Liverpool John Moores University's Case Study
PARs for part-time evening students on the MA Course in Literature and
Cultural History
Rationale
The MA represents the most diverse of JMU's intakes comprising students
from a wide range of educational backgrounds, career tracks and aspirations.
They also differ in age, ethnicity and occupation. MA students do not have
Personal Tutors as such: the MA was therefore selected to offer a different
and challenging context in which to evaluate a PADR scheme.
Numbers participating
Students: 20 (Year 1: 9; Year 2: 11)
Staff: 2
Other groups involved
Careers Advisory Service
Timescale of the case study exercise
September 1997 - March 1999
Requirements of the case study student group
Key findings
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Students welcomed the opportunity to review progress with a member of staff.
They did not perceive the PADR as especially relevant to their study.
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Students felt that as staff on the MA were accessible and as the group
was small, contact with staff was not a problem.
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Students did not want to become involved in overly mechanistic review processes.
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Students would welcome more opportunities to discuss career opportunities
with members of the CAS.
Further developments anticipated by the end of the project
-
Further integration of PADR into Research Methods, in order to emphasise
the relationship between reflection on academic learning processes and
personal development.
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Potential for student-led peer group support.
Main modifications/innovations in PAR processes/documentation agreed in
relation to staff roles, student roles, staff-student interactions
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Year 1:
-
The content of the MA PAR document was reduced, as it was decided that
students at post-graduate level did not require or wish for the structured
guidelines necessary at undergraduate level.
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Two members of staff teaching on the modules were assigned as Personal
Tutors at Level 1. It was decided staff teaching on the Core Module in
Semester One would be best placed to discuss progress with students.
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PAR meetings at Level 2 to be scheduled with Thesis Supervisors, as the
staff member in most regular contact with student and with most knowledge
of their academic progress.
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Year 2:
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Information sheet to be filled in by students modified to give greater
opportunity to describe previous academic experience, skills, careers aspirations
and target setting.
-
MA PADR meetings integrated into timetabled slot on Research Methods module
to emphasise links with independent learning and to make the process more
integral to the student experience.
-
Career talk scheduled.
Potential for transfer/dissemination to other courses/disciplines/ institutions
Discussion at the PADSHE Regional Seminar in Liverpool, March 1999, and
at a number of MA Route Meetings both indicated the potential for the process
at postgraduate level in terms of strengthened personal contact, provision
for discussion of academic process, forward planning for theses, identification
of skills, and career aspirations. However, it also highlighted the problems,
including means of maintaining regular personal contact in the second year
of study, the non-vocational nature of the MA programme, students' previous
experiences of recording achievement and desires to move "beyond" mechanistic
processes into a more academic and self-motivated context.
Such issues clearly face most staff and students working on postgraduate
part-time non-vocational programmes. They also demonstrate the need to
consider carefully the context in which a PADR scheme operates and the
need to modify it accordingly, taking into account a range of different
needs and expectations.
