#LTHEchat

LTHEChat 308: Living in the Third Space – Reflections, connections and conundrums

Posted on November 14, 2024 by susan89706

The LTHEchat308 will take place in both X (formerly know as Twitter) and Bluesky
X: https://x.com/LTHEchat
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/lthechat.bsky.social

Led by Malgorzata (Gosia) Drewniok (@Vampirelinguist, @vampirelinguist.bsky.social), Maeve O’Dwyer (@odwyermaeve, @drmaeve.bsky.social) and Wendy Taleo (@wentale, @wentale.bsky.social)

Introduction:

Higher Education as a sector, in every country, is facing a myriad of challenges at the moment, from the financial to the moral. To overcome this difficult environment, all staff working at HEIs must work together towards a shared vision for Higher Education. This #LTHE chat explores the concept of the ‘third space professional and/or practitioner’ (Whitchurch, 2008). In particular, we argue for the importance of the third space in articulating the value of all staff who teach and/or support learning across Higher Education institutions (HEIs).

The concept of the ‘third space professional’, as researched and defined by the work of Celia Whitchurch (Whitchurch, 2008), has benefited from excellent research interrogating what it means to be a third space professional in contemporary Higher Education institutions (McIntosh & Nutt, 2022, Veles, 2023, et al). Much of this research has been collated as part of the Third Space Slowposium, taking place November 15th- 30th 2024. Three (of many!) organisers of the Slowposium, Wendy, Gosia and Maeve, have come together to celebrate that practice in this LTHE chat, in what we hope will be a highlight of the Slowposium calendar.

Reflecting on our own experience in different institutions and in different countries, we want to connect with others and critically discuss conundrums of people in these roles. Here, to align with the language being used in the upcoming Third Space Slowposium, we will use the term ‘third space practitioner’. However, we hope the chat (and accompanying Slowposium) will be engaging for all colleagues- those who identify as third space professionals, third space practitioners, those who research the third space, and those who are new to the concept, or approach it from different perspectives.

What or who is a third space professional or practitioner?

Our first conundrum is that working in the third space and self-identifying as a third space professional/practitioner are not always commensurate, and role requirements, contract types and nomenclature vary widely, as do perceptions of value associated with the terms (Caldwell, 2024, Whitchurch, 2022). There is no one definition- here we focus on sharing practice across academic and non-academic contract binaries, reflecting on how self-identifying as a third space professional gave us the ability to better articulate our work, and to pursue our commitment to teaching and learning, regardless of activity or contract type. Indeed, it is very possible to engage in third space work on academic contracts, or to hold a passion for pedagogy which manifests in multiple contract types, whether that be over the course of a ‘concertina’ career (Whitchurch, Locke & Marini, 2021) or even to be both academic and non-academic (according to HEI structures) simultaneously.

As Whitchurch (2022) notes: ‘’the concept of third space has helped to make activity that was invisible visible, and given an identity to a range of professionals who may or may not have academic contracts, even though they may have academic qualifications and be involved in aspects of teaching and research’’. For the authors, a shared interest in third space has led to connecting and collaborating across different time zones, from unknown strangers to co-organisers. We connect from different aspects of third space- english language support, academic development and educational technology- to find common ground.

Why is the concept of third space important?

To put it in terms that we are all used to, third space professionals have significant impact on the teaching and learning experience at an institution, and thereby, influence many key metrics such as student results and retention, which are often used in attempts to quantify teaching excellence (in the UK, largely via the National Student Survey and HESA data).

For many students, the majority of their face-to-face learning and/or support (when considered in terms of contact hours) may be provided by staff who do not hold academic contracts. Some may be based in Schools, for example, technicians in performing arts, educational technology support, or student success advisors. Most are likely based outside Schools or Faculties, in the form of ‘support services’. Many colleagues significantly impact the student experience through non-student-facing roles, such as setting academic policy, leadership of teaching and learning related initiatives or committees, and more.

