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?

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LTHEChat 337 Dialogic learning in the Age of Generative AI

Posted on September 29, 2025 by Teach

Join us on Bluesky on Wednesday 1st October 2025 at 20:00 BST

What does it truly mean to learn with a machine, and are machines capable of engaging in dialogic learning? Generative AI models—capable of producing text, images, or other content in response to prompts—are rapidly reshaping educational discourse by introducing ‘scalable’ forms of personalised learning, while also raising challenges around academic integrity and the need to redefine what critical thinking entails in the context of learning with AI. More recently, features within popular Generative AI models like ChatGPT’s  “Study and Learn mode” (which guides learners with questions instead of just giving answers) and Google Gemini’s ‘‘Learn Your Way’’ (which transforms textbooks into interactive, AI-driven study guides) are being marketised on the promise of more conversational, personalised learning experiences that are fine tuned for learning based on education research and principles. Within higher education, the growing presence of these systems demands deeper exploration. Are they genuinely expanding the possibilities for dialogue and feedback, or quietly reshaping the conditions of academic exchange? As practitioners, we must ask not only how these systems work, but also why they are used—and for whom? Do they stimulate enquiry, or do they replace the productive discomfort of genuine dialogue with frictionless interactions that risk remaining superficial (Tang et al, 2024; Wu et al., 2025)?

What is dialogic learning?

Dialogic learning, shaped by educational theorists like Bakhtin (1986), Freire (1970), and  Pask (1976) remind us that learning is inherently dialogic – it happens through dialogue, not one-way transmission. Freire (1970) argued that human nature is dialogic: we continuously create and re-create knowledge through communication and questioning. In Freire’s liberatory pedagogy, tutor and students join in conversation as co-learners, rather than the teacher “depositing” knowledge into passive students. Bakhtin’s dialogism similarly insists that an individual’s understanding cannot exist in isolation – meaning emerges only through interaction with others. For Bakhtin, every voice needs an “other” voice; learning is essentially a chain of responses and reflections that prevents any single viewpoint from being final or absolute. Cybernetician Gordon Pask added a systems perspective with his Conversation Theory. Pask maintained that all effective learning can be seen as a conversation between a tutor and learner, where each asks questions, gives explanations, and adjusts understanding based on feedback. In other words, the fundamental unit of learning is not a lecture or a textbook, but an interactive exchange – a back-and-forth process of asking, answering, challenging, and clarifying. Dialogic learning values this plurality of voices and the co-construction of meaning over any one authoritative voice. Unlike transmission models of teaching, dialogic learning values plurality, contestation and the co-construction of meaning (Costa & Murphy, 2025; Tang et al., 2024). The benefits of this approach are widely recognised. It fosters critical thinking by encouraging learners to question assumptions and synthesise diverse perspectives (Corbin et al., 2025). It supports epistemic agency by giving students responsibility for their intellectual choices (Costa & Murphy, 2025). It contributes to identity formation as learners develop voice, confidence and a sense of belonging within academic communities (Lee & Moore, 2024). It also develops feedback literacy through cycles of exchange and revision, in which students learn to interpret, negotiate and act upon comments (Jensen et al., 2025; Guo et al., 2024).

Can Generative AI models elicit dialogic learning?

Advancing interactive features in Generative AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity may appear to support dialogic learning by posing questions, scaffolding reasoning, and personalising feedback—simulating tutor-like experiences through guided prompts.

What does this may look like in a seminar?

For instance, in one of my modules during the last academic year, students used (under my instruction) Google’s NotebookLM to convert an assignment brief into a podcast to better grasp the nuanced expectations of their task. Research suggests that Generative AI tools used in such ways can foster metacognitive awareness and iterative improvement in coursework preparation (Lee & Moore, 2024; Wu et al., 2025). Listening to content in audio form or visualising summary highlights from an article using a mind map produced with the help of multimodal features within Generative AI tools may support accessibility and flexible engagement, particularly for students managing competing demands. However passive consumption of AI-generated content in their various forms, risks flattening complexity if not embedded within reflective and dialogic learning design. Dialogic learning is not reducible to interaction alone. Its value lies in unpredictability, relationality, and openness—qualities that emerge when tutors and students negotiate meaning, clarify ambiguity, or explore for example in a seminar, what part of learning consolidation an assessment truly aims to assess. Designed to optimise helpfulness and coherence, current Generative AI tools struggle to replicate the conditions for negotiated learning that dialogic learning encapsulates, since they often smooth over disagreement and avoid the intellectual discomfort or contestation that can spark transformative learning (Costa & Murphy, 2025).

Provocations for a critical dialogue

The difference between human versus machine simulated dialogic learning is subtle in the moment and significant over time. In a human dialogue, the pauses matter. For example, to help students explore the nature and limitations of Generative AI—without using AI—I recently designed a workshop built around the use of everyday craftwork as metaphorical training data. This session aimed not to demonstrate the outputs of AI, but to enable students to think critically about how Generative AI models are trained, how they respond to prompts, and where bias might reside in seemingly neutral systems. In the activity, students were presented with a set of curated craftworks—patchworks, collages, weaves, and prints – described as their “training data” if they were preparing an AI model. Then, they were handed a second, unrelated set of crafted items, this time framed as “prompts.” Students had to match, infer, or “generate” a response using only the original resources. Of course, the results were often mismatched or superficial. This opened a rich and meaningful dialogue where students co-constructed knowledge by exchanging critical dialogues about how a model built on curated examples will struggle with novelty, difference, or contradiction. More importantly, they recognised how bias can be baked into the very foundation of what counts as valid information. The activity never used a single Generative AI tool. Yet it illuminated key dynamics: how training data constrains response, how prompts channel expectation, how patterns are privileged over anomalies, and how meaning is not generated but always interpreted. Through dialogue grounded in tactile, visual artefacts, students explored the tensions between creation and curation, automation and authorship. They began to articulate a shared understanding of the human dimension of machine learning. This workshop re-centred human interpretation and judgement. The craft objects were static, but they became catalysts for expansive, situated thinking. Dialogue emerged from human interaction mediated by metaphor and material and not by algorithm on this occasion. It was a gentle reminder that the deepest conversations are not sparked by convenience but by complexity. A student reformulates an idea; a tutor waits; someone else steps in with a doubt that sends the group back to the text. However, in an exchange with Generative AI, the tempo is brisk, the turns are clean, the answers are read which may replace friction with fluency. While fluency has its place—accessibility, confidence, momentum—it can quietly erode the conditions that help students develop judgement: hesitation, contest, and the courage to revise a claim in their own words.

Does this mean Generative AI tools are an ‘illusion’ rather than an extension for ‘dialogic learning?

This is not an argument against the tools. In fact, they can extend dialogic practice when used with intent. Where things tend to go awry is when mode-switching and feature-swapping become novelty rather than purpose when using Generative AI tools. The availability of text, audio, visuals, and quizzes can fragment attention if there isn’t a reason to move between them. The question to keep asking is simple: Why this mode for this idea, at this moment, for this group? When the answer is clear—accessibility, comparison, perspective-taking—multimodality serves dialogue. When it isn’t, it becomes decoration. There is also a collective responsibility here. If we want to intentionally design dialogic learning with machines, we design for encounter: tasks where students interrogate Generative AI outputs critically and reflectively. We deliberately design learning activities that restore pace and pause; prompts that invite disagreement rather than tidy agreement. We protect the moments of uncertainty in which students decide what they think—and why.

