Blog

As a Learning Developer how do you influence University policy and practice? This #Take5 post is brought to you from Carina Buckley, Instructional Design Manager at Solent University, and Kate Coulson, Head of Learning and Teaching Enhancement (formerly Head of Learning Development), at the University of Northampton. Here they share their experiences of influencing strategy and the long-term visions at their institutions, or at least trying to! The blog post concludes with an invitation to join the emerging Leadership and management Community of Practice. Sound and vision: Introducing leadership “Influencing”, “Visions” and “Strategy” – all seemingly ethereal concepts when you are […]

This #Take5 blog is brought to you from Debbie Holley and David Biggins, two researchers from Bournemouth University who are interested in the digital experiences of students, with a focus on digital wellbeing and support. Mind the gap “Be more mindful about the situation, be more kind”. Advice to academic staff from an undergraduate student. “Be better at supporting students who need help or who are behind” “Be more understanding especially with non-visible disabilities and health issues!” This blog post reports on a piece of work we carried out in May-June 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic where we asked students […]

Reading, JLDHE and You This #Take5 is brought to you from Craig Morley and Jenny Hillman, members of the Journal of Learning in Higher Education’s (JLDHE) editorial board. It is designed to introduce ALDinHE/JLDHE’s new Reading Club and encourage you to get involved! Read all about it! JLDHE’s Reading Club had its inaugural event in #ALDCon21, and since then we have got together another three times. In May, we discussed Sam King’s article on metadiscourse; in July, we had the opportunity to find out more about Nathalie Sheridan’s Guerrilla Research Tactics; and in September, we exchanged views on collaborating with academic staff when […]

Session abstract:  The Open University Business School is leading a research project on online learning and strategic planning through, and post, lockdown in English secondary schools. This workshop focuses on one of the key themes that has emerged from the qualitative research: wellbeing of educators through the pandemic. The workshop provides an engaging and motivational look at how learning developers move into recovery beyond Covid-19. There are a series of slides interspersed with questions for participants to pause, reflect and take part in group discussion. The workshop shares the latest research exploring developments in positive psychology, neuroscience and resilience to […]

On your marks, get set, sprint This Blog post for Take5, (edited by Sandra Sinfield) is on Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU) design sprints – in particular on how educational developers support the disciplines’ design teams in working on emergent course (programme) design. It has been kindly written by Ellie Kennedy, NTU. NTU design sprints: making course design more developmental Design sprints at NTU take a supportive, developmental approach to course (programme) design. Whereas course design was often previously “hidden” work done by the course team outside core hours, the sprint model – developed and organised by the Centre for Academic Development […]

Make like an ant? This #Take5 post is brought to you from Dr Katharine Jewitt from The Open University who shares what we can learn for our teaching and learning online from ants. Katharine is looking back at what we have adapted to this year – highlighting the lessons learned that we can take forward in our practice – especially for those of us who will continue with some (or all) online delivery next year.  For those of you who already feel a bit too ant like in the version of Technology Enhanced Learning that is emerging post-pivot – please […]

This #Take5 post is brought to you from Debbie Holley and Heidi Singleton, Bournemouth University, UK – who also delivered this as an engaging LD@3. Challenge that ‘Zoom Gloom!’ (Wiederhold 2020) Learners describe their ‘best learning moment’ as a ‘flow’ – a point of psychological deep involvement of immersion in an activity or a task, which results in deep learning and high levels of satisfaction (OU Innovating Pedagogy Report 2021). The Learning Development community are experts at creating these types of activities (see the amazing LearnHigher site); this post explores how we can further enhance our student offering through considering extending learning opportunities through simulations. Students report […]

Session abstract:  In an attempt to evaluate the impact of study skills sessions on students’ marks a descriptive statistics approach was developed in 2017. This approach focusses on subject-specific study skills sessions embedded in the curriculum that are related directly to individual assessment tasks. The descriptive statistics analysis is based on establishing mark categories, and exploring chronological changes in the proportion for each category. Over the past three academic years, this approach has been used to analyse data on students’ attainment at all levels of study and across various academic subjects. Colleagues from academic schools welcome the change from discussing […]

Session abstract:  The Study Skills team at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) in collaboration with a Graphic Design staff and students have developed a set of activity cards to help scaffold students’ essay writing from planning through to editing. These are evidence-based activities drawn from in-course subject-specific and open, cross-disciplinary workshops undertaken at AUB and are translated into principles-based activities. They are designed to provide frameworks for academic research, writing and style based specifically in creative disciplines. Students work in pairs or small groups by following a set of prompts within a selected stage of the writing process. The activity cards […]

This #Take5 post if brought to you from Dr Iain Cross and Dr Alina Congreve, who look at the increasing importance for learning developers of the climate emergency and the practical implications it has for their work. In an exciting development, this blogpost has been paired with ALDinHE’s LD@3 programme – and there will be an LD@3 on the 8th June to continue the conversations started here (joining details coming soon to ALDinHE events!). Students and sustainability: a symbiosis that benefits their education and society In this blog, we want to share our ideas and thoughts about teaching climate change with the learning […]