7.0099 Higher Education Research Group (1/73)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 20 Jul 1993 19:08:41 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 7, No. 0099. Tuesday, 20 Jul 1993.
Date: 15 Jul 1993 17:36:46 +0100
From: "S.A.Rae (Simon Rae)" <S.A.Rae@open.ac.uk>
Subject: Open University HERG
- THE OPEN UNIVERSITY, Milton Keynes, UK -
Institute of Educational Technology / Arts Faculty
Humanities Higher Education Research Group (HERG)
The Humanities Higher Education Research group was set up at the OU to
foster, conduct and publish research into teaching and learning in
inter-disciplinary cultural studies and within selected Humanities
disciplines. It aims to investigate:
- the nature of the adult student population, with the aim of
fostering equal opportunities
- different groups of students' expectations and experiences of study
at higher levels, their preparedness for it, attitudes and
approaches to it
- the reasons for student 'wastage', or drop-out
- those teaching methods most conducive to successful study, including
uses of a-v media and computing in the humanities
- the changing structure and role of the humanities in higher
education, in the context of broader social and educational change
within the UK and Europe.
The group includes members from Oxford and Bath Universities as well
as the OU Library, the BBC and its host departments. Its longer-term
aims are to:
- attract more funding for research into teaching and learning in the
humanities
- help break down barriers between 'pure' and 'applied' (educational)
research in this field
- help transform some subjects from elite to more popular fields of
study (e.g. Classical studies, Philosophy)
HERG's current projects include:
Theoretical studies: the role of theories of discourse in humanities
education; applications of the concept of 'interaction'; cognitive and
information processing models of learning.
Empirical studies: investigations into the teaching and learning of
Art History, Music and Philosophy; teaching Greek and Latin texts
through an anthology of passages in which key words are kept in the
original; learning patterns in adult access to classical languages;
the role of 'mind-mapping' in distance learning; evaluation of
inter-culturally developed distance teaching materials (European
Studies, with researchers in Tubingen, Germany); uses of computing in
the study of Literature at-a-distance.
The group aims to establish a database of active researchers in this
field, and to promote networks of communication between them. We
would like to know:
- your name and the address of your institution;
- your department and position within it
- your research area(s) interests and priorities
- your recent and current research projects,
- publications and sources of funding.
Please direct enquiries and information to:
Ellie Chambers (Chair, HERG)
Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University
Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
United Kingdom
Tel. (+44) (0) 908 652629
Fax (+44) (0) 908 653744
e-mail: e.a.chambers@open.ac.uk (world)
e.a.chambers@uk.ac.open (JANET)