Philosophical Studies is an educational initiative in personalised learning and a unique aspect of this course is that our students engage in a context-driven project chosen by the learner him or herself, using it as a vehicle both for developing a personal portfolio of skills and also acquiring knowledge that is relevant and salient for today’s world.
A full list of past themes and questions accompanied by student abstracts can be found in The Book of Change and a description of the general aim of the students’ projects at Newcastle University is available in the Project Themes.
The methodology has been discussed in various articles:
Jaros, M. & Deakin-Crick, R., “Personalised Learning for the Post-Mechanical Age”, Journal of Curriculum Studies, Volume 39, Issue 4 August 2007, 423 – 440.
Rose, D. “Philosophical Education and Cultural Relevance: discipline-affirmation in the context of the knowledge economy”, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 2012, 1-19.
Rose, D “Context-based learning”, Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, ed. N. Seel, Springer Publishing, 2011, 799-802.
Rose, D. "Weaving philosophy into the fabric of cultural life", Discourse, 2009, 9(1): 165-182. http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk/view.html/PrsDiscourseArticles/118
Philosophical Studies secured funding to investigate the methodology and nature of the project learning approach from the HEA Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. The general aim of this research was to ensure that learners are aware of the skills they develop, that they perfect these skills and are also able to demonstrate and communicate the relevance and value of philosophical concepts outside the academic environment. The full report is available online at http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk/view.html/prsfundedprojects/22.