Towards authentic dialogic learning

GenAI offers genuine opportunities to scaffold dialogue and expand access to feedback, but its danger lies in replacing the friction that drives authentic learning with seamless interaction. If GenAI is to support authentic dialogue, higher education must approach its integration critically and deliberately. Designing AI-mediated dialogue to invite critique rather than compliance is essential, ensuring that systems provoke questioning and exploration rather than scripted agreement. Learners must be empowered to direct enquiry and challenge system-driven prompts so that they remain active participants rather than passive recipients. Institutions must also safeguard plurality and equity, ensuring transparency, fair access and the inclusion of diverse perspectives in AI-mediated dialogue.

Guest Biography:

Nurun Nahar is an Assistant Teaching Professor based at the Greater Manchester Business School, University of Greater Manchester. Nurun’s responsibilities include overseeing and advising on Generative AI and technology-enhanced learning initiatives to enhance pedagogical practices within her department. Nurun is a published scholar and has presented her research work widely at several international conferences alongside invited guest talks on the topics of digital literacy, pedagogical partnerships, use of generative AI and technology-enhanced learning in Higher Education. Nurun led a whole institution collaborative project supporting the design and development of an AI literacy framework and supporting online tutorials for the University of Greater Manchester, which is embedded within the central academic skills development programme for all students including pre-arrival students.

Questions and chat

Q1 –  What does dialogic learning mean in your context and practice?

Q2 –  Where do you see the main benefits or limits of using generative AI for dialogic learning?

Q3 – What strategies can help educators and students maintain agency and voice when using Generative AI within human-AI dialogic learning collaboration?

Q4 – How have you used generative AI—personally or professionally—to support your own dialogic learning, and what did you notice?

Q5 – What activities might be used to support authentic dialogic learning with or without generative AI?

Q6 – Which part of a module/unit/delivery approach would you deliberately design for friction (slow thinking for dialogue) instead of fluency (quick completion), and why?

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LTHEchat 336 Effective Note Making Systems from Paper to AI

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Sue Beckingham

Join us on Bluesky on Wednesday 24th September 2025 at 20:00 BST

At the University of Glasgow we are in our first teaching week, the topic of note making, and its related systems seems appropriate, to set ourselves and our learners up for the new academic year.

Notemaking

I am not going deeply into the differentiation between note-taking versus note-making, but I will leave some references in the footnote1 for your further perusal. To summarise the main differences:

Note-taking, is in situation, mainly focusing on taking down information, key points, questions, they are often a raw record, and if we don’t have well developed note taking skills, we might not remember what our notes mean a week later. This is where note-making comes in.

Note-making, is usually notes prepared after note-taking, or during research, reading, studying. This is a more deliberate process and helps us to understand, organise, think through the topics we are engaging in.

You probably noticed the issue with the strict differentiation here. If you are someone who takes sketch notes or doodle notes you are likely already in the note-making process while taking notes. If you are using other systems such as Cornell2 you are likely in the cross-over between note-taking and note-making. So it is not a very clear cut issue in my opinion.

However, for the purpose of this #LTHEchat we are predominantly exploring systems, and methods for note-making. That might help you or your learners this academic year.

Handwritten versus typed notes

There is a body of evidence on the benefits of taking notes by hand (if you are able to), which I have briefly written about before, versus typing notes on a device. Some authors state that handwriting encrypts embodied cognition3, and a meta-analysis in 20244 has identified that:

“handwritten notes are more useful for studying and committing to memory than typed notes, ultimately contributing to higher achievement for college students.” (Flanigan, et al., 2024, p.77).

If you want to find out more about this particular topic, maybe the references below will give you a good starting point.

Notemaking systems

From scribbling in the margins of an article to highlighting 70 percent of a textbook page. What note-making is actually effective?

Here I appreciate Pat Thomson’s point5 that you are writing for two people, both of which are yourself. Your current self and how you understand the notes at the moment, and your future self who might have forgotten some of the context of the notes when you revisit these.

Example: Years ago a group of students had shared with me, there is this one lecturer, who is so good in explaining, that it makes all total sense in the moment, and they then don’t take notes, because everything was so clear during the lecture. But once they wanted to revise, they noticed that they had forgotten how this sense making happened, and didn’t have the notes to fall back on.

We might be able to help our learners by emphasising the points that are important. Clearly telling them, this connection, or logical consequence is important to remember for understanding that process. So the learners know that this might be important information to take a note off.

Handwritten notemaking

The actual process of making notes, is what helps us process information, and remember. It is useful here to categorise and sort information, to highlight connections, processes, and note questions.

How you or your learners do this. I think is very much a matter of preference. However, there is science behind it, if you want to dig deeper without having to read neuro-science papers, you might want to explore the blogs and resources at the learning scientist6.

This is a list of note-taking and note-making techniques that can be effective. Some of which may have more limited advantages such as mind-mapping.

  • Sketchnotes7
  • Doodle8
  • Mindmaps9
  • Atomic notes10
  • Bullet Journalling11
  • Cornel Technique
  • Outline method12
  • Boxing method13

Digital Notes

While I have piles of journals dotted about the place, I also make notes digitally. Despite the strong evidence of the benefits of handwritten notes, digital notes have important use as well, such as speed, legibility, searchability, and foremost accessiblity14 . You can add meta-data, take multimedia notes, use a screen reader, change background colours, fonts and font sizes, it is easier to organise in a Zettelkasten system, and you can share notes easier.

There are fantastic digital note-making systems: Notion, Notesnook, Obsidian, Research Rabbit all of these have varying degrees of privacy, and clarity about data handling. If you are strongly concerned about this than Notesnook might be your choice over Notion. If you are more concerned about functionality and aesthics then Notion on the other hand allows you to install plugins such as Notero which automatically imports your Zotero bookmarks into a table in which you then can add notes, and keywords.

Enter AI

My main issue with digital note-making is that I loose track of what resources have I saved, where are certain notes (despite meta data), and keeping an overall idea of learning and research over the last years. The way my brain functions the physical representation of my journals helps me to remember things much better. So here AI is useful to help sort through a significant amount of data and pick out and categorise the learning from across a long timespan. I shared my learning from this exercise in a blog post15 .

If you or your learners, like me, are information hogs, who constantly need to create, write, produce, collect, and need to manage large amounts of information. AI can help you get on top of the mess, and digitally declutter, sort, and organise.

Where we need to be careful is if we solely rely on AI to produce notes, there are not only issues in terms of environmental impact, veracity, and fake resources, but fundamentally we shortcut and deprive ourselves of the actual learning. Of the engaging with the material and thinking through ideas, research, concepts. We would Reader’s Digest our whole learning experience.

I have found that AI helps me manage my ADHD brain when it comes to notes. For instance, last weekend I went into hyperfocus and read 13 papers in an afternoon, I was so engrossed I had forgotten to take notes. I asked AI to help me backtrack which bit of information came from which paper. As my brain had made all of this into one big story.

I am looking forward to our chat on Wednesday the 23rd of September! And hope you will enjoy at least some of the questions and provocations.

Note:

We must not use AI uncritically and be aware of the resource implications, even if they are at the moment, far away from our selves.

Guest Biography

Dr Nathalie Tasler is an award winning Principal Academic and Digital Development Adviser (senior lecturer) at the University of Glasgow. She is internationally recognised and drives innovation in learning, teaching, and scholarship, championing inclusive and creative pedagogies. Recognised for extensive collaborations and impactful digital scholarship, Nathalie leads significant academic development initiatives. She also fosters ethical research environments and actively mentors and coaches colleagues.

