The Utilisation of Gobbets for Student-Centred Learning for the Teaching of History at University: a report

What is it about?

This paper discusses the utilisation of gobbets for the teaching of History at university, to enable a more student-centred approach to learning in a subject that has traditionally remained a teacher-centred experience. Gobbets, or chunks of texts, are used at the University of Sussex as an examination tool for the student to demonstrate their knowledge of a text, an historical debate or an author within a wider historical context. I decided to utilise these gobbets with Level Three students throughout the course, partly to create familiarity with them for the exam, but predominantly to move the seminars toward a student-centred experience. This was achieved by using the gobbets as platforms for presentation and discussion. Each student’s individual gobbet provided them with the opportunity to directly contribute their research (on the gobbet) to the group in a manner that meant everyone in the seminar (including myself) was learning from each other.

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Why is it important?

This paper discusses the utilisation of gobbets for the teaching of History at university, to enable a more student-centred approach to learning in a subject that has traditionally remained a teacher-centred experience. Gobbets, or chunks of texts, are used at the University of Sussex as an examination tool for the student to demonstrate their knowledge of a text, an historical debate or an author within a wider historical context. I decided to utilise these gobbets with Level Three students throughout the course, partly to create familiarity with them for the exam, but predominantly to move the seminars toward a student-centred experience. This was achieved by using the gobbets as platforms for presentation and discussion. Each student’s individual gobbet provided them with the opportunity to directly contribute their research (on the gobbet) to the group in a manner that meant everyone in the seminar (including myself) was learning from each other.