On the Fringe: What's the Use of Lectures, Tutorials, Exams and Field Courses?Author(s): David PrestonSource: Area, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1974), p. 73Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20000832 .

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Annual Conference 73

Elsewhere Other submitted papers were gathered into four sessions. Physical geography papers included I. Y. Ashwell (Salford) on Glacial and late-glacial processes in western Iceland,

G. W. A. Sparrow on Mechanization of periglacial formation on southern Africa and R. B. King (Land Resources Div., ODA) on ERTS imagery of the Ethiopian rift valley basin.

On recreational appraisals J. A. Best (Leicester) portrayed The eleven faces of England, G. Wall (Kentucky) described Changes in the structure of British seaside resorts, and G. J. Ashworth and J. K. Bradbeer (Portsmouth) examined the lack of

Local authority cooperation in tourist research.

G. M. Lewis (Sheffield) illustrated the Recognition and delimitation of two primary biogeographical devisions of the North American interior by Amerinds and fur traders, while W. I. Stevenson (Simon Fraser) examined Aspects of practical environmentalism on the US, 1820-40.

R. Flowerdew (UCL) demonstrated Extensions to a model of residential choice and D. McEvoy and T. Jones (Liverpool Poly.) explained the Residential segregation of immigrants in Huddersfield.

On the fringe

What's the use of lectures, tutorials, exams and field courses ?

The kite that was flown at the meeting entitled Alternatives in higher education in geography, designed to see whether conference members were interested in talking about their own experiments in new methods of educating geography students and in listening to the experience of others, brought an interesting though unexciting response. Many agreed that their experience in being taught to teach in higher educa tion was not rewarding. Our need for exchanges of information about existing, even remotely new practices, was accepted. The organizer had entertained hopes of radical educational reformers emerging momentarily from their classrooms to tell the meeting about their alternatives to examinations, lectures and field courses. Instead, those who came to the meeting were in search of enlightenment rather than keen on providing it.

Plainly, if the feeling of the thirty or so people who turned up is representative, there is a need for a forum where ideas about new approaches to the teaching of geography can be aired and where someone with considerable experience of a particular technique of general interest (such as assessment or small group teaching) can talk and initiate a discussion. A further need, emphasized by one participant, is for some one to do some homework and write and talk about the state of knowledge in a particular aspect of teaching and with special relevance to Geography. Polytechnic Geographers are particularly interested in this and their next national conference, at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, 11-13 September 1974, will be concerned with Teach ing Methods and Modes in Geography in Higher Education.

In the next six months we shall make some attempt to see what interest there is in this sort of problem and to explore how best a more high powered but enjoyable session can be arranged for the 1975 Annual Conference. If you are interested in this or any way of exploring knowledge about our teaching do write to me (at the University of Leeds) and let me know your specific interests, and how best you feel they could be catered for at a forthcoming meeting.

David Preston Leeds

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