LTHEChat 347: Loneliness in Higher Education

Posted on December 7, 2025 by Gustavo Espinoza

Join us on Bluesky with guest Bianca Fox  (@bianca-f-o-x.bsky.social) on Wednesday, 10th December 2025 at 20:00 GMT

It is not uncommon at this time of the year to talk about loneliness. From an increased number of TV commercials encouraging us to remember those who are spending Christmas alone to numerous local events meant to bring people together, it feels like suddenly the entire world is refocusing on loneliness as if this were a feeling only associated with winter or Christmas. In addition, we are exposed to news headlines that often refer to loneliness as a new ‘pandemic’ (Potter, 2023), ‘illness’ (Alberti, 2018), ‘epidemic’ (Easton, 2018), ‘plague’ (Gil, 2014) or ‘disease’ (Perry, 2014).

My interest in the study of loneliness in young people started in 2016. With the launch of the BBC documentary The Age of Loneliness (2016) and the launch of Jo Cox’s Commission on Loneliness in January 2017, loneliness became acknowledged as a serious social problem in the UK. Loneliness affects so many people that a minister for loneliness was appointed on 17 January 2018, making the UK the first country in the world to recognise the social significance of loneliness. But why does it matter? Why do we hear more about loneliness these days? It may be because numerous studies have found that loneliness affects our sense of who we are (Oakley, 2020), our quality of life (Shiovitz-Ezra et al. 2009), life satisfaction (Fiori & Consedine 2013), or well-being (Chen & Feeley 2014). After the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation took a step further and declared loneliness as a ‘global public health concern’ (Johnson, 2023).

So, regardless of the time of the year when the media discourse becomes dominated by stories on loneliness, how is loneliness conceptualised and who is likely to experience it? Loneliness is described in the literature as a common feeling (Tan, Pamuk, Donder, 2013: 606) that all people experience at some point in their lives, more specifically, a displeasing, undesirable, negative feeling that results from the discrepancy between one’s real social relations and one’s desired social relationships (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). However, it is important to note that it is not the multiplicity of social relations that makes us feel socially contended, but the value and significance of these relations. This means that loneliness can occur both in the presence or absence of other people (Masi, Chen, Hawkley, & Cacioppo, 2011)and, if you’re like me, you have probably found yourself in rooms full of people and still felt lonely. That may be because loneliness is usually generated less by the number or diversity of social relations and more by the lack of satisfying, meaningful social relations (Young, 1982; Andersson, 1993) or by social relations that lack intimacy, honesty and emotiveness (Weiss, 1973).

As it is a basic fact of life, loneliness can be experienced by anyone, regardless of age (Heinrich & Gullone, 2006) and time of the year. Yet research conducted so far shows that when discussing loneliness, we immediately think about elderly people who are not in the line of work anymore and/or experience bereavement, usually ignoring young adults who also struggle with loneliness. According to Pinquart & Sorensen (2003), the prevalence and intensity of loneliness are in fact greater in young adults than in any other age group. Even more, Victor and Yang (2012) argue that the prevalence of loneliness is U-shaped when mapped graphically against age, indicating that younger and older people have the highest risk of experiencing loneliness.

Despite it being a common emotion that we all experience at some point in our lives, the social stigma attached to loneliness can make people reluctant to declare it, which leads to difficulties in identifying individuals who are struggling with loneliness and difficulties in finding innovative solutions for prevention and intervention. Feeling lonely is often perceived as a sign of weakness, which means that people feel ashamed to declare that they feel lonely. This is particularly relevant for those working in Higher Education who often don’t admit to feeling lonely. Although a certain alone time is required for those working in HE, feeling lonely can be very detrimental with potential implications on mental health, job satisfaction and career progression.

The past 20 years have seen an upsurge in studies on loneliness in Higher Education. However, these studies focus merely on students (e.g. Oakley, 2020; Ellard et al., 2023; Carwford et al., 2024), often ignoring any other young adults that are not in Higher Education and, equally important, professionals working in Higher Education (Jandrić, 2022).

For this LTHE chat I wanted to challenge this narrative and shift the focus to HE staff, as this group is frequently left out of mainstream research. Join us for an evening of reflection on the topic of loneliness in your role and potential strategies to support colleagues on academic or professional services contracts who are transitioning into HE and may be feeling lonely.

References

Alberti, F. B. (2018, November 1). Loneliness is a modern illness of the body, not just the mind. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/01/loneliness-illness-body-mind-epidemic.

Andersson, L. (1993). Loneliness. In: R. Kastenbaum (Ed.), The encyclopedia of adult development. Phoenix: The Oryx Press, pp. 282-285

Chen, Y., Feeley, T.H. (2014). Social Support, Social Strain, Loneliness, and Well-being Among Older Adults: An analysis of the Health and Retirement Study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 31 (2): 141–161.

Crawford, J., Kelly-Ann Allen, K-A., BiaPani & Michael Cowling

(2024) When artificial intelligence substitutes humans in higher education: the cost of

loneliness, student success, and retention, Studies in Higher Education, 49:5, 883-897, DOI:10.1080/03075079.2024.2326956

Easton, M. (2018, February 11). How should we tackle the loneliness epidemic? BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42887932.

Ellard, O.B., Dennison, C., Tuomainen, H. (2023). Interventions addressing loneliness amongst university students: a systematic review. Child and adolescent Mental Health 28. 4 : 512-523.

Fiori, K.L., Consedine, N.S. (2013). Positive and Negative Social Exchanges and Mental Health Across the Transition to College: Loneliness as a Mediator. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30 (7): 920–941.

Gil, N. (2014, July 20). Loneliness: A silent plague that is hurting young people most. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/20/loneliness-britains-silent-plague-hurts-young-people-most.

Heinrich, L. M., Gullone, E. (2006). The Clinical Significance of Lone-

liness: A Literature Review. Clinical Psychology Review 26 (6): 695–718.

Jandrić, P. (2022). Alone-Time and Loneliness in the Academia. Postdigital Science and Education 4: 633- 642. Available at https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s42438-022-00294-4.pdf

Johnson, S. (2023). WHO declrares loneliness a ‘global public health concern’. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/nov/16/who-declares-loneliness-a-global-public-health-concern

Masi, C. Cacioppo, J., Hawkley, L., Chen, H. (2010). A meta-analysis of interventions to reduce loneliness. Personality and Social Psychology Review, August 17, 2010, doi: 10.1177/1088868310377394

Oakley, L. (2020). Exploring Student Loneliness in Higher Education: A Discursive Psychology Approach. Palgrave Macmillan. Available at https://docdrop.org/static/drop-pdf/Lee-Oakley—Exploring-Student-Loneliness-in-Higher-Education_-A-Discursive-Psychology-Approach-Springer-International-Publishing_Palgrave-Macmillan-2020–0Bs7n.pdf

Perry, P. (2014, February 17). Loneliness is killing us—We must start treating this disease. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/17/loneliness-report-bigger-killer-obesity-lonely-people.

Perlman, D., & Peplau, L. A. (1981). Toward a social psychology of loneliness. In S.Duck & R. Gilmour (Eds.). Personal relationships (Vol. 3, pp. 31–56). New York:Academic Press.

Pinquart, M., Sorensen, S. (2010). Influences on Loneliness in Older

Adults: A Meta-Analysis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 23 (4): 245–266.

