Case studies

By miranda.prynne, 28 October, 2020
Series Type
Series
Teaser
First-hand accounts of successful projects within institutions which offer lessons on enhancing higher education
Resource
By Eliza.Compton, 10 December, 2024
A faculty development programme for instructors must facilitate more than efficient knowledge transfer. Incorporating pedagogical innovation, digital proficiency and emotional intelligence will ensure the well-being of educators and students
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 9 December, 2024
Collaboration between community groups, local government and university students has improved bird nest survival rates exponentially as part of a broader biodiversity plan. Here is how one university is bringing native fauna back to campus
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4minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 5 December, 2024
How one institution is reducing energy consumption, developing low-carbon infrastructure and rethinking campus spaces to reach net zero
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5minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 5 December, 2024
How a project for academics to carve out writing time has grown from ‘power hours’ to writing retreats, community, increased well-being and higher-quality papers
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 3 December, 2024
Access to library spaces in preparation for exams is helping Dublin secondary school students find a pathway into university. Here’s how DCU Library has made them feel welcome
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 28 November, 2024
Bringing the student voice into the creation of a toolkit to decolonise and diversify university reading lists was a key purpose of a library project at the University of Chester
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4minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 5 November, 2024
As centres of knowledge and innovation, higher education institutions have a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to lead by example in promoting sustainability and environmental awareness. Here are ways to do it
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 1 November, 2024
Out of writer’s block and research into the artistic process have grown a tool and a community to foster new work. Novelist Sue Woolfe describes how an international creativity bar works
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5minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 31 October, 2024
There are several tools available to help English for academic purposes assess students’ writing skills. Here is some guidance on how to use a selection of them
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4minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 29 October, 2024
A professor explains how he leverages emotions to enhance students’ learning, using an approach called ‘mastering emotions in entrepreneurship education’
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By Eliza.Compton, 24 October, 2024
Successful university outreach doesn’t always have to involve awe-inspiring explosions and colour-changing chemical reactions, but it should seek to hone key skills through dynamic and interactive activities that enable all children to shine
By Eliza.Compton, 11 October, 2024
As demand for universities to support work-integrated learning rises, so does exposure to potential pitfalls such as personal injury and reputational harm. What can higher education institutions do to mitigate the risks?
By kiera.obrien, 8 October, 2024
Updating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for the AI era helped students to understand the opportunities and limitations of the tool, in an engaging way. Here’s how to use performance as pedagogy
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5minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 4 October, 2024
A one-size-fits-all approach to digital literacy training simply won’t cut it; institutions need to tailor programmes to the varying needs of their staff
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5minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 1 October, 2024
Offering students paid opportunities to be involved in generating and modifying online learning content could deliver novel experiences for learners, reduce academic workload and help close the awarding gap
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 15 August, 2024
Music and dance give the post-Covid cohort low-stress opportunities to face each other in potentially antagonising – even agonising – set-ups. Here’s how a multisensory curriculum helps students combat feelings of isolation and impostor syndrome
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 6 August, 2024
Technical challenges as well as the personal demands that teachers face make support programmes at higher education institutions all the more important. Here’s how self-paced, modular training can boost teacher engagement and student satisfaction
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 30 July, 2024
Supporting communities of practice across an organisation can provide extraordinary benefits. Drawn from the author’s experience, these tips aim to build connection and engagement through a formalised framework and senior leader sponsorship
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 18 July, 2024
Role play and immersive VR experiences can bridge the gap between theory and practice as students acquire – and teachers assess – skills in communication and problem-solving
By Eliza.Compton, 19 July, 2024
Generative artificial intelligence can trigger a certain amount of angst, but AI’s potential to support student learning should be explored, write Steve Hill and Quintus Stierstorfer
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By Eliza.Compton, 10 July, 2024
Internships give students professional experience, guide career choices and boost job market competitiveness. But what if students need higher-paying summer jobs or can’t afford three months in a far-flung city? That’s where abbreviated winter internships come in
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By Eliza.Compton, 25 June, 2024
How can educators make learning and human intelligence visible in the age of GenAI? Abby Osborne and Christopher Bonfield outline a model to rethink assessment and reward non-AI knowledge and understanding
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By Eliza.Compton, 10 June, 2024
The National Student Survey tells us students want their voices heard, but what if they don’t take up opportunities for feedback? Sam Perry looks at challenges of integrating student input (and wonders if chocolate is the answer)
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 4 June, 2024
Grassroots initiatives can promote visibility of marginalised groups, self-expression and community, writes Emily Downes. Here are her key tips from running a creative writing competition to mark LGBTQ+ History Month
