Education

Authors Professor Debbie Holley and Dr David Biggins provide an overview of their research published in issue 27 of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. Their paper is titled: Designing for student wellbeing: challenging assumptions about where our students learn. Our work started with students reporting ‘technostress’ during the pandemic (and yes staff experienced this as well) and reporting that they turned to family and friends to seek support, with only 18% turning to the excellent online materials and signposting Universities offered in lockdown. Digital equity remains an issue across the board, and intersectionality of class, race and […]

This #Take5 is brought to you from our very own Lee Fallin. Lee has been exploring and playing with this AI technology for some time now – and we asked him to share his insights with the wider LD community. So – read on – and let us all join the conversation about what these revolutionary techs mean for our students and for us.  If it’s all about the ChatBots: What about Learning Development? This blog post will muse on the ‘rise of AI’ and what this means for Learning Development. I am not an expert, but I have spent much […]

This post is brought to you from two learning developers, Ralitsa Kantcheva (University of Bangor) and Ian Johnson (University of Portsmouth). It seeks to develop arguments about the future of LD and the questionable value of grades in higher education today. It proposes that rather than grading, attaching value to the student’s ability to contribute to their local and global communities could offer a promising alternative. A decade from now – What does the future of learning development hold? A recent Take5 blog post by the Bournemouth University Learning Development (LD) team (Bickle et al., 2023) drew together how various LD […]

We – Carina Buckley (Solent) and Alicja Syska (Plymouth) – are carrying out a small research project into what it means to Learning Developers to write and publish, and how that contributes to a sense of professional identity. As such, we are looking for participants to answer a short survey, that should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. All responses are completely anonymous; further information is available at the link. The survey will be open throughout May. Many thanks in advance for your support! Survey link: https://forms.gle/g3EXCMARkRhRvUz16 All the best, Carina and Alicja

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 […]

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 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 […]