Potter, L. (2023). Is loneliness the new pandemic. Retrieved from https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Loneliness%20blog%20Libby%20Potter_0.pdf

Shiovitz-Ezra, S., Leitsch, S., Graber, J., Karraker, A. (2009).

Quality of Life and Psychological Health Indicators in the National Social Life,

Health, and Aging Project. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B 64B (Suppl. 1):

i30–i37.

TAN, Ç., PAMUK, M. DÖNDER, A. (2013). Loneliness and Mobile Phone. Procedia-Social and behavioural Sciences 103, 606-611, available online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813038238

Young, J.E. (1982). Loneliness, depression and cognitive therapy: Theory and application. In L. A. Peplau & D. Perlman, Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research and therapy (pp:379-406). New York: Wiley.

Victor, C. R., Yang, K. (2012). The Prevalence of Loneliness Among

Adults: A Case Study of the United Kingdom. The Journal of Psychology 146

(1–2): 85–104.

Weiss, R.S. (1973), Loneliness: The Experience of Emotion and Social Isolation. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Guest Biography

Bianca is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE and a Senior Lecturer in Academic Practice at Nottingham Trent University. Bianca works with new members of staff, supporting them to develop their teaching practice and achieve Fellowship of Advance HE (HEA). Bianca holds a PhD in Media and Communication Studies and has more than 15 years of teaching experience in Higher Education, in the UK and other European countries. She is passionate about developing CPD programmes and, as a course design expert, she was the academic lead of the ERASMUS+ MeLDE project, contributing to the design of a CPD programme in digital literacy for European educators. 

Questions and chat

Q1 –  How would you define loneliness at work/in your role?

Q2 –  At what stage of your career in Higher Education did you feel most lonely and why?

Q3 – Who or what helped when you felt lonely in your role?

Q4 – Loneliness is often associated with the transition to HE. What support is already available in your institution for staff transitioning into HE?

Q5 – How successful is this support? How is the success of these support strategies monitored?

Q6 – How can we best support Early career academics or practitioners transitioning into HE?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

LTHEChat 346: Staying Active as a Researcher After Graduation: Teachers as Knowledge-Builders

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Gustavo Espinoza

Join us on Bluesky with guest Aimie Brennan (@aimiebrennan.bsky.social) on Wednesday, 3rd December 2025 at 20:00 GMT

For many educators, research is something we associate with initial teacher education, postgraduate study, or the occasional school-based project that stems from specific policy/reporting requirements. But research shouldn’t end at graduation. In fact, staying curious, reflective, and research-engaged can become one of the most sustaining aspects of a long and fulfilling teaching career.

The education landscape increasingly recognises the teacher as researcher, reflective practitioner, and evidence-based practitioner. In Ireland, Frameworks such as the Teaching Council’s Cosán, Céim, Code of Professional Conduct, and the emphasis on reflective practice within Droichead all highlight that inquiry is not an optional extra, it is central to professional growth. It is the responsibility of everyone within the wider education system to ensure that teachers are supported to embrace both a teacher and researcher identity post-graduation. 

For many teachers, there’s a real question: How do you stay active as a researcher while balancing the genuine pressures of classroom life? The reality is that research doesn’t have to be a formal pursuit or a published article; it can be:

  • testing a new approach to feedback
  • gathering student voice
  • reading a recent study
  • collaborating with colleagues to solve a problem
  • Working with assessment, attendance or other learner data 
  • Using evidence to inform school improvement plans 

These are all forms of teacher-research.

Why Research Still Matters After Graduation

1. Research keeps practice adaptive

Irish classrooms are continually evolving with new curricula, increasingly diverse learners, evolving digital tools, and shifting societal expectations. Engaging in research, even in small ways, helps teachers stay responsive rather than reactive to change. Instead of simply applying best practices, research-active teachers examine what works (or doesn’t) in their own classrooms. This can lead to more thoughtful decisions about pedagogy, assessment, inclusion, and equity.

2. Research strengthens professional agency

When teachers engage in evidence-informed inquiry, they position themselves not only as implementers of policy but as shapers of educational practice. Seeing research as a powerful mechanism for giving teachers freedom, autonomy and agency can fuels confidence and creativity in the classroom. Research can empower teachers to be ‘agents of knowing’, not just passive recipients (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999). 

3. Research builds community and conversation

Irish schools increasingly adopt collaborative models such as School Self-Evaluation (SSE) and subject department inquiry. Research opens meaningful professional dialogue, moving beyond a “what works for me” question to a “what works, for whom, and in which context?” approach. In this way research has a broader impact on the whole school community and beyond. 

4. Research bridges theory and the realities of Irish classrooms

Importantly, practitioners bring something academics cannot replicate: the daily lived experience of the classroom. Teachers enrich Irish educational research by grounding it in real contexts, culture, and communities. When teachers systematically investigate their practice, they produce ‘local knowledge’ knowledge deeply rooted in their context that informs not only their own classrooms but can contribute to broader understandings of teaching and learning (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993). While this closeness to practice brings with it a series of ethical challenges, it can also lead to rich insights into learner experiences. 

Practical Ways Teachers Can Stay Research-Active post-graduation 

  1. Join a Teacher Research Group or SIG. Many schools now facilitate inquiry-based groups or professional learning communities. Similarly, professional networks like ESAI, NEARI and T-Rex provide scope for teachers to join special interest groups free of charge. 
  2. Use SSE as a framework for your classroom inquiry. The School Self Evaluation (SSE) framework available in the ‘Looking at our schools’ policy encourages data gathering, reflection, and action as core components of practitioner research. Follow this or a similar framework to simplify your approach to inquiry. 
  3. Engage with the Teaching Council’s research resources. The Teaching Council of Ireland funds research, hosts conferences, and shares practitioner-focused materials via their online library. This is a great resource for teachers who want to access books and readings but don’t have access to a university library.
  4. Present or attend Irish education conferences. Events from organisations like ESAI, SCoTENS, and Féilte festival offer entry points for teacher-researchers to present research. Similarly, STER provides an opportunity for graduates to publish a snapshot of their research post-graduation.
  5. Conduct your own small-scale inquiries. Small projects, one class, one month, one question, can be powerful and manageable. Ask yourself: Why am I doing this? How do I know it works? Who benefits? Who might be excluded?
  6. Collaborate with local universities or education centres Partnerships often welcome practitioner involvement in research projects or classroom trials.

Being a teacher-researcher doesn’t require a PhD, a journal publication, or hours of writing. What it requires is curiosity, a willingness to reflect, and a commitment to understanding your own teaching context. It means seeing your classroom as a place not just of teaching, but of learning (your learning, as well as your students). 

Free resources for teacher-researchers: 

http://www.ster.ie/ – The Student Teacher Educational Research Project. A graduate journal and conference for all educators within 3 years of graduation. 

https://www.t-rex.ie/ – teachers research exchange, connecting teachers, students, and other education professionals. 

https://esai.ie/ – The Educational Studies Association of Ireland. 

http://www.eari.ie/ – The Network for Educational Action Researchers 

References

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1993). Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge. Teachers College Press.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1999). “Relationships of Knowledge and Practice: Teacher Learning in Communities.” Review of Research in Education, 24, 249–305.

