Ways of thinking and practising in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Team Member: Majied Robinson Abstract Background: This proposal aims to extend the work of a previous PTAS-funded project called ‘Ways of Thinking and Practising in Asian Studies’ that was carried out in the first half of 2013. This earlier project used WTP as a foundation for instigating a profound change in undergraduate teaching within the Asian Studies department, particularly in the design of the Researching Japan and Thinking Through Japan courses which have been highlighted by both students and internal reporting as representing the best discursive teaching currently being done at pre-Honours level within LLC. Aims: In this project I aim to carry out a similar investigation within the IMES department in order to achieve similar results. Methodology: As before, the data-gathering will primarily involve semi-structured interviews with staff members which are recorded, transcribed and encoded into nVivo software. This will then be analysed and from it will emerge an articulation of the underlying assumptions that form the basis of research within the department which can then be used to inform future course design. This would ultimately create cohesion across degree programmes and provide a stronger link between the research and teaching activities of the academic staff. Beyond this outcome there is also the potential of creating a model of pedagogical enhancement that can be extended to other departments within LLC. Findings will be presented at a discipline-specific conference, will be published in a paper and will be discussed at a workshop open to all departmental staff. Final Project Report Final Project Report may be downloaded here - Oct 2015 MRobinson PTAS.pdf This article was published on 2024-02-26
