Led by: Dr Linnea Soler @DrLinneaSoler & Dr Nathalie Tasler @drntasler

“There’s often a thin line between aggregation and theft. Sending readers to savor the work of others at the sites where they publish — that’s one thing. Excerpting or paraphrasing at length, so the original sources doesn’t get the traffic or the revenue, that’s something else.”

Keller (2011)–former executive editor of The New York Times

Bear with us! This is a topic we only recently encountered. There is not much guidance besides resources for journalists. So, after explaining the terminology, and why this topic matters in terms of digital impact, we are walking you through four good practice steps that are suggested for journalism. We would like to hear about your own experience, viewpoints, and how we can collaboratively turn this into good practice guidelines for social media.

Aggregation, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Jonathan Bailey, states that “If you use or link to other content, you are probably an aggregator, at least in some capacity” (Bailey, 2010) and then follows with ‘we are all aggregators’ (Bailey, 2015).  But there are different approaches to aggregation and, depending on how transparent the attribution is, these can be classified either as parasitic or symbiotic. We believe that transparency (Silverman, 2014) and how attribution is carried out seem to underpin these critical differences.

“Ethical aggregators try to find ways to build upon and add value to the works of others while supporting the original creator” (Bailey, 2015) So symbiotic aggregation helps add exposure to the original author through transparent attribution, thereby facilitating reader access to the original material. It also, through careful aggregation (curation), helps the readers access interesting and topical information. In doing this, symbiotic aggregators are helping to expand the footfall and digital impact for both the original author and for themselves.  However, parasitic aggregation results when there is no clear attributions to the original content – this muddies the water and confuses the audience as to where the material originated. It also cuts the link of digital impact metrics for the original author and shunts this impact to the parasite (Bailey, 2015 & Silverman, 2014)

What makes this topic so professionally relevant to us (and very likely to you)?: No matter what path you are on in HE, impact and esteem measures become more relevant for career progressions. Consider the following example: you share your work and a screenshot is taken, including your name, and this is shared more widely, without tagging; this could be considered to be referenced sharing, technically. However, you do not get the statistics from any of the subsequent engagement with your screen-shotted resource. So, the person who shares your work this way, will benefit from any likes, comments, retweets, quoted tweets but these activities will not show in your analytics. Therefore, you are cut out of the impact circle of your own work. A similar scraping approach happens if someone re-creates your tweets and shares these without tagging you as an author.

The short version:

We sought guidance on ethical sharing using social media in HE and came across Bailey’s (2015) four criteria that characterise fair sharing of content (see below).

Attribution: Strong, clear and with a link. Attribution should be front and center and in a way that doesn’t confuse the reader or block search engines.

Limited Use: Take only what you need, Thumbnails, headlines, intro paragraphs, etc. are usually adequate. Facebook, Google and others have set down standards in this area.

Added Value: Simply aggregating a bunch of content from various sources isn’t particularly useful. Aggregators should add value to the content whether through editorial selection, algorithms, commentary or a combination thereof. They should provide something that can’t be gleaned by just reading from the source.

Right of Refusal: Finally, even if you do everything the best you can, some will still not want to be included. An ethical aggregator removes those that don’t want to be included, even if there is no legal obligation for them to do so. There are exceptions to this rule though, in particular with aggregators that merely links or creators simply trying to avoid criticism.

(Bailey, 2015)

The Longer Version:

As we engaged with these four characteristics of symbiotic aggregation, and developed examples of each as we tussled with understanding them.

Attribution–Example

This is not always as straightforward as you might think. One of the most common example of parasitic aggregation that we have seen the is sharing of content without transparent links to its owner. In a ‘parasitic share’ we would simply copy and paste the URL of the webpost. On the other hand, the same material can be shared symbiotically. We share below a simulated example good practice of symbiotic aggregation where you can clearly see both the original author’s Twitter handle and the link to their original web post. This approach ensures that, if the author has access to the analytics of the website, they will at least be able to benefit from this amplified impact from from our sharing.

