Student Engagement: Key Skills, Social Capital, and Encouraging Learner Contributions to Module Resources

• Main Author: Simon Sweeney
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: UACES 2018-08-01
• Series: Journal of Contemporary European Research
• Subjects: student engagement; course content; cultural capital; internationalization; student-centred learning; key skills
• Online Access: http://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/899

This project involves a Masters module on political economy, taught annually to diverse cohorts studying an MSc in international business. It has generated a substantial resource of learner-created material. The opening weeks of the course introduce key international political economy (IPE) concepts; then the module addresses challenges to global stability and the business environment. Students are invited to work in groups to create researched presentations on any country in which issues of governance, political dysfunction, or stresses relating to globalization, affect economic and political development. Each presentation is supported by a reading list and other support materials. Over five years, countries ranging from St Lucia to Myanmar, from China to Romania, have been included. This student-generated, student-selected work has built a developing resource for the module, available on the module Virtual Learning Platform. The initiative showcases independent learning and develops key skills, group work, research, and enhanced presentation techniques. Several presentations have incorporated mixed media. Importantly, students bring their prior experience and own-country knowledge to the wider cohort, encouraging and enabling internationalist perspectives, sharing experience and comparison between diverse situations and challenges. The project therefore facilitates enhanced cross-cultural understanding and sharing of cultural capital to generate educational capital.