Links

  1. https://www.dsebastien.net/2022-11-28-note-taking-vs-note-making/
    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9940558/
    https://academic.oup.com/eltj/article/77/1/42/6628705?lo.gin=false
    https://www.southampton.ac.uk/assets/imported/transforms/content-block/UsefulDownloads_Download/21870759DB904943811008DAD6C91051/Notetaking%20and%20notemaking%202014%20%20.pdf
  2. https://www.goodnotes.com/blog/cornell-notes
  3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/worklife/article/20200910-the-benefits-of-note-taking-by-hand
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.156
  4. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-024-09914-w
  5. https://patthomson.net/2022/10/24/one-key-thing-about-making-notes/
  6. https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2025/8/28-1
  7. https://yourvisualjournal.com/how-to-sketchnote/
  8. https://www.mathgiraffe.com/blog/sketch-notes-vs-doodle-notes
    9.https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/note-taking/mind-map
  9. https://medium.com/@jeffreywebber_/atomic-notes-are-we-obsessed-e9e0937dcf51
  10. https://bulletjournal.com/blogs/faq/what-is-the-bullet-journal-method?srsltid=AfmBOopb2F9pUkIjxSk5D2XmKDyihzbtMpkvuhu1qPVlVcl3wms-Fo5W
  11. https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/note-taking/outline
  12. https://methods.remarkable.com/resources/boxing-method-template
  13. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4812780/
  14. https://nathalietasler.blog/2025/09/14/one-and-a-half-decades-on-google-keep/

Questions and chat

Q1 – Warm-up question: what are your personal note-making conventions? For instance (but not exclusive to) systems you might use, quirks, structures, processes, abbreviations?

Q2 – How could multi-media notes, digital and analogue, be useful for both educators and learners as we enter the new academic year?

Q3 – What are your top tips for making or taking notes?

Q4 – Let’s talk about aesthetics and note-making/note-taking. What role does the aesthetic of your tools play?

Q5 – Imagine we had ethical AI; how would it help educators or learners with their note-taking or note-making?

Q6 – Pick any of these to answer, or add your own: notes as reflection, notes as art, notes as therapy–how do you think this manifests?

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#LTHEChat 335 Rethinking Research Culture in Higher Education

Posted on June 20, 2025 by gilesmartin

Join us on Bluesky on Wednesday 25th June 2025 at 2000 BST

Led by Dr Maisha Islam, Research Culture Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Southampton’s Doctoral College, @maishaislam.bsky.social

four people around a table having an informal looking meeting, two sat and two standing casually.

“So, what is it that you actually do?’

That was the question posed to me when I introduced myself as a Research Culture Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. While it might have come across as slightly patronising, I’ve come to see it as a well-intentioned query – and one that highlights a broader issue: the term ‘research culture’ still feels like a bit of a fuzzword. Despite growing attention across the sector, and with institutions preparing for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF) in 2029 – where ‘People, Culture and Environment’ (PCE) will sit alongside outputs and impact – the concept remains elusive to many.

Despite some ‘fuzziness’ to the term ‘research culture’, The Royal Society definition offers a useful (and widely referenced) starting point:

“Research culture encompasses the behaviours, values, expectations, attitudes and norms of our research communities.”

As a social justice researcher, I approach research culture through an equity lens. That perspective shapes how I understand what research culture is — and what it could be. In that context, I found Dr Natalie Marchant’s framing of research culture particularly valuable. Her approach offers a more grounded and actionable vision of what a positive research culture looks like and how it functions:

  • Actively promote collaboration, transparency, and open communication in research practices.
  • Recognise and celebrate diverse contributions to research, including those from research support staff and underrepresented groups.
  • Engage in ongoing dialogue with colleagues to identify and address systemic barriers to inclusion.
  • Support initiatives that prioritise the well-being and professional development of researchers at all career stages, especially those early in their career.
  • Invest in yourself and the people around you by taking advantage of training opportunities and engaging in two-way feedback.

Research Culture spotlight – Postgraduate Research (PGR) students

In answer to the question which opened this blog, I have the privilege of working to ensure that the research culture for current (and prospective) PGR students, at the University of Southampton’s Doctoral College, is one that is accessible, diverse, inclusive and collaborative. This has included:

  1. Introducing an award-winning PGR Student Partners scheme – a paid, partnership opportunity for our PhD students to work collaboratively with us on our projects with an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) focus. This has resulted in several co-authored research and outputs including an investigation of Black and Asian PGR student experience, and broader understandings of PGR research culture.
  1. Developing a suite of activity to ‘demystify the PhD’ and support underrepresented students’ decision making related to PGR. This includes providing information workshops, an online module, and ‘Progress to PhD’ peer-mentoring scheme with the aim of widening access into postgraduate research.

The increased focus on research culture is often accompanied by a rhetoric of organisations increasing their profitability and holding a competitive edge. Whilst it is true that there is a link between inclusivity, innovation and income, it would be remiss to make the case for developing inclusive and positive research cultures on this basis or even as the driving motivation to doing so. The reality is that deep-rooted inequities persist across our research and academic environments. Addressing them shouldn’t require a business case. It’s simply the right thing to do.

As a minoritised researcher, it is not surprising that nearly two-thirds of researchers report witnessing bullying or harassment, and 43% experience it themselves. This may explain why PGR satisfaction scores around research culture and community have remained strikingly low over the past five years. Therefore, for those early on in their careers, occupying marginalised identity markers, and/or are working in precarious conditions, our research culture seems stuck in peer review stage – eternally in a ‘revise and resubmit’ cycle.

So, with all this talk about “changing research culture” – making it more inclusive, more supportive, more sustainable – how do we actually do that? Who gets to decide what the culture should be? How might these ideas apply to technologists/technicians, librarians, academic developers? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Join me on 25th June 2025 for #LTHEchat to talk all things ‘research culture’!

Guest Biography

Bio:

Dr Maisha Islam profile picture

Dr Maisha Islam is the Research Culture Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Southampton’s Doctoral College. Her research areas of interest and expertise centre student engagement, and racial and religious equity in higher education. She is a co-editor of the recently published book ‘Uncovering Islamophobia in Higher Education: Supporting the success of Muslim students and staff’, and co-Chair of a Research England/Office for Students Steering Group seeking to improve access and participation of racially minoritised students in postgraduate research.

@maishaislam.bsky.social

Questions and chat

  • Q1 How would you define “research culture” in your context? Is it something you feel part of?
  • Q2 In your opinion, what stakeholder groups are neglected in research culture-related activity?
  • Q3 In an ever-evolving and turbulent HE sector, what do you believe to be the biggest threat(s) to enabling an inclusive research culture?
  • Q4 Can you give any examples within or outside your university/context which resulted in positive changes in research culture recently?
  • Q5 As the People, Culture and Environment (PCE) element of REF 2029 is being piloted, what key indicators do you think should be used to assess and evaluate research culture?
  • Q6 If you could change one thing about research culture in HE, what would it be — and why?
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#LTHEChat 334 The Artistry of Teaching

Posted on June 13, 2025 by gilesmartin

Join us on Bluesky on Wednesday 18th June 2025 at 2000 BST

Chat led by

Blog by Shaun Mudd with contribution from Helen King

Coloured soft balls

When I mention “Artistry of Teaching” to a room full of new colleagues, there’s typically a long silence.  

I’ve taught about expertise in HE teaching on UK PGCerts (initial professional development programmes largely intended for new lecturers) for about seven years.  It’s the model proposed by Helen King at a Symposium on this theme in 2020, and published in 2022, but I had a sneak peek having shared an office with Helen and seen early drafts pinned to the wall.  The model comprises three elements which describe the HE teacher who takes an expertise-based approach.  The scenario usually goes like this…

The first element I introduce is “Professional Learning”.  I might ask someone to define this; other times it’s irrelevant as the session is focused on this topic.  Either way, it’s obvious for colleagues engaged in a PGCert: a type of professional learning which usually dwells repeatedly on this topic.  

