Making Space for the Dissertation
a Rural Retreat for Undergraduate Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v8i1.355Keywords:
dissertation; field trips; learning spaces; community of practice; transformational learning; writing retreatAbstract
This paper examines a residential writing retreat for final year human geography and planning students held in a youth hostel in North Yorkshire, considering how it is experienced by students. This is a curriculum innovation for the dissertation module that combines aspects of geography fieldtrip and writing workshop to support the dissertation writing process and build community, applicable to dissertation and other modules on all kinds of courses.
Drawing on the concept of ‘the slow university’ (Berg & Seeber, 2016; O’Neill, 2014) where the ‘slowing down’ and ‘stripping away’ of the usual structures and patterns of teaching and learning create a critical and creative space for thinking and writing, we explore whether and how the Malham retreat makes space for writing. The study is also informed by our spatial approach to the processes and content of research and teaching as geographers (Massey, 2005).
Qualitative focus group evidence was gathered on the student and staff experience and used to evaluate the field trip (Breen, 2006; Krueger & Casey, 2009; Stewart & Shamdasani, 2015). This paper presents the results of this evaluation and it is argued that the retreat made space for writing in three ways:
1. The space of countryside, nature and youth hostel.
2. The formal and informal learning spaces staff and students constructed during the retreat
3. ‘Head space’- the social, psychological and emotional room the retreat made for staff and students
References
Arnot, M., McIntyre, D., Peddar, D. & Reay, D. (2004). Consultation in the Classroom: Developing Dialogue about Teaching and Learning. Cambridge: Pearson.
Baxter, M. (1999). Creating Contexts for Learning and Self-authorship: Constructive Developmental Pedagogy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Berg, M. and Seeber, B. (2016). The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Biesanz, J. and Biesanz, M. (1941). The school and the youth hostel. Journal of Educational Sociology, 15(1), 55-60. doi:10.2307/2262097
Boud, D. & Middleton, H. (2003). Learning from others at work: communities of practice and informal learning. Journal of Workplace Learning, 15(5), 194-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/13665620310483895
Breen, R. (2006). A practical guide to focus-group research. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30(3), 463-475. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260600927575
Cameron, J., Nairn, K. & Higgins, J. (2009). Demystifying academic writing: reflections on emotions, know-how and academic identity. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 33(2), 269-284. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260902734943
Cunningham, M. (2016a). “Pavements grey of the imprisoning city”: the articulation of a pro-rural and anti-urban ideology in the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) in the 1930s’. Literature and History, 25(1), 56-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0306197316634904
Cunningham, M. (2016b). Ethos and politics in the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) in the 1930s. Contemporary British History, 30(2), 177-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2015.1124764
Davis, G., Wright, H. and Holley, D. (2016). Write away from it all! The value of running a writing retreat for doctoral students. Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 10(2), 54-66. Retrieved from: https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/701368/
Edensor, T. (2000). Walking in the British countryside: reflexivity, embodied practices and ways to escape. Body and Society, 6 (3-4), 81-106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X00006003005
Eshach, H. (2007). Bridging in-school and out-of-school learning: formal, non-formal, and informal education. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 16(2), 171-190. DOI: 10.1007/s10956-006-9027-1.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How it Can Succeed Again. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Foster, C. and McCabe, S. (2012). The role of liminality in residential activity camps. Tourist Studies, 15(1), 46-64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797614550962
Greenbank, P. & Penketh. C (2009). Student autonomy and reflections on researching and writing the undergraduate dissertation. Journal of Further & Higher Education, 33(4), 463-472. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098770903272537
Griffin, D., Shaw P. & Stacey, R. (1999). Knowing and acting in conditions of uncertainty: a complexity perspective. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 12(3), 295-309. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022403802302
Harrison, M. & Brian Whalley, W. (2008). Undertaking a dissertation from start to finish: the process and product. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 32(3), 401-418. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260701731173
Hennink, M. (2014). Focus Group Discussions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Herrick, C. (2010). Lost in the field: ensuring student learning in the ‘threatened’ geography fieldtrip. Area, 42(1), 108-116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4762.2009.00892.x
Hill, J., Kneale, P., Nicholson, D., Waddington, S., & Ray, W. (2011). 'Re-framing the geography dissertation: a consideration of alternative, innovative and creative approaches. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 35(3), 331-349. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2011.563381
Kornhaber, R., Cross, M., Betihavas, V. & Bridgman, H. (2016). The benefits and challenges of academic writing retreats: an integrative review. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(6), 1210-1227. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1144572
Krueger, R. & Casey, M. (2009). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. London: Sage.