Without the concept of a third space, there is a risk of deepening a binary between academic staff, and support (or professional) staff, or in other words, of devaluing the work of professional services staff. This is not intended to undermine the important work of staff who are neither academic nor third space (Moreau & Wheeler, 2024), but to highlight the importance of fostering collaboration and connection at a time when student support, whether that be mental health awareness, english language support, academic integrity training, research methods support, library support, technical support, academic writing support etc. is more important than ever to help scaffold and sustain student learning. Students are not just faced with new questions around the use of generative AI or language support tools, they are likely to be caring for others, working and/or commuting long distances to study. The valuable work that third space practitioners do to support teaching and learning endeavours needs to be recognised and supported on a structural level. In this way, all HEI staff can work together towards ‘providing a contribution’ (Rosewell & Ashwin, 2019), to the development of students and an improved society.

References

Caldwell, J. (2024). ‘Nomenclature in higher education: “non-academic” as a construct.’ Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. 46:5, 507-522. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2024.2306569

McIntosh, E. and D. Nutt (2022). The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner in Higher Education: Studies in Third Space Professionalism. London: Routledge.

Moreau, M, and Wheeler, L. (2024). Doing the Dirty Work of Academia? Ancillary Staff in Higher Education. Research Report. Society for Research into Higher Education. https://srhe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/MOREAUwheelerReport.pdf

Rosewell, K., and Ashwin, P. (2019). ‘Academics’ perceptions of what it means to be an academic’. Studies in Higher Education. 44:12, 2374-2384. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1499717

Whitchurch, C. (2008). Shifting identities and blurring boundaries: The emergence of Third Space Professionals in UK Higher Education. Higher Education Quarterly. 62(4), 377–396. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00387.x

Whitchurch, C. (2013). Reconstructing Identities in Higher Education: The Rise of Third Space Professionals. New York: Routledge.

Whitchurch, C. (2022). From ‘working in third space’ to ‘third space professionals’. Third Space Perspectives – Exploring Integrated Practice. Published 22^nd September 2022. https://www.thirdspaceperspectives.com/blog/tothirdspaceprofessionals

Whitchurch, C., Locke, W., and Marini, G., (2021). “Challenging Career Models in Higher Education: The Influence of Internal Career Scripts and the Rise of the ‘Concertina’ Career”. Higher Education 82(3): 635-650.

Veles, N. (2023). Optimising the Third Space in Higher Education: Case Studies of Intercultural and Cross-Boundary Collaboration. New York: Taylor and Francis.

Author Biographies

Wendy Taleo: I am an enthusiastic and creative Education Designer and Technologist. After completing a degree at Deakin University, a career started working for a large corporation in the Information Technology (IT) field. This included over 10 years working in desktop support (>3,000 clients), network management (nationwide) and team leadership. My career was extended through IT volunteer and agency work in the South Pacific. Back in Australia, the formal Education sector provided a move into Education Technology. Completing a Masters of Arts in Online and Distance Education (MAODE) in 2019 through the Open University, UK, I continue my passion in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) across diverse sectors and disciplines. My current role at Monash University is as an Education Designer working with academics from a variety of disciplines to improve teaching and learning. My role includes project management, LMS design and publishing on the teaching and learning hub.

Dr Maeve O’Dwyer, SFHEA, is an Academic Developer working at the Teaching Enhancement Unit at Dublin City University (DCU), and an Educational Contributor to Portal, Trinity College Dublin’s centre for innovation and entrepreneurship. As someone who has held a variety of academic and non-academic contracts post-Phd, often simultaneously, Maeve is passionate about the importance of third space in identity formation, and towards the pursuit of best practice through critical reflection. Maeve teaches history of art, pedagogy, and entrepreneurship, and is External Examiner at Buckinghamshire New University for routes to Fellowship of Advance HE. Maeve is co-founder of a research group on third space professionals called HETS. She is happy to be contacted about potential research and/or collaborations in pedagogy, educational development, art history, entrepreneurship education, or third space.