Next, I turn to “Pedagogic Content Knowledge” (PCK).  Sometimes there’s a probationary Lecturer in Education who can define this precisely.  Other times there’s a slight hesitation and the group then start to pick it apart.  Some Socratic Questioning can usually get them to the point where they understand it as a teacher’s knowledge both of pedagogy and of their discipline, and the interlacing of both.

We’re then on to the “Artistry of Teaching”.  I ask if anyone knows what this refers to, and almost every time there’s a lengthy pause before someone hesitantly responds.

What is the Artistry of Teaching?

A participant in a PGCert session once provided a useful analogy.  They suggested we could apply this model to stand-up comedy.  Someone could learn the foundational knowledge and skills of standup comedy (akin to PCK) and work on honing their craft through development and reflection (akin to professional learning).  The artistry element would encompass the difference between a successful professional comedian who can read the room and adapt their set to enthral the audience, compared with me doing the same set.  (I try not to be offended.)

Artistry is notoriously difficult to define (King et al. 2024, pp.4-6).  But as a starter, effective artistry of teaching in HE can involve:

  • Adaption (adaptive expertise), flexibility and improvisation in the moment to changing circumstances
  • Rapid problem-solving and almost-instantaneous reflection-in-action (Schön 1982) 
  • The personal and emotional elements of teaching, including empathy and care, and the ability to build a learning community
  • Authenticity in teaching, recognising our own limitations, and drawing upon the expertise of others
  • The practical and performative elements of teaching, such as vocal skills and body language

This list is far from exhaustive.  By its very nature it varies according to context and inevitably will evolve and change over time.

Why Should we Focus on Artistry?

Artistry is frequently appreciated as a core element of successful HE teaching.  It is also an area where colleagues appreciate development opportunities.  Anxieties raised by colleagues new to teaching in HE frequently surround topics such as preparation and rehearsal, communication and expression, and confidence and identity (Bale 2020, pp.22-23).  Yet artistry is rarely an explicit and sustained focus of HE professional learning (e.g. Petrova and Mudd 2024, King et al. 2024 p.5, Bale 2020 pp1-2, King 2022 p.9).  The sector’s interventions instead have traditionally focused more on reflective practice, pedagogy and situating this in one’s own practice and discipline – principally aligning to PCK and professional learning.  It is interesting to note that the dimensions of the Professional Standards Framework (2023) include explicit focus on professional learning (V3 and A5) and PCK (K1 and K2).  Artistry is less explicitly a focus of descriptions and dimensions (though Advance HE’s Guides to each Dimension do include guidance prompting applicants to include evidence aligning to artistry).

I believe it is essential to support colleagues through explicit and sustained focus on the artistry of teaching in initial and continuous professional learning.  If we omit to do this, we’re setting up (at least some) colleagues to fail by neglecting a significant part of what it means to take an expertise-based approach to teaching in HE.  My suggestion therefore is for us to reflect on the support we already offer which aligns to artistry and consider how this could be enhanced further.  We could usefully think about our own and other colleagues’ professional learning, double checking how prominent artistry is in:

  • Professional learning programmes such as PGCerts, wider workshops and formal interventions
  • The inductions of new colleagues
  • Mentoring, coaching and supporting ongoing professional learning
  • Communities of practice, conferences, networking

More on Expertise and Artistry

  • For examples of interventions on the artistry of teaching, see Petrova and Mudd 2024, and Bale 2020.
  • Videos from the 2020 Symposium on “Exploring Expertise in Teaching in Higher Education” and the 2022 Symposium on “The Artistry of Teaching” can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@academicpracticeuwe7888/playlists
  • A third Expertise Symposium will be hosted as an “unconference” by the University of Queensland, Australia in October this year. This in-person event will be supplemented with a separate online element to engage an international audience. More details coming soon!

References

Bale, R. (2020) Teaching with Confidence in Higher Education: Applying Strategies from the Performing Arts. Routledge: London. 

King, H. (2022) Developing Expertise for Teaching in Higher Education. Routledge: London.

King, H. R. Bale, E. Corradini, P. Fossey, D. Gannaway, L. Morantes-Africano, S. Mudd and J. Potter (2024) The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education: Practical Ideas for Developing Creative Academic Practice. Routledge: London.

Petrova, P., S. Mudd, I. Palmer and S. Brown (2024) ‘Developing the Artistry of Teaching and Approaches to Learning: What we can Learn from those Teaching Theatre Improvisation’, in: H. King, R. Bale, E. Corradini, P. Fossey, D. Gannaway, L. Morantes-Africano, S. Mudd and J. Potter eds. (2024) The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education: Practical Ideas for Developing Creative Academic Practice. 163-177. Routledge: London. Schön, D. (1982) The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Routledge: Abingdon.

Guest Biographies

Shaun Mudd profile picture

Dr Shaun Mudd is Head of Teaching Expertise Development at Bath Spa University.  This team facilitates professional learning for all staff who teach and support learning at Bath Spa, particularly in relation to pedagogy, professional learning and curriculum design/enhancement. Immediately before joining Bath Spa University, Shaun was Senior Lecturer in Academic Practice at the University of the West of England, and Programme Leader of their Academic Professional Programme (including the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Professional Practice, and Academic Professional Apprenticeship). Shaun is co-editor of The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education (2024).

https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/our-people/shaun-mudd/; @shaunmudd.bsky.social 

Prof. Helen King is Professor and Director of Learning Innovation, Development & Skills at Bath Spa University, UK. Her career in educational development spans three decades and has included leading roles in UK–wide learning and teaching enhancement projects and organisations, as an independent consultant collaborating with colleagues internationally, and university-based senior leadership. Her role supports a range of learning, teaching and assessment themes but her passion is supporting colleagues’ professional learning and development. She holds a senior fellowship of the Staff & Educational Development Association (SFSEDA), is a UK National Teaching Fellow (NTF), Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) and Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland. She also thoroughly enjoys trail running and playing Bluegrass banjo (not necessarily at the same time). Helen is editor of Developing Expertise for Teaching in Higher Education (2022) and The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education (2024).

https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/our-people/helen-king/; @profhelenking.bsky.social‬ 

Questions and chat

  • Q1 What does the “Artistry of Teaching” mean to you?
  • Q2 What elements of artistry do you think new colleagues tend to struggle with the most?
  • Q3 How have you been supported to develop your own artistry?
  • Q4 What opportunities do you think we (as a sector) could pursue to support colleagues to develop further their artistry of teaching?
  • Q5 Do you think there’s a stigma against considering Higher Education teaching as (to some extent) performative?  
  • Q6 If you had to pick just one aspect of your teaching artistry to work on over the next year, what would it be?
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#LTHEChat 333 Coming Together to Strengthen Educational Development: The Story of the EdDCoP and Our Co-Created Toolkit

Posted on June 6, 2025 by gilesmartin

This #LTHEChat took place on Bluesky on Wednesday 11th June 2025 at 2000 BST

Chat led by

Four hands from different people each gripping another at the wrist.

Introduction

By Cassie Lowe, Helen Morley, Jo Hall, Eszter Kalman, Alyson Lewis, Tracy Part, Heather Pennington, Isabelle Winder 

In higher education, collaboration is key to navigating the complex challenges educators face. Recognising this, we—eight academics from seven institutions—came together with a shared goal: to explore how Communities of Practice (CoPs) can support professional development, foster meaningful connections, and enhance teaching and learning. The result? Two interconnected achievements: 

  1. Advance HE’s Teaching and Learning Communities of Practice Toolkit. —a practical resource co-created by and for the sector. 
  2. The formation of an international Educational Development Community of Practice (EdDCoP), now 180 members strong. 