Larrivee, B. (2005). Authentic Classroom Management: Creating a Learning Community and Building Reflective Practice. Boston: Pearson
Larsen, C., Walsh, C., Almond, N. & Myers, N. (2017). The ‘real value’ of field trips in the early weeks of higher education: the student perspective. Educational Studies, 43(1), 110-121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2016.1245604
Lorimer, H. (2011). Walking: New Forms and Space for Studies of Pedestrianism. In Cresswell, T. and Merriman, P. (Eds.) Geographies of Mobilities: Practices, Spaces and Subjects (pp. 19-34). Farnham: Ashgate.
Lorimer, H. (1997). ‘Happy hostelling in the Highlands’: Nationhood, citizenship and the inter‐war youth movement. Scottish Geographical Magazine, 113(1), 42-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00369229718736989
Macnaghten, P. and Urry, J. (1998). Contested Natures. London: Sage
Matless, D. (1998). Landscape and Englishness. London: Reaktion.
Maurice-Jones, H., and Porter, L. (2008). The Spirit of YHA. Matlock, Private Publication.
Maurice-Jones, H., and Porter, L. (2010). Eighty Years of Youth Hostelling. London: YHA.
Massey, D. (2005). For Space. London, Sage
Murray, R. (2015). Writing in Social Spaces: A Social Processes Approach to Academic Writing. London: Routledge.
O'Neill, M. (2014). The slow university: work, time and well-being. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 15(3), 16. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-15.3.2226
Paltridge, B. (2016) Writing retreats as writing pedagogy. Writing and Pedagogy, 8(1), 199-213.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/wap.v8i1.27634
Pelling, M., High C., Dearing, J. & Smith, D. (2008). Shadow spaces for social learning: A relational understanding of adaptive capacity to climate change within organizations. Environment & Planning A, 40, 867-884. DOI:10.1068/a39148
Porter, L. (1991). On Spartan Lines: Early Years of the YHA. Ashbourne: Moorland Publishing.
Rosser, S., Rugg, D. & Ross, M. (2001). Increasing research and evaluation productivity: tips for successful writing retreats. Health Promotion Practice, 2(1), 9-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/152483990100200103
Schwartz-Shea, P. and Yanow, D. (2012). Interpretive Research Design. Abingdon: Routledge
Slinger-Friedman, V. and Patterson, L. (2012). Writing in geography: student attitudes and assessment. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 36(2), 179-195. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2011.599369
Smith, C., Parks, R., Parrish, J. & Swirski, R. (2018). Disruptive silence: deepening experiential learning in the absence of technology. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 18:1, 1-14, DOI: 10.1080/14729679.2016.1244646
Stewart, D. & Shamdasani, P. (2015). Focus Groups: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage.
Thrift, N. (1999). Steps to an Ecology of Place. In Massey D, Allen J & Sarre P (Eds.) Human Geography Today (pp. 295-352). Polity Press, Cambridge
Walsh, C., Larsen, C. & Parry, D. (2014). Building a community of learning through early residential fieldwork. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 38(3), 373-382. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2014.933402
Williams, R. (1973). The Country and the City. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
YHA press release (2012, 8 December). ‘£460,000 facelift set to create world-class Youth Hostel in North Yorkshire. Retrieved from http://www.yha.org.uk/media/news/460000-facelift-set-to-create-world-class-youth-hostel-north-yorkshire
Baxter, M. (1999). Creating Contexts for Learning and Self-authorship: Constructive Developmental Pedagogy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Berg, M. and Seeber, B. (2016). The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Biesanz, J. and Biesanz, M. (1941). The school and the youth hostel. Journal of Educational Sociology, 15(1), 55-60. doi:10.2307/2262097
Boud, D. & Middleton, H. (2003). Learning from others at work: communities of practice and informal learning. Journal of Workplace Learning, 15(5), 194-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/13665620310483895
Breen, R. (2006). A practical guide to focus-group research. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30(3), 463-475. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260600927575
Cameron, J., Nairn, K. & Higgins, J. (2009). Demystifying academic writing: reflections on emotions, know-how and academic identity. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 33(2), 269-284. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260902734943
Cunningham, M. (2016a). “Pavements grey of the imprisoning city”: the articulation of a pro-rural and anti-urban ideology in the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) in the 1930s’. Literature and History, 25(1), 56-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0306197316634904
Cunningham, M. (2016b). Ethos and politics in the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) in the 1930s. Contemporary British History, 30(2), 177-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2015.1124764
Davis, G., Wright, H. and Holley, D. (2016). Write away from it all! The value of running a writing retreat for doctoral students. Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 10(2), 54-66. Retrieved from: https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/701368/
Edensor, T. (2000). Walking in the British countryside: reflexivity, embodied practices and ways to escape. Body and Society, 6 (3-4), 81-106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X00006003005
Eshach, H. (2007). Bridging in-school and out-of-school learning: formal, non-formal, and informal education. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 16(2), 171-190. DOI: 10.1007/s10956-006-9027-1.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How it Can Succeed Again. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Foster, C. and McCabe, S. (2012). The role of liminality in residential activity camps. Tourist Studies, 15(1), 46-64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797614550962
Greenbank, P. & Penketh. C (2009). Student autonomy and reflections on researching and writing the undergraduate dissertation. Journal of Further & Higher Education, 33(4), 463-472. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098770903272537
Griffin, D., Shaw P. & Stacey, R. (1999). Knowing and acting in conditions of uncertainty: a complexity perspective. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 12(3), 295-309. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022403802302
Harrison, M. & Brian Whalley, W. (2008). Undertaking a dissertation from start to finish: the process and product. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 32(3), 401-418. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260701731173
Hennink, M. (2014). Focus Group Discussions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Herrick, C. (2010). Lost in the field: ensuring student learning in the ‘threatened’ geography fieldtrip. Area, 42(1), 108-116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4762.2009.00892.x
Hill, J., Kneale, P., Nicholson, D., Waddington, S., & Ray, W. (2011). 'Re-framing the geography dissertation: a consideration of alternative, innovative and creative approaches. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 35(3), 331-349. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2011.563381
Kornhaber, R., Cross, M., Betihavas, V. & Bridgman, H. (2016). The benefits and challenges of academic writing retreats: an integrative review. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(6), 1210-1227. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1144572
Krueger, R. & Casey, M. (2009). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. London: Sage.