Most websites already have an option to ‘share through [offer of various social media icons]’ to facilitate ethical use. As authors we usually link this to our own Twitter accounts. Sharing media through these icons has several advantages: It saves the symbiotic aggregator effort and time in trying to source the author’s name on Twitter because the author will be automatically tagged in the shared resource. Furthermore, everyone gets the analytics for impact, not only the person who aggregates, but also the original author(s). This also benefits the audience because it helps the readers to link directly with the original author.

What happens if the author has a private Twitter account or is not on Twitter? In this case tagging is not possible. But then, because author does not utilise this form of impact tracking, we think it should be okay to share material as long as due diligence is shown with respect to attributing ownership. What do you think?

Added Value–Example

Adding value can be a difficult aspect that caused a bit of debate amongst us, so we are keen to hear your opinions. We could argue that aggregation in itself is already creating value as it places potentially valuable and interesting resources in one place, and thus saves the audience potentially a lot of time ploughing through resources themselves. From the authors’ points of view it can create value–if the rules of symbiotic sharing are adhered to so that this symbiotic sharing provides more exposure potentially support networking.

We started a list of added value for both the audience and authors, alike, based on @erikasmith very helpful symbiotic aggregation of HE podcasts.

• Saves time
• Categorises the podcasts,
• Easy access,
• It is curated for easy navigation to topical HE podcasts,
• Shareable
• amplifies impact of author’s work

The curator here also includes the link to the original Twitter conversation:

https://twitter.com/erikasmith/status/1363943609888743427?s=20

This sharing of the original twitter link enables the audience (and authors) to engage with (other) authors and collaborators if they are interested. This is an excellent example of how the curator practices transparency as well as fostering community building; almost every suggested podcast has several comments below from other HE Twitter users. thereby growing the network.

The following two examples were more challenging to get our heads around, and we tried to share how we made sense of them. We would love to hear from you, if this is something to be included into the use of social media in HE--if so, how so? Here are our thoughts: 

Limited Use–Example

If you are familiar with WordPress, the re-blogging function is a very good example of limited use and automatically does this for you ensuring that you “Take only what you need” and that the original author is credited. WordPress allows anyone to re-blog (share someone else’s blogpost on your own blog) a blogpost from another author. However, only the first portion of the original post is accessible on the ‘re-bloggers’ website and the reader, should the wish to engage more fully with the post, is automatically taken to the original article by WordPress.

Right to Refusal–Examples

For us this was one of the trickiest aspects to engage with. Since in most publicly shared content, there seems to be an assumption of permission implied. If we curate sources or use content (all done ethically), and the author wants content removed, we can do this. For this to function, the author must be informed (i.e. by us tagged them in our resource). But is this feasible in all circumstances?

An implied Right to Refusal could also be found by inspecting an inbuilt Twitter mechanism. Look at your Twitter contacts to see if they have a little black lock icon next to their profile. If so, this means that their Tweets are intended to be seen by a limited audience–usually the retweet button is inactive. So, as for the case described before in the Attribution Example, if someone takes a screenshot of a tweet and shares it, either with or without tagging the originator, this would break the limited use rule as the originator clearly wanted to keep the tweet restricted to a particular audience.

These are our thoughts so far. What are your experiences? Do these rules make sense? Is there other good practice more suitable for the use of social media in HE? Do you have any hints and tips you can share with us?

