Ketso Showcase – a Hands-On Teaching Innovation

Description

There is widespread recognition of the need to enhance the student experience and to increase engagement between staff and students. At the same time, built environment educators are facing increased pressure on their time and resources for teaching.

This workshop, sponsored by the Higher Education Academy, will introduce an innovation, Ketso, which has emerged from over 16 years of research and practical development in community planning. Ketso was launched as a social enterprise in 2009, and has since proved a valuable tool for teaching. Ketso is now in use in over 50 Universities.

The use of Ketso in teaching has been awarded an international Excellence in Teaching Prize from the AESOP - Association of European Schools of Planning. The AESOP jury stated: "The interactive approach is developed by a specific and original technique [Ketso], which appears well tested and which shows its efficacy in supporting "student oriented teaching".

Ketso is a hands-on kit for creative engagement. It is visual – a felt workspace with branches and coloured leaves. Participants write their ideas and comments on re-usable shapes, which they place on the workspace. These shapes make it easy for people of all abilities to follow the process and ensure key points or topics are covered. Everyone has a say, not only the most articulate or the loudest. People’s ideas build up and can be seen at a glance. Students are encouraged to swap tables and review each other’s work, adding comments and learning from other group’s ideas.

This workshop will introduce Ketso through an interactive exercise, as well as provide an opportunity to learn about different ways the kit is being used in teaching – from engaging students in large groups (e.g. project planning, exploring case studies and course review) to its use in tutorials, client-based projects and dissertation supervision.
For case studies – see http://www.ketso.com/examples-case-studies/case-studies/teaching