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Using SHS As A Teaching Resource

Using SHS As A Teaching Resource. Dr John Holland McKendrick. Outline. Numeracy in HE Why SHS? SCQF Case Study: Social Sciences at GCU Conclusion. Numeracy in HE. Sector: Key Skill Subjects: Benchmarking Graduates: Numeric Professions Graduates: Numeracy for Employability

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Using SHS As A Teaching Resource

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  1. Using SHS As A Teaching Resource Dr John Holland McKendrick

  2. Outline • Numeracy in HE • Why SHS? • SCQF • Case Study: Social Sciences at GCU • Conclusion

  3. Numeracy in HE • Sector: Key Skill • Subjects: Benchmarking • Graduates: Numeric Professions • Graduates: Numeracy for Employability • Graduates: Numeracy for Critical Citizenship

  4. Why SHS? • Why not? • Subject matter of SHS • Accessibility of SHS data • Accessibility of SHS outputs • Accessibility of general information on SHS • Accessibility of academic publications on SHS • SHS Lite

  5. Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework

  6. Case Study: Social Sciences @ GCU • SCQF7 - Introduction to Human Geography • SCQF8 - Practising Geography • SCQF9 - Urban Scotland: Applied Social Analysis • SCQF10 - Honours Dissertations • SCQF11 - Masters (Scotland in Statistics) • SCQF12 - Doctoral Dissertations

  7. SCQF 7: Part of Geographical Resources LectureIllustrating the utility of spatial statistics (to make sense of geographical variations in quality of neighbourhood life in Scotland)

  8. Student Exercise - part 1 1. Refer to list of spaces in Scotland • Cities • Other urban • Very remote towns • Accessible rural • Very remote rural • Write down the RANK ORDER in which you would expect most people to be satisfied with the quality of their neighbourhood (1 = MOST SATISFIED / 5 = LEAST SATISFIED) 3. Explain why

  9. Student Exercise - part 2 1. Interpret Table which has been taken from the Scottish Household Survey, 1999 2. Reach one conclusion on the quality of neighbourhood life in Scotland

  10. SCQF 8: Group field exercise appraising environmental quality on the Isle of ButeSetting a local study of environmental quality in its national/geographical context

  11. Student Exercise - summary 1. Groups of students assess environmental quality at four sites on the Isle of Bute (town, suburban, small village and rural) • The aims of the exercise are twofold • Assess environmental quality • Critically appraise utility of quantitative (and qualitative) methods • Students assess each site on a three point scale (positive, neutral, negative) on 20 quantitative measures (10 of which measure aesthetic quality, 10 of which measure sustainability). Each option is described in words, e.g. for graffiti, the options are more than one spot with graffiti (negative), one spot with graffiti (neutral) or no graffiti (positive). • Students also undertake an open-ended ‘qualitative’ appraisal of aesthetic quality and sustainability at each site - can compare utility quantitative and qualitative approaches • At the stage of data interpretation, students are provided with SHS results - can compare utility of different approaches to quantitative data collection

  12. Student Exercise Key differences in approach between SHS and BEQA 1. SHS focuses on neighbourhood, BEQA focuses on site • SHS uses 4 point scale (with no neutral point), BEQA uses a 3 point scale (with neutral point) • SHS uses numerical assessment (1-4), BEQA uses descriptive assessment - both are forms of ordinal data • SHS has 50 indicators (plus 2 ‘other’ and 2 ‘nothing), grouped into 2 types (things ‘particularly liked about neighbourhood’ and ‘particularly disliked about neighbourhood), BEQA has 20 indicators, grouped into 2 types (aesthetics and sustainability) • SHS results can be appraised using the Scottish Executive’s 6-fold area classification scheme, BEQA results can be appraised using the exercises 4 area types • Most of the BEQA themes for aesthetics are also assessed by SHS, but none of the BEQA themes for sustainability are directly assessed by SHS

  13. SCQF 9: Urban Scotland: Applied Social Analysis ModuleUsing SHS to build up a knowledge base of social issues in urban Scotland

  14. Module Relevance Building up a knowledge base on urban Scotland 1. Provides aggregate urban data and data for four different types of urban area • Encourages students to appraise the meaning of urban area (as SHS provides data for four types of urban area) • Provides an example of the difficulties encountered in classifying areas and collecting data for areal units • Permits a statistical portrait of urban Scotland to be constructed • Who we are (Population profile) • Where we live (Housing, Neighbourhood, Local Transport and Safety) • What we do (Work, Travel to Work/School, Education, Training, Qualifications) • How we live (Cars, Income, Personal Finance, Care, Health) • Our communities (Voting, Services, Recycling, Volunteering)

  15. SCQF 10: Undergraduate Degree Honours Dissertation Independent Study Based on Secondary Data Analysis

  16. Utility of SHS: Honours Level Study 1. Collects and presents information on pertinent issues in Scotland (designed to inform debate on issues for which Scottish Executive has responsibility) • Time series analysis now possible • Readily accessible data • SHS team appraisal of utility of dataset and resources to facilitate interpretation and analysis • Scale of analysis is fit-for-purpose for an Honours Level dissertation, but can also be used in a more limited fashion to provide national benchmarks for local study (see also SCQF 8 and 12)

  17. SCQF 11: Part of Scotland in Statistics LectureConceiving of social statistics as political constructions (making sense of the national region political base of official statistics about Scotland)

  18. Student On-Line Discussion Critical review of McKendrick, J.H. (1999) Data for Scotland: reshaping the nation through population statistics. Scottish Geographical Journal, 115.3: 211-226 (ISSN 0036-9225) • Describes background to SHS at its inception • Critically appraises the focus of SHS • Encourages students to consider the wider significance of social statistics • Reflects on what the design of SHS suggests to us about how we view new Scotland (I.e. in 1999 with the establishment of the Scottish Parliament) • Presents a diagrammatic summary to demonstrate the preferred national statistical base for different positions of the political spectrum (single-state unionism, two-tier unionism and separatists) …

  19. Attitude toward national base for statistical data, by preferred national positions

  20. SCQF 12: Student Doctoral Dissertations Integrating Secondary Data Analysis in Larger Scale Studies

  21. Utility of SHS: Doctorate • As SCQF, Level 10 points 1-4 • Collects and presents information on pertinent issues in Scotland (designed to inform debate on issues for which Scottish Executive has responsibility) • Time series analysis now possible • Readily accessible data • SHS team appraisal of utility of dataset and resources to facilitate interpretation and analysis • Scale of SHS implies that it is NOT fit-for-purpose for a Doctorate, but can also be used in a more limited fashion to provide national benchmarks for local study (see also SCQF 8 and 10) • The close association between SHS and the remit of the Scottish Executive renders SHS a particularly valuable statistical resource, enabling statistics to be critically appraised in the context of the work of the Scottish Executive and Parliament.

  22. Case Study: Social Sciences @ GCU • SCQF7 - Illustrate the utility of spatial statistics • SCQF8 - National benchmark for local study • SCQF9 - Establish thematic knowledge base • SCQF10 - Independent study: SDA • SCQF11 - Critical appraisal of social statistics • SCQF12 - Independent study: SDA as context

  23. Conclusion • Numeracy is a skill many HE students must acquire • SHS provides tailor made resources to support learning • SHS engages issues which are familiar to HE students • SHS is not perfect - scope for critical appraisal • SHS can be used in learning from SCQF Levels 7-12

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