Hello! I was asked to write an “inaugural” welcome back post so here it is. The title was going to say “back to life, back to reality” but then work can sometimes seem like an alternate “reality” 😉 What with the rather bizarre weather sometimes I feel like I’m entering Narnia. It is good to…Continue Reading Back to life, back to ….
Infographics are excellent ways to communicate information. This one explains the origins and usefulness of the flipped classroom. The concept appears to be simple and is enabled by the recent increased availability of video. Significantly the aim is to improve student learning by creating a face-to-face learning experience that is tailored to student needs, collaborative…Continue Reading Flipped Classroom Infographic
Are we trying to replace academics with robots? Is the underlying mission of e-learning to do away with expensive humans and use much cheaper electronic alternatives? This has been a fear within universities and the arrival of automated assessment technology by a US non-profit company called EdX will compound this anxiety. This software is able…Continue Reading Automated essay grading software
Imagine a suite of spaces, specifically designed for and dedicated to exploring, trying out, developing and sharing innovative teaching ideas. Where you can work with a small group of colleagues for a couple of hours, or run a whole day or even a week long event. Where you could bring a cohort of say 50…Continue Reading Why a Studio? A workshop on Innovative Learning Space at Copenhagen Business School
One of the more exciting developments in Higher Education has been the way in which learning spaces can now be transformed into an interactive fora where students are able to engage with one another in a constructive dialogue. This can take place even in a large lecture space. This can be achieved by using the…Continue Reading Large scale student-student-lecturer Interaction using clickers
Are you involved in educational research at City University London? Are you involved in educational development? Have you made positive educational changes to your course? Or perhaps you’d like to share an opinion or finding around educational development? We would like to invite you to participate in the Educational Vignettes blog. Take a look at…Continue Reading Contribute to the vignettes blog
A number of learning spaces now sport node chairs. These chairs are on castors and can be moved around the room. It has a tray underneath for storing bags and a tray at lap height for computers/tablets/smartphones/books/papers. The chairs can be used individually or pushed together to enable pair or group work. Unfortunately ‘node’ doesn’t…Continue Reading Node chair renaming
City University London is one of the institutions taking part in the a Higher Education Academy change academy programme focused on Recognising Teaching Excellence. The programme provides the opportunity for a team to examine a range of issues around this topic with other institutions and the support of critical friends and experts. The team from City…Continue Reading Teaching Excellence Project
According to two articles in Times Higher Education change is moving both too fast and too slow as these quotes demonstrate: “Many students will “defend to the death” the need for traditional campus-based lectures, and will only delve into the world of free online educational resources if instructed to by their teachers, a conference has…Continue Reading Traditional versus radical change in education
Moodle is City University London’s virtual learning environment (VLE). As you may know, the ed. tech teams in schools are busy working on enhancements to Moodle. This will take advantage of exciting new functionality offered by the recently released Moodle in terms of functionality, tools and new look and feel. What will this mean for…Continue Reading Are you in the mood for New Moodle 2?