Academic & Digital Development

Prof. Stephany Biello

Dean L&T, College of Science & Engineering; co-lead on Accessible & Inclusive Learning Policy (AILP)

Opening talk

This session will open with a brief talk about where accessibility and inclusivity sit on our students’ lists of priorities, as well as about the review of the Accessible & Inclusive Learning Policy (AILP). Participants will then be offered an opportunity to feed back on: existing areas of good practice around accessibility; the resource implications these practices have; where we are not meeting our students’ needs; and what the main barriers to inclusivity are here at Glasgow.

Participants will also have an opportunity to add to these thoughts throughout the day, and then submit them as feedback notes for the attention of Prof. Biello and others at the end of the event.

Evidencing effective and engaging strategies for group work

This paper reflects on a project in which staff and students worked together to develop video resources on effective and engaging group work practices. Group work is used increasingly in university study (Adelopo et al, 2017) and can offer opportunities for improved learning (Curşeu and Pluut, 2013). However, the introduction of group work activities can also bring challenges, and can be a source of stress for some students (Elliot and Reynolds, 2014). We therefore aimed to explore student experiences of group work and to develop resources that utilised the expertise and experience of a student group to promote inclusive strategies. The project was supported by the University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Development Fund.

We will report on key findings from a survey of 550+ undergraduate and postgraduate students, identifying key challenges and strategies students associate with group work. These include concerns about equal contribution and participation of group members, communication strategies and a perceived lack of guidance on effective group work. We will then discuss how we worked with four PGT students to use these findings and the students’ expertise to produce a series of short videos addressing key issues such as collaboration, team roles and inclusivity.

During the session we will reflect on our experiences of working collaboratively to deliver a short-term project. We will also discuss the outcome of the project and consider further activity that could support both students and teaching staff with inclusive approaches to group work.

Don’t need to ask, don’t need to tell; mainstreaming inclusive teaching and wellbeing strategies

As teaching staff and advisors, we are often approached by students seeking support for personal situations outwith their primary academic activities. There is a five-fold increase in the number of students disclosing a mental health condition (since 2005/6) leading to an increase of 94% in demand of counselling services (Thorley, 2017). Supporting student mental health and wellbeing is necessarily receiving increasing focus in higher education and supporting students to thrive and succeed within and beyond the learning environment is a key focus of the University’s Mental Health Action Plan, and Learning and Teaching Strategy.

To support over-burdened formal services, staff from the School of Psychology will discuss strategies to facilitate the recognition of students at risk, and proactive initiatives to create supportive and enabling communities and curriculum. Drawing from our work on this matter we will open the discussion to issues affecting students who may or may not disclose mental health concerns, students who may or may not disclose diagnosis or self-identification with neurodiversity, and LGBTQ+ students at all stages of the coming out process (and not limited to).

Two-nation group formations to enhance cross-national interaction to enhance learning experience 

Western universities have increasingly large cohorts of international students in addition to the large number of local students. This can enrich the learning experience as well as cause some challenges. The purpose of this research is to investigate how class rooms with students of different nationalities affect learning, interaction, benefits and challenges.

There is a lot of literature discussing the non-interaction between foreign students and local students. In a world where cross-national interactions are becoming quite important in all types of careers, it is important that our students develop such skills. From an education point of view, student interaction is known to improve learning.We wanted to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention on learning, specifically designed to promote cross-national interaction.

Specifically, we wish to investigate the experience of working in a small group of four which has students from two countries. The students worked on a group project over a long period of 8 weeks to give them sufficient time to develop relationships and interact. Then they were asked to answer some reflective questions about this group experience after submitting the group project. These answers will be analysed to provide some insight. The findings will be useful for us to take steps to enhance students’ learning experience in an increasingly international class environment.

Intercultural disagreement and inclusive knowledge construction: a case study of seminar discussions

Higher education (HE) is a diverse, international arena where students are expected to engage with peers and staff from a range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Spoken interaction is of particular significance here, not least because speech events such as seminar discussions serve a core pedagogic function in HE. In these settings, the co-construction of knowledge is particularly privileged as students are expected to negotiate meaning through complex exchanges (Aguilar, 2016). Indeed, collaborative knowledge building is widely regarded as a cornerstone of academic discourse and an important vehicle for learning enhancement (Hyland and Shaw, 2016).

In the process of shared knowledge making, the expression of disagreement is highlighted as a central feature of academic discussions; speakers challenge, refute and enthusiastically debate problems, theories and content in the pursuit of shared understandings (Basturkmen, 2002; 2016). Given the widespread recognition that values surrounding appropriate discussion behaviours, and particularly how disagreement is expressed and managed, differ considerably across cultures, an important challenge exists for all L&T stakeholders to foster an environment which recognises and values the complex breadth of culturally-informed interaction orientations at play in the modern international university. Tellingly, students who naturally adopt interactional behaviours characterised by avoidance-based, face-saving tendencies, typical of many spoken cultures outside the western discursive norm, are often negatively evaluated by both peers and instructors and are potentially excluded from important routes to learning enhancement (Nakane, 2006). The need for enhanced intercultural awareness in HE and a truly inclusive approach to L&T provision is, therefore, pressing.

