“The Sticky Campus”; improving our students’ sense of belonging through active learning, coffee and...
2018 promises to be an exciting and challenging year for universities and the Higher Education sector. Among the many less than positive news, there are also successful practices that make our universities stand out in the way in which they support their students’ experience, widen access and participation, and support their mental health and wellbeing. The ‘Sticky Campus’ at Abertay University is one such example. As Robertson explains and describes, the concept is simple and yet complex in its operationalisation.
The right tools for the job: harnessing the power of student voice through HearNow
In this blog Jo Clarkson, Market Research and Insight Manager at the University of Warwick, shares how the HearNow project increased students’ feedback while minimising survey fatigue. The project by gathering students’ opinions as ‘snap-shot’ sentiments through technology and Gamification raised the number of active users from 200 to 13,000 with an average of 50% response rate.
Get interactive: practical teaching with technology
Online and blended learning can help make higher education teaching more interactive and efficient, but staff often lack confidence in using technology and have little or no time to learn. Sarah Sherman describes how a group of London institutions have launched online training to tackle this problem.
Be better with digital, students tell staff in Jisc survey
Students have stated their frustration at staff's lack of training in - and inconsistent use of - technology in Jisc's digital student tracker report. The survey which involved 22,000 higher education students is one of the largest of its kind.
Is anybody out there?
Changes to key metrics that make up the TEF will mean that universities will become more reliant on good quality outcomes data. Brian Hipkin says more demanding requirements will mean less time chasing staff for up-to-date student data but will require universities to forge a new relationship with graduates.
Accreditation fit for a (digital) purpose?
Using learning technology is now part of the job for a growing proportion of the higher education workforce, says the Association of Learning Technology’s Maren Deepwell. She argues that recognition for skills in using technology for learning, teaching or assessment is now needed and invites professionals to help develop accreditation of this growing specialism.
Welcome to the intelligent campus
As 'smart homes' become more and more sophisticated, universities are harnessing technology to improve the campus or classroom experience for students. Now institutions are planning on taking it to the next level, by using data from sensors, tracking and the internet, combined with information from other sources, as Jisc's James Clay describes in this blog.
Sue Rigby: HE leaders need the capacity to simplify
High student satisfaction levels helped the University of Lincoln to secure a gold award in the 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework. Sue Rigby, Lincoln's deputy vice chancellor for student development, explains how encouraging staff to come up with their own solutions to problems is inspiring innovation.
What we’ve learned from pedagogic podcasting
Academics at Birkbeck College have sought to take their teaching beyond the lecture room with a weekly podcast to support their British politics module. Dr Dermot Hodson, reader in political economy and Dr Ben Worthy, lecturer in politics outline the lessons from the initiative over the past two years.
The need to future proof data on degree value
With data like TEF and LEO, the question of value is at their core and understood largely in terms of students’ expectations and outcomes, particularly those which relate to careers and salaries. But what if the career landscape changes in the future, Adam Wright asks on Wonkhe.