Teaching Council. (2016). Code of professional conduct for teachers (2nd ed.). Teaching Council of Ireland. https://www.teachingcouncil.ie

Teaching Council. (2017). Droichead: The integrated professional induction framework. Teaching Council of Ireland. https://www.teachingcouncil.ie

Teaching Council. (2020). Céim: Standards for initial teacher education. Teaching Council of Ireland. https://www.teachingcouncil.ie

Department of Education and Skills. (2016). Looking at our school 2016: A quality framework for post-primary/primary schools. Government of Ireland. https://www.gov.ie

Teaching Council. (2016). Cosán: Framework for teachers’ learning. Teaching Council of Ireland. https://www.teachingcouncil.ie

Guest Biography

Dr Aimie Brennan is Dean of Education: Policy, Practice & Society at Marino Institute of Education in Dublin, Ireland. She is the founder of the Student Teacher Educational Research (STER) project and Vice President of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland. Dr Brennan’s teaching and research explore how to support student teachers and practising teachers in embracing a teacher-researcher identity and engaging in rigorous and ethical research post-graduation. 

Questions and chat

Q1 –  Teacher researcher is different from postgraduate research. What kind of research or inquiry do you most engage with during your practice, if any?

Q2 –  Do you think engaging in research has strengthened your confidence and autonomy as an educator? How so?

Q3 – In your opinion, what are the challenges to staying active as a researcher, post-graduation?

Q4 – What resources have you found most helpful when trying to stay research active in your profession?

Q5 – Finding time and appropriate resources are often cited as the most common challenges facing teachers and educators. How do you balance your engagement in research with your everyday work?

Q6 – Going forward, do you think there are other supports or resources which could be put in place to help you be research active post-graduation? What are they and who do you think should lead this?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LTHEChat 345: Meeting Students Where They Are – Making Independent Study Work for Every Learner

Posted on November 21, 2025 by Gustavo Espinoza

Join us on Bluesky with guest Nikita-Marie Bridgeman (@nbridgeman.bsky.social) on Wednesday, 26th November 2025 at 20:00 GMT

Independent study is a core element of academic courses and often forms a large part of the hours attributed to a module of study. During this time students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning, determining what, when and how to study (Smith, 2016). While the expectations will differ between disciplines, courses, universities, etc., it is not unusual for a standard delivery module to involve up to 80% independent study time, making it a key contributor to the learning that takes place. However, despite the importance placed on this type of study, there is often a lack of understanding amongst students regarding what this should entail, suggesting that further clarity, guidance, and support is needed to enable learners to engage (Hockings et al., 2018).

The Challenge

The factors that influence how students choose to study in their own time, or whether they can at all, are not clear cut, with barriers such as family and work commitments, time or resource pressures, and accessibility needs impacting the learning opportunities available to students. Similarly, as individuals with ranging abilities, needs, and preferences, the ways in which students may be able to engage with resources will significantly differ from one student to the next; some students love to read and can spend hours with their head in a book, but get bored easily when watching long videos; others may enjoy listening to a podcast while doing another task, but struggle if something needs their undivided attention. Fundamentally, there is no one type of student, so expecting all students to be able to engage with independent study in the same way, regardless of what that looks like, simply does not work.

My Approach

In response to these challenges, I’ve developed an approach to guided independent study that provides learners with a range of resources each week and allows them to choose what to engage with based on their individual preferences. The approach, which I’ve called Something to Watch, Something to Read, Something to Listen to, Something to Complete, is based on a gift-giving phrase I heard on TikTok, and as the name suggests involves providing a resource for each of the named categories (Bridgeman, 2025).

What this can look like in practice:

Something to Watch – YouTube video, excerpt from a documentary, a clip from a TV show or film, news report.

Something to Read – Newspaper or magazine article, blog post, infographic, book pages or chapter, journal article.

Something to Listen to – Podcast episode, radio broadcast, a piece of music.

Something to Complete – Quiz, online learning module, game.

The key to this approach is using resources that align with the kind of content learners typically engage with outside of the classroom and letting them choose which resources to use. By using platforms and resource types that already feature in the day to day lives of students, encouraging engagement becomes much easier, and hopefully even something they look forward to. This approach may also provide a gateway towards engaging with what can often feel like more challenging content whilst also supporting the development of their autonomy as independent learners.

Some Final Thoughts

The ways we can make independent study more inclusive are limitless. The key is to think about the realities of our students and how we can support them to engage despite any barriers they may face. I believe that meeting learners at their level and seeing topics through their eyes is a great place to start, and will help to not only improve the learning that takes place at a module/course level, but will inspire learners to take ownership of their learning and develop their confidence to challenge themselves, be it through sourcing their own materials or trying new learning techniques.

References

Bridgeman, N. (2025, October 9). Take5 #139 Something to watch, something to read, something to listen to, something to complete: An inclusive approach to independent study. Association for Learning Development in Higher Education. https://aldinhe.ac.uk/take5-139-something-to-watch-something-to-read-something-to-listen-to-something-to-complete-an-inclusive-approach-to-independent-study/

Hockings, C., Thomas, L., Ottaway, J., & Jones, R. (2018). Independent learning–what we do when you’re not there. Teaching in Higher Education, 23(2), 145-161.

Smith, C. (2016). Self-directed learning: a toolkit for practitioners in a changing higher education context. Innovations in Practice, 10(1), 15-26.

Guest Biography

Nikita-Marie Bridgeman is a Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, leading and teaching on a range of subjects across Sheffield Business School. With a strong focus on student engagement and inclusive learning practices, her research explores innovative pedagogies, co-creation, and strategies that empower learners in diverse contexts. In addition to her role, Nikita serves as an Associate Editor for the Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal (SEHEJ), contributing to scholarship that enhances the student experience.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  If you were tasked with studying independently, what would you do? Provide examples of how you might approach this or what types of resources you might engage with.

Q2 –  How do you currently support students to study outside of the classroom?

Q3 – What are the biggest barriers your students face when engaging with independent study?

Q4 – What role does choice play in student engagement with independent study?

Q5 – How can we balance support and flexibility for students with the workload for educators?

Q6 – If you could give one tip for making independent study inclusive, what would it be?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

LTHEChat 344: AdvanceHE fellowship: what are the benefits for different educator roles and how can we evidence our practice?

Posted on November 14, 2025 by Gustavo Espinoza

Join us on Bluesky with guest Rich Bale (@richbale.bsky.social) on Wednesday, 19th November 2025 at 20:00 GMT

The Professional Standards Framework (PSF) and gaining professional recognition through AdvanceHE fellowship have become ubiquitous across higher education, with colleagues in an increasingly diverse range of roles and contexts gaining recognition. As of the beginning of 2025, AdvanceHE had awarded 200,000 fellowships worldwide, including around 47,000 Associate Fellowships, 128,000 Fellowships, 23,000 Senior Fellowships, and 2,000 Principal Fellowships.

Such recognition has a long history, dating back to the 1990s when professional development programmes were accredited, rather than recognising individuals. The first Professional Standards Framework with descriptors and dimensions for individual practitioners was introduced in 2006, with a revised version published in 2011, and now the current PSF 2023, which was revised after a sector-led review of the framework in 2022. You can read more detail about the development of the PSF in Professor Sally Bradley’s very useful piece on the history and development of the Professional Standards Framework.

