LSE100 The LSE Course: Understanding the causes of things A large-scale, multi-discipinary approach to teaching research methods

1
LSE100 The LSE CourseUnderstanding the causes
of thingsA large-scale, multi-discipinary
approach to teaching research methods

• Jonathan Leape
• Director of LSE100
• HEA Social Sciences annual conference - Teaching
  research methods
• 23-24 May 2013

2
Overview

• Motivation and aims
• Course strategy
• Some examples from the course

3
Aims of LSE100

• To deepen and broaden students understanding of
  social scientific thinking, with its core
  elements of evidence, explanation and theory
• To strengthen the critical skills that underpin
  the study and application of the social sciences
• Methodological skills
• Information skills
• Communication skills

4
Methodological skills

• Evaluate and interpret different types of
  evidence
• Explain the roles of questions, theories,
  evidence and explanations
• Identify and critically assess causal claims in
  social science explanations
• Analyse problems from different disciplinary
  perspectives

5

• And also
• Communication skills
• Construct coherent and persuasive arguments in
  writing and in presentations
• Information skills
• Find, evaluate, and manage information effectively

6
Course strategy

• Important issues of public debate used as
  vehicles for examining research methods (deep
  embedding)
• Contrasting disciplinary approaches to each issue
  to highlight methodological differences
• Emphasis on argumentation to motivate research
  method learning and to foster critical thinking
  about research methods
• Continuous feedback.
• Intensive teacher training and support all in a
• Large scale approach compulsory for all UG
  students (1350 students, 108 weekly classes, 20
  lecturers, 30 seminar teachers).

7
Course topics

• LSE100 examines big questions such as
• How should we manage climate change?
• Do nations matter?
• Why are great events so difficult to predict?
• What caused the financial crisis?
• Is population growth a threat or an opportunity?
• Who owns ideas?

8
Intensive feedback strategy

• Feedback on LSE100 is
• high-frequency, to stimulate and support learning
  in lectures (group PRS, muddy points) as well as
  classes (task-based group work)
• just in time, to match student needs and ensure
  motivation
• varied, to accommodate different learning styles
  (real-time and deliberative, collective and
  individual, audio, written and dialogical) and
• relationship-based, to facilitate skills and
  personal development (121 feedback, classes
  limited to 12 students)

9
Class tasks Poverty

• Measuring poverty Analysis and argumentation

10
Class tasks Climate change

• Different ways of thinking about risk

11
Class tasks End of the Cold War

• Connecting evidence and explanations

12
Class tasks Financial crisis

• Analysing causes

13
HEA Project

• Establish a permanent web presence to share
  course strategy and resources, while expanding
  the range of self-paced online resources
• Invite external consultant to review existing
  approach and advise on creative integrative
  assessment strategies appropriate to the course.

14

• Formative 1 in class short answer text (week 4)
• Formative 2 in class short essay (week 6)
• Summative 1 in class short essay (week 9)
• Summative 2 end of term coursework essay (week
  11)

15
(No Transcript)
16
Feedback on formative assessmentsPlanning F1
Week 4 Class

• The first formative task (F1) requires students
  to draw on two contrasting disciplinary
  approaches (economics and international
  relations) in assessing the failure of
  international collective action on climate
  change.
• It also supports the communicative outcome of
  cogent written argumentation.

17
Feedback on formative assessmentsFormative 1
dialogical feedback

• The feedback approach taken on LSE100 is
  dialogical students are asked to nominate what
  kind of feedback they would like on their written
  work
• Tutors explicitly address this request and
  structure their feedback to answer it

18
Feedback on formative assessmentsMarking database

• LSE100 marking data is captured through a central
  marking database
• Marking follows the course criteria, which relate
  in particular to the communicative outcomes
• This database enables comparisons over time for
  individual students or across markers
• The database also builds in a referral system
  that encourages students to be responsible to
  their own development

