Critical Thinking: Introduction and Activity (with extra slides suitable for nursing students)
These PowerPoint slides feature a brief but useful exercise aimed at engaging undergraduate students at level 6 in critical thinking. The activity involves unpacking the process and finding parallels with academic work and professional practice, specifically for nursing students. The surrounding slides provide guidance from the author on how to unpack the process. The slide notes include detailed scripts, which have been tried and tested during the Covid lockdown in 2022 and are suitable for delivering the activity as a large webinar. However, users may prefer a more flexible approach for face-to-face sessions. This activity is also effective in 1:1 tutorials and smaller workshops or Zoom meetings.
Please note that some of the content is specific to nursing programmes and aims to establish links between academic and professional skills. If the activity is not relevant to your programmes, you will need to remove placement-specific content.
Argumentation
This is a PPT with accompanying worksheet that gives students practice in forming a position on a topic (in this case eugenics) based on prompts and some preliminary reading.
Students can work through the slides and complete the worksheet autonomously or it can be used as an in-class activity. It has worked well as a pre-arrivals task, and gone on to form the basis of a discussion about the research process on arrival at university.
A gentle warning: The following slides contain information about the topic of eugenics, and ask you to consider examples of groups of people who have been treated as ‘unfit’, therefore the content should be delivered with caution and sensitivity.
Creative Learning Activity Cards
Creative Learning Activity Cards are an interactive teaching and learning resource for students of creative subjects at Foundation, BA or MA level to help scaffold student academic skills. This evidence-based resource consists of 50 activity cards divided into five sections of ten cards on: • Planning• Research• Thinking• Writing• Wild Card (includes tips for overcoming writer’s block, anxiety and procrastination, and building motivation) The cards can be used as materials in both online and face-to-face facilitated seminars or workshops, as the basis for teaching in lectures or as an independent study resource for students.To print you can use PowerPoint option of choosing number of slides per page, e.g. 4 slides per A4 and cut them out. You could also choose single page and print the desired ones to full A4 so they can be used as A4 handouts. Another option could be using photo paper, e.g. 10x15cm and print them individually (select 'fill whole page' option via printer setting).
Activity time:
Types of media: Worksheet, Slides, PowerPoint File, Interactive Learning Object
Excelling at critical analysis: a 3-stage method with an image
The aim of this activity is to clarify the difference between descriptive and analytical writing and emphasise the importance of research-based argument. Participants engage in an interactive 3-stage exercise that interrogates a (visual) text in order to generate a piece of academic writing.
Videos to develop dissertation writing
Discuss the requirements of each dissertation chapterApply the advice to your own dissertation
Activity time: Videos from 13-22 minutes each, but further time needed to complete activities
Types of media: PowerPoint File, Video
Using an academic glossary
Academic glossary booklet, and slides and activity sheet
Activity time: 30 minutes
Types of media: Handout/s, Slides, PowerPoint File, Word Document
Essays: Conclusion paragraphs
Identify common parts in conclusion paragraphs for essays.
CVs, Covering Letters and Personal Statements Proofreading Checklist for SPAG
To increase awareness of common spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) errors that are made in CVs, covering letters and personal statements.
Easy Proofreading Wins with Microsoft Word
By completing these learning resources, students will be able to: Appreciate the limits and uses of Microsoft Word in aiding proofreading beyond built-in spelling and grammar checks. Use A-Z sort, Find, and Find and Replace to eliminate common proofreading errors efficiently. Find further free sources of developmental support for proofreading skills.
Activity time: 30 minutes
Types of media: Handout/s, Webpage, Helpsheet, Word Document, Quiz