What’d I miss? A qualitative exploration of student and staff experiences with lecture recording over an academic year

Lecture recording is the process of capturing the visual and/or audio aspects of a lecture for students to access at their own convenience. Recorded lectures have the potential to benefit student learning through making lecture content more accessible, however effects on student attendance, attainment and engagement are debated. This is of particular interest to professional degrees, which teach to standards set by professional bodies and have limited control over curriculum content. The aim of this study was to explore student and staff use and opinion of lecture recording over an academic year in a professional degree to see how patterns of use may change after lecture recording becomes common place. Four students provided longitudinal blogs over the academic year (four blogs per students) which were thematically coded. Student use of lecture recording changed over the academic year, and was sensitive to the structure of the veterinary programme. Concurrently, semi-structured interviews with staff members highlighted frustrations with lecture recording technology and a perceived lack of flexibility due to recording. Guidance and support is needed to help staff and students to overcome these problems.

Learners, teachers and places: A conceptual framework for creative pedagogies

This exploratory paper introduces a theoretical framework which helps educators in higher education to navigate the complex relationships between self, students, and place. It is also written for academic developers who support the evolving identities and pedagogies of lecturers undertaking professional development. The framework focuses on students, teachers and places as actors (first space) that interact, giving rise to transformational (second) spaces. At the heart of the framework (third space), all three actors dynamically interact through creative pedagogies for active, transformational learning, physically and/or digitally. Although the term ‘third space’ typically refers to the merging of two physical places (Flessner, 2014), we perceive it here as a merging of three ‘actors’ with constantly changing identities to create a dynamic third space for transformation and student-centred learning

Book Review: 'Writing your journal article in twelve weeks: A guide to academic publishing success'

An abstract for a book review is not required and therefore not included with the submission

Integrating disciplinary practices to optimally deliver alternative assessments and embed graduate attributes in a Global Mental Health Master’s programme

The routes to optimising the authenticity of assessments in different organisational and disciplinary contexts have been ambiguous and challenging. This paper offers a case study of diversifying the assessments in a taught Master’s Programme by integrating disciplinary practices to design alternative assessments. Embedding discipline-specific principles and perspectives was found to be key to achieving authenticity of assessments. This paper reports on a descriptive mixed-method study that the authors conducted to evaluate current students’ perceptions of and experiences with the diversified assessments in the Programme. Overall, the findings demonstrate students’ acknowledgement of the importance of a diverse mix of assessments, especially in terms of fostering the development of several graduate attributes. The findings also highlight several opportunities for enhancing the constructive alignment of the curriculum. Alternative assessments can be feasibly designed to promote many of the graduate attributes necessary to create ‘global students’ in an increasingly competitive and internationalised job market.

Creating a safe space: Co-teaching as a method to encourage learning and development in the Higher Education classroom

The use of the classroom as a learning space is integral for the development of all participants. This article explores how co-teaching within a Higher Education classroom environment can be used as a safe space for students and tutors to develop their pedagogical skills through connections, conversation, peer learning and inclusivity. Offering the opportunity to provide a ‘safe space’ for students and academics can prove to be a crucial experience to promote expressiveness, creativity and hone various communication skills. It allows students engage with their thoughts without fear of derision discussing a topic that is new, or they are initially unsure of. This can evoke confidence to actively participate where in traditional circumstances they may abstain. Simultaneously, this method can be effectively used for academic tutors, particularly those new to the role, to practice new teaching techniques, activities or assessments with the full support of a secondary colleague to ensure that the required learning objectives are met. This reflective analysis addresses three essential aspects that enhance learning and make the co-teaching opportunity unique; how co-teaching offers support for additional non-specific learning objectives, the notion of the ‘safe space’; and building relationships. These factors work together to reassess a sense of power sharing, and develop a new culture. Whilst the notion of co-teaching may evoke different perspectives from varying standpoints, and also does have some potential drawbacks, by ultimately taking a fresh look at the method and taking advantage of the unique opportunities for learning it brings there lies a potential to reinvigorate the higher education classroom environment in the light of changing approaches to digital and non-classroom learning that are emerging.