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By Eliza.Compton, 31 May, 2024
Adapting practice-based learning to a blend of synchronous and asynchronous delivery gives learners more control and creates opportunities for real-world learning of skills such as podcast production, writes Catherine Chambers
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 13 May, 2024
The ability to use generative AI is akin to time management or other learning skills that students need practice to master. Here, Vincent Spezzo and Ilya Gokhman offer tips to make sure instructions land equally no matter students’ level of AI experience
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5minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 26 April, 2024
Competition, cooperation and continuity in talent support play integral roles in training and preparing medical professionals, and improving patient care, write three cardiologists
By Eliza.Compton, 22 April, 2024
Embedding library skills within disciplines allows teachers and students to link them to learning outcomes and research requirements. Here, a team of engagement librarians explain how to put a map in place
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 17 April, 2024
Teaching excellence rests on clear principles and agile strategy, collaboration with students and a frank approach to educational gain, write Emily Pollinger and Julian Chaudhuri. Here, they share tips for maintaining and evidencing success
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 4 April, 2024
Meet-ups can support neurodivergent students (mostly those with autism and ADHD) to navigate the social complexities of student life and the workplace. Here, Brooke Szücs and Ben Roden-Cohen share tips for creating inclusive neurodivergent settings, based on their experience
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 11 March, 2024
Traditional open access repositories are designed for sharing quantitative data. But what about qualitative data – non-numeric information and concepts such as case studies or interview transcripts? That’s where the Qualitative Data Repository comes in
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 18 March, 2024
Storybooks offer a collegial method of sharing research findings beyond the peer-reviewed journals of academia – and putting it in the hands of the people who can best use the information, write Dominic Petronzi, Dean Fido and Rebecca Petronzi
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By Eliza.Compton, 21 February, 2024
Rising costs of college leave many students struggling to afford higher education. And we know that enhancing the affordability of going to university is critical for realising students’ potential and elevating lives and livelihoods for generations to come, writes Matt Holt
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3minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 15 February, 2024
The rising costs of education and living expenses leave many students struggling to stretch their funds to cover basic necessities. In this landscape, the university’s student food bank can offer a lifeline, writes Isabelle Largen
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4minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 9 February, 2024
In the era of social technologies, authentic storytelling becomes a powerful tool for cultural and social change, a fundamental role of higher education, writes Arijit Mukhopadhyay
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5minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 19 January, 2024
Engaging in local civic projects offers students meaningful learning opportunities, fosters co-creation and supports the community at large. Here, Martha Sullivan outlines the benefits based on working with the Empty Bowls project
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By Eliza.Compton, 7 December, 2023
Widening participation in higher education and improving the education journeys of young people cannot happen in isolation, writes Michael Bennett. Here, he outlines a programme that connects parents, community groups and the university
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By Eliza.Compton, 5 December, 2023
What does it mean to create student-centric support? Here, Kieron Broadhead outlines the process and challenges in re-imagining a 24-hour student administration system
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 4 December, 2023
From listening to the student voice to creating joined-up partnerships, success on major capital works depends on teamwork. Here, Dominic Wood outlines key elements to ensure project delivery and reap long-term benefits
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By Eliza.Compton, 27 November, 2023
Unaccompanied student assignments abroad are a terrifying but essential part of the high-fidelity learning mix. Here, Jim Entwistle shares his four key points of assignments beyond the safety net
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 7 November, 2023
Presenting sustainability research in a story – with a protagonist, goal and resolution – can bridge the gap between complex theory and real-world results for wider audiences and policymakers alike
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 26 October, 2023
Communicating to the public can result in abuse of academics. Here, University of Southampton staff describe their experiences and provide tips on anticipating and dealing with trolling
By Eliza.Compton, 24 October, 2023
How can we teach students other than those studying for healthcare or other vocational qualifications to work across disciplinary boundaries and make scientific decisions in a creative – and enjoyable – manner? Here’s what we learned from running a data-driven drug-discovery scenario
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 17 October, 2023
A pilot programme aims to expand undergraduate students’ access to high-impact learning experiences to strengthen skills such as teamwork and problem-solving. Kate Williams looks at its outcomes
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By Eliza.Compton, 11 October, 2023
From staff training to nap pods and on-campus emotional support animals, universities have well-established and novel ways to help students to better mental health and well-being
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By Eliza.Compton, 10 October, 2023
Asking students to analyse, defend and counterargue a contentious issue has proved an engaging way to teach reasoning and communication skills in organisational behaviour courses
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By Eliza.Compton, 2 October, 2023
University ‘taster days’ can introduce teenagers to what global health research and advocacy might be like as a future career. Here four academics describe a pilot training session and what they learned from it
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By Eliza.Compton, 4 September, 2023