Dr Malgorzata (Gosia) Drewniok is the Assistant Director for International Student Success at University of Bristol. She started her career in UK HE teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP), study and research skills, and linguistics, before moving on to leadership roles. Before joining Bristol, she was the Head of International College at University of Lincoln. Having started in teaching-focused academic roles and then moving to support roles in Professional Services, Gosia felt she needed to rethink her professional identity and thus stumbled upon the idea of third space. Since then, she has been passionate about advocating for third space professionals, sharing her experience, and highlighting the benefits of operating in the third space. She has a PhD in Linguistics and does her best to remain research-active. She is co-founder of a research group on third space professionals called HETS, and is particularly interested in the intersectionality between HE leadership and third space.

Posted in announcement | Tagged education, Higher Education, learning, news, teaching | 1 Comment

#LTHEChat 307: Digital Storytelling: Encouraging Authenticity in HE?

Posted on November 7, 2024 by susan89706

Led by Richard Beggs @RbeggsDL

puppet skeletons holding swords and shields on a stage depicting Children of the Hydra's Teeth by David Falkner — Children of the Hydra’s Teeth by David Falkner CCBY https://flic.kr/p/2njSYJ7

All too often these days we are bombarded with the latest news on Generative AI, from being replaced as educators by bots to students using emerging tools to write assignments. I often wonder if we are caught up in the hyperbole of companies trying to sell their wares. Don’t worry, I am not going to go down the path explaining Generative AI, when just a few short weeks ago Gerhard Kristandl did such an excellent job on this already. What I am going to explore is how storytelling can potentially act as an antidote to the current AI rhetoric and bring the human aspect to the forefront.

My Storytelling Awakening

Whilst studying Visual Communication at the Art College in Belfast (Now known as Belfast School of Art, Ulster University) in the late 1990s I often used storytelling as a tool to enhance the poster, magazine, website or interactive objects I was designing as part of my student projects. This continued into my professional career when I worked in design agencies and software companies, using storytelling to help sell the clients’ product or service. For me, storytelling has been central to everything I do. Even now as a senior lecturer in HE Practice I utilise storytelling methodology to explain complex concepts, influence others or to demonstrate impact, but where did my interest in storytelling come from and is it useful to Higher Education learning and teaching practice?

Growing up in the 1980’s in Northern Ireland it was quite a troubled period in history. On a nightly basis the TV news was constantly showing the devastation caused by bombs and tragedies, I was terrified. Reflecting on this as an adult I now realise that I sought to escape the world around me through watching tv shows or movies and immersing myself in my Commodore Vic-20 computer. I would spend hours watching re-runs of Lost in Space, Land of Giants and any other fantasy and science fiction shows I could find. Movies were also very important, “Star Wars”, “Indiana Jones”, “Superman”, however the standout memories of stories and going on an adventure were from the movies of the late and great Ray Harryhausen. From “The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad” and “One million Years B.C.” to “Jason and the Argonauts”. One movie that sticks with me to this day is “Clash of the Titans”, which is probably due to the fact that it was released within my lifetime. This is where I became aware that emotion was a powerful tool in storytelling. Ray Harryhausen was probably the first person to successfully bring his animated creatures to life, they felt pain, love, joy and sorrow and the audience believed they were real.

My other passion and vessel for escapism was my Commodore Vic-20, my first personal computer. Quite basic (no pun intended) in today’s terms, but at the time it was state-of-the-art and I loved it. I would spend countless hours playing chess against the computer, playing video games, granted a lot of the time was waiting for the games to load from the cassette. However, what I waited for with bated breath was my Input magazine that my dad purchased from the local newsagents. It was fantastic, it walked through the foundations of programming in Basic, the hardware and the peripherals I could add to my Christmas list, but the thing I enjoyed the most was animating and illustrating using ASCII characters. Each issue came with a tutorial to follow, where I typed the printed code and hit run to watch an ASCII animation. Most of the time I got an error either through a typo on my part or that of the publisher. They often printed an addendum in the next issue of where the typo was to be found. This is where my problem-solving skills were developed at an early age as I didn’t have the patience to wait for the next issue to see the animation I had spent hours setting up. As with storytelling my digital skills have continued to be critical to my career, but I often found it difficult to combine them in my roles in Higher Education. Until I discovered digital storytelling.