Larrivee, B. (2005). Authentic Classroom Management: Creating a Learning Community and Building Reflective Practice. Boston: Pearson
Larsen, C., Walsh, C., Almond, N. & Myers, N. (2017). The ‘real value’ of field trips in the early weeks of higher education: the student perspective. Educational Studies, 43(1), 110-121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2016.1245604
Lorimer, H. (2011). Walking: New Forms and Space for Studies of Pedestrianism. In Cresswell, T. and Merriman, P. (Eds.) Geographies of Mobilities: Practices, Spaces and Subjects (pp. 19-34). Farnham: Ashgate.
Lorimer, H. (1997). ‘Happy hostelling in the Highlands’: Nationhood, citizenship and the inter‐war youth movement. Scottish Geographical Magazine, 113(1), 42-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00369229718736989
Macnaghten, P. and Urry, J. (1998). Contested Natures. London: Sage
Matless, D. (1998). Landscape and Englishness. London: Reaktion.
Maurice-Jones, H., and Porter, L. (2008). The Spirit of YHA. Matlock, Private Publication.
Maurice-Jones, H., and Porter, L. (2010). Eighty Years of Youth Hostelling. London: YHA.
Massey, D. (2005). For Space. London, Sage
Murray, R. (2015). Writing in Social Spaces: A Social Processes Approach to Academic Writing. London: Routledge.
O'Neill, M. (2014). The slow university: work, time and well-being. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 15(3), 16. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-15.3.2226
Paltridge, B. (2016) Writing retreats as writing pedagogy. Writing and Pedagogy, 8(1), 199-213.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/wap.v8i1.27634
Pelling, M., High C., Dearing, J. & Smith, D. (2008). Shadow spaces for social learning: A relational understanding of adaptive capacity to climate change within organizations. Environment & Planning A, 40, 867-884. DOI:10.1068/a39148
Porter, L. (1991). On Spartan Lines: Early Years of the YHA. Ashbourne: Moorland Publishing.
Rosser, S., Rugg, D. & Ross, M. (2001). Increasing research and evaluation productivity: tips for successful writing retreats. Health Promotion Practice, 2(1), 9-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/152483990100200103
Schwartz-Shea, P. and Yanow, D. (2012). Interpretive Research Design. Abingdon: Routledge
Slinger-Friedman, V. and Patterson, L. (2012). Writing in geography: student attitudes and assessment. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 36(2), 179-195. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2011.599369
Smith, C., Parks, R., Parrish, J. & Swirski, R. (2018). Disruptive silence: deepening experiential learning in the absence of technology. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 18:1, 1-14, DOI: 10.1080/14729679.2016.1244646
Stewart, D. & Shamdasani, P. (2015). Focus Groups: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage.
Thrift, N. (1999). Steps to an Ecology of Place. In Massey D, Allen J & Sarre P (Eds.) Human Geography Today (pp. 295-352). Polity Press, Cambridge
Walsh, C., Larsen, C. & Parry, D. (2014). Building a community of learning through early residential fieldwork. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 38(3), 373-382. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2014.933402
Williams, R. (1973). The Country and the City. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
YHA press release (2012, 8 December). ‘£460,000 facelift set to create world-class Youth Hostel in North Yorkshire. Retrieved from http://www.yha.org.uk/media/news/460000-facelift-set-to-create-world-class-youth-hostel-north-yorkshire
Downloads
Published
2020-09-01
Issue
Section
Case Studies
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice has made best effort to ensure accuracy of the contents of this journal, however makes no claims to the authenticity and completeness of the articles published. Authors are responsible for ensuring copyright clearance for any images, tables etc which are supplied from an outside source.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