Resources

Thank you @cristinacost for sharing these two papers on strategic communication:

1. Habermas on Strategic and Communicative Action on JSTOR
2. Communicative versus Strategic Rationality: Habermas Theory of Communicative Action and the Social Brain https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3666968/

Thank you @chrissinerantzi for sharing the following resources

1. Use of social media metrics in research evaluation ‘narrow’ https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/use-social-media-metrics-research-evaluation-narrow via @timeshighered
2. Carrigan, M., Jordan, K. Platforms and Institutions in the Post-Pandemic University: a Case Study of Social Media and the Impact Agenda. Postdigit Sci Educ (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-021-00269-x

And thank you @FiDaisyG for sharing your explorations of commenalist drogons (seriously you need to look this up!) and providing us with a word for one of the main issues we wanted to explain: a symbiosis in which only one party benefits but not the other (although no harm is done to the other)=commenalism. And also for sharing about epiphytes Epiphytes | Ancient Tree Forum

Digital Scholarship

One of the best brief descriptions we have found online is from University of Washington Library services, and then of course we highly recommend Martin Wellers book The Digital Scholar

We also developed two infographics for you

Last but not least the link to our Wakelet

Links to References

Bailey, J. (2015) A Brief Guide to Ethical Aggregation – Plagiarism Today @plagiarismtoday

Bailey, J. (2010) Are Aggregators Really the Problem? Plagiarism Today (@plagiarismtoday)

Keller, B. (2011) Postscript: Aggregation Aggro The New York Times

Silverman, C. (2014) The best ways for publishers to build credibility through transparency American Press Institute

Additional reading

Foxton, W. (2013) Parasite journalism: is aggregation as bad as plagiarism? The New Statesman

Silverman, C. (2013) Chapter 4- Practice ethical curation and attribution American Press Institute

Hosts for this week’s LTHEchat:

Questions

Q1 How do you make use of your social media analytics for your career development?

Q2  How is digital scholarship recognised in your institution?

Q3 Has your content been shared without informing (tagging) you? (This is what we call “parasitic aggregation”). How did you feel about it?

Q4 What is the benefit of symbiotic aggregation (attributing and tagging the original creator) for both the author and the aggregator?

Q5  Do you have any hints/tips to help us all become better symbiotic aggregators?

Q6 Should we adapt Bailey’s framework for use in academic practice on social media?

Wakelet: https://wke.lt/w/s/OrmTDQ

The UK HE sector continues to increase its reliance on teaching-focused roles with HESA data reporting 32% of overall academic staff employed on teaching-focused contracts in 2019/20 (HESA, 2021). However, in contrast to established teaching and research career paths, a common sector approach to promotion for those in what might more broadly be termed ‘education focused’ roles (encapsulating the diversity of nomenclature used across the sector) have not yet emerged, with considerable variation in practice identified across institutional role descriptors, promotion criteria and provision of developmental support.

A particular challenge noted is the requirement to demonstrate scholarship activity, a common feature of promotion criteria for those on education-focussed tracks (Smith & Walker, 2021). This challenge stems from the lack of a shared sectoral definition of scholarship and its outputs resulting in diverse interpretation and ongoing debate centred around differences between scholarship, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and pedagogic research.

In this chat we invite colleagues to share their own experiences and practices from their own institutions, to help develop a shared understanding of what constitutes ‘scholarship’ and to consider practical steps that might be taken to aid those on these pathways in the planning and advancement of their own scholarship activity.

References:

HESA. 2021b, January. Who’s Studying in HE? https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/whos-in-he#provider.

Smith, S., & Walker, D. (2021). Scholarship and academic capitals: The boundaried nature of education-focused career tracks. Teaching in Higher Education, 0(0), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1965570

Hosts:

Dr David Walker PFHEA @drdjwalker (Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor, Education & Students – University of Brighton). David is the Associate PVC (Education & Students at the University of Brighton where he has strategic leadership for the development and implementation of policy and practice to ensure learning and teaching excellence, facilitating positive outcomes for students, and ensuring the delivery of outstanding support to academic staff across the university to advance learning and teaching excellence and innovation. David is a senior leader in digital education, a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Editor of the Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice (JPAAP), a member of the SEDA Conference and Events Committee and an external examiner/advisor for several leading UK HEIs.