What is Digital Storytelling?

The term was originally coined by Dana Atchley and his work along with Joe Lambert and Nina Mullen in the 1980s and 1990s led to the creation of the Center for Digital Storytelling (McLellan, 2007) and the Digital Storytelling Cookbook (Lambert, 2010). It is widely agreed that Digital Storytelling in its basic terms uses recorded spoken word, supplemented with photographs, text or imagery that are combined in a short video file which can range from 2-5 minutes. Daniel Meadows described them as radio with pictures (Meadows, 2003) which is a very apt description of a digital story. Chris Thomson (Thomson, 2020) from Jisc did a lot of work in the last few years promoting its use in education and research across the UK and it is from him where my eureka moment was born, and my storytelling and digital passions fused together. So began my digital storytelling journey.

When working within academia you always get asked who else has done this, is it effective, how do you know it works? An evidence-based approach is paramount. As I mentioned Chris Thomson was key in influencing in my practice and he directed me to the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, who have been utilising digital storytelling for a while in higher education (Strathclyde, 2017) particularly around creating and sharing stories about research. Liz Austen, Nathanial Pickering, and Marie Judge explored if digital storytelling was a useful reflection tool and mode to convey students’ HE transition stories (Austen et al, 2021). An example of an emotive digital story I collaborated on with a colleague, Maire Braniff can be watched online.

How can Digital Storytelling be used in HE?

From my experience the process of creating digital stories enhances digital capabilities and reflective practice (Alexandra, 2008), promotes creativity, self-reflection, planning and concise writing skills (Beggs, 2022 & McLellan, 2007). The authentic approach to building a digital story, through emotive script writing, storyboarding, using your own images and voice isn’t something that AI can currently replicate, and this is where the human aspect of creating a story becomes invaluable. I have used digital storytelling in staff CPD workshops, brought into assessments at undergraduate and postgraduate courses and utilised in initial teaching training at Ulster University. Valuing the potential impact that digital storytelling could have on education I have jointly created a Jisc community with colleagues from Durham University and Jisc. If you want to share your story or just to listen to others’, please get involved.

I have told my story which is a cumulation of my experiences, is it authentic, I think so. Is digital storytelling an antidote to Generative AI in Higher Education? Only time will tell.

References

Alexandra, D. (2008), ‘Digital storytelling as transformative practice: Critical analysis and creative expression in the representation of migration in Ireland’, Journal of Media Practice 9: 2, pp. 101-112, doi: 10.1386/jmpr.9.2.101/1

Liz Austen, Nathaniel Pickering & Marie Judge (2021) Student reflections on the pedagogy of transitions into higher education, through digital storytelling, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45:3, 337-348, DOI: 10.1080/0309877X.2020.1762171

Beggs, RTG. Digital Storytelling: encouraging active learning through collaborative team projects (2022) 100 Ideas for Active Learning. Open Press Sussex University https://doi.org/10.20919/OPXR1032/55

Meadows, D. (2003). Digital Storytelling: Research-Based Practice in New Media. Visual Communication, 2(2), 189–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357203002002004

University of Strathclyde. (2017). Your research is a story…so why not learn how to tell it? https://ewds.strath.ac.uk/storytelling/Home.aspx

Thomson, C. (2020, September 22). Add digital storytelling to your online learning toolkit. Jisc. http://inspiringlearning.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2020/09/digital-storytelling-online-learning/

Lambert, J. (2022). StoryCenter: Listen Deeply Tell Stories. Center for Digital Storytelling. https://www.storycenter.org/