1. Co-creating the Toolkit: A collaborative framework 

The power of collaboration

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are not a new concept, but their potential to drive innovation, share expertise, and sustain engagement in higher education is immense. Our journey began with a simple question: How can we harness the power of CoPs to support educators and developers? 

This toolkit is the second of nine projects published as part of Advance HE’s 2023-24 Collaborative Development Fund grants. Led by the University of Cambridge, the project brought together seven institutions across the UK and Australia to produce a practical guide for developing teaching and learning communities of practice. 

What’s in the toolkit?

Drawing on our diverse experiences, we pooled insights, challenges, and successes to create a resource that: 

  • Helps educators establish, sustain, and evaluate CoPs. 
  • Offers frameworks, case studies, and reflective questions. 
  • Grounds theory in real-world practice, ensuring relevance for practitioners. 

The co-creation process itself mirrored the collaborative ethos of CoPs—iterative, inclusive, and driven by shared purpose. 

2. Growing a community: The EdDCoP story 

While creating the toolkit, we realised the importance of living the principles we were advocating. This led to the formation of the Educational Development Community of Practice (EdDCoP), an international network for colleagues leading or interested in CoPs within higher education development. 

How EdDCoP works

EdDCoP meets virtually four times a year, providing a space for members to: 

  • Engage in professional learning and grow together. 
  • Share successes and challenges in running inclusive and effective CoPs. 
  • Explore new ideas for sustaining engagement. 
  • Reflect, evaluate, and refine strategies in real time. 

With over 180 members, the community has become a dynamic forum for collective learning. Sessions have explored topics like building inclusive communities, hybrid engagement models, and measuring impact—all while fostering connections across institutions and borders. 

Successes, challenges, and lessons learned 

Our successes: 

  • A supportive, cross-institutional network spanning career stages and geographic locations. 
  • Collaborative leadership: Our rotating steering group ensures diverse voices shape the community. 
  • Bridging theory and practice by testing toolkit strategies in live settings. 

Challenges we’ve navigated: 

  • Fluctuating engagement: Sustaining momentum requires intentional design (e.g., interactive workshops over traditional webinars). 
  • Balancing structure with flexibility: Clear objectives help, but rigidity can stifle organic growth. 

Looking ahead 

Our work embodies the transformative potential of CoPs—combating isolation, sharing knowledge, and driving change. The Advance HE Toolkit is now an accessible resource for those starting or refining CoPs, while EdDCoP continues to evolve as a space for collective growth. 

Join us! 

Dr Cassie Lowe (University of Cambridge), Dr Helen Morley (University of Leeds), Dr Jo Hall (University of Brighton), Dr Eszter Kalman (University of Sydney), Dr Alyson Lewis (Cardiff University), Dr Tracy Part (Goldsmiths, University of London), Heather Pennington (Cardiff University), Dr Isabelle Winder (Bangor University). 

See you on 11th June 2025 for #LTHEchat!

Guest Biographies

Dr Jo Hall profile picture

Dr Jo Hall is a Principal Lecturer in the Learning and Teaching Hub at the University of Brighton. Her current research focuses on the development of inclusivity, well-being and race equity within Higher Education pedagogies. https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/jo-hall, @jolhall.bsky.social

Dr Heather Pennington profile picture

Dr Heather Pennington is a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University’s Learning and Teaching Academy. She is a Mentor, and Assessor within the AdvanceHE-accredited Education Fellowship Programme and leads the Associate Fellowship pathway. Heather is also a member of the University’s Inclusive Education Project Team. https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/penningtonh1, @heatherpennington.bsky.social.

Dr Alyson Lewis profile picture

Dr Alyson Lewis is Lecturer in Education Development at Cardiff University, supporting the development and delivery of the University’s Education Fellowship Programmes accredited by AdvanceHE. https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/lewisa81, @alysonklewis.bsky.social‬

Questions and chat

  • Q1 What makes a Community of Practice (CoP) work? From your experience, what’s one key ingredient that helps a CoP thrive?
  • Q2 What’s one creative way you’ve seen (or used) to encourage participation in a CoP?
  • Q3 How can CoPs foster meaningful engagement, especially in online or hybrid formats? 
  • Q4 How can we design our CoPs to be truly inclusive and accessible? What barriers have you seen – or overcome? 
  • Q5 What strategies have you seen (or used) to keep a CoP active and avoid it becoming stagnant? 
  • Q6 How can CoPs demonstrate their value to institutions and participants? What does ‘impact’ look like? 

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#LTHEChat 332 Can Gen AI tools adequately visualise written reflections?

Posted on May 30, 2025 by gilesmartin

This #LTHEChat took place on Bluesky on Wednesday 4th June 2025 at 2000 BST

Led by Louise Rees, Senior Academic Developer at Swansea University, @louiserees.bsky.social

genAI image of giraffes and the text "A picture paints a tousand [sic] words" Arthur Brisbane, Nowspapper Edte [sic].
MS CoPilot generated image based on prompt of asking to include giraffes with the phrase “A picture paints a Thousand Words” and the attribution

In teaching on a PG Cert teaching in HE programme, I use creative approaches to prompt participant reflection on educator identity. I have outlined these approaches on a previous LTHEChat (Rees L.J., 2023).

Recently I caught up with several PG Alumni to discuss the ongoing development of their educator identity and journey.  One shared how they had progressed towards the professional development goals they had set themselves in their assignment several years ago. I reminded them that in their assignment submission – a great video reflecting on their practice and their journey – they had included a rollercoaster as a key element.

This didn’t represent their interpretation of their own journey but instead described how their students might experience a tumultuous rollercoaster ride through their degree programme.  But there are several instances of teachers indicating their journey and development as at least an emotional rollercoaster – see Godfrey (2023) and Marbaniang (2024) for some informal reflections. 

As I started to teach the PG Cert module again in 2025, I was, despite offering a choice of 8 possible “creative” approaches with exemplars, still concerned for those who thought they ‘could not be creative’. Would Gen AI be used to help them ‘be creative?’ Or for those pushed for time, would using a Gen AI tool be a quicker option to produce the output requested?

Simultaneously came an announcement of the University of Liverpool’s annual Islands of Innovation Conference for May 2025, with the topic of ‘Theme Park of Innovation’ and a full range of amusement park sub-themes.  An alumnus discussing teaching and learning as a rollercoaster journey.  Me wondering about Gen AI and its use in creating images. Coincidence? Something seemed to be telling me to experiment with Gen AI.

Recognising what I already knew about the limitations and ethical issues of using a Gen AI tool, I ‘tested’ whether it could adequately convert my written prompts into images and apply the ‘critically reflective’ aspect of the activity.  That involved participants annotating their “creative output” by considering what factors impacting educator identity applied to their own experiences (as explored by Thea van Lankveld et al, 2017) and/or considering what stages of educator development applied (drawing on the work of Peter Kugel, 1993).

I used Microsoft Copilot AI and a few other Gen AI tools to translate written prompts reflecting some fictitious scenarios of a day in the life of an educator in Higher Education into images. I included in the prompt instructions to include in the generated image the relevant theoretical factors and stages on teaching identity which at the time (March 2025), MS CoPilot was unable to do.

I guided workshop participants at the Islands of Innovation conference on May 9 2025 to generate an image from text describing their “educator day”, including using an amusement park ride to represent their feelings.  I invited them to critically reflect on the images generated through that process and shared my own reflections on the process and output.

During this chat I invite you to consider whether Gen AI can adequately convert written reflection to images and how you might use the activity of image generation from text to promote Gen AI digital literacy for your learners.

If you want to create your own image based on a short reflection of your “educator day”, see the ‘prompt’ below in the Note.


