Geography In Higher Education Research Articles

The production of urban space and the geography of higher education in Sinop-MT

The production of urban space and the geography of higher education in Sinop-MT

Challenges of teaching sports geography in higher education

ABSTRACT Teaching sports geography in higher education on the surface seems like it would be a great course to draw students in, get them exposed to geographic concepts, tools, and techniques, and the perfect forum for using examples to which students can relate. However, there are few instances of a sports geography course being in a regular rotation of courses. A deeper look at why this is reveals some challenges both administratively and academically. This reflection paper discusses some of these issues from the perspective of faculty members in the U.S. higher educational setting as well as some challenges of including physical geography in such a course. Although students tend to understand how geography and sports are intertwined from human geography concepts, physical geography concepts are also an important part of this understanding and do not get a lot of attention during these types of discussions. This reflection does consider the many ways that physical geography needs to be part of academic courses on sports geography.

Beyond recommended readings: points of entry into SoTEL for disciplinary academics

The recommended readings of many formal programs in higher education studies (for example, graduate certificates in teaching and learning) share a common core: Vygotsky, Rogers, Sadler, Schön, Knowles, Biggs and Tang, to mention a few. These readings are intended to ground educators in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), although secondary sources are also helpful (Kandlbinder & Peseta, 2009, p. 24). Geertsma (2016) summarises the intention thus: by “engaging with the literature and reflectively relating it to their own practice teachers can build an expertise in teaching that complements their disciplinary expertise, which then can transform approaches to teaching” (p. 124). What happens when these educator-students venture into a different literature, that of SoTEL (“scholarship of technology-enhanced learning”: Wickens, 2006), and are encouraged to locate readings to apply directly to their practice? For the last seven years, educator-students in the later part of Australian Catholic University's Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (GCHE) have undertaken studies in technology-enabled learning. Their first assessment task is to find and summarise a published SoTEL case study of interest. The class shares these summaries through a Moodle database, allowing colleagues to browse and access relevant articles for their next assignment (creating a technology-enabled learning sequence for their teaching). Recently, the assignment has included an analysis of the case situation using the activity-centred analysis and design framework (Carvalho & Goodyear, 2014; Yeoman & Carvalho, 2019), so that colleagues can compare social configurations as well as tasks and technologies and settings across cases. The cumulative list of articles is shared with each new class to ensure no article is chosen twice. This poster reviews 170 articles chosen by educator-students in the TEL subject to identify any clusters in areas of interest and understand what sources are valued by these students. A variety of visualisations depict how academics new to the field experience SoTEL. For example, although sector-leading generalist journals such as BJET and AJET are highlighted in the study materials and instructions, nearly 50% of the total articles selected were sourced from disciplinary journals (for example, the BMC [BioMed Central] Medical Education or Journal of Geography in Higher Education). More analysis is being undertaken, but it seems that institutional and wider concerns may influence selections. For example, from the semester timeline, it appears some teachers in the thick of the first pandemic year selected articles on affective elements (e.g. student perceptions and preferences: see Lai and Bower’s eight-part classification of constructs for evaluating learning technologies [2019, p. 33]). This year, with the pandemic well-entrenched, articles on teaching with simulations in health have been evident. This assignment serves to not only introduce SoTEL, but also to connect technology with design and context for these educator-students. The area of interest identified for this assignment can become the ‘animating force’ (Fenton & Szala-Meneok, 2010, p. 12) of inquiry that an individual pursues for the rest of the GCHE.

Podcasting urban geographies: examining the utility of student-generated research podcasts for deep learning and education for sustainable development

ABSTRACT Action-oriented pedagogies are becoming an increasingly popular instructional approach within higher education, encouraging students to learn by doing and to actively participate in the construction of knowledge, forming part of learning-centred and research-centred approaches to teaching and learning thought to assist deep learning. Such pedagogies are also critical for attending to broader societal challenges through education for sustainable development (ESD). Despite pedagogical shifts, assessment methods remain largely centred on more traditional written methods such as exams or essays, even though there is a growing recognition of the diversity of learners within higher education institutions, coupled with recent drives for adoption of universal design principles for learning (UDL). Within this context, this paper reports on the use of audio podcasts for assessment in a final year urban geography module. Reflective statements completed by the students were analysed to examine the utility of learner-generated research-based podcasts for learning and assessment in urban geography, focussing on the depth of learning, creativity, and the development of graduate attributes. Podcasts have received little attention as a tool for teaching, learning and assessment within Geography, yet innovations in assessment can enhance the profile and popularity of Geography in higher education and beyond.

Doctor of Biology Nina Gomboeva: Harmony of Human Relations

An essay is presented about Nina Gyndunovna Gomboeva, who has made her career at the Geography department from an assistant to a professor. Twice she was the head of the department; she created a master’s degree in geographical education at the department. In 2021, she celebrated her 70th anniversary, and in 2023 the department celebrates its 70th anniversary. The fate of Nina Gyndunovna is closely connected with the history of the department. Nina Gyndunovna has her own view of this history, which is of great interest both for historical and scientific research on the geography of higher education in the Transbaikal Region and for students, graduates, teachers who have connected their lives with geographical and pedagogical sciences. Doctor of Sciences Gomboeva has tried to highlight the activities of all teachers, to characterize their best qualities. Scientific researches by N.G. Gomboeva fit into the direction of medical geography, or rather, they can be defined as the geography of the physiological adaptation of a person to the physical and geographical conditions of the Transbaikal region. Nina Gyndunovna has a thorny path in science, but her intellect, talent, positive attitude towards people have helped to overcome all difficulties and achieve success.

Troubled transition? The relationship between curriculum for excellence geography and Scottish undergraduate geography

ABSTRACT Since the late 1990s, there has been a concern about a growing disconnect between Geography in academia and the Geography taught in the school curriculum. The claim is that School Geography has remained, to some degree, stuck with outdated notions of the discipline, resulting in detrimental effects on those making the transition from School Geography to University Geography. This paper investigates whether these issues are present in Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Geography. Drawing upon curriculum materials, a survey of Geography school teachers, university staff and a handful of follow-up interviews, CfE was evaluated with respect to policy and implementation, course content, pedagogy, and the relationship between Scottish Geography’s secondary and tertiary educational sectors. Findings pertained to concerns around non-specialist teaching, and about how transition is impacted by socio-economic inequality between state and independent schools. Significant criticisms were voiced over outdated topics, resulting in declining pupil interest, while issues were identified regarding certain pedagogies and problematic stereotyping of places. A distinct deficit of communication between educational sectors became clear, and it is concluded that there are significant problems with CfE Geography symptomatic of a wider disconnect with University Geography, presenting a serious barrier to transition into Higher Education Geography.

Unsettling feelings in the classroom: scaffolding pedagogies of discomfort as part of decolonising human geography in higher education

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the tension between the need to create spaces for unsettling feelings as part of a decolonisation of the curriculum in Higher Education, and the need to create a sense of safety in the classroom. Decolonising the curriculum, here, means exploring how histories of coloniality structure educational institutions, established canons, and socio-natural relations, and cultivating collective practices that move beyond oppressive patternings. As part of this process, as we find ourselves imbricated in the struggles of others and as our emotional grip on the world is unsettled, we – students and teachers alike – may find ourselves experiencing discomfort. This raises an important question, for it is clearly part of the responsibility of an educator to create spaces that feel “safe” for students, and do not induce or trigger trauma. Drawing on experiences in the university classroom and lecture halls, this paper develops the concept of “scaffolding” as the basis for an ethos for embracing discomfort pedagogically. The affordances of physical theatre, film, and visual culture are considered alongside particular tactics as ways to foster the transformation of “settled” fabrics of feeling in care-full ways.

Education for sustainable development with transdisciplinary-oriented courses - experiences and recommendations for future collaborations in higher education teaching

ABSTRACT The paper investigates how teacher trainees in higher education geography and external, non-scientific partners perceive and experience collaborations in an active teaching and learning approach. Such formats are recommended in education for sustainable development (ESD) but are likely to be challenging experiences for all actors involved. The study analysed two transdisciplinary-oriented courses, where future teachers in geography and primary social and science education collaborated with civil society partners. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 students and partners; course evaluations complemented the database. The analysis identified several approaches to collaboration and aspects that either led to intensive collaboration or challenged its transdisciplinary character. Furthermore, the study revealed the interdependencies between the external partners’ expectations, their motives and the perceived effects of the collaborations. The partners anticipated a wide range of expectations, some of which went beyond what the students could reasonably deliver. Our analysis also showed that the collaborations enabled students to learn, experience and reflect on an active teaching and learning approach to ESD. We conclude that transdisciplinary-oriented courses can oscillate along the spectrum between “nice try” and “valuable initiative”. The paper ends with recommendations for shaping and delivering transdisciplinary-oriented courses effectively.