Lambert, J. (2010). Digital storytelling cookbook. Digital Diner Press. https://lthechat.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/031c7-cookbook_full.pdf

McLellan, H. Digital storytelling in higher education. J. Comput. High. Educ. 19, 65–79 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033420 

Author Biography

Richard Beggs, NTF, PFHEA, CMALT is a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education Practice at Ulster University based in the Centre for Curriculum Enhancement and Approval. Richard has led several initiatives at Ulster University that have transformed student learning experiences such as Apps for Active Learning, Digital Storytelling, Student Learning Partners, Active Learning Champions and Learning Landscapes. He leads Ulster University’s Advance HE Fellowship Accreditation and also teaches on the MEd in HE Practice programme. Outside of Ulster Richard is the Chair of the ALT Active Learning Special Interest Group, a Jisc Community Champion, Co-Lead Jisc Digital Storytelling Community, a member of the Active Learning Network and an Advance HE Accreditor.

Posted in announcement | Leave a comment

#LTHEChat 306: Together we thrive: exploring the impact of mentoring for higher education staff development

Posted on November 5, 2024 by susan89706

Led by Neil Ford @NeilJohnFord

Mentoring is increasingly recognized as a high-impact approach to student learning and support (Lochtie and McConnell, 2024), but what about its value in developing staff in higher education? This #LTHEChat will explore our experiences and values in relation to mentoring for staff development in our roles in learning and teaching.

Mentoring is widespread! It is often a formal component of professional development programmes for HE staff (e.g. leadership development programmes). Mentoring can be highly structured and aligned to a specific development goal (such as achieving AdvanceHE Fellowship), or a particular role (for example being an effective programme leader). Mentoring can also be much less formal (e.g. general support for the professional development of the mentee), but what is mentoring and what does it involve?

What is mentoring?

Let’s look at some definitions…

“Mentoring in the workplace describes a relationship in which a more experienced colleague shares their greater knowledge to support the development of an inexperienced individual. It calls on the skills of questioning, listening, clarifying and reframing that are [also] associated with coaching.” (CIPD, 2024)

It’s interesting that this definition focusses on the mentor being more experienced which could also imply a power difference between the mentor and mentee. How can we reconcile this with peer mentoring that is a relationship between people with similar experience levels, power, or roles? Or with emerging techniques for reverse mentoring that disrupt traditional power imbalances (Gordon, 2022)?

David Clutterbuck offers a less hierarchical definition that focusses on what participants do in a mentoring relationship:

“Mentoring involves primarily listening with empathy, sharing experience (usually mutually), professional friendship, developing insight through reflection, being a sounding board, encouraging”. (Clutterbuck, 2014)

Clutterbuck also highlights that “a single definition of mentoring eludes us and perhaps it always will” (Clutterbuck et al., 2017). The nature of mentoring can therefore vary widely depending on the context, the experience and power differences of the mentor and mentee, whether it is formal or informal, and many other factors…

What do mentors do?

Perhaps it is more helpful to look at some of the things that mentors do. The role of the mentor can include:

working together/ collaborating (for example work shadowing or project work)
sharing experiences (storytelling)
providing a confidential space (impartial listening and supporting without judgement)
coaching (asking challenging questions to promote learning and develop new perspectives)
advising (e.g. ‘if I were in your situation…’)
guiding (sharing knowledge and information)
sounding board (listen and help develop thoughts and ideas)
sponsor/ patron (introduction to networks or resources that may benefit the mentee)
critical friend (develop trust to provide honest and constructive feedback)
catalyst (motivate or build confidence towards action)

(adapted from Lawton Smith, 2020)

Mentoring skills and development

This leads us to ask what makes an effective mentor? Listening and questioning are clearly important skills, but more importantly it would be difficult to be an effective mentor without a strong motivation towards supporting others’ development. Like any relationship, self-awareness and empathy are critical in terms of understanding the impact of your actions as a mentor on the mentee (Klasen, 2004). Distinct from coaching, some knowledge or experience of the context are also essential and, depending on the type of mentoring, access to resources and networks that can be shared with the mentee may also be important attributes. I would also add that a strong commitment to developing as a mentor is essential. Like any practice, it is important to reflect on what has worked and what could be done differently to support mentees better. This also raises the question of mentor training and support: how can organizations best support mentors and the development of an effective mentoring culture?