This talk reports a substantive SoTL project investigating the interactional tendencies of international students during seminar discussions, with particular focus on the management of disagreement as a route to enhanced learning, exploring the impact of SoTL activity on teaching, and illuminating the cultural dimension of inclusive L&T practice.(References supplied) 

What about Watt? Engaging transnational Engineering students through an English-language project

Our project took place in Glasgow College, UESTC (China), where the James Watt School of Engineering delivers a joint undergraduate programme. We are involved in transforming the credit-bearing English-language provision, delivered to first and second year students, to create learning that is more fully aligned with the needs of transnational Engineering students. The James Watt bi-centenary events in 2019 led us to consider how to incorporate this into learning and teaching.

We wanted to offer our students the opportunity to develop the graduate attributes of effective communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills while building confidence and the ability to work independently and in teams. We hoped to provide innovative English-language project-based learning and help our Chinese students identify with and feel included in the University of Glasgow learning community.

Classroom input focussed on learning about Watt’s life and achievements through authentic written and multi-media content. The student output, including poster presentations, other written materials, and videos, was showcased in a student-led event. Students collaborated with teachers to form a committee, making joint decisions on the design and organisation of this showcase event. They produced all marketing material in English, promoting the event through social media.

At the event, as the teachers took a back seat, the students both hosted and took part. Student volunteers ran the event, including delivering the opening and closing addresses. Participants presented their posters and videos, and evaluated the work of their peers.

Our presentation will focus on partnership working between students and teachers and the transformative potential of student involvement. We consider how engaging students in the co-creation and evaluation of the learning experience might provide opportunities to develop graduate attributes and meet the University of Glasgow’s learning and teaching strategy through democratising the curriculum. 

Accessibility and Inclusivity by Design: Where we came from, and where we are now 

In the Digital Education Unit we have been focussed on digital accessibility over the last year. Since the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 have come into effect we have been working towards ensuring that all our online programmes are fully accessible while still remaining engaging.

In this presentation we will describe how the Digital Education Unit has incorporated accessibility into the design of the programmes and what tools and techniques we have employed. We will also demonstrate some of the lessons learned along the way and give an idea of what we believe can still be done better.

Joining time

Welcome Address

Prof. Moira Fischbacher-Smith, VP Learning & Teaching

Blending Moodle activities with active learning: experiences from Digital Media and Information Studies

In April 2019, Information Studies (School of Humanities) embarked on a journey to re-assess the delivery of the Digital Media & Information Studies Level 1 (DMIS L1) undergraduate course, so that it incorporates elements of active and blended learning. Our aim was to remain true to the course’s intended learning outcomes (ILOs) and constructive alignment principles, while identifying methods where active learning is intertwined with use of technology. Our approach was informed by pedagogical theory, but also tailored to meet the technology and physical space facilities available for the course’s lectures and labs.

The first iteration of the revamped DMIS L1 combines Moodle activities – such as Workshop, Lesson and Choice – in order to actively engage students in interactive lectures; weekly group work; collaboration on- and off-campus; peer assessment; and curriculum content delivered via multimedia-rich online lessons. Students have the opportunity to work both individually and collaboratively, discern the relevance of the curriculum to their own interests and real-life concerns, and reflect on their learning.

Along the way, further benefits emerged from this approach. Using Moodle Workshops for lab-based group work improved access to collaboration for students who – due to personal circumstances - cannot attend sessions. Researching and presenting a topic with the assistance of Lessons encourages learning-by-teaching. Peer Assessment allows students to participate in the assessment process and generate rich feedback for their peers.

These benefits come at a cost. Our experience thus far shows that managing face-to-face sessions alongside online activities creates additional administrative load, e.g. monitoring online components to ascertain that they work – and are used - as intended; and supporting students uncomfortable with active learning environments and/or use of technology. This presentation will provide key milestones, student feedback and pointers on the feasibility of running a course with blended and active learning components when staff resources are limited.

Analysis of Two Stage Exams from an Inner feedback Perspective

This research examines two-stage exams from an internal feedback perspective. Active learning includes interaction with peers to evaluate one's own work, increase knowledge, gain feedback and improve. While immediate feedback from peers has been proposed as one of the main factors contributing to learning gains in two stage exams, this conception of feedback is very narrow as it addresses feedback only in terms of its external manifestation, that is, in what the students are presumed to say to each other during the group discussion stage. The research on two-stage exams says little about internal feedback, the feedback that students generate themselves as they participate in the group stage and compare what they have produced individually, and their thoughts about this, with the ongoing group dialogue and with the emerging written group output. The latter is the focus of this article. 

We conducted a two stage exam in an honours level class in Economics, where students had to work on a question on their own, followed by attempting the same question in a small group. This involved plenty of interaction and we find significant learning benefits. We provided opportunities for students to answer reflective questions, carefully designed, just after finishing their individual submission and after the group submission. These reflections have been analysed in this research, to shed some useful light about the benefits of two-stage exams to learning. We find this can lead to a deeper level learning, which can have long term benefits. 