Bringing geography to the community: community-based learning and the geography classroom.

Community-based learning is a pedagogical technique designed to bring students out of the classroom and into their communities. Students typically pair with local nonprofit organizations to complete work which ties into their scholarship. Faculty, students, and community members can all benefit from these partnerships, and university-community relations are strengthened by them. These connections deepen the educational experience and improve student success and retention, and build civic engagement skills that benefit the university community and the student’s home community (Strait, Turk, and Nordyke in: JR Strait, K Nordyke (eds), Pedagogy Of Civic Engagement, High-Impact Practices, and e-Service- L Earning, Stylus Publishing, Virginian, 2015; Bednarz in Journal of Geography in Higher Education 32:87–100, 2008; Mohan in Journal of Geography in Higher Education 19:129–142, 1995). Spatial citizenship, while vital to such engagement and to effective community participation, is seldom taught in traditional pedagogy (Kanwischer, Schulze, and Gryl in: Thomas Jekel, Adrijana Car, Josef Strobl, and Gerald Griesebner (eds), Spatial citizenship—dimensions of a curriculum, Wichmann Verlag, Berlin, 2012). Connecting place to pedagogy with spatially-enabled learning helps students investigate complex global concepts at a manageable local scale. Geography is an intrinsic part of scholarship, to varying degrees, and spatial thinking can bring added dimension and value to the educational process (Vogler in: Thomas Jekel, Adrijana Car, Josef Strobl, and Gerald Griesebner (eds), Wichmann Verlag, Berlin, 2012). The intersectionalities which exist within the community, when examined with a spatial lens, are the core of community geography, a praxis-focused method of engaged scholarship (Shannon in Progress in Human Geography, 10.1177/0309132520961468, 2020). Community-based learning is not clearly defined, yet some established models exist. Place-based learning communities move cohorts of students through a curriculum that is centered on local community issues, with the community as both laboratory and lens, and building place attachment (Schweizer, Davis, and Thompson in Environmental Communication 7:42–62, 2013). Service learning, while less clearly defined, typically involves direct work with community organizations, identifying, investigating, and contributing to solutions for local issues (Strait, Turk, and Nordyke in: JR Strait, K Nordyke (eds), Pedagogy Of Civic Engagement, High-Impact Practices, and e-Service- L Earning, Stylus Publishing, Virginian, 2015; Cal Corps Public Service in Designing Community-Based Courses, 1–45, 2015). Built around the concept of place, the added dimension of improved spatial citizenship benefits both community and students. This paper will review community-based learning as practiced through upper-division service learning courses in geography at two universities, and the development of a new course, as methods of engagement with local communities through a spatial lens.

Stewarding Places through Geography in Higher Education

Place-based education is common in elementary school geography curriculums where children are taught about their surroundings. Emphasizing hands-on, real-world learning experiences, this approach creates heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens. By post-secondary school, geography students collectively pursue knowledge within a classroom, learning about the importance of becoming global citizens. In the process, the benefits of place-based education are overlooked in favor of global aspirations. This paper considers the importance of place in student well-being, and the role of educator in place-based education, while reflecting on the role that local experiential education can play in increasingly global-oriented education.

Regional concentration of higher education

This research article focuses on the regional concentration of higher education. The purpose of the research is to examine the effects of this concentration and to devise some possible outcomes and implications for the regional economic growth and development. We discuss the endogeneity of higher education and evaluate the differences such as the official demographic projections or the growth-related factors, including student numbers predicted by official statisticians. Our article contributes to ongoing research on the role of higher education in promoting regional economic development and emerging inequalities in the regions around the world. In addition, it focuses on the existence of the multiple channels of activity through which tertiary education institutions (TEIs) benefit their regional economies. In addition, the paper tackles the issue of regional concentration of TEIs within and across regions and clearly demonstrates how the geography of higher education has evolved and developed in the recent years.

