee student fees in the UK, performance league tables, and changes in the (part-time) work-study balance are some of the influences on students’ perceptions of study and expectations of educational experience. The idea of Communities of Learning involves encouraging better student engagement through creating a sense of community and identity, with the result that students are more willing to share and co-operate with their studies, contribute more readily to university life, and which could include co-partnership in course design or staff research. This introduction will briefly review the opportunities and challenges of creating Communities of/for Learning to enhance student engagement. The paper will review the forms and characteristics of such communities and their relationships to infrastructure of learning spaces. It will also start to examine the efforts to create Communities of Learning which involve the creation of learning and support environments, and adopting appropriate learning and teaching strategies, in order to stimulate Communities for Learning, whereby students take possession and responsibility of their own (and others’) learning. Which teaching and learning strategies encourage a sense of community, and what opportunities and challenges exist? As tutors, can we create learning environments that foster Communities for Learning, and find ways to better support Communities of Learning that evolve, with student partnership, into Communities with Learning

The emotional geographies of place: developing innovative learning and teaching strategies for international fieldwork

Students experience a wide range of experiences and emotions when doing short international field courses. Based on a study of a Geography field trip to Barcelona, Spain, this paper examines the influences on the affective domain and the consequent impacts on students’ engagement with learning, as well as performance. Innovative learning and teaching strategies, such as co-production of the field trip, teaching of student peers and self-reflection, can be utilised to help students to make sense of their field encounters and positionality as well as developing a richer sense of place. Finally, the application of these approaches to affiliated subjects will be discussed

Creating global students: opportunities, challenges and experiences of internationalizing the Geography curriculum in Higher Education

Killick (2015) defines university internationalization as an institution’s “response to the globalization of our world” which can be viewed as a process of changing the student experience in response to changes in the wider world. Internationalization has become an important feature of universities, stimulated by the generation of fees from international students, the promotion of international “branding”, reputation and prestige (in international league tables), and to address the need for graduates to compete in an increasingly global workplace due to globalization (Haigh, 2002). The internationalization of institutions by attracting foreign students to study has received the most attention, and the opportunities and issues have been well documented (Ryan, 2013). However, the internationalization of curricula is becoming more important for maintaining the quality and competitiveness of Higher Education in an increasingly globalized neo-liberalized market (Harris, 2008) and the desire for branding as a “Global University” (Clifford & Montgomery, 2011), the increasing diversity of student and staff, and the need to broaden the relevance and appeal of higher education to wider society (Kenna, 2017)

Unravelling the geographical palimpsest through fieldwork: discovering a sense of place

Fieldwork enables students to gain a greater understanding of the people and places that they encounter. Urban areas are popular destinations for fieldwork because they present a landscape that is in a continual state of change. Yet,as this article indicates, the past is ever present in the urban landscape as each place can be regarded as a palimpsest, where layers of history, geography, culture and politics co-exist. Through active participation in fieldwork, students have the potential to unravel this palimpsest and discover a deeper sense of that place. The example used here reflects upon urban fieldwork in Barcelona as experienced by a group of undergraduate students who, as they carried out and reflected upon their field work, benefited from gaining a sense of place informed by a range of geographical processes and meanings. The article concludes with a series of suggestions for those embarking on fieldwork and wishing to unravel the geographical palimpsest

Emotional geographies experienced during international fieldwork: an evaluation of teaching and learning strategies for reflective assessment

The benefits and challenges of international fieldwork are well rehearsed. However, understanding of students’ affective experiences during fieldwork is less well developed. Little examination has been given to how tutors respond to the affective and emotional geographies that arise during international fieldwork which also affect perceptions of “place”. Using the innovative strategy of student-led teaching of peers, this paper examines how, firstly, the emotional geographies on international fieldwork can be identified and, secondly, how tutors can respond with appropriate teaching and learning strategies to enhance the fieldwork experience of students in terms of their personal and scholarly development. Based on field courses to Barcelona, Spain, we analyse a range of media from video and oral interviews, field notebooks and reflective essays to reveal students’ perceptions and emotions of participating in international fieldwork. Most revealing are the themes and issues raised by more “immediate” reflection undertaken in-the-field compared to the more “refined” and considered reflexivity completed after the fieldtrip. Such understandings of the emotional geographies can enable appropriate teaching and learning strategies to be employed