An institutional formalised mentoring scheme can offer invaluable career guidance for early- and mid-career academics. Here, based on 15 years of managing a programme for academic staff, Karen Mather offers her key takeaways
By Eliza.Compton, 25 August, 2023
Movies and television programmes can challenge students’ perceptions and enrich their understanding of the law. But designing an effective module requires more than a must-watch list, writes Michael Randall
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By Eliza.Compton, 22 August, 2023
Connecting students who share a lived experience such as bereavement, family estrangement or loneliness can help to foster a sense of community and belonging at university, explains Hannah Moore
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By Miranda Prynne, 21 August, 2023
We induce eco-anxiety by teaching students about climate change, so training them in practical and achievable solutions to it are needed, too, write Helen Hicks and Dawn Lees

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By Eliza.Compton, 16 August, 2023
Early-intervention initiatives to tackle student disengagement can be challenging to implement. A centralised, targeted approach using a communication nudge can encourage students to re-engage with online learning
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By Eliza.Compton, 8 August, 2023
Designing, conducting and presenting a research project based on classroom experience can give students an early opportunity for critical reflection on their learning
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By Eliza.Compton, 7 August, 2023
Dual enrolment can create student pipelines from high school to university, meet community education needs and improve retention and graduation rates. Here, Laura Brown Simmons breaks down the essential elements
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By Eliza.Compton, 21 July, 2023
How to use student co-creation to bring active participation and collaboration into the learning experience, based on insights from the Liberated Learners open educational resource
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By Eliza.Compton, 12 July, 2023
The steps to making learning content accessible include identifying areas that need attention, overcoming barriers and recruiting allies to get the job done, writes Luke Searle
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By Eliza.Compton, 3 July, 2023
When students work in teams to examine a real-world problem, the result offers a means to bring teaching and research together. Here, Kate Black and Jonny Hall explain how this pedagogy benefits students, academics and society
By Eliza.Compton, 9 June, 2023
What’s been lacking in the decarbonisation journey is the ability to bring universities together to share best practices, resources and tools, so that pioneers in the area can assist those just starting out. Now there’s a toolkit
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 7 June, 2023
Want to reduce single-use waste at your university? In this guide for students and administrators, Rojine McVea offers tips for how to set up a reusable dish service based on her own experience
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3minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 31 May, 2023
A focus on practical competences comes with the risk that theoretical knowledge will be sidelined during the clinical years. However, two-way vertical integration of medical training can provide a more balanced strategy for learning
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5minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 29 May, 2023
With public perception of US higher education in decline, universities urgently need to send an engaging, integrated message about how their work benefits society, writes Paul M. Rand. Here’s how his institution is doing it
By Eliza.Compton, 10 May, 2023
Psychology-based rhetoric training is a way to help lecturers counteract the fall in students’ active attention span. This programme aims to give them speaking skills and confidence that will enhance their effectiveness as educators
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 21 April, 2023
Not all students want – nor can they find in a challenging employment market – graduate jobs after university. Victoria Prince looks at what more faculties can do to support students in creating their own business opportunities
By Eliza.Compton, 14 April, 2023
When Bill Flanagan took the helm, the University of Alberta was facing a $222 million funding cut – 20 per cent of the university’s operating budget. In this two-part article, he explains how the university undertook a historic overhaul
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5minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 14 April, 2023
When funding pressures made it clear that the University of Alberta had to change, it overhauled its entire way of working. Here, president Bill Flanagan explains how they did it
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4minutes
By dene.mullen, 14 April, 2023
From conducting in-depth interviews to telling the whole story, Sam Russell provides top tips for crafting a compelling narrative that will appeal to awards panels
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By Eliza.Compton, 7 April, 2023
Novelty, competition and engagement give gamification an edge when it comes to getting students to revise. Here, Teegan Green, Iliria Stenning and Rasheda Keane explain how they use The Chase from H5P in a hybrid course
By Eliza.Compton, 31 March, 2023
Phenomenon-based learning empowers students to apply disciplinary knowledge to real-world situations. Here, Sue Lee and Kate Cuthbert outline the principles of PhBL and how it can be adopted in higher education
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 16 March, 2023
Defining the problem can determine the best tech to deliver realistic training environments. Here is how one media lab demystifies technology-enabled learning experiences and empowers educators to develop their own
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 27 February, 2023
LGBTQ+ staff bring to campus qualities such as courage and sensitivity that are key to leadership. Now a UK programme aims to develop those strengths in future academic and professional services leaders
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By Eliza.Compton, 23 February, 2023
Online checking tools often flag non-suspicious behaviour along with suspected academic misconduct. Here, educators share lessons learned from using an online oral exam to check students’ understanding
By Miranda Prynne, 22 February, 2023
How an intellectual property help desk set up by a university library team is helping inventors protect their work, with lessons on what has proven most effective
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4minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 15 February, 2023
