Teaching and learning French – A tale of desire in the humanities

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-140
Author(s):  
Catriona Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Personal Perspective ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Close Textual Analysis ◽  
The Uk ◽  
French Language Learning

This article considers the way we talk about learning and teaching the humanities in higher education in the UK. By using the tools of the arts and humanities within the scholarship of learning and teaching, and examining a personal perspective, the author explores the transformational impact of French language learning and teaching. Close textual analysis of literary language learning memoirs highlight the sensual and physical effects of language learning that can remain muted in our everyday conversations. As a result, the author suggests that rather than lament the death of the humanities in 21st century higher education, learning and teaching a language offers a pedagogy of desire that embodies the transformation aspect of our disciplines, as we deal with the business of being human.

Immersive Education Spaces using Open Wonderland From Pedagogy through to Practice

2011 ◽  
pp. 190-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Gardner ◽  
Adela Gánem-Gutiérrez ◽  
John Scott ◽  
Bernard Horan ◽  
Vic Callaghan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mixed Reality ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Background Information ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Uk Higher Education

This chapter presents a case study of the use of virtual world environment in UK Higher Education. It reports on the activities carried out as part of the SIMiLLE (System for an Immersive and Mixed reality Language Learning) project to create a culturally sensitive virtual world to support language learning (funded by the UK government JISC program). The SIMiLLE project built on an earlier project called MiRTLE, which created a mixed-reality space for teaching and learning. The aim of the SIMiLLE project was to investigate the technical feasibility and pedagogical value of using virtual environments to provide a realistic socio-cultural setting for language learning interaction. The chapter begins by providing some background information on the Wonderland platform and the MiRTLE project, and then outlines the requirements for SIMiLLE, and how these requirements were supported through the use of a virtual world based on the Open Wonderland virtual world platform. The chapter then presents the framework used for the evaluation of the system, with a particular focus on the importance of incorporating pedagogy into the design of these systems, and how to support good practice with the ever-growing use of 3D virtual environments in formalized education. Finally, the results from the formative and summative evaluations are summarized, and the lessons learnt are presented, which can help inform future uses of immersive education spaces within Higher Education.

Sharing higher education learning and teaching resources in art, design and media

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-39
Author(s):  
Stephen Mallinder ◽  
Debbie Flint
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Teaching Resources ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Art Design ◽  
The Uk

Wider social, cultural and technological changes are precipitating transformations in higher education. There is increasing need for universities and specialist colleges to operate effectively in a global online environment. The development of accessible and re-usable online teaching and learning materials has provided challenges to staff and institutions. This article explores aspects of the UK Open Educational Resources Programme and, in particular, the Art Design and Media Open Educational Resources (ADM-OER) Project which has sought to examine the processes, challenges and opportunities open educational resources (OERs) present to these ‘creative’ disciplines. Part of the project has explored art, design and media tutors’ perceptions of the shift to ‘teaching in public’ and we share some preliminary findings.

scholarly journals Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice Editorial 8.3

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-4
Author(s):  
Geraldine E. Lefoe ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
New Directions ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

Welcome to the third and final issue of Volume 8 of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning (JUTLP) in 2011. As the year draws to a close we are seeing some striking changes to the higher education sector internationally. In England budget cuts have seen the closure of the twenty-four Higher Education Academy subject centres at the same time as the establishment of student fees. In Australia the cap has been lifted across the board on the number of students that can be enrolled in universities with the resultant projected increased student numbers. The focus in Australia is on social inclusion yet in England the concern for the introduction of fees is just the opposite, these will be the very students who may now be excluded. The changes in both countries see new measures of accountability and more complex regulations put in place. Will this cause people to rethink the way we teach and the way students learn? For the Higher Education Academy in the UK, new directions see the hosting of a summit on learning and teaching with a focus on flexible learning, an indicator of new directions for many institutions. In Australia, we see a renewed opportunity to investigate such changes through the opening of the Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) and its role of recognising the importance of learning and teaching through grants and awards schemes. We hope in 2012 we’ll hear more from our authors about the impact of these transformations, as well as those changes occurring in other countries around the world, on teaching practice in our universities.

Resistance, reluctance and radicalism: A study of staff reaction to the adoption of CALL/C&IT in modern languages departments

ReCALL ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN H. GILLESPIE ◽  
J. DAVID BARR
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Computer Technology ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Common Learning ◽  
The Uk

This paper examines staff reaction towards the use of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Communications and Information Technology (C&IT) in language learning and teaching. It considers the attitudes of colleagues in three different universities, two in the UK and one in Canada. Our findings suggest that staff in these three locations are not resistant to the use of computer technology in learning and teaching but rather that any hesitations they have are due to a range of different factors of a practical kind, ranging from time pressures to course relevance. We found that staff in one institution are clearly more enthusiastic about using CALL and C&IT than colleagues in the other two, but that they were also widely welcomed in the latter. One of the main reasons for this has been the creation of common learning environments on the Web. In addition, findings show that staff already convinced of the benefits that CALL and C&IT bring to the teaching and learning experience (radicals) have a role in encouraging their less enthusiastic colleagues to begin using this form of technology. However, we found that the majority of colleagues are not radicals, but pragmatists, and are willing to make use of CALL and C&IT provided that the benefits are clearly guaranteed. There remains a small minority of conservatives. No suggestions are made as to how to deal with them.

