Pedagogic Progress in Upper Level (41-80 credits) University Education

Abstract

Goal The purpose of this project is to increase the quality, the effectiveness and the usefulness of upper level education (påbyggnadsutbildningen). The planning of the project has taken place after a thorough examination and analysis of the problems that this form of education is experiencing in its present shape. These problems can be attributed to three different stumbling blocks: 1. The gap between the lower and the upper level courses concerning their divers demands for knowledge and skills, their working methods and goals. 2. The difficulty in accomplishing the studies in the amount of time available. 3. The limited usefulness of the education in future professional activity. The project will attend to these problems using new angles of approach, organizationally as well as pedagogically. Methods At present the upper level education is characterized by extremely individualized study processes. Add to that the division into separate study courses and essay courses, which have a disruptive effect on the studies. Furthermore, this education is traditionally oriented towards being a preparation for postgraduate studies, and this to an extent that in no way corresponds to the small fraction of upper level students who intend to go further with studies in the field. Against a background of such critical and self-critical observations, our project can be described as having the following main elements 1. to stimulate the students to join each other in goal-oriented project and supervision groups, distributed among a number of teachers with different specialities 2. to replace the division between study courses and essay courses with integrated studies. 3. to diversify types of investigation and forms of accounting in order to enable and generate alternative genres of examination besides the traditional "scholarly" essay. 4. to continuously stimulate the correlation between the lower and upper level studies with impulses in both directions.