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

My final point for consideration is an emerging awareness of the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education. We should highlight that mentoring can come with privilege, especially in models that include sponsorship or patronage in the role of the mentor (European models tend to focus more on learning and development, whereas North American models may focus more on ‘sponsorship’ (Klasen, 2004)). Whilst mentoring has great potential for sharing social capital, confidence, and lived experience for underrepresented groups, we also need to accept that, unless we are careful about our definitions it may also create privileged and inequitable access to opportunities, resources, and networks. Food for thought…

I’m really looking forward to exploring these ideas and sharing the experiences of the wonderful #LTHEChat community. I hope to see you there!

References

CIPD (2024) Coaching and Mentoring Factsheet. Available at: https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/factsheets/coaching-mentoring-factsheet/ (Accessed: 29/10/2024).

Clutterbuck, D. (2014) Everyone Needs a Mentor. 5th edition. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Clutterbuck, D., Kochan, F., Lunsford, L., Dominguez, N., and Haddock-Millar, J. (2017) The SAGE Handbook of Mentoring. London: SAGE.

Gordon, P. (2022) Reverse Mentoring: Removing Barriers and Building Belonging in the Workplace. London: Piakus Books

Klasen, N. (2004) Implementing Mentoring Schemes. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.

Lawton Smith, C. (2020) Executive Leaders Peer Mentoring Handbook. York: AdvanceHE.

Lochtie, D., and McConnell, C. (2024) Student-led peer learning and support. York: AdvanceHE. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/student-led-peer-learning-and-support (Accessed: 29/10/2024).

Author Biography

Neil Ford is a National Teaching Fellow (2024) and Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE. Neil is passionate about the power of peer support for both students and staff in higher education. He is driven by his own experiences as a first-generation student in the late 1990’s and strives to develop inclusive learning communities that can help all learners to develop identity and belonging at the same time as sharing knowledge and good practice.

In his role as a Principal Teaching Fellow (Academic Development) in the Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP) at the University of Southampton, Neil focusses on developing networks and communities of practice as an approach to academic development. Emerging work centres on developing peer support for educational leadership roles such as Programme Leads. Neil reflects that many of the approaches successful with students, for example, developing partnership and community, creating opportunities for active learning and practice, and utilising peer support are also highly effective approaches to supporting academics to develop their practice.

Neil is an active scholar and has authored several peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters and conference presentations in the fields of student peer support, student partnership and co-creation, digital learning resources, and programme leadership.

Posted in announcement | Tagged education, Leadership, mentor, mentoring, mentorship | Leave a comment

#LTHEChat 305: Celebrating 10 years of #LTHEchat: A Decade of Learning, Collaboration, and Community

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Gustavo Espinoza

Led by Sue Beckingham @suebecks

LTHEchat

This month marks an incredible milestone for #LTHEchat as we celebrate 10 years of insightful conversations, global connections, and professional growth. What began as a simple idea to bring educators together for an hour each week to discuss the challenges and innovations in higher education, has now blossomed into a thriving community. Over the past decade, we’ve hosted more than 300 chats, collaborated with educators across the globe, and provided a platform for educators to learn, share, and lead.

A Look Back: 10 Years of Impact

Since its launch in 2014, #LTHEchat has become much more than just a weekly Twitter chat. It’s a place where educators from around the world can connect with peers, share resources, and explore the future of teaching and learning in higher education. Each week, we discuss topics that matter from student engagement to digital learning, inclusive teaching practices, and the future of higher education. With guest experts contributing their knowledge and participants sharing their experiences, every chat offers something valuable.