References

Godfrey G. (2023) The teacher’s roller coaster: navigating teacher burnout”, Edugist, November 7, 2023 The Teacher’s Roller Coaster: Navigating Teacher Burnout — Edugist  https://edugist.org/the-teachers-roller-coaster-navigating-teacher-burnout/

Kugel, P. (1993). How professors develop as teachers. Studies in Higher Education (Dorchester-on-Thames), 18(3), 315–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079312331382241

Marbaniang, G. (2024) Teaching: an emotional roller coaster, The Shillong Times, September 4, 2024  Teaching: an emotional roller coaster – The Shillong Times   https://theshillongtimes.com/2024/09/04/teaching-an-emotional-roller-coaster/

Rees L. J. (2023) Using creative Approaches to reflect, #LTHEChat 277: Using Creative Approaches to Reflect | #LTHEchat  https://lthechat.com/2023/11/17/lthechat-277-using-creative-approaches-to-reflect/

van Lankveld, T., Schoonenboom, J., Volman, M., Croiset, G., & Beishuizen, J. (2017). Developing a teacher identity in the university context: a systematic review of the literature. Higher Education Research and Development, 36(2), 325–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1208154

Note:

Here is the suggested prompt:

“Prepare a SHORT, written piece based on “A day in your educator life…”.  This will be your prompt to input into a Gen AI tool of your choice. Cover the following in your text:

CONTEXT: What briefly is your role in Higher Education?

WHAT: Write a brief description of the circumstance/day you’ve experienced.

HOW: Did you feel about the situation?

INCLUDE the following instruction at the end: “Please provide an image representing my day using an appropriate amusement park ride.”

I gave participants an example “prompt” as we had a limited amount of time to do the activity and reflect on the output.

Guest Biography

Louise Rees profile picture

Louise is a Senior Academic Developer in Swansea University’s Academy for Learning and Teaching.  She teaches on the PG Cert teaching in HE regarding professional identity for HE educators, assisting participants to reflect on their practice and PG Cert journey.  She also supports colleagues in their claims for recognition through the University’s internally accredited programme for Advance HE Fellowship.  Louise is a Certified Online Learning Facilitator and an Advance HE Senior Fellow.  She can be reached through LinkedIn: (13) Louise Rees | LinkedIn or Bluesky: @louiserees.bsky.social . Giraffes are her favourite animal 🙂

Questions and chat

  • Q1 Have you or your learners used a Gen AI tool to generate an image from text?  What kinds of activities did/could you use it for?
  • Q2 If you/ your learners have used Gen AI for image creation, what was captured well/accurately in the generated image? Were there any shortcomings?
  • Q3 What did you/they learn about the content or order of the words used in the prompts?
  • Q4 In your context, how might you use the creation of a Gen AI image as an activity or assignment for learners to demonstrate higher order evaluation skills?
  • Q5 When using Gen AI to create images, what key questions or issues would you ask your learners to consider to develop their Gen AI literacy?
  • Q6 If a Gen AI tool isn’t available, what other websites or platforms can learners use to find images that would help them visualise a situation?
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#LTHEChat 331 The Pedagogy of Presence: Real Learning in Imaginary Spaces

Posted on May 23, 2025 by gilesmartin

This #LTHEChat took place on Bluesky on Wednesday 28th May 2025 at 2000 BST

Led by Paul Driver, Director of Simulation-Based Learning in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. @pauldriver.bsky.social

Introduction

We (learning designers, educators, librarians, learners…) are often required to navigate the space between pedagogy and innovation—balancing tried-and-tested methods with emerging technologies and pedagogic approaches. Among these innovations, immersive learning has emerged as a powerful paradigm, transforming how learners engage with content, each other, and the world beyond the classroom.

What Is Immersion?

At its core, immersion refers to the psychological sensation of “being there”—the feeling of stepping into a new reality that envelops the senses and demands attention. Whether achieved through high-end virtual reality, mixed-reality immersive rooms, narrative simulations, or well-crafted game-based learning environments, immersion aims to create a state where learners feel physically and cognitively involved in the experience.

The Immersive Room Best Practice Guide (shared below) captures this well through the lens of simulation-based learning (S-BL), noting the constructivist framing of learners as “not mere spectators but active participants,” engaged in environments that are spatial, tangible, social, and embodied. Immersion isn’t just a technical effect—it’s a cognitive and emotional state that can be purposefully leveraged to promote learning and engagement.

Immersive Rooms: A Physical Space for Embodied Learning

Immersive rooms (sometimes referred to as VR Caves), offer one of the most accessible forms of high-impact immersive learning in higher education today. These spaces are designed to blend digital projection, 3D modelling, interactivity (with peers, interfaces and physical objects) to simulate real-world environments. Crucially, they support constructivist learning: students actively manipulate scenarios, collaborate with peers, and reflect on experiences to build knowledge.

The Best Practice Guide emphasises that such simulations must be grounded in clear educational objectives—whether developing affective skills, procedural knowledge, or competencies required by professional bodies. Interactivity, multimodality, and narrative all play essential roles in driving learner engagement.

The images below show an example empty immersive room and inside one with the projections active (derelict building):

Empty immersive room
Inside immersive room of a derelict building

Narratives as Anchors for Immersion

One of the most effective, and often underestimated, tools for immersive learning is narrative. Jesse Schell, in The Art of Game Design, argues that story is a “lens” through which we understand our experiences. A compelling narrative structure can serve as both motivation and guide, helping learners make sense of complex or abstract content.

Narratives create emotional hooks, define goals, introduce context and provide a reason to psychologically invest—all of which enhance immersion. James Paul Gee suggests that well-designed video games teach not through didactic instruction but through situated learning, where players learn by doing within meaningful contexts. This insight is directly applicable to immersive learning environments, where storytelling can frame challenges and anchor new knowledge. 

Beyond the Room: Other Modalities of Immersive Learning

While immersive rooms are exciting and fertile ground for both practical and theoretical experimentation, they are part of a broader ecosystem of immersive approaches:

  • Virtual Reality (VR): Fully digital environments accessed via headsets, offering high sensory immersion. VR is particularly effective for simulating high-risk scenarios (e.g., medical procedures or hazardous environments).
  • Augmented Reality (AR): Layers digital information over the real world. AR is powerful for contextual learning—enhancing fieldwork, museum visits, or architectural studies.
  • Mixed Reality (MR): Blends digital and physical environments in real time. MR is still evolving but holds great promise for embodied, location-based interactive and collaborative learning projects.
  • Game-Based Learning: Interactive, rule-based “ludic” environments that provide feedback and encourage problem-solving. Ian Bogost emphasises how procedural rhetoric—the practice of using the rules and mechanics of a system, particularly in games, can be used to persuade, express ideas, or make arguments about how things work in the world. This emergent rhetoric can be designed to promote reflection and critical thinking about real systems and specific themes (e.g. mental health, capitalism, sustainability). Mary Flanagan, in her work on critical play, also highlights how games can challenge assumptions, promote empathy, and open space for reflection—all vital aspects of deep learning.
  • Alternate Reality Games (ARGs): These combine physical and digital media to create narratives that unfold over time, often involving collaboration and investigation. In another life (and a couple of careers ago) I used to design this type of game as a strategy for teaching English as foreign language (EFL), e.g., https://digitaldebris.info/spywalk-porto.

Designing for Immersion: Considerations and Challenges

Immersion doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentional design, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a grounding in pedagogic theory. As an illustration, in my Immersive Room Best Practice Guide (see image below) I outline 13 areas educators must consider, including cognitive load, multimodality, Interface design, accessibility and, of course, pedagogy. I created this as a quick-starter guide-on-a-page, so it is far from comprehensive.

