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"Case Studies"
As part of the recent S.H.E.D. roadshow, we invited teaching staff to share their successful practice. The example below could be a useful approach for anyone looking to encourage their students to research and understand their subject, and to share that understanding with their peers.
In a third year module on Biodiversity and Conservation, Professor Jeff Ollerton asks his students to engage with a range of scientific writing published around the subject. This includes articles from peer-reviewed journals, UK Parliamentary briefings, scientific journalism, and more. In this part of the module, students are initially provided with recommended articles, and asked to read them critically, attending to the aims, message and methods, and considering whether the conclusions are justified. They then discuss their views in class, where their contributions are assessed using a rubric that is made available to all students in advance. The students are then asked to identify a paper of their choice and deliver a 5 minute verbal presentation to the class. The grade for this is combined with the contribution grade to make up 30% of the total module grade (other parts of the module are assessed using a report and a group debate).
These tasks not only help to ensure that students engage with research and develop their understanding, but they also build confidence and presentation skills. The attached Assessment Brief gives more detail about the assessment structure.
George Dimmock talks about the ways in which Academic Librarians can support University of Northampton staff.
In this video Anne Misselbrook (Content Developer) talks about the software Xerte and its uses for creating online e-tivities.
Kate Swinton from the Centre for Achievement and Performance gives top tips on providing really effective feedback to students.
In this video Hannah Rose explains how to set up a new Aspire reading list.
In this video Ali talks about experiences with online peer observation as part of a teaching qualification for University of Northampton staff.
Emma Rose briefly outlines her experiments with Flipped Classroom techniques and what the benefits have been.
In this video James talks through the ways that he has changed his use of NILE to make learning more interactive and to ensure students are better prepared for class.
In this video Sylvie talks about how she has been changing the delivery of academic skills to develop the the level of integration between generic academic skills and subject specific skills. In addition, she explains the process of integrating blended approaches into CfAP’s (Centre for Achievement and Performance) delivery.
In this video Tanya and Claire talk about their work developing e-tivities for their education students in order to provide a pre-sessional activity and inter-sessional activity and a post-sessional activity for students. They share the strengths of the approach including flexibility and accessibility for the students, sharing of staff expertise and the things they have learnt about best practice.
