Bute Geographies

Teachers’ Resource Packs

Teachers’ Resource Packs are not widely deployed as a mode of coursework in geographical higher education. Yet, they are potentially valuable in that (i) they are of obvious value to students who are considering pursuing a teaching career (ii) they encourage students to demonstrate the wider significance of case studies (iii) they encourage a concern with clarity of expression in writing and quality of presentation (iv) they may serve a useful role in bridging the school/HE divide. Self-evidently, these packs would be written to provide school teachers with case study resources that could be used in classroom teaching. The quality of the resources and the supplementary commentary (describing each resource and raising key issues for discussion) would be the key focus of assessment. The pack should also contain useful background information about the study and a review of sources of further information.

Practising Geography, the second year undergraduate Human Geography module at Glasgow Caledonian University, offers individual students the option of submitting coursework in the form of a teachers’ resource pack based on a small-scale, fieldwork-based research project that they themselves have designed. On completion of the module, students can then elect to have their paper refereed by an independent expert (generally a teacher of geography from a secondary school in Scotland) as part of the StuP project. Publication on the StuP project website is conditional on an acceptable referee’s report.

Here, we provide resources that could be adapted in other institutions to implement (i) teachers’ resource pack coursework (ii) similar student publication projects. These resources are presented as Microsoft Word files.

• Guidance Notes for Student Authors. Refer to the relevant sections from the “Student’s Guide to Using a Referee’s Report to Revise a Bute Geographies Teachers’ Resource Pack”.
• Teachers’ Resource Pack Template (Mail Merge Master and Data File) and User Notes. These files can be used by students for manual (cut and paste) or automatic (mail merge function) formatting of supporting text for teachers’ resource packs.
• Guidance Notes for Academic Assessment of Teachers’ Resource Pack Coursework. A criterion referenced system for assessing coursework is presented, which takes cognisance of both the overall product and the extent to which specific component parts have been correctly employed.
• Academic Assessment Marking Proforma. This marking cover sheet is for academic staff.
• Exemplar. An example of a Teachers’ Resource Pack. Authored by Dr. John McKendrick and utilising data from a questionnaire survey of students’ awareness of, and experiences of visiting, visitor attractions on the Isle of Bute, which was undertaken in advance of visiting the island for fieldwork. This is Teachers’ Resource Pack 1, which can be accessed from ‘Resources on the geography and environment of the Isle of Bute / Briefing Papers’.

Updated: 25 November, 2005