Teaching Context:

The module under analysis in this section is an undergraduate module designed for level 3 students, titled “Enterprise Project.” Its primary objective is to develop, practice, and demonstrate skills of creative enterprise within the context of problem-solving scenarios. This module carries a credit allocation of 40 credits and is led by one module leader (a colleague of mine) and one tutor (me). It spans two terms (Term 1 & Term 2), comprising 4 lectures and 4 seminars each term and have around 28 students in total. However, it allocates 80% of study time to independent study, wherein students are tasked with creating an enterprise project in real-world situations and engaging in critical reflection on their actions and future plans.

Issues and Evaluation

The key difficulty of this module is its placement within the overall program. Positioned in the final year, it has to provide students with an opportunity to develop their creative entrepreneurial knowledge in real-world settings, aligning with the overarching aim of the program, which focuses on Global Creative Industries. Students enrolled in this program have already acquired a series of skills and concepts related to entrepreneurship over the previous two years. Now, they are given the opportunity to tackle real-world challenges such as projects, events, or enterprises, enabling them to reflect on their learning journey and put theory into practice (Morley and Jamil, 2021). Therefore, the module is designed based on challenge-based pedagogy (Blevis, 2010), which necessitates consideration not only of the module’s objectives but also of the learning outcomes of preceding modules.

While the module is beneficial for students to self-reflect on their learning outcomes from the previous two years, it also presents challenges for the module designer in terms of selecting appropriate lecture topics and designing learning guidance. The module must encompass the breadth of students’ backgrounds and integrate insights from various modules across the school’s curriculum to accommodate the diversity of students’ backgrounds (Vettraino and Linds, 2018). The feedback from students is half positive half negative. Around 50% of students really like the idea of having the autonomy to develop their own project, the rest are feeling more confused and less instructed when they are doing something on their owns. As the module leader, I also feel sometimes frustrated to give enough supports to students who lose their minds when they are doing it.

Actions and Next Steps

After receiving feedback from students when nearly half of them were getting lost, I took the action to add an extra session to talk about reflective learning to explain to students what they are expected to achieve in this module. Positioned as a practical summary and reflection of what students have learned in the past years, students are likely to learn more effectively if they understand their learning style and have the opportunity to reflect on the learning process (Honey & Mumford, 1986). I explained to them that in this module, reflection is more important than what they really achieved. What matters is the knowledge and reflections they gained through doing the project. I used the session to teach them how to do reflective learning by doing their own project. The approach focuses on a 4-step reflection wheel: “Do-Reflect-Learn-Apply” (Honey & Mumford, 1986). At the beginning of the module, the initial lectures and seminars support students in generating ideas for their enterprise project. Subsequently, students take action on their ideas, followed by reflection on their initial attempts. They then apply concepts and theories learned in class to scale up their reflections to larger contexts. By the end of Term 1, students complete a reflective proposal for their enterprise project. Term 2 involves a reiteration of the reflection wheel based on achievements in Term 1. After this session, most students feel more comfortable reflecting on their own experiences. However, I still feel there are more actions we can take to improve guidance on students’ independent learning. For example, I’m applying for some funding for the module to invite some guest speakers to share real-world creative entrepreneurship ideas with students to inspire their project.

References

Blevis, E. (2010). Design challenge-based learning (DCBL) and sustainable pedagogical practice. Interactions, 17(3), 64-69.

Honey, P., & Mumford, A. (1986). The manual of learning styles. Peter Honey Press.

Morley, D. A., & Jamil, M. G. (2021). Introduction: Real world learning—recalibrating the higher education response towards application to lifelong learning and diverse career paths. In Applied Pedagogies for Higher Education: Real World Learning and Innovation across the Curriculum 1-17.

Vettraino, E., & Linds, W. (2018). Living the experience of learning: embodied reflexivity as pedagogical process. SATJ: South African Theatre Journal, 31(1), 15-35.