Dr Susan Smith PFHEA @SmithySusanA (Associate Dean, Education & Students – University of Sussex Business School). Susan leads the education portfolio at the University of Sussex Business School. She is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE, trustee of UK Advising and Tutoring (UK AT), member of the ICAEW Academic and Education Community Advisory Board, and member of the Future Talent Council Curriculum Innovation Advisory Board.

Having reached the end of last academic year, which could be described as tumultuous to say the least, the focus of universities up and down the country has since been on the support that students need in preparation for the start of the new academic year.

It is the experience of ‘freshers’ that is often under the spotlight, not least in the media, in the first semester, and there is knowledge out there to guide our approach. Meehan and Howells (2018)[1] evaluated first-year students’ transition into university and found that the values of ‘being, belonging and becoming’ were important. Their work showed that three things matter to students: the academic staff they work with; the nature of their academic study; and the feeling of belonging. These are even more important when we are providing teaching in a blended format, which is why at Portsmouth we have developed a ‘Blended and Connected’ approach[2], a mix of online – synchronous and asynchronous – and face-to-face learning; but note that all important ‘Connected’ in the name of our approach. Moreover, whilst as a sector we need to consider what new students, many of whom have had a rather disrupted education at school or college in the last year, need, we must also not forget current students. It has been necessary to prepare for our second-year university students too, who need a different level of support for progression and transition than would be required in normal circumstances, as they experienced a first year unlike ever before. Then there are our third-year students who are preparing for a transition to work or further study in a changed world.

So ensuring students feel a sense of belonging and connection makes a difference to their experience of higher education. This was key to our approach to delivering learning and teaching during the pandemic, and it is at the heart of our offer for 2021-22. We have looked at research, but also modelled our own response on an evidence-based, data-driven approach in which the student voice is absolutely central. We have developed an approach which sees the value of students in active collaboration to change the institution. For example, our Student Experience Committee, which includes staff (drawn from academic and professional services teams) and student representation, has been refocused to act as a research group[3]. It is through this committee that our Being, Belonging, Becoming group emerged. This group has worked to ensure that we planned, around students, the learning, teaching and student experience for 2021-22. It has brought together academic and professional services staff and the Students’ Union in a joint endeavour to plan, in an integrated way, the progression, pre-arrival, induction and transitions of our students and applicants.

What sorts of things did we plan: a variety of events, online and face-to-face, over Welcome Month; access to Welcome Ambassadors and peer-support; early access to online modules to provide an introduction to learning in higher education, studying online, resilience and wellbeing, and academic integrity; continued use of a template in our Virtual Learning Environment; and a key role for Personal Tutors – more on that in a moment.

What we have endeavoured to do is to help our students to help themselves: we give them opportunities to develop as students, develop skills and attributes, and provide support to help them make the most of all that we offer. Our students are well and truly placed in the driving seat of their journey.

The Student Experience Committee had also overseen the development of the new Personal Tutoring and Development Framework by a staff-student working group, and, as part of that, the development of an example Personal Tutoring Curriculum[4].

Given the central role and relationship that personal tutors have with students, they are key to ensuring students feel a sense of Belonging, and they also have a role in developing Being and Becoming. As Thomas (2012) summarises:

“personal tutors can improve student retention and success in the following ways:

• enabling students to develop a relationship with an academic member of staff in their discipline or programme area and feeling more connected
• helping staff get to know students
•  providing students with reassurance, guidance and feedback about their academic studies in particular.” (Thomas, 2012, p 43)[5]

The example, spiral, Personal Tutoring Curriculum supports tutors on undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses, in each year and for a variety of session types (individual, group, online or face-to-face) to cover some key themes, several of which support connectedness and student success. For example, at Portsmouth, among the key themes that we outlined and expected students to have exposure to in our Framework, and which are drawn from Lochtie et al (2018, pp 124–127)[6], I would highlight:

• getting to know you;
• getting connected;
• enhancing your future.

