Survey on teaching ES

Within the framework of INOTLES project, we conducted an international survey on teaching European Studies. The survey aimed at mapping existing provisions in ES teaching and pathways, as well as gaining practical understanding on the courses taught within the ES field, the traditional and innovative teaching methods and tools applied.

Survey Methodology

Background, sample and data

The web-based anonymous survey used the LimeSurvey software, allowing the online setting of the questionnaire and data collection and free access for answering the survey. The survey invitation was sent to lecturers teaching ES courses worldwide (both at graduate and undergraduate levels) via major European and international networks related to European Studies (such as UACES, ECPR, EUSA, etc.), the INOTLES website, as well as personal professional networks of INOTLES project partners.

The survey gathered worldwide responses, with the majority of responses from European continent, particularly EU universities, followed by large numbers from North America and Asia. A total of 324 responses were collected between March-May 2014, with 182 fully complete and 142 incomplete responses, the latter were not included in the analysis.

The survey methodology was partly built on a previous survey on teaching European Studies, carried out within the framework of SENT project[1] in 2009-2010 in order to provide a comparative overview of the evolution of teaching ES. The major goal was to ensure the opportunity of identifying the continuity and change in the pedagogical approaches and the traditional and innovative teaching methods and tools applied within the ES field.

Similarly to SENT survey, the present survey was built on the categories for traditional and innovative teaching tools and methods derived from Hannan and Silver (2000) and Backer and Watts (2001). The specific focus of INOTLES survey was on mapping traditional and innovative teaching methods and tools, as well as identifying advantages and disadvantages.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire included three major parts:

Part I: general information about lecturer

  • institutional affiliation, academic position
  • field of expertise, teaching experience in ES

Part II: general information about course and class

  • course background (discipline, type of degree, course level: BA, MA, PhD, interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach applied)
  • composition and characteristics of the class (language, number of students, ECTS)

Part III: pedagogy
 teaching methods and tools

  • distinction between traditional and innovative methods and tools
  • most frequently used teaching method and tool, their advantages and challenges

Survey Findings

Part I: general information about lecturer

  • 65% Senior staff (Associate Prof. Full Prof, Senior researchers)
  • 20% Junior Staff (Assistant Prf. Lecturers)
  • 15% PhDs and Postdocs

Graph 1. Lecturer’s teaching experience in ES

Part II: general information about course and class

Graph 2. Main subject of the course

Graph 3. Course level

Graph 4. The teaching approach used for teaching the specific course

Composition and characteristics of the class

  • English as language of instruction: 59.60%
  • Average nr. of students
    • less than 20 (36.7%)
    • less than 20 (36.7%)
    • 20-30 (30.3%)
    • 30-40 (8.4%)
    • more than 40 (24.5%)

Part III: pedagogy
 teaching methods and tools

Table 1.  Innovative teaching methods applied often or sometimes

Table 2. Teaching tools applied often or sometimes

Note: Survey dataset to be available here soon.

[1] The Network of European Studies – SENT – brought together 70 partners from all EU members and candidates and other countries worldwide. Its major objective was to provide a comprehensive, comparative, cross national and cross-disciplinary picture of the developments in European Studies. See BARONCELLI, S. et al. (Eds.) Teaching and learning the European Union: traditional and innovative methods. Dordrecht: Springer, 2013.

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