Some of the key areas that have been emphasised in the PSF 2023 are:

  • effectiveness and the impact of teaching and supporting learning practices
  • contexts in which teaching and learning support take place
  • inclusivity of educational practices as well as the broader range of colleagues who now engage with the PSF
  • collaboration in various forms, e.g. with students and across different roles and job families

With these changes, colleagues in an increasingly diverse range of roles, including academic and professional services, are now engaging with the PSF and gaining professional recognition. In this session, we’ll think about the benefits that fellowship can bring for colleagues in these various roles, and discuss how to evidence effective practice in the wide variety of contexts in which teaching and learning takes place.

Guest Biography

Dr Richard Bale is an Associate Professor and Director of Academic Development and Research at the University of Law. He is also an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship (CHERS) at Imperial College London. He is the co-author, with Mary Seabrook, of the textbook Introduction to University Teaching, which was originally published in 2021 and is now in its second edition, published in September 2025.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  The PSF 2023 highlights the importance of context. What is the context of your role and how does this influence/how has this influenced your approach to achieving fellowship?

Q2 -How has fellowship influenced your practices around teaching & supporting learning? Can you give any examples of how you/colleagues in other educator roles have benefited from engaging with/gaining fellowship?

Q3 – What challenges have you encountered when trying to evidence the effectiveness of your practice for a fellowship application, and how did you overcome them?

Q4 – Collaboration is now a key professional value in the PSF 2023. Who are your main collaborators, and how can you evidence the impact of these collaborations on enhancing practice?

Q5 – How can institutions better support staff in a range of educator roles to apply for and gain fellowship recognition?

Q6 – Looking ahead, what do you think are the next major challenges for those who teach and support learning? How might engagement with fellowship and the PSF help you to navigate and reflect on these challenges?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

LTHE Chat 343: How to teach for sustainability

Posted on November 7, 2025 by adam.j.tate

Join us on Bluesky with guest Mirjam Glessmer (@mirjamglessmer.bsky.social) and Robert Kordts (@robertkordts.bsky.social) on Wednesday, 12th November 2025 at 20:00 GMT

The title of this blog post might sound like we have the answer, but to be clear right away – we do not. But we invite you to address this, the biggest challenge that we as teachers and academic developers are facing, with us, and to hopefully come a little bit closer to answering the question how we can learn – and teach – for a sustainable world.

In this blog post, we suggest different ways to think about teaching for sustainability. We acknowledge that most teachers are not experts on sustainability (which, arguably, do not exist, since sustainability is a wicked problem and solutions need to be co-created locally and globally), that we are all pressed for time, that there are many other tasks and challenges competing for our attention. Given all that, where does one start?

In January 2025, Kyle Bartlett posted on Bluesky about five forms to think about teaching for sustainability in music education. We took this framework and translated it first into Engineering Education, but have since used it in higher education more generally because we find it to be a helpful tool to explore different facets of what is important to consider. In the following, we will thus explore what it might mean to teach about, with, in, through, and for sustainability.

Teaching about sustainability

Teachers starting out on their sustainability journey often begin with teaching *about* sustainability, i.e. teaching about general concepts related to sustainability, for example about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, about climate change, about planetary boundaries. This is not surprising, since most of the resources that are easily available to use or adapt, especially by obvious authorities on the topic like UN bodies and national governments, are designed for the broadest audiences possible, and therefore very general.

While it is important that students have a general understanding of those concepts, the danger is that many teachers are implementing very similar, introductory content so that sustainability, in the students’ perception, might become narrow, repetitive, boring, and disconnected from the course’s or program’s content and therefore not relevant to their studies and their lives. There is also the danger of token discussions when sustainability might be seen as sufficiently addressed after basic concepts have been clarified.

Teaching with sustainability

Another common approach is to teach *with* sustainability: including examples of sustainability applications within the discipline (for example solar panels or carbon neutral bridges in engineering, international negotiations in law, the effect of heat waves on humans in medicine, reimagining monetary systems in economy, and many more). It is very important that students think about sustainability in the context of their subjects! However, examples alone are not enough. If we want to address the bigger picture, it is necessary to connect sustainability and teaching in other ways. We want to challenge teachers to also consider teaching *in*, *through*, and *for* sustainability.

Teaching in sustainability

Teaching *in* sustainability positions the discipline as part of a sustainable world. This means remembering that we are acting as role models for professional and personal responsibility (whether we want to or not), so we should explicitly talk about sustainability as an integrated part of our own and the students’ future professional role. In their article “Do not leave your values at the door”, Nooij et al. (2025) remind us that inaction isn’t neutral, and that what is perceived as activism and permissible depends a lot on whether people agree with the stance, and on whether people are aware that they are not objective themselves.

Teaching in sustainability can also include teaching about how to cope with climate anxiety – sharing our own experiences and emotions, holding space for conversations with students, and pointing to resources. Eriksson et al. (2022) share ways how one might do this.

Teaching through sustainability

Teaching *through* sustainability is about practicing today how we hope to live and work together in a sustainable world. This is not something that we can expect to just magically happen; it needs practicing – both in the sense of repeatedly doing it to get better, and as being in the habit of doing it. Teaching through sustainability means using sustainable pedagogies which are both transformative and emancipatory and facilitate an inclusive and equitable learning environment. A great place to start is to consider that “the magic of inclusion: transformative action for sustainability education” by Ahlberg et al. (2025), or more practically the “Liberating Structures” and Tanner (2013)’s “teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity”.

Teaching for sustainability

Teaching *for* sustainability means inspiring action for sustainable development. It is not enough to have knowledge and understanding, and competencies and skills. We also need to develop our judgement and approach – and foster the will and the drive to use our freedom to do good things in the world. How can we empower students to take action towards a sustainable world?

The literature has generally converged on what competencies students will need to learn to meet those challenges, and Redman & Wiek (2021) suggest a framework which puts the key competencies in sustainability (the four interconnected planning competencies systems-, futures-, values-, and strategies thinking) as well as implementation and integration competence in the context of other professional, disciplinary, and general competencies. While some of these competencies can be practiced independently, their integration – and practicing them in an integrated way – is key (and thus even highlighted as its own competence). How can we ensure our students have the opportunity to learn this?

References

Ahlberg, S., Kennon, P., & Rončević, K. (2025). The Magic of Inclusion: Transformative Action for Sustainability Education. All means all!-OpenTextbook for diversity in education. https://book.all-means-all.education/

Eriksson, E., Peters, A. K., Pargman, D., Hedin, B., Laurell-Thorslund, M., & Sjöö, S. (2022, June). Addressing students’ eco-anxiety when teaching sustainability in higher education. In 2022 International Conference on ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S) (pp. 88-98). IEEE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICT4S55073.2022.00020

Nooij, J. M., Collin, N. D. H. & van den Berg, F. (2025). “Do not leave your values at the door; the permissibility of activism in the lecture hall”, Higher Education Research & Development, 44:6, 1512-1527, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2514508

Redman, A., & Wiek, A. (2021, November). Competencies for advancing transformations towards sustainability. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 6, p. 785163). Frontiers Media SA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.785163

Tanner, K. D. (2013). Structure matters: Twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 12(3), 322-331. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-06-0115

Guests’ Biographies

Mirjam Glessmer is a senior lecturer in academic development at the Centre for Engineering Education, Lund University, Sweden, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway. Her main focus is on supporting teachers in developing their teaching for sustainability and in building trusting relationships between students and teachers. Mirjam likes writing about teaching and learning both on her personal blog mirjamglessmer.com and on a community blog of the Initiative “Teaching for Sustainability” at Lund University.

