Academic Advising – what could we do better?

Jennie Blake, Head of Teaching and Learning Development at the University of Manchester Library, delivered this interactive session focussing on academic advising and how to improve student support. Jennie discussed her project from the Institute of Teaching and Learning which highlighted issues surrounding academic advising especially; feeling unable to support students with health concerns, feeling […]

Pedagogy Journal Club: October 2021

Sense of Belonging The journal article was called ‘An Exploration into the Importance of a Sense of Belonging for Online Learners’. The article considers the importance of sense of belonging for postgraduates’ online education by exploring their lived experience through a small-scale qualitative study.  Through the research, three significant themes emerge that are important for […]

Pedagogy Journal Club: June 2021

Internal Feedback The journal article was called ’The power of internal feedback: exploiting natural comparison processes’.  The article made the case for capitalising on a student’s natural comparisons that they already make and helping them to develop their own internal feedback capacity. They explore the benefits of using a blend of both analogical and analytical […]

Pedagogy Journal Club: March 2021

Learner-centred Feedback The journal article was called ‘Using learner-centred feedback design to promote students’ engagement with feedback’.  Student engagement with feedback is one of the major factors in ensuring feedback is effective.  The article focusses on learner-centred feedback in encouraging student engagement and ultimately maximising the effectiveness of feedback.  The study considered two postgraduate modules […]

Pedagogy Journal Club: February 2021

Professional Identity The journal article was called ‘Teachers telling tales: the narrative mediation of professional identity’ and it was presented by the author, Julian Williams. It considered the biographical narrative of two successful maths teachers who had different approaches to teaching college students (16-19 year olds). John described himself as ‘traditional’ and Sally described herself […]

Pedagogy Journal Club: January 2021

The article for discussion was ‘How medical school alters empathy: Student love and break up letters to empathy for patients’ Authors Megan Brown and Gabrielle Finn were present and provided background and an overview of the paper which then informed subsequent discussion. Paper focused on medical students, but built alongside other research undertaken by Gabrielle’s […]

Pedagogy Journal Club: April 2020

University student satisfaction The journal article was called ‘A 10-year case study on the changing determinants of university student satisfaction in the UK’. The article looked at the National Student Survey (NSS) results over a 10-year period from 2007 to 2016. The research had the following aims: to assess the NSS as a tool for […]

Supporting International Students – Challenges and Opportunities

Colleagues from International Relations, Counselling, the Students Union and Lecturers in FBMH delivered an interactive session alongside student participants on ‘Supporting International Students – Challenges and Opportunities’.  The session was co-created and delivered by current students and colleagues from across the University.  The session explored academic attainment, culture and culture values and transition issues as […]

Relationship between student attendance and academic achievement

Carol Mackintosh-Franklin (Postgraduate Divisional Lead) gave a thought provoking outline of her experience considering the relationship between attendance in class, use of Blackboard, personal motivation and final results. The University attendance policy states that students should attend all sessions and Carol considered the empirical evidence behind this both from reviewing the literature and her own […]

Pedagogy Journal Club: January 2020

Playful Learning The Journal article was called ‘Playful learning in higher education: developing a signature pedagogy’. The article encouraged activities to go beyond play or games as a means of enhancing engagement or increasing motivation as these can often have the reverse effect if overused. Instead it encouraged the use of a signature pedagogy to […]