ࡱ> BDA%` bjbj"x"x 7"@@   (2 '''''''$I)h+' ' '   ''&|n' `=q :&''0(&},D},$n'},n'(   '' (D   AAA2 Student-Staff Liaison, 1st December 2008 Dear Reps, Thank you for coming to the meeting earlier this week. I have put together a summary of the meeting below, including some of the action planned by staff in response to your concerns. Please feel free to share the gist of this with others on the course. And then at the beginning of next semester could you please take 5 minutes or so in the first tutorial to give formal feedback on the meeting to the students. If you have any queries about any of this, please don't hesitate to contact either myself or the course organizers for AAA2. Cheers, Chris Harding AAA2 Student-Staff Liaison, 1st December 2008 Comments 1. A perceived lack of clarity at the beginning of the course as to the basic chronological start and end points involved. Action by staff: Introductory lecture to stress the time period involved; a second introductory lecture on major trends in the historiography of this period, focusing in particular on Said; a third introductory lecture explaining to students how they should approach the reading for the course - from using certain textbooks to reading and note-taking techniques for more specialist books, as well as using Library e-resources to search for relevant articles; the nomination of regional 'textbooks', and the scanning of these by the Library to be placed on E-Reserve (accessed by the students via MyEd). 2. In some cases, presentations in tutorials seem to hamper discussions early on, depriving students of an essential opportunity to test their understanding and to clear up uncertainties; these presentations may be useful for the person presenting, but many of the other students in the tutorial room feel as though they are getting very little out of it and are thus not motivated to read in preparation for the tutorials unless it is 'their week'. Action by staff: tutors recognise that different groups require different approaches (this is stressed in the course handbook); tutors will continue to exercise flexibility in how tutorials are run, depending upon the needs of particular groups - and also in consultation with those groups. 3. Confusion amongst students about how the comparative element of the course operates. Action by staff: Adjusting lectures to place greater stress upon thematic comparisons across regions; ditto tutorial topics; essays will largely remain focused on single regions, to allow students a degree of specialization in their essays. 4. More feedback required. Action by staff: Reference was made by some students at the meeting to the journal idea used in American History 2. Journals like this may well be adopted from next academic year on the AAA2 course - in addition to, rather than replacing, the essays. 5. Specific sections of books should be suggested in course handbook. Action by staff: explain to students at the outset how to use the Contents/Index of a book, along with Intro/Conclusion to quickly identify the material they need. This in itself is a skill that we are trying to help students develop. Students with specific learning difficulties may of course ask the relevant member of staff for suggestions. ------------------------ Dr C.G. Harding Lecturer in Asian History School of History, Classics and Archaeology University of Edinburgh William Robertson Building 50 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9JY Telephone: +44 (0)131 650 9960 Mobile: +44 (0)7816 844 566 Fax: +44 (0)131 651 3070 .1=F~  I J   W ] p " # $ 5 6 d e o p 1 2 < = v w   J K FG FGHYZLM h ^JhTh ^JhThT^J hT^JhThT5^JU./01<=V W _ ` n o p $ 6 p HZ & F7$8$H$gd  7$8$H$gdTZmnF,stuv & F7$8$H$gd  & F7$8$H$gd  7$8$H$gdT & F7$8$H$gd  EFLMab+,\]%&ef./hj hT^J h ^JhThT^J,/9ABa~ 7$8$H$gdT 50P:pT/ =!"#$% H@H Normal CJOJQJ_HaJmH sH tH DA@D Default Paragraph FontRi@R  Table Normal4 l4a (k@(No List "./01<=VW_`nop$6pHZmnF  , s t u v   / 9 A B a ~ 000000000000000000 0 0 0 0000 0 0000 0 0000 0000 0000000000000000000.B a ~ Z0Z004Z0Z0 Z  88,#8 8w 8_8]8^8,D8\_8D 8888 858,o 8      / / a a           - - 8 8 g g   :*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsStreet8*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsCity=*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceName=*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceType;*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsaddress9*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace   F L , 3 33331<<=F~IJVVW]__``nnoo#$56deop12<=vwJKFG FFGHYZLMmmnn E F L M   a b     + , \ ] % & e f s s t t u u v v     . / 9 9 A A B B a a h j ~ ~  ~EB k&7{,2QHCLPG5 ?@CRoot Entry FPDqEData 1Table,WordDocument7"SummaryInformation(1DocumentSummaryInformation89CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q