Brexit geographies of transnational education: uncertainty, ‘global Britain’ and European (re-)integration

ABSTRACT Higher education in the UK constitutes an important (export) sector that depends on mobilities of capital, labour and students. This article contributes to ‘Brexit geographies’ by exploring how the economic geographies of British transnational education are reconfigured during uncertainty over Brexit through spatial strategies of universities. Based on qualitative research and in-depth interviews with decision-makers in higher education in the UK, it maps the investments and analyses the rationales, narratives and spatial imaginaries motivating the construction of universities’ physical presences abroad. Decision-makers’ imagined futures for UK universities, first, reveal a linking to discourses of ‘Global Britain’ and, second, efforts towards European (re-)integration through campus development in European Union territory. The latter is intended by some to ameliorate risks of regulatory changes and provide an ‘insurance policy’ against the anticipated financial consequences of Brexit. However, the resulting geographies of risk and vulnerability are unevenly distributed and seem likely to increase the hierarchically structured (economic) geographies of higher education.

Digital storytelling, student engagement and deep learning in Geography

ABSTRACT This study aims to provide insight into the usefulness of integrating digital stories in teaching and learning activities in Geography in higher education. More specifically, to identify how digital stories can enhance deep learning in Geography. Deep learning indicates understanding and creative use of knowledge in new settings, i.e. the highest levels in the revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy, a knowledge dimension from factual knowledge to meta-knowledge. Data are based on two evaluation processes: a university student who conducted a process of making digital stories in a class of upper secondary school students, and secondly, by 41 university students who did a two-step evaluation process of these stories. Despite the Norwegian learning context, from which data are obtained, the approaches will largely be recognizable in other countries because of the general learning principles and framework for teaching geographical topics. The study shows that digital storytelling has the potential to improve interactive learning outcome that can enhance ethical and deep learning of geography, including “the affective domain” of how geography is felt and valued. The awareness of integration of technology into the learning process is underlined.

How to incorporate theory in (urban) field trips: the built environment as concrete abstraction

ABSTRACT Classroom teaching and field trips are both conventional ways of teaching geography in higher education. But where the former can be highly theoretical and abstract, the latter is rather practical, empirical, and concrete. In this paper, I argue there is a need to better incorporate theory into field trips. I seek to explore relations between theory and field trips both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, I draw upon Henri Lefebvre and Bertell Ollman and argue for seeing the built environment as concrete abstractions. Based on interviews with teachers, theoretical reflections, and, not least, personal experiences, I end the paper offering practical steps towards better combining theory and field trips.

TRABALHO DE CAMPO EM GEOGRAFIA AGRÁRIA:

Este artigo analisa a importância do trabalho de campo para o ensino de Geografia no ensino superior, com ênfase nos temas da Geografia Agrária. O texto se estrutura com base na sistematização – planejamento, execução e avaliação – de um trabalho de campo desenvolvido com uma turma do curso Interdisciplinar em Educação do Campo: Ciências Sociais e Humanas – Licenciatura, da Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul, no primeiro semestre de 2019. O campesinato, o cooperativismo e a Agroecologia integram a ementa do componente curricular de Geografia II do curso citado. A metodologia utilizada na elaboração do artigo consiste na observação em campo e na análise dos relatórios produzidos pelos acadêmicos. A atividade desenvolvida nos permitiu reafirmar a importância do trabalho de campo para o ensino da Geografia, visto que possibilitou compreender, na prática, como o cooperativismo e a Agroecologia se estabelecem como estratégias fundamentais para a territorialização do campesinato. Ademais, as conversas com os diferentes sujeitos e a visita aos espaços de produção e industrialização da produção agrícola possibilitaram visualizar as contradições presentes no campo brasileiro, sobretudo aquelas que envolvem as organizações camponesas. Assim, o trabalho de campo se constitui como ferramenta metodológica fundamental para possibilitar uma compreensão crítica e transformadora do espaço geográfico. Palavras-chave Trabalho de campo, Geografia Agrária, Campesinato, Cooperativismo, Agroecologia

Re-imagining Europe through geography education: Introduction

The selection of papers in this thematic issue stems from two different albeit interrelated sessions at the 7th EUGEO Congress in Galway (May 15-18, 2019) on the general topic “Reimagining Europe’s future society and landscapes”. The first was a joint EUGEOEUROGEO-IGU sponsored paper and panel session titled “Geography in Higher Education: the role of geography teaching in shaping Europe’s future society and landscapes”; the second was a paper session organized by the Italian Association of Geography Teachers(AIIG) on the topic “Teaching Europe and for Europe. Strategies for a geographical education in critical times”. Even though from different angles and perspectives, the two sessions shared the general idea that geography education at all levels really counts in re-imagining and reshaping future European societies, territories and identities and in reinvigorating the values at the base of the European project.