One of the changes we made in our Framework and which is supported by our Personal Tutoring Curriculum was to encourage students to see tutoring differently from how it might have been experienced at school or college – to engage with personal tutoring even if they were not having issues. Our approach is more developmental and provides students with the tools to help themselves; which is at the centre of our approach at Portsmouth: ‘My personal tutor has been fantastic and really helped me grow not only academically but personally as well.’ (Student, NSS 2020). We therefore included solution-focused coaching (Lochtie et al, 2018, pp 136–152) as an element of the personal tutoring curriculum when it is appropriate.

So, having highlighted some of the things we have put in place at Portsmouth to develop Being, Belonging, Becoming to support Student Success, it is over to you. How can you support Student Success in your institution? What role does Being, Belonging, Becoming have in your offer; and are they ‘Connected’?

References:

[1] Catherine Meehan & Kristy Howells (2018) ‘What really matters to freshers?’: evaluation of first year student experience of transition into university, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 42:7, 893-907

[2] https://sites.google.com/port.ac.uk/preparingforteachingonline/principles-of-blended-learning

[3] Dunbar-Morris, H. Using a committee as a student staff partnership research group to implement data-driven, research-informed practical applications to benefit the student experience. Journal of Academic Development and Education (accepted for publication).

[4] https://personaltutoring.port.ac.uk/developing-your-tutees

[5] Thomas, L (2012) Building student engagement and belonging in higher education at a time of change: final report from the What works? Student retention & success programme. London: Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

[6] Lochtie, D, McIntosh, E, Stork, A and Walker, B W (2018) Effective Personal Tutoring in Higher Education. St Albans: Critical Publishing.

Host:

Dr Harriet Dunbar-Morris PFHEA @HE_Harriet is Dean of Learning and Teaching and Reader in Higher Education at the University of Portsmouth. In August 2021 she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by AdvanceHE.

Questions

Q1 Think back to your own start to higher education. What helped you feel a sense of belonging and connection at your institution?

Q2 Think about what else universities and their staff, both academic and professional services, do. What do you understand by developing students’ Being and Becoming (as well as Belonging)?

Q3 What activities has your institution provided for the Covid-impacted student generation to develop their Being, Belonging and Becoming? Think of specific examples related for example to pre-arrival, induction and transition from year to year and to work or further study.

Q4 What is the role of the Personal Tutor in supporting connectedness and student success?

Q5 If your institution were to design a Personal Tutoring Curriculum what themes and/or activities would be central to it?

Q6 How do you enable students to help themselves?

Find the Wakelet at https://wke.lt/w/s/1qK1dz

Last year we ran a #LTHEchat on learning design and how we think about planning and designing activities for learning. The final question on how we can ‘design in’ ways to support learners how to learn was an area worthy of further exploration. This is particularly the case as new ways of teaching and learning have developed further as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, including fully online programmes, hybrid and hyflex pedagogy, and a focus on small group face-to-face teaching. For many students, these ways of learning are new, not just for first year undergraduates, but also for returning students who have not had on-campus exposure to typical ways of learning in disciplines due to a variety of restrictions. 

This #LTHEchat will provide space to discuss ways of learning in subject areas, but also focus on how these ways of learning extend beyond the curriculum and formal learning programmes. Empowering students to continue learning after they have graduated is an important part of higher education, influenced by both policy and economic drivers, but also providing opportunities for innovation in programme design. Active Learning pedagogy, situated learning, critical thinking and reflective practice all contribute to enabling students to identify and address learning needs throughout their professional careers. These professional learning needs can be addressed through formal programmes, such as online degrees taken alongside work, or informal, ad hoc learning, from simply watching videos to completing self-study open access short courses. However, we would argue that for students to navigate, build and take ownership of their own personal learning environment, that intersects both formal and informal settings, requires deliberate approaches to be embedded within curriculum and programme design. 