Immersive Room Best Practice Guide, includes guidance under main headings: define learning objectives, accessibility, digital skills, what is being simulated?, spatial design, geometry, familiarisation, the senses, interface, pedagogy, interactivity, digital humans, and planning. The full text has been extracted and available in a file below.
IMMERSIVE ROOM BEST PRACTICE GUIDE – extracted image textDownload

The Future of Immersive Learning

We are at a turning point. The technology is increasingly accessible, the pedagogic rationale is strong, and the student appetite for experiential, relevant learning is growing. But to move from novelty to impact, we must focus on design, evaluation, and integration. Immersive learning isn’t about replacing existing methods—it’s about enhancing and extending them.

Flanagan’s and Bogost’s framing of play as a non-neutral activity (especially collaborative, locative play) align well with immersive learning, where scenarios can simulate not only environments but ethical dilemmas, power structures, and social dynamics. Immersive learning can offer this bounded rehearsal in powerful new ways. By embedding learners in well-designed stories, environments, and systems, we equip them not just with knowledge, but with the insight and agency to apply it, and apply it in a low-stakes, scaffolded and repeatable way. 

Final Thoughts

Immersive learning is more than just a buzzword—it’s a reimagining of how we teach and how students learn. Whether through VR, narrative simulations, or the carefully designed spaces of an immersive room, the goal remains the same: to foster active, situated, and meaningful learning experiences.

As education professionals, we’re in a unique position to lead this transformation—bringing together pedagogy, technology, and creativity to craft experiences that truly engage and inspire.

References

Bogost, I. (2007) Persuasive games: the expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Driver, P. (2024) Immersive Room Best Practice Guide. ARU Digital Simulation Team.

Flanagan, M. (2009) Critical play: radical game design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gee, J.P. (2003) What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Schell, J. (2008) The art of game design: a book of lenses. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.

Author Biography

Paul driver profile picture

Paul is Director of Simulation-Based Learning in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. His current research spans immersive technology, applied game design, generative AI, embodied cognition, and pedagogical theory, with a focus on how these intersect to shape innovative teaching and learning practices. He can be reached on Bluesky @pauldriver.bsky.social.

Questions and chat

  • Q1 How can immersive learning be meaningfully scaled, or is it inherently suited to small-group contexts?
  • Q2 What kinds of assessment strategies align best with immersive or simulation-based learning experiences?
  • Q3 How do we avoid ‘tech-first’ thinking and ensure pedagogy drives the design of immersive learning?
  • Q4 What role should Learning Designers and Learning Technologists play in co-creating or curating immersive learning content and how can learners be involved as co-designers?
  • Q5 How do we ensure accessibility and inclusivity in immersive learning environments, both digital and physical?
  • Q6 What types of support or training would academic staff need to confidently adopt immersive approaches?

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#LTHEChat 330 “Be more critical”, my tutor said

Posted on May 16, 2025 by gilesmartin

This #LTHEChat took place on Bluesky on Wednesday 21st May 2025 at 2000 BST

Led by Kelly Trivedy, Independent Academic Enhancement Consultant for Pedagogic Development and Academic Skills in HE and FE. @kellytrivedy.bsky.social

Drawn style black and white image of various objects flowing out of a person's head, including a shoe, tea cup, glasses, feather, book, fork, music notation, and many more.

We live in a world where critical thinking is more important than ever. Globally, the World Economic Forum (2025) has stated that analytical skills are the number one skill required. On an academic level, research commissioned by HEFCE found that, among other related skills, students’ aptitude to think critically was a contributing factor to post-university success (Zahner, 2018).

If you take a moment and think about:

  • What was your experience with critical thinking when you first started higher education?  
  • Did you ever question why certain ideas were presented as unquestionable?  
  • Did you find yourself agreeing silently, even though the material didn’t quite resonate with you?  

Keep your answers to these questions in mind as you read through the remainder of this article. 

What is critical thinking? 

Within the context of HE, critical thinking has been a focal point for many years. Dewey (2012) talked about it in the context of having good thinking habits. But if we rewind further, we can see its philosophical roots that date back to the time of Socrates and Plato.

It is regularly the ”buzzword” (Fisher, 2011, p.1) given to the method that involves thinking by competently exercising control of the “structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them” (Paul and Elder, 2010). What I’ve found, however, is that it often gets reduced to checking for bias in sources or debating opposing views.  We are reminded by bell hooks that “thinking is an action” (hooks, 2010, p.7).  Taking on the view of hooks, I believe that thinking critically may provide discomfort, a chance to reflect, and ultimately lead to transformation.

But for this to happen, we need to equip ourselves with the tools that help us think critically, regardless of where we are in our personal, professional, and academic journeys. 

Throughout my earlier research for my MA in Education on critical thinking, I noticed that almost every paper I read started with a similar statement: “there is no singular shared definition of critical thinking.” I see this lack of a uniform definition as both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because it allows for nuanced application across various disciplines. However, it can be a curse if educators, students, and colleagues in the education sector do not have a shared understanding of what critical thinking means.

I prefer this definition as it really provides focus of the process as opposed to product: “everything to do with how we think,” vs “what we think” (Mulnix, 2012).

My story and experience with critical thinking

My work in critical thinking began (years ago) during my PGCE course when I was involved in developing a new Bachelor’s degree program in criminal justice alongside my mentor. We had the freedom to design the entire course ourselves. Early on, I noticed that the students enrolled in the program struggled with critical thinking; they tended to accept everything they read without question. This raised alarm bells for me, and I decided to create my first critical thinking skills program. For the first 30 minutes of each session throughout the year, we focused on developing critical thinking skills.

After graduating from the PGCE course, the importance of critical thinking continued to occupy my mind, and I felt that my work on the PGCE was just beginning. I secured my first role as a skills specialist, where I worked to advocate for the significance of critical thinking through tailored programs that supported both educators and students. I have incorporated critical thinking methods in my lecturing, developed subject-specific programs, led general workshops as a coach, and am currently consulting with higher education and further education departments nationwide to address critical thinking in curriculum redesign, continuing professional development, and student development initiatives.

Why does critical thinking matter?

Critical thinking impacts all of us at different stages of our lives. We rely on it more than we might realise! If we consider everyday life and decision-making regarding the most mundane things, such as buying a plastic-free water bottle, we research materials, size, properties, and price points. This is critical thinking. 

It engages us in developing our own intellectual autonomy and exercising it when we need to draw upon it. University study enhances knowledge of a subject, but hopefully, it also provides the skillset to question that knowledge and understand how it is constructed. 

Critical thinking also encourages us to think beyond our subjects, and I believe it is a transferable skill; it can be adapted, nurtured, and applied across various disciplines. 

Ultimately, I would argue that at its core, critical thinking gives society the best chance for honest and compassionate debates. If exercised purposefully, it can lead us to be more empathetic with views different to our own. 

Higher education aims to transform how students think, question, and engage with the world and across the sector, with critical thinkingcentral to this mission. However, this transformation won’t occur by accident. It requires intentional design, reflective pedagogy, and a commitment to fostering environments where students can challenge assumptions, particularly their own.

In my work (broadly speaking), these are the steps I follow to help both students and educators achieve this:

Diagram with five blocks (shaped pointing to the right),from left to right with text: active listening, drawing on present "good practice", cross-curricular sharing, shared definitions, building an ethos for critical thinking

In a society filled with misinformation, polarisation, and change, I believe universities have an ethical responsibility and intellectual ability to equip students with the tools to facilitate their critical thinking skills. 