Undergraduate Students as Partners in a Writing Course: A Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Assif ◽  
◽  
Sonya Ho ◽  
Shalizeh Minaee ◽  
Farah Rahim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Writing Curriculum ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Higher Education Assessment ◽  
Research Students ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Engaging undergraduate students and faculty as partners in learning and teaching is arguably one of the most important and flourishing trends higher education in the 21st century, particularly in the UK, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Students as partners is a concept that intersects with other major teaching and learning topics, such as student engagement, equity, decolonization of higher education, assessment, and career preparation. In this context, the aim of this presentation is to report on a case study, where four undergraduate students (hired as undergraduate research students) and a faculty/program coordinator collaborated in the fall of 2020 to review and re-design the curriculum of English A02 (Critical Writing about Literature), a foundational course in the English program at the University of Toronto Scarborough. This presentation will serve as a platform for these students and faculty to share the logistics of this partnership, its successes, challenges, future prospects, and possible recommendations for faculty and students who may partake similar projects in the future. Keywords: Students as Partners (SaP), writing, curriculum, decolonization

scholarly journals Communities of practice in life sciences and the need for brokering

F1000Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
National Level ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Uk

Etienne Wenger’s work on communities of practice is influential in teaching and learning in higher education. A core work of many postgraduate certificate in teaching and learning (PGCert) courses for new lecturers, it is studied, in the main, as a means to understand how to support and encourage students to achieve more effective learning. Communities of practice can also be applied to academics. In the context of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and its predecessors, the gulf between research-focused and teaching-Focused academics in life sciences has widened, so that in many institutions, these two groups have evolved into two distinct communities of practice; one whose priority is disciplinary research, the other’s learning and teaching. However, in 2015, the UK government announced that a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) would be introduced into higher education in England, as early as 2017. While the exact details of TEF remain unclear, it is certain that “excellence” and “student satisfaction” will be high on the agenda. It is vital, therefore, that the two communities of practice, research-focused and teaching-focused, find ways to come together in order to ensure high quality teaching and learning. Wenger proposes that this can be done through the process of “brokering”, which allows expertise from both communities of practice to cross from one to the other, strengthening both. This should be encouraged at departmental and institutional level, but another vital origin of brokering can be forged at a(n) (inter)national level at meetings such as the SEB Annual Conference, where teaching-focused academics have the opportunity to mix with research-active colleagues. While this paper is informed by recent and current events in the UK Higher Education sector, it is of interest to academics who work in an environment where research and teaching have become separate to any extent.

Circling the globe: fostering experiential language learning

ReCALL ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
KIRSTEN SÖNTGENS
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Kolb's Learning Cycle ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Uk Higher Education

This paper describes a Computer Supported Experiential Learning project at the University of Central England (UCE), for which a bid has been successful to the UK Higher Education Funding Councils’ learning and teaching fund to develop innovative teaching and learning strategies. The project is based upon a well-established curriculum model (Kolb, 1984) which has been adapted by the Learning Methods Unit (LMU) at UCE to include technologies each addressing a particular stage in Kolb’s learning cycle. The model recognises that it is insufficient simply to learn new concepts, just as it is insufficient to have an experience in isolation. The learner must make the link between theory and practice through active experimentation and through reflection on the learning process.

scholarly journals ‘I use my time more wisely…’ The implications for learning and teaching in higher education of more ‘commuter students’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Commuter Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education ◽  
At Home

In the UK students have traditionally moved away from home to study in higher education, but this is changing as a consequence of greater participation, and the shift in responsibility for financing study from the State to individual students and their families. This research under took 60 qualitative interviews with students of all ages who defined themselves as ‘commuters’, who continue to live at home whilst studying. The study found that while the students largely viewed themselves as ‘good students’ aiming to engage fully in their academic studies, the stresses and strains – and cost and time – involved in travelling - resulted in students evaluating the utility of a trip to campus, considering whether their resources would be better spent studying at home. In addition, these students tended to be less engaged in ‘enhancement’ activities, and had very little social engagement with HE peers. Commuter students achieve less good outcomes: they are more likely to withdraw early, achieve lower attainment and are less likely to secure graduate employment on completion. This paper considers the implications for student engagement and teaching and learning in higher education of a larger commuter student population, in an effort to achieve greater equity in student outcomes.

Design and implementation of an online teaching and learning resource for textile design, arts and crafts

2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 40-44
Author(s):  
Susanne Goetz ◽  
Jo Lambert ◽  
Rachel Studd
Keyword(s):  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Arts And Crafts ◽  
Online Teaching And Learning ◽  
Textile Design ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Manchester

A research team within the Textiles Department at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology has since 2001 been involved in designing and realising an internet-based resource for textile students and staff at higher education institutions in the UK. The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB). Members of the team here provide an overview of the main issues involved in planning and implementing a digitisation project, discussing technical and design details and describing the construction of textile terminology relevant to design students.

scholarly journals Language Assessment in Higher Education: Challenges and Consequences

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Almas Ashraf ◽  
Dr. Sajida Zaki
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Multiple Challenges

Several research studies have reported that language assessment carried out at higher education institutes in Pakistan are far from satisfactory. However, they have not addressed the challenges causing these weaknesses. The present research, therefore, is an attempt to gain insight into the reasons of and the resulting consequences for these unsatisfactory assessment practices. The study followed a qualitative approach to develop a detailed understanding of the challenges and the ensuing consequences. Thirty teachers from higher education institutes were selected as a sample using purposive sampling. The data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews and examination papers. The findings indicate that teachers-cum-assessors face multiple challenges in language assessment. These challenges arise from various factors such as practicality, learners, test design, institutional obligations and teachers themselves. Although, the teachers employ several strategies to cope with the challenges, their negative impact is evident on the assessment practices in terms of selective skills and subskills as well as limited choice of test tasks. Assessment has a strong impact on language teaching and learning and the challenges in assessment hamper the language teachers from designing useful assessment. Therefore, by addressing the potential barriers, language assessment practices can be reshaped for conducive language learning and teaching. The results also emphasize the need to enhance language teachers’ assessment literacy through training and professional development programs.

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