Robert Kordts is a professor in university pedagogy at the University of Bergen (UiB)
and adjunct professor at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). He is mainly
interested in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), emotions in
university teaching and higher education for sustainability.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  What do you think is the most important knowledge, skill, or attitude our students need to learn to contribute to a sustainable world?

Q2 –  What would you recommend to someone who wants to implement sustainability in their teaching but does not know where to start? What resources, networks, mindsets?

Q3 – If you had a minute, a morning, a month to spend on preparing new teaching for sustainability, where would you put your focus?

Q4 – How do you balance authenticity, professionalism, activism, departmental and student expectations, …?  In your work, in your life?

Q5 – What resources or support would you need to (more) confidently teach for sustainability? Where might you find them, or who might provide them?

Q6 – What action do you want to commit to inspired by today’s #LTHEChat?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LTHE Chat 342: Digital Leadership for Inclusive and Strategic Change

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Gustavo Espinoza

Join us on Bluesky with guest Alison Purvis (@dralison.bsky.social) and Beth Fielding-Lloyd (@bethflloyd.bsky.social) on Wednesday, 5th November 2025 at 20:00 GMT

Digital leadership in higher education is evolving rapidly. It’s no longer just about managing technology; it’s about shaping culture, taking a human-centred approach, and ensuring inclusive practice. In our work, we’ve explored the perceptions and characteristics of digital leadership in higher education.

Our research highlights that buy-in, role modelling, and advocacy by leaders are significant enablers of digital transformation (McCarthy et al., 2023). Yet leaders are increasingly challenged to take ownership of change while also improving perceptions of value and quality. This calls for a shift in leadership competencies towards human-centred approaches that prioritise empathy, adaptability, and strategic foresight (Lopez-Figueroa et al., 2025).

Despite growing interest, less is known about the perspectives of digital leaders themselves. What does it mean to lead digital change in a university setting? How do leaders navigate uncertainty, embrace innovation, and model their own digital development – even when they are not technical experts?

In participatory workshops, we asked leaders from across academic, administrative, and student domains for their perspectives on digital leadership (Mercer-Mapstone et al., 2017). We recognised that digital leadership is distributed. It is not confined to formal hierarchies or job titles. It is enacted across the university community into teaching, professional services, research, student support, and many other roles.

From our research, we have the following recommendations for effective digital leadership:

  1. Prioritise CPD for staff currency and agility in digital practices
  2. Make digital literacy and development a leadership expectation (not digital expertise)
  3. Value expertise without needing to be the expert
  4. Build confidence through robust training, support, and time to talk about digital in teaching and learning
  5. Develop strategic understanding of technology
  6. Centre the student experience in digital strategy
  7. Embrace change, vulnerability, and lead with vision and compassion

If you are interested in bringing our digital leadership workshop to your team or institution, please let us know!

References

Lopez-Fugueroa, J.C., Ochoa-Jimenez, S., Palafox-Soto, M.O. & Sujey Hernandez Munoz, D. (2025). Digital leadership: A systematic literature review. Administrative Sciences, 15, 4, 129 

McCarthy, A. M., Maor, D., McConney, A., & Cavanaugh, C. (2023). Digital transformation in education: Critical components for leaders of system change. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 8(1), https://doi.org/100479. 10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100479

Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Matthews, K. E., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, P., Knorr, K., Marquis, E., Shammas, R., & Swaim, K. (2017). A Systematic Literature Review of Students as Partners in Higher Education. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1). DOI:  https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3119

Guests’ Biographies

Alison Purvis is Associate Dean and a sector leader in digital education and open access publishing. She was named in the AI 100 UK List in 2025 for her contributions to ethical and transparent AI use in higher education. Alison was also a finalist for the ALT Awards for Leadership in Digital Education, recognising her strategic work with Jisc, the Office for Students, and Sheffield Hallam University. Her research and leadership span digital transformation, inclusive pedagogy, and third space roles, with a strong focus on compassionate and critically informed practice.

Beth Fielding-Lloyd is the Deputy Dean for Quality and Apprenticeships at University College Birmingham. She has a track record in the delivery of transformational projects and specialises in enhancing the student experience through the advancement of digital capabilities, inclusive pedagogies, and assessment for learning strategies. Beth’s current research focuses on students’ perceptions and articulation of digital competencies, exploring how these insights inform curriculum design and pedagogical development.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  What is digital leadership in education? Is it different to other contexts of leadership?

Q2 –  Do you recognise your own role as a digital leader in education? What does it look or feel like?

Q3 – How can digital leaders support equity and inclusion?. What are the challenges and opportunities?

Q4 – What tools, frameworks, or connections have helped you develop your digital leadership?

Q5 – How does culture shape digital leadership, and how do you influence that culture in your role?

Q6 – If you could change one thing about how digital leadership is understood or enacted in education, what would it be?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LTHE Chat 341: Superpowers for Level 7 Learning

Posted on October 24, 2025 by Gustavo Espinoza

Join us on Bluesky with guest Professor David T Evans @david-t-evans.bsky.social on Wednesday 29th October 2025 at 20:00 GMT

Superpowers?  I understand not everyone in Higher Education appreciates the notion of ‘superpowers’ in relation to academia.  I adapt it, playing on a term proposed by Emilee Wapnick (2019; 2021), regarding the superpowers of multipotentialities.

Transitioning students

My novel session focused on Superpowers for Level 7 Learning. The audience, healthcare students transitioning into post graduate studies or returning for subsequent years.  I used the term ‘superpowers’ to ignite their curiosity, combat the oft-present ‘imposter syndrome’ and, hopefully, inspire them into a love of curiosity (enquiry) in learning.

Level 7 is ‘hard’

At the start of each academic year, I ask students two questions.  “What do you understand by level 7?” and “how do these studies differ from what you did at level 6?”  The typical answer is “level 7 is just harder!” That begs the question: how harder?  What do they mean by ‘hard’ and ‘harder’?  They reply “Well, deeper; more analytical; you’ve got to read more; sleep less; long words; my boss sent me; it’s just harder!”

To be fair, no one can blame them.  How often do teachers explore intricacies of academic descriptors with students?  We embed descriptors into learning outcomes, but how often do we spend time clarifying what the descriptors mean or how to achieve and demonstrate them?  Confusingly, several descriptors span levels 6, 7, 8 but with additional and weightier meanings.  For example, we talk in terms of critical / analysis, synthesis, reflection, evaluation, complexity. So how would a new post graduate student know how hard is hard, in relation to those descriptors from levels 6, through 7, to 8?

The three superpowers

Like other professional post-grad students, ours on health programmes are already working in advanced and ever-increasing roles of seniority, collaborating multi-professionally, often with leadership decision-making responsibilities.  So, exploring superpowers, I wanted to elaborate on three I consider most important, running throughout their learning.  I encourage students to unpack, embrace and develop these skills further, as key aids to maximising learning potential and increasing academic outputs.  The superpowers are criticality in learning, reflexivity and academic citizenship. Of course, there are more, but I postulate that these three underpin so many others, the ‘mastery’ of which is essential for their post graduate learning and success.