Team-Based Learning

This presentation will provide an overview of the central techniques of Team Based Learning. TBL is a student-centred learning and teaching strategy which follows a structured process and uses a variety of active, collaborative learning techniques in order to fully engage students in their learning. It is suitable for use with any size of class, including large classes; can be adapted for use in a wide range of academic subjects; and can be used for all levels of study in HE from pre-honours to PGT. The techniques used in TBL will be of particular interest to those interested in teaching in the new active learning spaces, but can also be adapted for use in more traditional classroom settings.

TBL is comprised of three broad stages: pre-class preparation, in-class test of knowledge, and application exercises. This session will begin by engaging participants with the second stage of TBL, which is short two-stage test. We will then give a short presentation to talk through the rest of the process and explain the key principles that underpin this approach.

Participants will then have the opportunity to discuss the learning design and the principles underlying TBL, and to consider how they might adapt these techniques into their own teaching.

Reference: Michaelsen, L. K. and Sweet, M. (2011), Team‐based learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 41-51. doi:10.1002/tl.467

Service Learning: Applying Knowledge Through Community Service

Service Learning is a teaching strategy that bridges knowledge obtained at university with real-life problems in the community. Here specifically the aim is to teach university students various research-informed learning strategies from Cognitive Psychology. Cognitive Psychology looks into how our mind works and tries to understand how we learn and remember information.

In class, university students discuss empirical findings and theories and evaluate them. Then, they are asked to think outside the university box and to design hands-on "How-To-Study" tutorials for pupils to meet an existing problem in the community: Pupils in school often do not know how to study effectively and teachers have no time to learn about research-based study strategies to teach their pupils. Thus, this calls for a much-needed service that university students can provide to schools in the community. Students deliver these tutorials to pupils in local schools.

After providing service in the community, students return for reflection sessions to discuss and share their experience of having provided service and how well empirical research findings can support real-world problem solving.

Service Learning is a win-win-win situation: The university students win because they experience immediate application of knowledge; the community partner (here: schools) wins because they get superior service for free that solves prevalent problems; the university wins because Service Learning is evidence for outreach and giving back to the community.

This presentation will be delivered in collaboration with a student who attended the Service Learning module in autumn 2019 to provide the audience with a well-rounded perspective of this teaching strategy.

Teacher Educators Walking the “Active-Learning” Walk

Active Learning has its roots in the learning theory of Constructivism which suggests that learners learn new concepts through their active reflection on the given tasks/activities based on their available understandings. Recent research suggests that pre-service teachers in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes should be given opportunities to learn about this principle and be expected to align their future teaching practice with it. Therefore, ITE lecturers should model pedagogical practices that promote deep understanding to help student teachers move from their already established mindset of direct knowledge transmission mode to guiding mode that fosters learners’ active involvement and knowledge construction.     

In the School of Education at University of Glasgow, we made changes to the delivery of the Primary Mathematics Teaching course during 2019-2020. We discarded whole-cohort (187 students) lectures in favour of seminars given to groups of 20-25 students. We designed the seminars in such a way that students first went through theory-driven learning experiences adopting the pupils' perspectives; then, they analysed the learning/teaching experiences wearing the teacher's lenses. We carefully designed the activities so that students actively discover the whys behind mathematics procedures, leading to an increase in their interest in mathematics and in confidence in their own mathematical abilities. Students experienced first-hand how learning happens, and the positive feelings elicited in them when they were given the control of their learning. They also had the chance to analyse videos of learning/teaching situations. These activities helped students move away from the perception of mathematics as a difficult and boring subject consisting of disconnected rules that must be memorised. In their feedback, students valued the active participation element and the opportunity to critically reflect on their learning experiences leading to a change in their view of the role of the teacher. This presentation will draw on these experiences and findings. 

Student-led curriculum innovation: Developing graduate attributes whilst supporting student learning

The MSc in Chemistry is a one year programme comprising of two semesters of lectures and a formal exam followed by a summer research project. PGT students come to the University of Glasgow from very varied backgrounds and with a diverse range of practical knowledge and skills. In preparation for the project work, it is essential that all students have an equitable and balanced level of training.

We describe a student-led project : Bridging the gap between student and researcher: the development of the  Research Skills MSc project module. This project, led by final year undergraduate students, investigated examples of good practice and used this information to create new practical projects that combine aspects of inquiry-based learning and practical skills.

This research skills module was implemented for the first time in academic year 2018/19.To evaluate its effectiveness, the undergraduate researchers gave the PGT students pre and post module questionnaires and held a focus group to learn about their experiences and needs. The outcomes from this evaluation, which provided valuable feedback for supporting international students in the future, will be discussed.

This project describes a model for student-led curriculum development which is beneficial to those developing as well as those receiving the training. In addition to creating valuable material for supporting PGT students it has given undergraduate researchers exposure to a wide range of transferable skills which will be beneficial in their future careers.

NB: This presentation has been pre-recorded, and the speakers will be available to take questions live for the final 10 minutes of this slot. In the event that the pre-recorded video suffers buffering problems, you also have the option to watch it here directly from YouTube. Regardless of when you start playback here, the speakers will be taking questions live in the symposium from 13:20.