Teaching for Understanding in context: teaching Day students compared to teaching on the Evening Degree programme

The course being discussing concerned the study of women and marriage in societies from the time of the New Testament up to, and including, the Middle Ages in Europe (a period of roughly eight hundred years), with a particular emphasis on the influence of Christian teachings on newly converted societies. The course was offered to Final year History students in both the Day and the Evening Degree programmes, and both groups were taught on the same day (Day students had two one-hour classes at 11.00 am and 4.00 pm; Evening Arts had one two-hour session from 8.30 pm to 10.30 pm). The course attracted students from diverse backgrounds and one of the goals was to challenge any assumptions they might have had about the different societies that were being studied. It was also hoped that by the end of the course the students would have a greater understanding of, and appreciation for, the surviving sources from this period. In teaching this course the engagement of the students differed remarkably between the Day and Evening classes, in particular when the class had the opportunity to discuss the material or ask questions. While the Day students were almost reticent, the Evening Degree class were wonderfully eager and often questioned unclear issues immediately. The Evening Degree students demonstrated their understanding of the material in a way that was very beneficial for all involved to a greater extent than the Day students. This poster-presentation will consider possible reasons for the difference between the Day and the Evening classes and whether or not this difference had an appreciable effect on the students’ understanding of the course.