We hope this discussion will provide reflection on current practice and spark interest in the interplay between ways of learning in higher education and professional learning. 

Further reading

Coldham, S., Armsby, P. and Flynn, S. (2021) ‘Learning For, At and Through Work’, in Pokorny, H. and Warren, D. (eds.) Enhancing Teaching Practice in Higher Education. 2nd Ed. London: Sage.

Kirschner, P.A. and Hendrick, C. (2020) ‘The culture of learning’, in How Learning Happens. Abingdon: Routledge.

Wheeler, S. (2019) Digital Learning in Organisations. London: Kogan Page.

Hosts:

Matt Cornock, MEng MA SCMALT @mattcornock | http://mattcornock.co.uk Matt has worked for over 15 years in both higher education and professional learning sectors, supporting colleagues in technology-enhanced learning and leading learning design for professional development programmes. He is a senior leader in digital education and is a Senior Certified Member of the Association for Learning Technology. He has led the implementation and evaluation of learning technologies and innovation in learning and teaching both at department and institutional level. Matt’s independent research interests focus on learning design, online education and professional learning

Sandra Huskinson Ba(Hons) MSc @fieryred1 Sandra is an educational consultant. She has a background in multimedia design studying a Bretton Hall College, University of Leeds and University of Nottingham. She has held a variety of roles including medical artist, design manager and works as a freelance elearning and multimedia consultancy for a variety of organisations.

Questions

Q1. Think back to your own education. What examples can you provide of when you were motivated to learn beyond the curriculum?

Q2. What teaching activities are typical in your subject? Think about what makes these distinct to your discipline, e.g. specific approaches you use in your subject.

Q3. How do you enable students to learn from those teaching activities? Think about support you have in place for learning how to learn.

Q4. How do you embed opportunities for students to reflect and develop their approach to learning as part of curriculum design?

Q5. What ways do you enable students to identify their own learning needs and set learning goals?

Q6. How might you design in to programmes the opportunities for students to go beyond the curriculum and to address personal learning goals?

Find the Wakelet at: https://wke.lt/w/s/U8gQ-g

Within the UK, the next weeks bring the start of a new academic year, which can bring up a mixture of thoughts and feelings for both staff and students. The start of a new year can also be a time to reflect or potentially introduce new things. Araújo et al (2014) talks about “academic, social and cultural adjustments” students undertake when starting at University. The start of the 2021/22 academic year also brings additional challenges. Many students will be adjusting and re-adjusting due to a wide range of learning experiences impacted by the pandemic.

Rovai (2004) found that low sense of belonging could lead to students dropping out especially in a blended and online context, this could be relevant to this year, as many students will be in this situation of taking some learning on-campus and some online. In 2019, 5 institutions launched the Developing Sense of Belonging in online distance learning toolkit, although the toolkit was aimed at online distance learning the principles can be translated to other students. One of the first things the toolkit asks viewers to do is try and consider what their students are feeling and what it is like from their perspective. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs framework (1943) was initially posed as a theory of motivation. Later in 2013, a meme was then shared on the BBC website that included Maslow’s framework plus an added addition. Whether the addition in this case is in the correct place could be up for debate.

The author of the meme might not have discovered Milhein (2012) which had already applied Maslow’s framework to an online learning context and had included internet access in the first level (Physiological). The author later shared the importance of staff involvement in creating an environment of belonging and acceptance through communication, collaborative activities and feedback. However, without the initial levels of Physiological and Safety being met first then belonging was more challenging, consequently Wi-Fi is important to belonging!

Finally, not all students are the same and therefore experience different levels of belonging. Booker (2016) shares the importance of considering that some students can feel a lack of belonging that could be linked to ethnicity and gender. Singh (2020) gives some practical tips, such as creating a culture with lack of judgement, sharing of videos and explaining of local language terms – all of which can assist students from different backgrounds to feel like they belong.

