Read our blog to explore ideas in teaching and learning. Students' first assignments often signal where skills and prior learning are wanting. But acknowledging the extent of these gaps and catering for the learning styles of all students can lead to more proactive approaches to addressing the problem.
In social science, agency can be defined as the opportunity or the ability to exert judgement and control over one's own work (Priestley and Robinson, 2015), but what does that look like when applied in the workplace?
Assessment isn’t just about final outcomes. It’s the golden thread that runs through and underpins the university experience and how it’s handled affects so much more than results – it impacts on student satisfaction, retention, even mental health.
In essence the difference is in the second word of the acronym!
The World Health Organization (2020) estimate that over 1 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability. They are the largest global minority group and that number is increasing dramatically as people live longer and the number of chronic health conditions rises. In the UK alone, in 2019/20 332,300 students stated that they had a disability of some kind – that’s 17.3% of all home students. This represents an increase of 106,000 (or 47%) since 2014/15 (Hubble and Bolton, 2021).
The UK Office for Students statistics (2020) indicates that the diversity of our higher education student body is growing.
So you’ve exhausted your TV subscription watch list and are looking for something that offers a more immersive real-life experience? Maybe you could try an immersive theatre experience that takes place in your bathroom or a virtual escape, or maybe some online role playing games?
If, like everyone else, you have been required to shift to online teaching this year, you will no doubt have researched the best approaches to doing so.
Add the word ‘live’ to TV, sport, or performance, and there’s an added sense of excitement at the element of the unexpected, where there’s, as performers know, a risk of things going wrong.
So it is with live classes - to some, a struggle with unfamiliar technology and distracted multi-tasking students; but to others, a great way to interact with your students.
Continuing the “7 Skills for Right Now” series, this week offers you guidance on how harnessing our ability to empathise can both fuel connections and help you regulate your emotions in times of stress.