We’ve also built lasting relationships with educational organisations such as Advance HE and the Association for Learning Technology, engaging in collaborative chats that broaden perspectives; introduce new learning and teaching approaches and resources; and extend our community. These partnerships have enriched our discussions and highlighted the strength of collaboration between educators in higher education.

The Organising Team: Behind the scenes

Our success wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated team of volunteers who manage each chat. The organising team works tirelessly behind the scenes, from reaching out to guest speakers to publishing blog posts, designing promotional tweets, and managing the live chat itself. These educators donate their time and energy to ensure that #LTHEchat continues to run smoothly, week after week.

A big thank you to the amazing volunteers and mentors who have contributed their time as members of the organising groups so far.

Image of LTHEchat organising team — LTHEchat Organising Team

Many volunteers who have been part of the organising team have found it to be an opportunity for leadership and professional development, providing evidence for SFHEA, NTF and CMALT applications. Team members gain valuable experience in event planning, digital communication, and even mentorship, as they guide new members through the process. To recognise these contributions, we offer open badges to our organising team members, mentors, and guest speakers. These certifications can proudly be added to professional profiles, portfolios and CVs.

A big thank you goes to Deb Baff and Teresa McKinnon who lead the open digital badges scheme.

Images of Deb Badd and Teresa McKinnon — Deb Baff and Teresa McKinnon

#LTHEchat Golden Tweeter Award

We introduced the #LTHEchat Golden Tweeter Award in 2015 for colleagues who have shown sustained engagement, commitment, insight and open sharing to the LTHEchat community. There is no fixed number of award winners per year and individuals can be nominated by the community and are also selected by the LTHEchat team.

Awards have been given to:

2015: Prof. Simon Lancaster and Simon Rae

2016: Neil Withnell, Dr Hala Mansour and Dr Chris Jobling

2017: Dr Anne Nortcliffe and Teresa MacKinnon

2018: Dr Scott Turner and Sarah Honeychurch

2019: Professor Sally Brown and Professor Phil Race

2020: Dr Nathalie Sheridan, Dr Dawne Irving-Bell and Dr Chris Jobling

2021: Rachelle O’Brien and Kiu Sum

2023: Louise Rees, Sandra Sinfield, Danielle Hinton, Paul Kleiman and Santanu Vasant

2024: James Youdale, Martin Rich, Mary Jacob and Su-Ming Choo

Image of the LTHEcaht Golder Tweeter Award — LTHEchat Golden Tweeter Award

Why #LTHEchat matters to our community

At its heart, #LTHEchat is about learning together. Each week, participants bring their ideas, experiences, and resources to the table, contributing to a collective pool of knowledge. It’s not just about answering questions, it’s about creating dialogue, sparking new ideas, and applying what we’ve learned to our own learning and teaching practices. The real value of the chat lies in its ability to bring together educators who, despite their diverse backgrounds and roles, share a common goal to improve teaching and learning for their students.

Over the years, #LTHEchat has provided a space where professional development happens organically, and a place to create a learning community. Whether it’s discovering a new resource, finding a solution to a challenge, or connecting with a peer in another part of the world, our participants frequently share the value they gain from joining the chat.

Looking ahead: The Future of #LTHEchat

As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we’re not just reflecting on the past, we’re looking toward the future. What new trends will shape higher education in the next decade? How can we continue to foster innovation, collaboration, and leadership through this chat? These are the questions that will guide us as we enter the next chapter of #LTHEchat.

We invite all of you – whether you’re a longtime participant or someone new to our community to join us in celebrating this special milestone. We’re planning a special anniversary chat, where we’ll reflect on the journey so far and look ahead to the future of higher education. Keep the date in your diary and please share your favourite moments using the #LTHEchat hashtag.

Here’s to the next decade of learning, leading, and connecting!

