Why digital resources are crucial to support EPQs

Dr John Taylor, Highgrove Education

Dr John Taylor is the Director of Growth and Partnerships for Highgrove Education. He was a founder of the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) and has been involved throughout the lifetime of the qualification in supporting EPQ teachers and learners in the UK and internationally.

Introduction

EPQ emerged in the late 2000s as a response to the need for learners to gain skills that go beyond those that are taught in exam-focussed courses, and I’ve been supporting EPQ learners and teachers throughout the lifetime of the qualification. My own involvement stemmed from having been a co-leader of an AS level course in the History and Philosophy of Science, which pioneered the use of extended dissertations as the mode of assessment.

When I worked on the development of this programme, my own experience as a research student helped to shape the approach I took. I have always believed that learning that begins with a question or challenge that the learner chooses for themselves is more likely to be engaging, meaningful, deep and ultimately valuable in helping form skills such as the capacity for independent research, critical thinking and presentation. 

Research is at the foundation of all successful EPQs, and in my experience, access to digital resources such as JSTOR is vital in helping learners go beyond the immediately accessible resources that may pop up at the top of a search list. 

The nature of research in the EPQ

For me, research is a two-stage process. There is a phase of information gathering, in which the learner explores materials, searches for relevant information and collates this ready for application to their own project. The second phase involves analysis and evaluation of this information. The learner reflects critically on its meaning, considers its objectivity and reliability and explores how to connect the information to the question or challenge they have chosen.

The value of having access to a digital library is obvious at both stages. Firstly, it provides learners with a rich repository of information that can inform and enrich their project. Creative thought, critical evaluation of alternative ideas and the development of a personal perspective is expected as part of the EPQ assessment model in AO3 (Development and Realisation), but this depends on first being well-informed and knowledgeable about the topic in question, and this understanding is formed through the Use of Resources (AO2). 

The better the quality and range of sources available to a learner, the richer their own creative thought processes will be when they come to the development phase.

The second reason that a digital library such as JSTOR is so valuable is that by accessing it, learners find themselves in the midst of a rich repository of academically robust, typically peer-reviewed research. Whilst EPQ research can involve all types of resources, not all of which have to be academically reliable, the conclusions of a thesis or the practical creation of an artefact depend on the use of valid and reliable information, and by starting the search from within a repository of material that has already gone through a process of professional sifting, learners are more likely to find themselves choosing from material of high quality. 

Learning by example

One of the purposes behind the EPQ was to help facilitate the progression from school or college to higher education. Learning at Higher Education level happens in large part through independent research. How do learners acquire this skill?

I am a great believer in learning by doing. I sum up the nature of learning within EPQ in three words: Emulate Professional Qualities. Access to academic research sources allows students not simply to gain valid and reliable information to provide secure foundations for their own work but it also provides a setting for them to learn by example just what rigorous research looks like. The simplest way to learn academic writing techniques and the formal presentational style expected in a research report is to spend some time carefully studying good examples. 

Here again we see the value of providing learners with access to digital repositories of academic materials. 

A digital library is not just an archive of information; it is a gallery, a showcase of examples of excellent work. 

It is through study of such examples that learners are able to hone their own academic skills and style.

To find out more, or to explore how to access these tools through JCS, why not visit our catalogue.