Despite the potential of bad weather induced non-running trains and cancelled planes, Scott Connor and Ann Tilbury made it to Digifest18 – billed as “a unique opportunity to see, hear and share the latest thinking to inspire and prepare for the digital challenge ahead”. Held in Birmingham’s International Conference Centre, the event was opened by … Continue reading Reflecting on Digifest18: Highlighting digital opportunities for educational institutions
Thursday March 8th saw the advent of These Women Can! Hosted by the Learning and Teaching Academy, These Women Can! was our first university wide event to celebrate, debate and explore the challenges women face in FE, HE and Research. It was also International Women’s Day and 100 years since women won the right to … Continue reading These Women Can!: a reflection on our International Women’s Day event
Friday 15th December saw colleagues from across the university participate an entirely online symposium exploring and debating synchronous technologies. The symposium kicked off with Tara Morrison from Inverness College UHI, presenting through Blackboard Collaborate Ultra to explore the use of online synchronous communication. Tara took the participants through how she makes use of the functions … Continue reading Teaching with synchronous technologies – symposium reflections
We're looking back on a busy 2017 here at the Learning and Teaching Academy, and feeling just a little bit proud of what we have achieved, particularly for such a small team. Much of what the LTA offers relies on friends and colleagues across the university supporting what we do, and being willing to get involved, and so … Continue reading A year in review
The Learning and Teaching Academy held a two-day event on assessment in November in which presenters from within and outside the university spoke about different approaches to assessment. This event was the first of many planned to explore the how values from the University's new Learning and Teaching Enhancement Strategy might be put into practice. … Continue reading Transforming assessment
On Tuesday 22 August 2017, Keith Smyth and Heather Fotheringham from the LTA attended North Highland College UHI's Learning and Teaching Conference in Thurso, the focus of which was assessment and feedback. Discussion sessions in the first part of the day were structured using the work of Dylan William, Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment at … Continue reading Strategising at North Highland College UHI
In our latest Critical Perspectives blog, outgoing HISA president Luke Humberstone (now President of NUS Scotland), reflects on the use of technology within learning and teaching. At the University of the Highlands and Islands we have embraced a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and use Video Conferencing (VC) extensively. The way these technologies are used varies … Continue reading The future of education in response to changing technologies
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 second installment is by Heather Fotheringham from the Learning and Teaching Academy. What can student surveys tell us about teaching quality? There is a persistent belief that the results of … Continue reading (I can’t get no) satisfaction: Is the National Student Survey just about keeping students satisfied?
A recent LTA Connect webinar saw Dr David Watt from Perth College UHI discuss the use of staff panels to give students deeper and more meaningful feedback. This novel approach is currently employed with year 4 degree students on three programmes (Music Business, Audio Engineering, Popular Music) and is a reconceptualisation of assessment, and its … Continue reading Feedback: What is it good for?
In our new 'Critical Perspectives' series of blog posts, we have asked staff from around the university to write critically about a topic of interest. Matt Sillars from Inverness College UHI starts us off with his thoughts on Learning Styles. Learning styles have become deeply embedded as an appropriate tool with which to identify the … Continue reading Learning styles: The Loch Ness Monster of education