Unpacking superpowers

The Adobe Express resource accompanying this blog contains the video of my on-line session.  The presentation was on an Induction Day for post grad students in health.  My session followed an excellent presentation, delivered by an Academic Skills Tutor, demonstrating a wide range of skills and resources for learning.  Keen not for my delivery to be a repeat of that person’s work, I honed in exclusively on qualities of these learning superpowers, exploring how they underpin studying at level 7, forming its essence, the under-utilisation of which would be detrimental for further learning potential.

The three superpowers, I suggest, work best in synergy one with the other.  To elaborate further:

Criticality in thinking:  Like Thomson (2025), I clarify why I use the term “criticality”, not the more traditional “critical”.  One reason is that many students often associate “critical” with making a criticism or judgment on something, which often implies negativity.  Then I examine three core aspects of criticality in thinking, for the learners’ use.  1) At the heart of it all: enhancing decision-making.  2) As a higher-level cognitive skill: improving problem-solving, and 3), for greater ideas synthesis, sharpening analytical abilities.  

Reflexivity: Health Care Professionals (HCPs) are expected to be experts in critical reflection, especially, as Donald Schön promoted (1983, cited in Holton, Robinson and Caraccioli, 2025), in practice as well as on practice.  But the notion of reflexivity is often new to many HCPs.  At level 7, reflexivity situates them in the wider or meta-domains of their clinical, professional, personal, academic and leadership roles, all informed by research, with an imperative to disseminate.

Boosting (wider / associated) Academic Citizenship. Traditional academic citizenship in Higher Education includes university engagement, peer review, fellowships and research / outputs. For students, studying but not working in HE, the wider or associated notions involve further collaboration and networking across their professional arenas.  For example, students share their higher-level cognitive skills for advancement of (work / professional) fields of practice.  Essentially, they share such advancements through collegiality, bridging the gap between academic and multi-professional peers, especially through publishing, promoting (e.g. via social media) and performing their studies to wider strategic audiences.

How might talking in terms of academic superpowers aide students in their studies?

This blog has outlined a personal view on promoting the notion of “superpowers” for academic learning at level 7.  Clarifying three core superpower skills that underpin post graduate learning, I have opened up the skills for scrutiny, demonstrating their relevance to ignite learner curiosity, combat ‘imposter syndrome’ and, hopefully, inspire students into a love of curiosity (enquiry) in their learning. This light-hearted play on ‘superpowers’ has serious overtones, to empower students through their studies and advance their further professionality.

Resources

Superpowers for Level 7 Learning – in health care and advanced practice, full Adobe Express page, with video:  https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/fhJz7cgNuC1M6 Prezi only version:https://prezi.com/view/wLToiyDTiderlxeCpvhI/?referral_token=JlSMvPlnB3FN

Bibliography

Evans, D.T. (2025) AI: Avoiding Academic Cheating and Mistakes, cited at: AI: Academic cheating and mistakes – Vivat Academia! Vivant Professores! cited on 03/10/2025

Evans, D.T. (2021) Boosting TEL Capabilities – AdvanceHE Torch Bearers’ ‘Elevator Pitch’, cited at: https://express.adobe.com/page/2xaKUsgTCAq6S cited on 03/10/2025

Evans, D.T. (2021) Don’t just think outside the box … exploring e-learning ~ologies in light of Covid-19 cited at https://express.adobe.com/page/HJXwxytPOXUYH cited on 04/10/2025

Hayes, C. (2019) The Art of Critical Thinking, Texas, M & M Limitless Online Inc.

Houlton, E.F., Robinson, P., Caraccioli, C. (eds) (2025) Andragogy in Practice, New York, Routledge

Thomson, P. (2025) What is criticality? Patter: research education, academic writing, public engagement, funding, other eccentricities, cited at:  https://patthomson.net/2025/09/12/what-is-criticality/ cited on: 13/09/2025

Wapkik, E. (2019) Why some of us don’t have one true calling, cited at: https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling cited on 15/09/2025

Wapnik, E. (2021) The ‘7’ Multipotentialite Super Powers. The Knox School of Santa Barbara, cited at: https://www.knoxschoolsb.org/post/the-7-multipotentialite-super-powers cited on 04/09/20254

Guest Biography

David Evans has been interested in the notion of ‘superpowers’ since he first realised he was as multipotentialite, on watching Emilee Wapnik’s TEDtalk, in 2019!  His career trajectories include nursing, the Roman Catholic priesthood, then teaching nurses and allied health professionals, especially on matters of sexual health and well-being, for almost 36 years. He is passionate about life-long learner development, especially – in the case of health care professionals – how transformative learning enables them to ask of themselves “What difference can I make?” 

David became a National Teaching Fellow in 2014; appointed an OBE “for services to nursing and sexual health education” in 2017; PFHEA and Professor in Sexualities and Genders: Health and Well-being, 2018; a Queen’s Nurse in 2022, and Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland ad eundem in 2023.  David was a finalist in the ‘University Educator of the Year’ category, Student Nursing Times Awards 2025 #SNTA25; he is a professor at the University of Greenwich, in the School of Health Sciences.   

Questions and chat

Q1 –  How might the use of creative metaphors, such as “superpowers,” reframe students’ perceptions of their academic capabilities and ease imposter syndrome in postgraduate learning?

Q2 –   To what extent do educators explicitly teach the meaning and progression of academic descriptors (e.g., criticality, synthesis, evaluation, complexity) rather than assuming students understand them?

Q3 –  How can “criticality” be differentiated pedagogically from “critical thinking”, encouraging students to engage in deeper andragogical enquiry rather than surface-level critique?

Q4 – In which ways can reflexivity be embedded across curricula to help postgraduate learners navigate and integrate their professional and academic identities?

Q5 – How can higher education institutions better cultivate “academic citizenship” among professional postgraduate learners whose roles extend beyond traditional academic spaces?

Q6 – What evidence or feedback mechanisms might be used to evaluate the impact of innovative teaching conceptualisations – such as “superpowers” – on learner confidence, engagement, and academic output?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

LTHE Chat 340: Embedding Academic Skills in UK Higher Education: Why It Matters

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Gustavo Espinoza

Join us on Bluesky with guest Dr Chris Martin @drchrism.bsky.social on Wednesday 22nd October 2025 at 20:00 BST

When engaging in conversations with academic colleagues, the term ‘embedding academic skills’ is heard often. But what does this actually mean? In simple terms, it is about making sure that the skills needed by students – academic writing, referencing, critical thinking, research skills, time and organisation management – are taught within the chosen programmes rather than extra-curricular. When academic skills are fully embedded into the curriculum and contextualised to coursework and assessment, students tend to see greater relevance and value in developing them and are more likely to use them (Oxford Centre for Teaching and Learning, 2024; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000).

From “study skills” to “academic literacies”

Many universities offer ‘study skills’ workshops open to all students regardless of discipline. However, what counts as ‘good writing’ in Engineering may look vastly different in an arts or social science subject. Lea and Street (2006) posit that academic literacies are shaped by subject discipline, identity and power, not just by a surface-level technique. This is why the conversation about embedding skills into the curriculum is gaining traction, so students learn the ways of writing and thinking that their discipline values.

Linking to employability

Embedding academic skills is not only about getting through assignments. It is also about preparing students for the workplace after they graduate. Yorke and Knight (2006) elucidate that employability improves when skills such as reflection, teamwork and problem-solving are deliberately embedded into the curriculum in a way that makes it structurally unavoidable.