Shonagh Douglas shares a tool that directs students to the specific advice they need when searching through online resources and offers lessons in how to recreate similar aids elsewhere
By Eliza.Compton, 18 January, 2023
Faculty collaboration with the undergraduate admission team can improve class participation, retention rates, course matches and funding yield – and help reduce misinformation about the process and decisions
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4minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 12 January, 2023
XJTLU’s new Entrepreneur College had to work fast to build a sense of belonging among its first student cohorts, and one way it did this was by hosting a series of events. Xiaotong Lu shares the strategies adopted
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4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 8 December, 2022
Student support, particularly for care-leavers or estranged students, is vital throughout their university journey – from pre-application to beyond graduation. Here, Fran Hornsby and Rebecca Clark offer tips for demonstrating genuine care as you do it
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By Eliza.Compton, 1 December, 2022
Mathematicians have always looked at old problems in new ways. A database of original sources will give university-level mathematics students a global, historical view of their subject
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4minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 21 November, 2022
A new supercomputer, new faculty and partnerships with higher education and industry leaders helped the University of Florida transform itself into an AI powerhouse, creating a blueprint for other institutions to follow
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3minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 27 October, 2022
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds can remain on the back foot when entering the workforce. This programme offers higher education practitioners a replicable model that includes professional skills development and access
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By Eliza.Compton, 26 October, 2022
Universities can use their ability to engage with students to effect cultural change, as the Bystander Intervention initiative to combat sexual abuse has shown. Louise Crowley explains how they did it
By Miranda Prynne, 12 October, 2022
Engaging students with urban spaces can contextualise and deepen learning and bring in inclusive perspectives. Daniel Gutiérrez-Ujaque and Dharman Jeyasingham explain how counter-mapping can be used as a pedagogical tool
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3minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 7 September, 2022
Weekly snapshots of how students see their own progress can help teachers adjust teaching methods in real time. An online tool piloted at Georgia Tech has helped fill a feedback loop lost during the pandemic
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4minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 24 August, 2022
A code of conduct for ethical research fieldwork developed by two researchers at the University of Oxford has been taken up by departments across the institution and beyond. The code authors, Catherine Fallon Grasham and Laura Picot, share lessons they learned along the way
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By Miranda Prynne, 2 August, 2022
An institution-wide creative project is an opportunity for students to make friends and learn from one another, writes Karen Amanda Harris. Here, she shares tips for developing an extracurricular language-art project
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By Miranda Prynne, 23 June, 2022
Transforming a doctoral research project into a commercially viable product requires astute decision-making from the start. Manjinder Kainth and Nicola Wilkin share a beginner’s guide
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By Miranda Prynne, 18 May, 2022
Afghan Chevening scholar Naimatullah Zafary, who was among the last people to be airlifted to safety from Kabul, explains how institutions can support refugee students and staff who arrive in an unfamiliar country after experiencing perilous journeys and severe trauma
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By Eliza.Compton, 6 May, 2022
Hiring candidates with strong academic results may seem like the best way to recruit tutors. But this does not always mean they will have the right attributes to support student learning. In this video, Carl Sherwood explains how and why to use a group interview process to recruit university tutors
By Miranda Prynne, 14 April, 2022
The decolonisation of medicine involves making students active agents of their learning and designing assessments relevant to the skills gained through the process, as Musarrat Maisha Reza explains in her second advice resource on the topic
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3minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 11 April, 2022
The evolution of activeflex learning as a way to keep students engaged online, and how to overcome problems when using this teaching model, by Mark Gale
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3minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 16 November, 2021
Josephine Bleach outlines questions that higher education institutions should ask to help them foster authentic community engagement that improves educational outcomes for children, families and communities
By miranda.prynne, 22 September, 2021
Daniella Bo Ya Hu outlines a framework for building expertise in blended learning using lessons in capacity development, staff incentivisation and leadership learned from an international pilot training programme
By miranda.prynne, 13 August, 2021
Richard Gratwick sketches a course designed to develop students’ presentation skills, whether in person or online, using principles that are universal

By miranda.prynne, 16 April, 2021
Universities should lead by example on sustainability issues, looking at what they can do to shrink their environmental impact. Here, Ling Xia and Yao Wu outline a project that could herald a major reduction in their institution’s paper consumption
By miranda.prynne, 12 March, 2021
Laura-Jane Silverman describes how LSE’s entrepreneurship centre created continued opportunity for innovation, collaboration and personal development among students after moving online
By miranda.prynne, 4 November, 2020
The sudden shift to online forced university staff to rethink and redesign classes often with little experience or knowledge of remote teaching. Helen Carmichael and Bobbi Moore explain how the University of Southampton supported all faculties to ensure high-quality online courses
By miranda.prynne, 20 January, 2021
A major challenge of the move to remote learning has been how to teach practical subjects. Here, Lesley Saunders and Lucy Kirkham discuss how they adopted a combination of online, blended and socially distanced teaching for a large nursing course