Building a Sense Of Belonging in students: Using a participatory approach with staff to share academic practice

This paper outlines ongoing work undertaken by a university educational development team to strengthen and share colleagues’ academic practice in relation to inclusive learning and teaching activities interventions. The paper outlines our institutional “Fora” structure (coordinated by The Centre for Learning and Teaching) and, taking one of the three Forum events as a modelled example, shows how consideration of the research literature informed colleagues’ discussion and catalysed the sharing of written and oral best practice through participatory action research (PAR) to ultimately build a resource guide. This paper specifically focuses on exploring the different approaches that colleagues adopted to build their students’ “sense of belonging” (both for the face to face and online experiences). A student’s perceived strong sense of belonging to their university can be a core factor in enhancing student satisfaction, engagement and retention (Pickford, 2016; Thomas, 2014). Critique and consideration of Ahn & Davis’ s (2019) four domains of belonging formed the starting point for the discussion. Digital tools and pedagogic approaches sourced from colleagues who have found them valuable in developing student engagement and belonging during the Covid-19 crisis are also explored.

Dialogic assessment in the context of professional recognition: perspectives from the canoe

This paper seeks to spark a conversation as it concerns dialogue as an assessment tool and the processes which may be needed to support it. While its context is specific, focused on the use of dialogic assessment in HEA Fellowship schemes, it is suggested that the metaphor which emerged from a collective autoethnographic study has the potential to be of value more widely. Data from this study indicated that dialogic assessment might be likened to a canoe trip which requires careful planning and skillful execution. The five phases identified - designing the vessel, getting aboard, settling in/ settling down, navigating the space and forward-wash – are overviewed with the intention of provoking discussion in the academic practice community, drawing into the conversation individuals who are concerned with assessment for learning generally, and those who have particular interest in the potential of dialogic assessment which culminates in a summative judgement. As such it adds to the literature focused on assessment in higher education by drawing to the fore the conditions in which dialogic approaches can thrive for the individual being assessed, while also facilitating reciprocal learning.

Beyond the metrics: the importance of intangible assets in the HE context

As a statement of fact, the Higher Education (HE) sector gathers data. Commonly these data are metrical in format, used in some way to report on some aspect of performativity, whether within the institution or beyond its bounds. This paper does not seek to dispute the need for measurement, but it does argue the limitations of metric-based proxies alone if we are to truly understand the space of the university and how it operates in the interests of students, staff, employers, government and all other stakeholders. Our interest in the limitation of metrics in the HE context inspired a study funded by QAA (Scotland). The study focused on capturing, evidencing and affirming intangible elements of HE that are not easily counted or quantified, but form key aspects of an institution’s identity, culture and ethos, described by us as intangible assets. This brief paper provides an overview of our study and its outcomes to date. In presenting our progress and conceptual framework, we are inviting reflection, constructive comment and further dialogue in respect of the model itself, and its helpfulness in re-prioritising qualitative data in our assessment of our assets in higher education.

Culture Club: Experiences of running a journal club for continuing professional development in higher education

This article discusses the experiences of a journal club established to enable staff from different higher education (HE) institutions and roles to develop their knowledge and understanding around a shared interest in the areas of internationalisation and educational technology. Journal clubs have been used, mainly within the field of medicine and healthcare, to facilitate group learning. The club enabled the group to navigate a complex terrain of literature, develop a focus for reading and identifying a potential area for research and collaboration. Members of the journal club experienced several benefits from participation which are discussed together with the challenges of sustaining engagement over time. The article concludes with highlighting ways in which journal clubs can provide a fruitful form of continuing professional development in higher education, particularly in complex subject areas that traverse numerous roles and domains and makes recommendations for those considering establishing a journal club for similar purposes.