Category Archives: Academic Innovation

Exploration of new ways of teaching

Creative Assessment – what is it?

In higher education assessment is recognised as a driving force for student engagement and curriculum design. How does this tally with a desire for active student-centred learning? How can it accommodate the artistry in the academic practitioner who seeks to … Continue reading

Posted in Academic Innovation, Academic Innovation and Possibilities, Assessment & Feedback, Creativity, Learner Engagement, Media-enhanced feedback, Media-enhanced learning, MELSIG, Social Media for Learning | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Transgressive learning – moving away from a mindset of inevitability

Transgressive learning is a term associated with sustainability. Wals (2021), for example, discusses the Power of Transgressive Learning in an excellent post. My own interest in the term, however, came from reflecting on educational work I am currently involved in … Continue reading

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Community of Enhancement

I keep returning to the phrase Community of Enhancement to describe my philosophy behind my staff development role. It is not astounding but, significantly for me, it is a better than Community of Practice. It reflects and models the ethos … Continue reading

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Crisis – what crisis? A time for academic innovation

At Wonkfest I attended a panel session titled Changing the Culture of Changing the Culture in which Charlotte Summers, who is Head of Commercial Development at the RSA, referred to the RSA’s excellent Future Change Framework. Admittedly, I am a … Continue reading

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Photopedagogy and photovoice

Loopmans et al. (2012) observe that photographs incite public debate about place and community. When that public context is the university course and where there is a desire for learning engagement and community building, how can photography empower the learner? … Continue reading

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Conversational Learning Spaces for #activelearning

In an earlier post I referred to Learning Walks as conversational learning spaces. As such, they exemplify active learning spaces. The focus on conversation as a dimension of active learning is at the heart of the rationale for advocacy for … Continue reading

Posted in Academic Innovation, Academic Innovation and Possibilities, Active Learning, Applied Learning, Assessment & Feedback, Belonging, Co-operative pedagogy, Creativity, Digital Placemaking, Employability, Learner Engagement, Learning Space and Place, Literacies and Intelligence, PhD, Social Media for Learning, Studio and Studio-based Learning, Walking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wrecking it with Brexit

I’m sitting in a café on La Rambla in Barcelona following a couple of days participating in an international learning spaces summit in Barcelona (#ILS2019). (nb. I use ‘participating’ not ‘attending’) We are getting really close to Brexit now and … Continue reading

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Competition and co-operation in the #activelearning classroom

I have been reading a great paper this morning on the use of Instagram memes by students studying art at Central St Martins (Burns et al., 2016). Amongst the many themes present in the paper, I picked up on one … Continue reading

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Teaching as craft, learning as art?

I have been reading a stimulating paper by Mandy Lupton from 2013 on reclaiming the art of teaching, which you can find here. Her concern is for the art of teaching, and how it is lost to “a higher education … Continue reading

Posted in Academic Innovation, Academic Innovation and Possibilities, Co-operative pedagogy, Creativity, Learner Engagement, PhD | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Table gallery for Media-Enhanced Teaching & Learning #activelearning #ARUengage

I led three workshops at yesterday’s Engage Learning & Teaching conference at Anglia Ruskin University.. In one of them, I used the table gallery technique that I turn to frequently as a way to engage participants in topics where there … Continue reading

Posted in Academic Innovation, Academic Innovation and Possibilities, Active Learning, Assessment & Feedback, BYOD4L, Creativity, Learner Engagement, Learning Space and Place, Media-enhanced feedback, Media-enhanced learning, Scholarship and Research, Smart Learning & BYOD | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment