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a long ‘research project’, which involved various stages, some involving group work and some individual. As can be seen in the table in Appendix 1, there was an explicit aim to intermingle the different levels at which an ecosystem can be perceived: physical, the research took place outside the classroom and involved active participation on campus; social, the collaborative nature of research and interaction with people from across the university and personal/ symbolic, reflective practice focused on concepts. The final stage of each project was a piece of assessed reflective writing. The task construct was modelled to explicitly follow reflective cycles such as Kolb (1984) and Gibbs (1988), which learners had been exposed to on the course, and sought to contextualise the learning experience for the students, relating it to concepts learned and potential future applications of their acquired knowledge.


In terms of the teaching content and non-coursework component of assessment (coursework represented 70%, exams 30% of the final mark) all the content and texts used were thematically based on topics related to the course theme of examining the students’ own learning situation (i.e., their ecosystem). For example, these themes included internationalisation of universities, the impact of technology on learning at university and collaborative vs. individual learning. This sustained focus aimed to add thematical coherence and distinctiveness to the module, something the previous skills-based course had lacked. The tasks required some critical evaluation on the part of the learner and personalisation was encouraged, again to encourage awareness of the learner’s own position in relation to the topic. Examples of task rubrics are shown in Appendix 2 for the Semester 1


Neil Adam Tibbetts


presentation task and follow-up reflective writing. Appendix 3 shows the instructions for a formative seminar discussion, which was conducted as an entirely peer-to-peer discussion, with no interlocutor, again incorporating interactive and social elements and aiming to elict a critical response. These materials illustrate how course content all related to the central theme of the course, the approach sought to involve physical, symbolic and personal conceptions of the university ecosystem and critical reflection was invited on the part of the learners throughout.


REFLECTIONS


Although evidence based on results (e.g., grade averages comparing cohorts) from one cohort to another was not readily available, student and tutor feedback demonstrated a clear upturn from the negative comments from the last year of the previous module. Student evaluation remained consistently strong, with an average of over four out of five in all categories over all four iterations. Feedback comments suggest that students engaged with the course’s conceptual basis and understood its overall aim, e.g., as below: Teamwork, it’s like a bridge between the former education system and the UK’s education model. This kind of work helps us on the ability of cooperation, and students are more likely to get an insight about master’s course.


(Student comments from module feedback)


Initially, one of the tutors on the module had expressed misgivings that the reflective loop and sustained focus on exploring the ecosystem amounted to ‘navel gazing’. However, by the end of the


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