The challenges

Of course, it is not straightforward. There are some common sticking points:

  • Fragmentation: Academic Skills teams and departments often work separately, meaning students are caught between them (Wingate, 2006).
  • Visibility: Generic academic skills workshops can feel and are often optional. Embedding academic skills into the curriculum, making them structurally unavoidable, helps students to retain them (Bennett, Dunne & Carre, 2000).
  • Staff workload: Embedding academic skills effectively requires thoughtful and collaborative curriculum design, but this is a significant task that is not always recognised or rewarded (Oxford Centre for Teaching and Learning, 2024).
  • Equity: Diverse student cohorts with varying academic, cultural and economic backgrounds mean that one-size-fits-all approaches rarely work (Bennett, Dunne & Carre, 2000).
  • Technological shifts: With Artificial Intelligence tools now ubiquitous, universities are under significant pressure to embed digital and AI literacies, teaching students both how and when to use these tools in an ethical way. Many employers are also seeking these new skills when recruiting (QMUL, 2025).

What works?

Despite the challenges, there are some well-tested strategies for making embedding work:

  • Authenticity: Make use of life-relevant disciplinary assessments such as literature reviews, lab reports, reflective logs to teach skills in context (Bennett, Dunne & Carre, 2000).
  • Make the implicit explicit: Share with students how the skills link to learning outcomes and assessments so they understand why they matter (QAA, 2009). Also make the transferability visible to students.
  • Keep it low-stakes: Build in short, formative opportunities to practise academic skills without the pressure of grades (Oxford Centre for Teaching and Learning, 2024).
  • Work together: Academic staff, librarians, careers services and educational developers all bring a wealth of expertise and experience. Collaboration reduces the possibility of duplication and confusion (Wingate, 2006).
  • Name the identity piece: Support students to see that learning academic literacies is about joining a scholarly conversation in their discipline, not just following rules (Lea & Street, 2006).
  • Embrace AI literacy: Teach students how to navigate digital and AI tools ethically and responsibly, preparing them for both university and the workplace (QMUL, 2025).

Final thought

Embedding academic skills should not be seen as a tick-box exercise in the curriculum. It is about making academic skills part of the journey itself, making them structurally unavoidable, so students not only succeed in their academic studies but also leave prepared for the workplace. As universities face multiple challenges – from widening participation to the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence – the push to embed academic skills feels more relevant than ever.

References

Bennett, N., Dunne, E. and Carre, C. (2000) Skills development in higher education and employment. Buckingham: SRHE/Open University Press.

Lea, M.R. and Street, B.V. (2006) ‘The “academic literacies” model: Theory and applications’, Theory into Practice, 45(4), pp. 368–377. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4504_11

Oxford Centre for Teaching and Learning (2024) Academic skills literature review. Oxford: University of Oxford. Available at: https://www.ctl.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/ctl/documents/media/academic_skills_literature_review.pdf [Accessed on 13 October 2025)

QAA (2009) Personal development planning: guidance for institutional policy and practice in higher education. Available at: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaas/enhancement-and-development/pdp-guidance-for-institutional-policy-and-practice.pdf?sfvrsn=4145f581_8 [Accessed on 13 October 2025]

QMUL (2025) Integrating AI in Curriculum: Simplifying Complexity for Broader Adoption. Queen Mary University of London. Available at: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/queenmaryacademy/educators/innovation-and-scholarship/innovative-pedagogies/centre-for-excellence-in-ai-in-education/blog/items/integrating-ai-in-curriculum-simplifying-complexity-for-broader-adoption.html [Accessed on 13 October 2025]

Wigfield, A. and Eccles, J.S. (2000) Expectancy-Value Theory of Achievement Motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), pp.68-81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.1015

Wingate, U. (2006) ‘Doing away with “study skills”’, Teaching in Higher Education, 11(4), pp. 457–469. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510600874268

Yorke, M. and Knight, P.T. (2006) Embedding employability into the curriculum. York: Higher Education Academy. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/embedding-employability-curriculum [Accessed on 13 October 2025]

Guest Biography

Dr Chris Martin (EdD, SFHEA, CPsychol) is a Senior Learner Developer within the Education Development Service (EDS) at Birmingham City University (BCU).

Chris has 17 years’ experience in both secondary and higher education, and his academic background is in applied linguistics and learner psychology in language learning. He has taught modern foreign languages (French, German and Spanish) in secondary schools across the Midlands, and he started his career in higher education as a Teaching Fellow in English for Academic Purposes. After completing his Doctorate in Education, Chris chose to pursue a full-time career within higher education and more specifically, academic and learner development. His key areas of expertise are in learner psychology (motivation, engagement, positive psychology), secondary education, student transition, authentic assessment, and academic literacy. He is also a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  How do your departments embed academic skills into the curriculum rather than signposting to generic “study skills” workshops?

Q2 –   What strategies have you seen that make embedded skills visible and meaningful to students in assessments?

Q3 –  How do you balance the pressure of staff workload with the need to design skill-rich, contextualised learning tasks?

Q4 –  In your institution, how are digital and AI literacies being integrated into core course teaching?

Q5 – What models of collaboration (academic staff, librarians, careers, learning developers) work best in embedding skills?

Q6 – How do your institutions ensure that embedded skills approaches work equitably across diverse student cohorts?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

LTHE Chat 339: Game Frameworks – Teaching Tools for Game Design and Beyond

Posted on October 13, 2025 by Teach

Join us on Bluesky with guest David James @dwjames.bsky.social on Wednesday 15th October 2025 at 20:00 BST

Games Development as a university subject has grown significantly in popularity over the last 20 years, with over 130 universities offering games-specific courses (UKIE, 2025). This growth has matched the rapid expansion of the games industry itself, with UK consumers spending £7.6 billion on video games and employment in the sector growing on average 9.5 % per year between December 2014 and May 2024 (TIGA, 2025).

This growth in interest has resulted in a diverse student population studying games: some may have programming experience, some may be excellent at visual design, and others may be passionate about games as a medium but have never touched code. This diversity presents a significant pedagogical challenge when it comes to teaching games design.

Games design is both a creative and technical subject. How are we to teach everyone the fundamentals without overwhelming some or holding back others?

A technique applied across the Games Design team at Staffordshire University is that of Game Frameworks – partially complete game scaffolds intended to best support a diverse range of learners.

Why Frameworks?

In traditional “technical” modules, students are often required to build or code “under-the-hood” systems such as input controls, physics, collisions, artificial intelligence, sounds, and user interfaces. Whilst this process is important, it can take significant time to implement these systems before a student can even begin designing enjoyable gameplay.

In the games industry, graduates would rarely be expected to create all these systems from scratch. More often, they are expected to build gameplay upon or within existing systems.

By abstracting away these base elements, frameworks allow students to start playing sooner, making design decisions, iterating, and ultimately learning about games design through doing. Students with greater technical ability gain valuable experience designing gameplay within the constraints of a framework – a key skill for any designer.

What Is a Framework?

A framework is a partial, playable game that provides core functionality such as a controllable character (with keyboard and mouse inputs) and a working camera setup. The camera is important, as its position and behaviour strongly influence the type of game being made – a side-on camera like that in Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog supports “platformer” gameplay, while a first-person camera attached to the player character’s head creates a 3D, immersive experience.