In this week’s #LTHE tweet chat we are going to explore what belonging means and how it is put into practice in a learning context.

References

Araújo , N. et al., 2014. Belonging in the first year: A creative discipline cohort case study. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 5(2), pp. 21-31.

Booker, K., 2016. Connection and Commitment: How Sense of Belonging and Classroom Community Influence Degree Persistence for African American Undergraduate Women. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 28(2), pp. 219-229.

Maslow, A. H., 1943. A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review.

Milheim, K. L., 2012. Towards a Better Experience: Examining Student Needs in the Online Classroom through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Model. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 8(2), p. 159.

Rovai, A. P. & Jordan, H., 2004. Blended Learning and Sense of Community: A Comparative Analysis with Traditional and Fully Online Graduate Courses. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 5(2).

Singh, G., 2020. Supporting black, asian minority ethnic (BAME) students during the COVID-19 crisis. Shades of Noir.

This Week’s Host: Jenny Crow

Jenny Crow (@jennncrow) is the Digital Education Team Manager in the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Her role involves leading a small team in the College of MVLS, who build content for fully online MSc programmes as well as providing digital education support for staff and students involved in these programmes. Additionally, Jenny is undertaking a part-time PhD at the University of Glasgow. Her topic is analysing sense of belonging for online distance students and whether technology can impact sense of belonging. Her research projects include virtual tours, virtual graduations, virtual worlds and virtual students (robots). Jenny has over a decade of experience in digital education / learning technology and is a proud CMALT holder. Jenny is passionate about creating an excellent student experience and introducing strategies so to encourage all students to be part of the University. Jenny enjoys outdoor sports, travelling and drinking nice coffee.

Questions

Q1. What does sense of belonging mean to you?

Q2. How do you enable sense of belonging within your students?

Q3. How do you support your students at a distance?

Q4. Has COVID-19 changed the way you approach belonging?

Q5. How do you evaluate sense of belonging?

Q6. How does digital technology influence sense of belonging?   

Find the Wakelet at: https://wke.lt/w/s/Ohp50K

From Wimbledon to the Euros, from graduations to the Sewing Bee, the start of summer heralds the celebration of some wonderful examples of human endurance, creativity, athleticism and imagination.  Whilst we recognise and applaud these inspirational examples of individual and collaborative efforts, we thought it was also time to reflect on and celebrate all of our small wins over the last year.  From surviving whole days of online meetings to remembering it was #tweetchat day – let’s pat ourselves on the back and celebrate everyone’s successes: our colleagues, our students and our own.

“Everybody has won, and all must have prizes”

Bring your gifs, emoji, bitmoji to congratulate your colleagues on all their wins – big and small, before we float down the lazy river into summer with a nice slow-paced tweetchat to end this academic year.

This week’s Host

Introduction

This week welcomes the Learning Science Tweetchat community (#LrnSciChat) to the Learning & Teaching Higher Education Tweetchat community (@LTHEchat) for an exploration of Implementing the Science of Learning in Higher Education. This mash up will provide fertile ground for fruitful discussion and we hope to support the productive mingling of these two exciting communities. Please explore the Learning Science Site (Teaching Innovation & Learning) in preparation for a lively evening. (note: the questions will be hosted under the #LTHEchat site).

Questions

Q1 – What is the Science of Learning and why may it be important for Higher Education? Provide examples of the science of learning.

Q2 – One promising learning strategy is ‘spaced practice’. What is it and how can it be implemented in the classroom?

Q3 – Another effective learning strategy is ‘retrieval practice’. What is it and how can it be implemented in the classroom?

Q4 – How would you evaluate the effectiveness of your implementation of a new teaching activity in your classroom?

Q5 – What are potential hurdles when implementing the Science of Learning in Higher Education?

Q6 – Share/discuss resources that support the implementation of the Science of Learning in Higher Education?

Wakelet