Answer Garden: using a “minimalist feedback tool” for teaching

Jo Rodgers, a PhD researcher from the University's Centre for History, describes the use of an online tool to enhance her video conferencing teaching. I’d like to use thisblog post to introduce colleagues to “Answer Garden”, and to suggest some ways in which it can be used to enhance the learning experiences of our students. …

Are you a Wikimedian?

By Elaine Dalloway, Educational Development Unit Search for any topic on the web and undoubtedly a link to a page on Wikipedia will appear at the top, or fairly close to the top, of the results returned. Many of us have been cautioned, or have cautioned our students, to be wary of information found in …

What is music education for?

In our ‘Critical Perspectives’ series of blog posts, we have asked staff from around the university to write critically about a topic of interest. Our latest installment is by Dr Sean McLaughlin from Perth College UHI. This blog post is not necessarily intended for those involved in music education (for whom some of these arguments …

Towards an embedded culture of mentoring: Reflections on this year’s University Mentoring Scheme Residential

After a very successful inaugural event last year, held as part of the first University Mentoring Week organised by the Learning and Teaching Academy, the last week of August saw the second annual University Mentoring Scheme Residential for the University of the Highlands and Islands. This year’s residential was held on Wednesday the 28th and …

Towards openness: an invitation and opportunity

Image from Wikimedia Academic institutions are one of, if not the largest generators of knowledge in society; they have large real estate and privileged access to resources that many outside the academy do not. Unfortunately, much of the knowledge is locked away in institutional silos, never allowed outside the institution and much of the virtual …

OER2019 Galway

Scott Connor from the Learning and Teaching Academy tells us about his attendance at the annual conference for Open Education: OER19 Recentering Open: Critical and global perspectives.   The trip to Galway was uneventful apart from the late Ryanair flight that caused me to run for the bus…but I made it. The weather was perfect, which was just …

Open educational practice for the uninitiated

Scott Connor from the Learning and Teaching Academy (LTA) introduces us to open educational practice, and explains how open educational practices can benefit both individuals and the University. What is open educational practice? Rennie and Smyth (2019) define open educational practice as: "...a multifaceted one which captures the philosophy and practice of democratising access to …

Two perspectives in a shared journey: the use of technology to empower student representation and engagement

By Ann Tilbury, Learning and Teaching Academy and Sorcha Kirker, HISA What was the event? AT: The University of the Highlands and Islands was invited by Cat O’Driscoll, the Co-ordinator of the  National Student Engagement Programme (NStEP) in Ireland, to deliver the keynote presentation at their 3rd national network meeting.  The event took place on …

Gamification: What does it mean and how can we use it?

The lastest in our Critical Perspectives series of blog post comes In advance of Dr Vasilis Louca's session on gamification (part of Digital Education Week). John Buchan from the Educational Development Unit (EDU) tells us what gamification means, and its current and potential uses in learning and teaching According to Fitz-Walter (2018) gamification, as a concept, …

BERA conference report

Emma Clayes and Khristin Fabian from Perth College UHI report on their attendance at the recent British Educational Research Association (BERA) conference The conference, which covers education research in the UK from early years and school to further and higher education, started on a Tuesday morning in a sunny Newcastle. The keynote opening lecture was …