Research

For 2023-2024, ALDinHE has funded eight research funded projects. Watch out for the next call for research funding in Spring 2024. Discovering how students use Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools for academic writing purposes. Dr Bryony Parsons – University of Liverpool Abstract With the increased use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) technologies such as Chat GPT, Learning Development and Academic Liaison teams need to develop an understanding of how students are using these technologies in relation to their academic work, in order to support them in how to maximise their potential, whilst avoiding any academic integrity issues. Building on a previous study, in […]

By David Wooff, Director of Apprenticeship Quality and Regulation, and Associate Professor of Educational Practice and Professor Dawne Irving-Bell, BPP University Described by the judges as a ‘truly exemplary initiative,’ we are delighted to announce that the National Teaching Repository has secured Open Education Global’s (OEGlobal) International Award for Excellence in Open Collaboration. Awarded by Open Education Global this accolade recognizes the National Teaching Repository’s outstanding contribution to the promotion of Open Collaboration.”  Building on last year’s invitation from the Secretariat to present a report at the prestigious UNESCO World Higher Education conference (Wooff et al., 2022), we are delighted that the […]

This #Take 5 blog is brought to you by Dr Katharine Jewitt, The Open University sharing thoughts on how Learning Developers can evidence impact. Impact – and what might get in the way In learning development, we want to have an impact and are required to attempt to prove impact. This can often be problematic in many ways, for example, how conscious are we of the true rationale behind our actions and what sort of impact are we trying to have anyway? How research-informed is our practice? Often we do things without being clear as to the assumptions that underpin the […]

This #Take5 is brought to you from Lisa Clughen, Nottingham Trent University. It is both about the importance of movement in HE – and an invitation to participate in a small research project focussing on qigong-based mindful movement in HE. #Take5 steps? Taking Positive Steps in Learning and Teaching: An Invitation to Participate in Mindful Movement Research. Image: Lisa Clughen doing some Mindful Movement at the Lourve-Lens, France If you could do a very short activity during your working day that, research suggests, could reap wide-ranging rewards for your physical, cognitive and mental health and wellbeing, and in fact for […]

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 #Take 5 blog is brought to you by Ed Bickle, Steph Allen and Marian Mayer, the Learning Development (LD) team, Bournemouth University Faculty of Media and Communication, who, with the help of LD colleagues, reflect upon the workshop they delivered at the 2022 ALDinHE conference. Focusing on the concept of change, they examine how LD might look at the turn of the next decade. They begin their blog with a reflection on the excitement of being face to face with LD colleagues again. On the road It was with great excitement that the team travelled up to Northampton in June for the 2022 ALDinHE […]

Dr Steph Allen, Dr Ed Bickle and Dr Marian Mayer are seeking research participants from the learning development community to take part in research funded by the Society for Educational Studies. This builds upon Ed’s workshop at the ALDinHE’s 2022 conference called “Learning Development 2030.   The researchers are seeking 50 LD participants Participants will self-identify as holding a learning development position within a UK HE institution Interviews Up to 15 participants / one to one semi-structured interviews lasting 60-90 minutes each. Focus groups Up to 3-4 groups (maximum eight participants per group). Each participant – two sessions of approximately […]

Would you like to be a volunteer research participant on a BALEAP research funded project researching formative feedback for assessment? Are you a foundation year lecturer or a lecturer teaching first year students?  Are you interested in the use of inclusive formative assessment practices in Higher Education?  Why don’t you join our team to have fun while working on a funded project? All we need from you is to reach out to 5 colleagues and ask them to complete an online survey, participate in an interview and offer 2 recorded teaching sessions (optional). We have Research Ethics approval from London […]

This #Take5 is brought to you from @EvilDoctorB herself (Carina Buckley) – and her demonic sidekick @AlicjaSyska – or the other way round… (You can see them below literally inhabiting our LD third space)… We are so happy that after writing their most excellent paper on writing as liberatory practice, they agreed to write this blog for us. And oh what a blog this is fizzing with energy and joy – if this doesn’t get you writing … Unlock your knowledge and liberate LD ‘And there are so many stories to tell, too many, such an excess of intertwined lives […]

By Dr Selen Kars-Unluoglu (University of the West of England) & Prof Burcu Guneri-Cangarli (Izmir University of Economics) Arts-based methods which traditionally rely on engagement with material artefacts (e.g. LEGO® bricks, finger puppets, craft materials) have been on the rise in management learning and teaching (Taylor and Ladkin, 2009). COVID-19 has challenged educators to adapt these methods to online teaching environments. The challenge was to get learners to move from thinking to thinging (Knappett & Malafouris, 2008)in online environments without the opportunity to pass on, share, co-engage with material artefacts in a physical setting. While there has been some discussion […]