Importantly, a game framework contains deliberate gaps in its functionality. Lesson content focuses on teaching students how to “fill” these gaps. For example, the framework’s player character might be able to move left and right but not jump. This creates a teaching opportunity to show how to launch the character upward when the player presses the jump key — and how to bring them back down again. Alongside the technical aspects, students discuss design considerations: how high should the jump be? How would a higher or lower jump affect level design?

Each week, new concepts are introduced, and students complete micro-assessments based on implementing these within the framework. This provides supported, scaffolded learning and visible progress each session.

Why Frameworks Matter

Frameworks bridge the gap between academic learning and industry practice:

  • They allow creative exploration early in the course.
  • They support mixed-ability cohorts.
  • They mirror real development workflows.

Across a student’s degree, frameworks evolve to include bigger “gaps” and less scaffolding — giving students greater opportunity to apply their learning and extend their technical and design skills.

As our students’ experience diversifies, frameworks offer a flexible, inclusive, and industry-aligned way to teach games design through doing.

References

UKIE (2025) UK games industry continues to grow as consumer spend reaches £7.6 billion. 4 April. The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE). [Online]. Available at: https://ukie.org.uk/press-releases/ukie-urges-government-to-back-uk-games-industry-or-miss-out-on-500m-opportunity [Accessed 8 October 2025].

TIGA (2025) Weathering the storm: TIGA research reveals UK games dev sector continues to grow despite global sector downturn. 23 May. The Independent Game Developers’ Association (TIGA). [Online]. Available at: https://tiga.org/news/weathering-the-storm-tiga-research-reveals-uk-games-dev-sector-continues-to-grow-despite-global-sector-downturn [Accessed 8 October 2025].

Guest Biography:

David James is a National Teaching Fellow (2025) and Course Director for the Games Design area at University of Staffordshire. He creates award-winning, game-based teaching tools and empowers students through engaging, industry-led pedagogy. A national and international speaker on games design education, David is also a mentor and leader, dedicated to inspiring students and supporting the development of colleagues.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  Game frameworks are a game-specific type of scaffolding.

Q2 –  When working with mixed-ability groups (especially in the first year), how do you ensure less-experienced stay engaged without holding back those with more experience?

Q3 – What would an ideal framework look like for your discipline or institution? What features of flexibility would it need?

Q4 –  How can we design creative play without sacrificing technical rigour?

Q5 – Have you experimented with studio-based or project-based models in your #HE work? How did they impact student engagement and attainment?

Q6 – Do scaffolds such as frameworks make learning more #inclusive – or can they risk limiting originality? Where is the balance?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

LTHEChat 338 Embedding Mental Wellbeing

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Teach

Join us on Bluesky with guest Professor Zoë Allman @zoe-a-z.bsky.social on Wednesday 8th October 2025 at 20:00 BST

Mental health and wellbeing are important topics that are increasingly discussed in Higher Education (HE) and society generally.  This Friday, 10 October marks World Mental Health Day, and acts as a timely reminder for those of us in HE to consider the educational experiences of our students through the lens of mental health and wellbeing.

Such topics are increasingly considered in the design and development of academic programmes of study, support activity, and throughout the student journey.  External bodies and charter awards provide support for providers wanting to develop and demonstrate their activity in this space, ultimately to better support the individual student experience.

Embedding Mental Wellbeing: Methods and Benefits

In 2021-22, I led a Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Collaborative Enhancement Project entitled ‘Embedding mental wellbeing: Methods and benefits’.  The project explored how mental wellbeing could be embedded across various aspects of HE activity to enhance the student experience. The aim was to collate and develop a suite of best practice examples, shared for the sector to consider and use through being made available as Open Education Resources (OERs).  The resources share examples from across the sector to support the embedding of mental wellbeing within the curriculum, for inspiration, re-use and re-purposing. There are examples of:

Additionally, the team sought to identify definitions for mental wellbeing and embedding mental wellbeing to facilitate use of the resources provided. 

The project was truly collaborative, including academics, professional services, senior leaders and students’ union representatives from seven original project partners: De Montfort University (Lead), De Montfort Students’ Union, London South Bank University, Open University, University of Bristol, University of East Anglia, University of Greenwich, and University of Reading. All groups members we passionate about the aims to provide definitions for mental wellbeing and embedding mental wellbeing, to share examples from collaborative partner providers, and to identify the benefits of embedding mental wellbeing to support colleagues across the sector who may wish to replicate similar activity in their own settings.  For those interested in the project and research behind it please take a look at our accompanying journal article (Lister & Allman, 2024).

The OERs were originally launched at a QAA online event on 17 January 2022, followed by QAA events and blogs (Allman, 2022; 2024) to provide timely reminders of the availability of these resources.  There has been, and there remains, extensive interest in the topic from academics, professional services, learning developers, students’ unions and senior leaders.

What to expect during the LTHEChat

The LTHE Chat on Wednesday 8 October 2025 invites discussion about what mental wellbeing means for us, as individuals in our unique HE contexts, and what students may expect in terms of support for, and the addressing of, mental wellbeing in the curriculum; welcomes ideas sharing about methods we have tried when embedding mental wellbeing in the curriculum; and asks what support we need to make it happen.  The Chat also invites creative input, inviting the sharing of images that resonate in relation to the topic of mental wellbeing, and concludes by asking what one thing we will now try to (further) embed mental wellbeing going forward.

References

Allman, Z. 2022. Embedding Mental Wellbeing. 10 October.  The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). [Online]. Available at: https://www.qaa.ac.uk//en/news-events/blog/embedding-mental-wellbeing

Allman, Z. 2024. Embedding mental wellbeing, methods and benefits. The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). Available at: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/news-events/blog/embedding-mental-wellbeing-methods-and-benefits

Lister, K. and Allman, Z. 2024. Embedding mental wellbeing in the curriculum: a collaborative definition and suite of examples in practice. Frontiers in Education. 8:1157614. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1157614

Guest Biography

Professor Zoë Allman is an academic leader passionate about enhancing opportunities for all and developing sector approaches to embedding mental wellbeing.  Zoë is Associate Dean Education at De Montfort University, and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA 2018), National Teaching Fellow (NTF 2020), and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence winner (CATE 2022). 

Zoë is a member of the Committee of the Association of National Teaching Fellows, bringing her background in media production and creative technologies to the role of Communications Officer.  Additionally, she is a member of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) Higher Education Advisory Panel, and an Expert Reader for The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Quality Code Advice and Guidance writing groups, Expert Reader for Principle 12 – Operating concerns, complaints, and appeals processes.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  What comes to mind when you think about mental wellbeing in the HE curriculum?

Q2 –  What do you believe are student expectations of mental wellbeing being supported or addressed in the curriculum?

Q3 –  What methods have you tried to embed mental wellbeing in the HE curriculum?

Q4 –  As teachers/tutors/facilitators, what support do we need to develop mental wellbeing in the curriculum?

Q5 – “A picture speaks a thousand words”, images can transcend boundaries and are open to individual interpretation. What image(s) could you use to enhance mental wellbeing? And how?

Q6 – Following this evening’s #LTHEChat, what one thing will you try to (further) embed mental wellbeing in the curriculum?

Posted in announcement | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment