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Episode 21: Social annotation: critically commenting, together
What is social annotation? Increasing numbers of academic texts, journal articles and policy and government documents are available online. Indeed, many textbooks and open educational resources are also available online and present few barriers such as institutional or system logins. Social annotation of texts may offer possibilities that allow us to collaborate, learn and make…
Episode 20 – A brief catch up
In brief… It’s been a long time since my last episode as I have experienced a few changes in my life since about summer 2020, and so in this episode I very briefly touch upon these. Basically, I have changed jobs and I am now a student again! The next episode, after this one, will…
Episode 19 – Reflections on tweaking lectures: using annotated slides to enhance students’ learning
Andrew Smerdon reflects on how he has tweaked the lecture experience for students by making a small yet significant change: Andrew moved from a ‘traditional’ approach of using pre-written PowerPoint slides in lectures to annotating slides in-the-moment during the lectures. In essence, students received a structured mix of blank and pre-filled slides which are used…
Episode 18: Students’ thoughts: views from two subjects
In this episode, Josh and Sam reflect on how moving digital will better prepare students for life in the workplace which they feel is becoming more digital. The two study economics and mathematics, and economics respectively. We did experience technical issues part-way through which likely represents one of many examples of issues that suddenly working/learning…
Episode 17: Future proofing students: Developing students’ 21st Century competences to be successful in industry
In this episode, Colette talks about how she integrated developing students’ 5Cs (critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaboration and connectedness) by using problem-based learning and small groups. Colette Mazzola-Randles (www.cmaz.co.uk) is Senior Tutor Learning Teaching and Assessment in Computing at Blackpool and The Fylde College. Colette has been teaching for 6/7 Years and teaches in further…
Special episode – More than a pivot: thinking critically about our pedagogy
In early June 2020, Jesse Stommel, Sara Camacho Felix, Lee-Ann Sequeira and myself held a participatory workshop where we thought through our assumptions around what it means to design for learning and teaching in digital spaces especially in current circumstances. Due to the participatory nature of the workshop, admission was limited to 100 people with additional…
Episode 15: Working together, collaboratively: Changing dissertation-focused teaching sessions to ensure equity for students and realizing the benefits of digital education
In this episode, Steven Young and Sandra Nolte from the Department of Accounting & Finance at the Lancaster University Management School talk about the how they considered potential problems that moving teaching for the dissertation module online might pose. The result: they changed teaching sessions for the dissertation to ensure equity and a smooth experience as possible…
Episode 14: Reflections on flexibility: A chat with colleagues about suddenly teaching and supporting students remotely
In this episode, colleagues Cathy Salzedo and Stacey Noble talk about their reflections on suddenly teaching and supporting students from home and how this shift has changed their teaching and working for the future. Cathy, a Teaching Fellow, and Stacey, a Teaching Fellow, both work in the Department of Accounting & Finance at the Lancaster University Management School.
Episode 13: What’s new, what’s fun?: The pleasures and pains of being a digital innovator
In this episode, Bela Chatterjee, Senior Lecturer in Law at the Lancaster University Law School, talks about the pleasures and pains of being an educator as a digital innovator. Bela notes that while innovation has a short half-life, this is what can keep our learning and teaching interesting. Bela’s talk delves into her motivations for…
Episode 12: A flipped classroom through digital chalk talks
In this episode, Sally Keith, an ecologist from the Lancaster Environment Centre, talks about how she transformed her delivery of teaching from a traditional, lecture-based approach by flipping her teaching through creating and using digital chalk talks. Sally also talks about the theories that informed her new approach to teaching. The result: more engaged learning and teaching.Theories…
Episode 11: Experiential learning: Adapting a field trip-based module at speed
In this episode, Alison Stowell from the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology at Lancaster University Management School, talks about her reflections of adapting an experiential learning module at speed as a result of the lockdown caused by Covid19. The experiential learning for this module was initially based upon a field trip. Further references and reading mentioned Green Lancaster…
Episode 10 – Suddenly distant: Reflections on delivering a history conference online
Corinna Peniston-Bird from the Department of History at Lancaster University reflects upon how she and her colleague Mark Hurst from the History Department rapidly moved a postgraduate taught student conference to be delivered remotely. Corinna’s reflections provide some insights into good practices and considerations for running remote conferences no matter the subject or discipline. Steps were taken in order to…
Episode 9 – Creativity in the sciences: using hybrid online-in person teaching strategies for resilient education
In this episode, Amanda Rasmussen, an assistant professor and plant ecophysiologist in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Nottingham, talks about how she used hybrid online, in-person teaching strategies to create a more resilient educational experience. Part of this hybrid approach involved students using a modern collaboration system (MS Teams) for group work and…
Episode 8 – Reflections upon on MS Teams
In this episode, Helen Meek, a Senior Teaching Fellow the Department of Marketing at the Lancaster University Management School, reflects on how she integrated in Microsoft Teams in the autumn of 2019 onto a 3rd year marketing consultancy project module. The initial change came from a need to move from Box where students and staff normally…
Episode 7 – The human connection component of digital learning
In this episode, a colleague from the US, Tara Chavez, joins us to talk about reflections on the importance of the human connection component of digital learning and why it is important to keep this in mind. Tara also touches upon being aware of compassion fatigue during times of crisis and how this is relevant…
Episode 6 – Hopes, fears and opportunities
By reflecting upon their past and recent experiences of blended and fully online education within the context of developing an academic program, Lancaster Executive MBA Programme Director and Senior Teaching Fellow Emma Watton and Senior Teaching Fellow Randall Zindler share their thoughts on some of the hopes, fears and opportunities that blended and digital education can…
Episode 5 – Personal connections: how audiovisual feedback increases students’ understanding
Staff might want to provide feedback that goes beyond the written text alone. Sascha Stollhans talks about the reasons he has used audiovisual feedback over the past few years, how students and staff engage with this type of feedback and how he does this. Sascha is a Senior Teaching Associate in German Studies in the Department of…
Episode 4 – Shifting face-to-face exams for online delivery
In this two-part episode, Sandra Nolte and Steven Young from the Accounting & Finance Department of the Lancaster University Management School talk through the steps that they took to shift exams designed for face-to-face delivery for delivery online while ensuring students’ access and welfare. In the Part 2, to be aired at a later date, Sandra…
Episode 3 – How to create and maintain engagement with first year students
In episode 2, Brian Gregory talks about a few ways he has used over the last few weeks to diversify and maintain engagement with first year students, one of which was a fireside chat style of conversation. Brian teaches entrepreneurship and strategy at the Lancaster University Management School.
Episode 2 – Transitioning from in-person to virtual workshops (without much notice)
In episode 2 of Digital Education Practices, Jonathan Menary from the Lancaster Environment Centre talks about how he and his team had to transform in-person workshops into virtual workshops at short notice through quick and open thinking.
Episode 1 – Digital Education Practices Podcast Launch
In this initial episode, I set out why I am launching the Digital Education Practices: What works? podcast. I talk briefly about the inspiration for this podcast, its purpose and give a few resources and tips for moving to digital education quickly. My role in brief First and foremost, I am a pedagogue who co-develops pedagogy-informed curricula, programmes…
Digital Education Practices 