Learning & Teaching

Title of case study	Surfacing skills… in a structured skills exercise
School/Subject:	School of Social and Political Sciences /   Political Communication MSc
Lecturer(s):	Prof Ana Ines Langer
Course:	Media and Democracy POLITIC5011
Student Level:	PGT
Class size:	Up to 6
Location:	n/a

Brief summary

As part of the Media and Democracy POLITIC5011 course in the School of Social and Political Sciences, students are asked to work in groups to undertake an assessment task. The task consists of designing and executing a small empirical research project to analyse the news coverage of a female leader and whether it’s gendered. 

Each group must present their findings in a pre-recorded video, which is played to the rest of the class during a seminar. After each recording is shown, groups receive questions from peers and feedback from the lecturer. All students within each group receive the same grade (15% of the 20-credit course). 

Individual students must then write a reflective report, which asks them to reflect on the whole process, including research decisions, presentation choices, and group dynamics.  This report is assessed individually and contributes 15% to the final course grade. 

Part of the rationale for including this activity in the course was that it helps students to develop their groupwork and presentation skills. Being able to effectively work in a group and design and deliver engaging, clear and brief presentations are great skills to have for any career, job or even for students as citizens or activists. The era of AI doesn’t change that. Gaining experience in pre-recording presentations adds another useful skill that students have the opportunity to build. 

Objectives

The assignment has several objectives:  

1. Apply theoretical concepts empirically to a specific case of their choice.  
2. Design and execute a small research project from defining research questions to selecting appropriate research methods. The idea is for this to be like a mini dissertation while at the same time giving them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learnt in the course.  
3. Develop teamwork skills including how to communicate, allocate tasks and compromise.  
4. Develop presentational skills, including creating a PowerPoint, writing the script and delivering it within time constraints.  
5. Reflect on successes and areas for improvement in their work and approach. 

What is done? 

Students work in allocated groups to deliver a structured, research-based presentation analysing media coverage of a chosen female politician.  

Assigning students into groups of 4 or 5, with consideration of factors such as gender, prior study/nationality and where possible performance in the course so far.  

Drawing on academic literature, each group develops an analytical framework to assess gendered framing in news media. This framework is then applied in a systematic content analysis of a representative sample of media pieces to identify patterns in coverage. 

Once the analysis is completed, each group prepares an 8-minute pre-recorded presentation outlining their research questions, methodology, findings and limitations. Key assessment criteria focus on the quality and coherence of the presentation, as well as the use of content and visual aids. The recording is submitted alongside the presentation slides. 

Presentations are played to the class in a seminar, which is followed by a 3-minute peer-led Q&A. The ability to ask relevant questions contributes to the assessment. 

Students receive support from the College Employability Team (in CoSS this is Dickon Copsey and Emma Smith) on groupwork and presentation skills and have the opportunity to practise their presentations and receive formative feedback. 

Following the presentation, each student submits an individual written report (up to 1,200 words) reflecting on the research and presentation process. The report should articulate the aims and focus of their group’s work, identify key findings, evaluate challenges and reflect on teamwork strategies. Students also propose specific improvements to the research and presentation, drawing on feedback and relevant literature.  

What works well?

Students generally like the project as it is applied (rather than theoretical) and on a leader of their choice. By combining a group and an individual grade, it eases students’ reservations about group work (and presentations) while at the same time enabling them to learn very important futures skills.  

The College employability team offers advice on how to work in groups as well as presentational skills, which is great. This team has also created advice about how to write the reflective report that is posted in Moodle, which students also find very

Benefits

Students learn from each other in the group and by observing other presentations. In doing so, they are often surprised by the high quality of work that other groups achieve within the same constraints of time, skills, etc. 

The reflective report provides students with a great opportunity to have a ‘second chance’ with ‘hindsight’. As an instructor, it’s easy to see from the reflective report who has really engaged with the group work and who hasn’t, as well as who has taken this ‘second chance’ seriously.  

Challenges            

Some students do not like working in groups. Students also find it difficult to find the time to meet up and to do so early enough to do a good job. 

Only a small proportion of students take advantage of the support provided. They do not seem to have the time (and/or understand well enough why it’s important)  

The group work is more time-consuming than other tasks of equivalent credit; however, the individual report requires less time, so the overall workload is roughly balanced 

Some students think the reflective report is something they can write quickly and just off ‘the top of their heads’. I do emphasise a lot that although it is more informal and less literature-based than e.g. essays, it still requires time and strong critical engagement. Not everyone seems to take the advice on board. 

What did you learn?

I began asking students to pre-record their presentations during COVID and have continued this practise as it works much better. It develops an additional skill and prevents students from being unable to speak due to running out of time.  

Combining group and individual grades works much better. The reflective report at first was focused only on process and resulted in quite superficial answers. Re-writing it with emphasis on what they learnt and the importance of making it coherent works much better.  

I have considered providing a range of examples of good presentations to ease their anxiety. But I have not done so because it is important for both the group work and individual report that students approach the task in their own way.  At the same time, I do give them quite detailed instructions and lot of advice to support them.  

What advice would you give to others?

Stress the importance of the groupwork aspect of the activity to students and how it will help them to build this essential skill, as some students really don’t enjoy working in groups.  

Try to encourage students to make the most of the support provided and stress the benefits of engaging with this. 

Highlight how the reflective report can provide students with a ‘second chance’ and they can use it to explore how they would approach the task differently in the future and build their understanding of how they can use this learning to grow and develop.