Consistently consistent design of digital resources: the science of same old, same old – by Adam Matthews (External Relations)

By ensuring that all of your digital learning resources have a consistency of structure and approach, you can help learners to easily find content, but more importantly, be able to understand and get to grips with key with key concepts and ideas of your discipline. ‘Same old, same old’ and ‘samey’ are not words that … Continue reading “Consistently consistent design of digital resources: the science of same old, same old – by Adam Matthews (External Relations)”

Envisaging the Law School of the Future – by Linden Thomas (Birmingham Law School)

Birmingham Law School’s Centre for Professional Legal Education and Research (CEPLER) encompasses activities within the Law School that focus on legal education and the legal profession. As well as conducting research in these areas, the Centre has a substantial student-facing offering, largely aimed at preparing students for graduate employment. Its portfolio includes a busy careers … Continue reading “Envisaging the Law School of the Future – by Linden Thomas (Birmingham Law School)”

Supporting Learners’ Digital Needs: Content-led Pedagogy – by Dr Victoria Goodyear (School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences)

Digital technologies have been heralded as providing new opportunities to transform education, learning and teaching. For example, education can be delivered at mass scale, boosting recruitment, income generation and international reach; learning can be more mobile, accessible and personalised; autonomous and self-motivated forms of learning can be promoted; and digital and online learning are cost-effective … Continue reading “Supporting Learners’ Digital Needs: Content-led Pedagogy – by Dr Victoria Goodyear (School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences)”

An inclusive education for students from widening participation backgrounds – does living on campus matter? by Clare Ray (College of Medical & Dental Sciences)

The Access to Birmingham (A2B) programme is a flagship widening participation (WP) scheme of which the University of Birmingham can be very proud. The scheme offers students from groups with low progression into Higher Education the opportunity to access courses at a Russell Group University. By providing an alternative offer two (or in the case … Continue reading “An inclusive education for students from widening participation backgrounds – does living on campus matter? by Clare Ray (College of Medical & Dental Sciences)”

The Digital Education Debate – by Jane James (HEFi)

This term’s theme for the Big Conversation is Digital Education. Over the next ten weeks, you will have the  opportunity to discuss and reflect on a range of articles around the Digital Education debate. This takes us to the inaugural HEFi conference on the 29th June at which the Birmingham Digital Education team within HEFi will … Continue reading “The Digital Education Debate – by Jane James (HEFi)”

Supporting students with vision impairment in higher education – by Rachel Hewett (School of Education)

Since 2010, researchers at Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research in DISN, School of Education have been following the post-16 transition experiences of a group of 80 young people with vision impairment. The study has focused in particular detail on the experiences of over 30 participants who made the transition into higher education. Some … Continue reading “Supporting students with vision impairment in higher education – by Rachel Hewett (School of Education)”

What is an inclusive approach to the development of academic literacy? By Gale Dawson (Learning Enhancement Team, Library Services)

The Library’s Learning Enhancement Team is currently discussing what constitutes an inclusive approach to the development of academic literacy. Wingate (2015) describes academic literacy as ‘the ability to communicate competently in an academic discourse community.’ So, how do our students learn what constitutes good academic practice? Is this something we can leave students to learn … Continue reading “What is an inclusive approach to the development of academic literacy? By Gale Dawson (Learning Enhancement Team, Library Services)”

Providing an inclusive environment for learning – by Lesley Batty

The notion of inclusivity is not new, despite the rather dramatic increase in its use within the past few years. Human beings have always had the desire to ‘belong’ and we see that in all parts of life, whether that be following a particular football team or within a family unit.  It is not just … Continue reading “Providing an inclusive environment for learning – by Lesley Batty”

Accessible equations – by Dave Smith, School of Mathematics

There is a divide in the academic world between those for whom equations and mathematical expressions are their primary tools, and everyone else! Pure and applied mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists and many computational biologists (for the purposes of this blog post I will refer to all of us as mathematicians for short) typically find that … Continue reading “Accessible equations – by Dave Smith, School of Mathematics”

Beyond good intentions: sensitivity to students’ diverse backgrounds in the hard sciences – by Dave Smith (School of Mathematics)

The importance of cultural and racial sensitivity in subjects such as English, History, Politics, Law, and Fine Art seems obvious – they have culture and human life at their centre. But what about in the cold, hard world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)? When preparing, delivering and assessing our courses can we simply … Continue reading “Beyond good intentions: sensitivity to students’ diverse backgrounds in the hard sciences – by Dave Smith (School of Mathematics)”