19
Feedback on formative assessmentsF1 Feedback

• The database produces reports that bring together
  the marking criteria, individual feedback and
  referral recommendations
• On the reverse, there are details of the LSE100
  writing lab, a system of one to one guidance on
  writing and argumentation

20
Feedback on formative assessmentsExamples of
Feedback on F1
Merit level This essay starts out with a very
strong introduction. It is engaging and
well-written, and it includes a clear thesis
statement. Your definition/summary of the two
approaches is also excellent, as it is concise
and clear, and yet demonstrates excellent
understanding. There are a couple of things
you could do to improve your essay. First, use
language that is not emotive and more reflective
of social science. I've noted a couple of places
in the essay where you could substitute words
that are less "loaded" and are more objective. It
is important to recognise that in social science
research, people rarely "always" behave in
certain ways. Also, be sure to refer to specific
facts or events or actions to support your
points, rather than things that are harder to
demonstrate, like general attitudes. Avoid
stereotypes (even if you are pretty sure they are
valid!), and instead refer to actions. Finally,
be sure to include more citations/ references to
the reading. This demonstrates engagement with
the literature. It is important to demonstrate
some breadth as well as depth, so in this essay,
you could have referred to Hare et al. as well as
Stern (either the lectures or the readings).
Distinction level This is a clearly written,
well-thought and convincing essay. The argument
is clear and consistently supported and justified
throughout the analysis. It is a compelling
argument since it offers a complementary approach
to tackling the issue of collective action on
mitigation. Therefore I gave you D for
Thesis. The justification of your points is also
very good and the reasoning in the argumentation
is very strong. You explain some of the strengths
of building blocks approach in relation to the
weaknesses in global deal. However, the only
justification you use for your key argument on
the need for a adopting multiple approaches is
that building blocks may not achieve the aim for
2 C. Building blocks have other weaknesses that
leads to the necessity of adopting multiple
approaches. For instance, building blocks might
lead states to loose their focus on more
ambitious aim to tackle the climate change. Also,
free riding problem might exacerbate in this
approach, etc. Therefore I gave you M for
Justification. The use of examples and
supporting arguments from the literature is quite
good. You could derive some explicit connections
to the public goods theory and non-excludable and
non-rivalrous character of climate and what
implications this might have on building blocks
and global deal approaches. I gave you M for
Support and D for Concepts. Your grasp of the
concepts and issues in the topic, and
understanding of the connections between its
different aspects is impressive. However, you
need to bring in more information on the
limitations and strengths of the two approaches
and use these in a way that derives comparisons
and contrasts more explicitly. Well done!
Pass level This essay demonstrates understanding
of the key issues, but it doesn't go far enough
to present a really credible academic argument.
You need to flesh out your points with more
references to key ideas, references to the
literature, and examples to support your
assertions. You should take yourself out of
the argument (so avoid phrases like "I believe,"
"I agree," etc.) - instead, just write an
assertive statement and back it up with
explanation (drawing on the literature) and
evidence. This will give you a more academically
sophisticated voice, and will also save time.
While the substance of your argument is
correct, it really doesn't go far enough. In a
short answer essay, aim to write an introduction
that sets out a clear argument (2-3 sentences),
introduce around three points that support that
argument, and write a conclusion that reinforces
your argument and then takes things a step
further by discussing the implications. Prior to
next week, be sure to complete the writing
tutorial on Moodle. I think that will help you to
think about how to approach that issue
21
Giving feedback on formative assessmentsSupport
Moodle essay writing

• Another form of referral recommendation is to
  theself-study materials on the LSE100 Moodle
  site
• These include an essay writing tutorial, guidance
  on literature searching and information literacy
  and further resources on argumentation, such as
  marking tasks in line with the course marking
  criteria

22

• Following the second formative task (F2), all
  students visit their class tutors feedback
  session to get their work back and have a one to
  one conversation about both F1 and F2
• Office hours for the term are clustered in
  certain weeks, so all students have the chance to
  meet their tutor in person
• The feedback slot is an oral continuation of the
  feedback dialogue started in F1