 Following on from four earlier
DeXus summer schools, DeXusChange 2009
draws
upon the innovative pedagogical tradition at Aalborg University to experiment
with a problem-based, project-centred research summer school for doctoral
students and scholars. The core concept is the free play of ideas within the
thematic context of group-derived problems and reflexive project work developed
during the six fruitful days of DeXusChange.
DeXus
was the name
for the Discourse Nexus summer school which was held annually
from 2003 to 2006 in the Centre for Discourse Studies. The invited
guests enjoyed themselves t horoughly and contributed to an excellent
environment for the 40 participants, mainly doctoral students, who
attended each year. Several articles about the summer school have been
written by participants, and an edited book collection was published by
an international publisher.
Aalborg University, founded in 1974, has successfully established a
progressive pedagogical model as the foundation for its curriculum
across all Faculties. Every semester students at Aalborg form groups and
take relevant courses in order to independently solve a problem they
themselves have formulated based on their studies. They are officially
appointed a 'vejleder' --
 'path leader' or ‘wayfinder’ -- whose job it
is to guide the students to a successful solution to their 'problem'
over the course of the semester. In conclusion, students write a project
report and are assessed on their work in a group discussion/oral exam at
the end of the semester. The DeXusChange summer
school is supported by the Centre for Discourse Studies, the
Doctoral
Programme in Discourse and Contemporary Culture, and the
Department of
Language and Culture at Aalborg University. |