Those of you who strive to include critical thinking as part of your practice, do let me know how it’s going. I am always open to a conversation about critical thinking. We are all in it together to help and support the next generation of critical thinkers. As bell hooks (2010, p.11) articulates, “…it calls for initiative from everyone…” 

Reflecting on the earlier questions in this article, here is a new set of reflective questions to help to re-frame how we may approach critical thinking:

  • How would you help others to enhance their experience of critical thinking in education? 
  • How can you and others around you question ideas with curiosity? 
  • How can you support those around you to feel comfortable in speaking out, even if their ideas don’t completely align with your own?

Since creating my podcast, Talking CriticalEd in 2024, and my Substack, ‘The Critical Thinking Loop’ in 2024, I’ve had many positive responses, and I hope to continue my work spreading the word and enhancing how we frame critical thinking.

References

Dewey, J., 2012. How We Think. United States of America: Martino Publishing.  

Fisher, A., 2011. Critical Thinking: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hooks, B., 2010. Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. London. Routledge. 

Mulnix, J.M., 2012. Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking, Educational Philosophy and Theory [online], (44) 5, 464-479.

Paul and Elder, 2010. Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Framework [online]. Louisville: Delphi Center. Available at: https://louisville.edu/ideastoaction/about/criticalthinking/framework [Accessed 10 May 2025].

World Economic Forum, 2025. Future of Jobs Report 2025: Insight Report January 2025 [online]. Available at: https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_Report_2025.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2025]. 

Zahner, 2018. Critical thinking skills: Essential for the future [online]. HEFCE. Available at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20180319124644/http://blog.hefce.ac.uk/2018/02/28/critical-thinking-skills/  [Accessed 1 May 2025].

Author Biography

Profile picture of Kelly Trivedy sitting by the Thames on the opposite bank to Parliament with the Elizabeth Tower in the background.

Kelly Trivedy is an Independent Academic Consultant specialising in pedagogic and skills development with a focus on critical thinking, research skills and reflective practice. Her career spans roles in lecturing, academic development, consulting and coaching. She is the author of ‘Plan your Research Project’, ‘The Critical Thinking Loop’ Substack and host of the Talking CriticalEd podcast. Kelly has also contributed to blogs, podcasts and book chapters across the HE sector. You can find more about Kelly and her work on her website.

Questions and chat

  • Q1 What does ‘critical thinking’ mean to you?
  • Q2 What challenges have you observed learners facing regarding critical thinking?
  • Q3 What impact does or will AI have on critical thinking, and are there any changes or adaptations needed? What might these look like?
  • Q4 What role can learners play in their critical thinking journey, and how can educators, developers, and other education professionals facilitate this process?
  • Q5 In what way is critical thinking given importance in your subject? And why do you think it should be given that value? Please share your discipline in your answer.   
  • Q6 If you could summon a genie, what would be your three wishes for re-designing critical thinking in education? How would it look, and what actions would you take to make it happen?

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#LTHEChat 329 Team-based Learning (TBL) – what it is, what it is not, and why you should try it!

Posted on May 8, 2025 by gilesmartin

This #LTHEChat took place on Bluesky on Wednesday 14th May at 2000 BST

Led by Dr Jonny Branney, Principal Academic in Nursing and Clinical Sciences, Bournemouth University, @jonnybranney.bsky.social

Image of a class with people on group tables discussing and all smiling and laughing.

I like to try new things. Do you?

When I first became a full-time lecturer in 2014, I thought I knew how to teach. By this point I had studied at three different institutions and experienced all ranges of educational approaches from the good (actively working through clinical case studies) to the bad (reading off PowerPoint presentations) to the ugly (sitting at the front reading off handwritten notes, not looking up once to engage with the audience). With my years of experiential learning gained from being a perpetual student, I felt ready to get my PowerPoint together (mainly image based, no reading off PowerPoint for me!) and do my stuff. I was barely in the door of the office however, when my colleague pointed out I had been signed up to do a PgCert in Education Practice. This made me grumpy. Whatever did I need that for?

Unsurprisingly I soon discovered that I indeed did not know what I was doing and there was a whole tonne of learning to be gained. I will remain eternally grateful to my colleague (Dr Dawn Morley!) for roping me in as, amongst other things, I got to immerse myself in the world of Team-based Learning (TBL). Incidentally, I had originally found out about TBL while preparing for my interview for my first lecturer post. I was looking for ‘latest innovations in nursing education’ or words to that effect and the paper that grabbed my attention was this one by Laura Middleton-Green and Sarah Ashelford (2013). I loved the sound of TBL so much that I implemented it in a small way (one class) with student nurses in my first year of teaching and I loved it so much I never looked back. I even wrote a paper about it, with Dr Jacqueline Priego-Hernández, if you’re interested to find out more about the student outcomes that were achieved (Branney and Priego-Hernández 2018). 

So, what is TBL?

TBL is a form of flipped classroom where learners are provided the learning materials to engage with before attending class. This ‘pre-reading’ might include, for example, podcasts, online videos as well as written material. What would traditionally be ‘taught’ in the classroom therefore becomes ‘homework’, prepared before the sessions. This is then followed up by a variety of activities designed to review and consolidate learning as well as identify any gaps in knowledge or misunderstandings. This then leads to team exercises designed to encourage the application of this new knowledge to real world situations. This is where the gold happens. We all want students to be able to do something. In the application exercises students ‘do.’ 

An example from my own discipline of nursing is that students may have to justify a particular course of action within a patient case study. If the case study is written well (I do try!) this will prompt discussion between the student teams who try to justify their decision-making. This helps not only to deepen learning, viewing a situation from different perspectives, but reflects the reality that real-world decisions are not black or white but grey. There are often competing demands when a decision has to be made and the key thing is not so much getting the answer ‘correct’ but providing a defensible, reasoned argument in support of a decision. 

Other reasons I love TBL are that it:

  • Promotes independent learning and maximises time in the classroom to help individuals with whatever they are finding difficult; 
  • Elevates the status of the learner who has a voice in the classroom alongside the lecturer;
  • Shifts the emphasis from the lecturer being the expert imparting knowledge to one of facilitating students’ learning; 
  • Leverages the social benefits of learning together, not only for deepening learning but promoting the formation of social networks, so important in the context of student loneliness. 

Want to find out more?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on TBL. You might use alternative active learning methods with similar aims and outcomes, or perhaps the thought of giving up lectures fills you with dread. I should add that I love giving lectures too and would not want to give these up! Variety is the spice of life. Hope you can join us for the chat!

NB. Some of the words used in this blog are reproduced or adapted from an earlier article I wrote, published in the Live Well with Pain Newsletter, January 2025. 

Webpages (in order) that I have hyperlinked to in case you need them

References

Author Biography

Profile picture of Jonny Branney

Dr Jonathan (Jonny) Branney is Principal Academic in Nursing and Clinical Sciences and Programme Leader for the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice traditional and apprenticeship routes. He has a substantial clinical background as both a registered nurse (critical care; accident & emergency) and was formerly a registered chiropractor. He is passionate about the role of biosciences in nurse and healthcare education, using innovative teaching techniques such as Team-based Learning. He is a Team-based Learning Collaborative (TBLC) certified Consultant-Trainer in TBL, a Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE and a National Teaching Fellow (2024). Jonny has most recently combined his research into musculoskeletal pain with his teaching expertise in developing TBL pain education for patients with chronic pain. Read more about that here.  

Questions and chat

  • Q1 What attributes are needed by a lecturer to be an effective facilitator of learning?
  • Q2 What formative assessment strategies (regular checks of learning) work well? Why?
  • Q3 Is learning more effective with individual learning or group learning? Please explain.
  • Q4 In your experience does group learning work best when all groups have different tasks? Or the same task? Please explain.
  • Q5 What are the best ways to get students engaged with real-world problem-solving?
  • Q6 Are the challenges going on in higher education right now an opportunity or barrier to small group learning? Please explain
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