Deep understanding of natural hazards based on the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction in a higher education geography module in Singapore

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction develops and implements strategies to reduce disaster risks and can be used as a pedagogical tool to improve knowledge of natural hazards. From an early age, individuals can contribute positively to natural hazard mitigation and this is supported by research conducted in schools in countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Our research aims to explore undergraduate university student engagement and learning of natural hazards through real-world data analysis, risk assessment, developing adaptation and mitigation strategies and effective stakeholder communication in a region, while building students’ knowledge about the various hazards affecting an area. Throughout a series of tutorials and assignments, students were asked to explain a specified hazard, identify existing risks, explore adaptation and mitigation strategies and develop a stakeholder communication tool. Overall, students performed well in each individual assignment, getting marks between 14-18 out of 20. Assignment 4, in which students had to create a communication tool to report their findings to a stakeholder, such as a governmental agency, was the one where students received the highest marks. Students’ feedback at the end of the assignments was positive; most of them felt engaged and that the series of assignments enhanced their critical thinking skills.

Development of geography in higher education in China: departments, curricula, and faculty, 1904–1949

ABSTRACT By extracting information from various original materials and using geography departments, curricula, and faculty as indicators, this paper contributes to the discussion of the development of geography in higher education in China from 1904 to 1949. Four mutual connections are outlined. First, the development of geography in higher education is inextricably linked to social and political changes. Second, geography in higher education during the period concerned progressed in fits and starts, which affected its distribution. Third, geography departments were split into two categories according to the type of higher educational institution, which created differences in the tasks, curricula, and faculty of these departments. Fourth, faculty were trained in both domestic and foreign universities, and Western universities made an obvious contribution to the growth of qualified academic faculty. Simultaneously, universities where qualified academic faculty were trained were centralized both in domestic and foreign aspects. The special role of geographers returning from overseas study, the particularity of geography in higher education in China, and the connection between Chinese and foreign geography are also discussed in terms of geography departments, curricula, and faculty.

Instituições que educam: a formação do professor de geografia no surgimento das universidades brasileiras

Anteriormente à reforma curricular nos cursos de licenciatura de 2002 feita pela Resolução do Conselho Nacional de Educação, a lógica curricular propagada na universidade era conhecida como o modelo “3 + 1”, ou seja, três anos de disciplinas de conhecimento específico da área de atuação (Geografia) e um ano de disciplinas de conhecimentos pedagógicos. Este artigo pretende realizar uma reflexão sobre os discursos de formação atribuídos aos três primeiros anos da formação do professor no período da criação dos cursos superiores de Geografia a partir de um movimento metodológico da arqueologia do saber. Assim, se o currículo forma o professor, ou ainda, constitui o professor a partir de um processo de subjetivação, torna-se necessário entender os conhecimentos geográficos que são produzidos nas instituições de produção desses saberes (escola, universidade/academia e sociedades geográficas).

Geographers and the scholarship of teaching and learning

ABSTRACTIn this paper we draw attention to the attributes and values which equip geographers to engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning. We begin by summarising key characteristics of geographers in higher education, synthesized from academic literature. We support our summary with comments from past editors of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education offered in answer to the question: “What is it about the geographer’s identity or modes and styles of research that helps you to undertake productive enquiry into teaching and learning?” We purposely select three papers from the journal in order to highlight the distinctive (though not exhaustive) nature and range of higher education scholarship that has been undertaken by geographers. These case studies enquire into fieldwork pedagogies, teaching-research links and inclusive student-faculty partnership. We summarise the key elements of these papers and inter-weave the voices of the authors as accompanying narratives explaining the intent and approach to their research, and examining how it is shaped by their identities as geographers. We consider the issues in higher education that geographers are likely to embrace in the future and conclude by reflecting on what this means for the individual and for the discipline.