Volunteering as a guest or member of the organising team

If you would like to volunteer for a future #LTHEchat organising team please complete this expression of interest

If you would like to volunteer to be a guest for #LTHEchat please complete this expression of interest

Posted in announcement | Tagged 10thanniversary, blog, education, learning, LTHEchat, news, organisingteam, teaching | Leave a comment

#LTHEChat 304: Exploring and integrating Education for Sustainable Development into your context

Posted on October 18, 2024 by susan89706

Led by Ros Beaumont (@RosBeaumont), Emma McColloch (@EmmaMcC86075031) and Michelle Black (@black_sfhea)

In this week’s #LTHEChat we’d like to delve into the world of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Specifically, we are keen to hear what everyone’s already doing in this area (a chance to share practice, experience and useful resources) but to take the opportunity to ‘zoom out’ and look at the ESD landscape more broadly, and to identify any implications for educators and their students, for institutions, and for those who lead on academic and educational development in this area.

From reading our short biographies you’ll get the sense that we are passionate about ESD, and (when time allows), we’ve worked on a range of things – small and large in our respective contexts (and sometimes together!).

What do we understand by the term ‘ESD’?
One way of defining it is offered by UNESCO (2023):

“ESD gives learners of all ages the knowledge, skills, values and agency to address interconnected global challenges including climate change, loss of biodiversity, unsustainable use of resources, and inequality. It empowers learners of all ages to make informed decisions and take individual and collective action to change society and care for the planet. ESD is a lifelong learning process and an integral part of quality education. It enhances the cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural dimensions of learning and encompasses learning content and outcomes, pedagogy and the learning environment itself.”

However, since work around ESD began it’s fair to say that there has been some ‘mission creep’ and having greater conceptual clarity around ESD is needed to allow its purpose and visibility to not be diluted (a key finding of Vogel et al’s (2023) AdvanceHE-funded literature review). A great research project there in the offing for someone!

In practice, the focus appears to have shifted from competency development towards a more holistic approach, integrating knowledge, competencies, values and ‘action-readiness’. This highlights a goal of empowering students to become as change agents, although more is needed around ‘behaviour change’ so that students feel prepared and able to effect change (e.g. Algurén, 2021), working in partnership with students, and within the academia, but the crucial need to involve external partners.

Interconnectedness
ESD would seem in essence to be about transformation for students, colleagues, and institutions. It encourages students to develop an appreciation for the complexity of interconnected and pressing societal and environmental issues at regional, national and global scales, and the multi-faceted ways required to understand and approach them (hence why drawing multi-inter- and trans-disciplinary learning and pedagogies can be useful in this space – e.g. Horn et al, 2022).

ESD also offers the opportunity for transformation in terms of institutional structures, including how to offer provision which draws on different disciplinary expertise within the constraints of how funding follows students within a particular context. This isn’t always an easy road and there are things to learn along the way. During the #LTHEChat, it would be great to hear the experience of others who are working on introducing and/ or embedding ESD within their context at scale, and also how it they feel it has impacted on them as individuals

Not a bolt-on
One of the wonderful aspects of ESD, which at the same time presents real challenges in terms of practice, is its potential to impact on across all learning, teaching and assessment activities. Smaller scale or one-off initiatives may not have longer lasting impact but they can provide opportunities for pilot projects which can then be scaled.

Due to its recognition of complexity and interconnection within and between society and environment, ESD invites itself (or perhaps demands) to be an integral thread through curriculum and educational practices, in a similar way to digital education, inclusive practice, or ‘employability’.

Through dialogue with colleagues across the sector, questions can be raised about the relevance of ESD within all disciplines are also raised. That said, there are examples of institutions who have embedded ESD and related practice into a range of disciplines (not necessarily the ones that first come to mind) or have developed an ESD-related module which is available (and possibly mandatory) for groups of students. As always, context is key.

How do we go about it though?
ESD approaches vary by context, with no standardised formula for pedagogical decisions. Vogel et al (2023:8) emphasise the educators’ role in selecting appropriate methods. For example, common approaches taken to develop sustainability competencies include “project- or problem-based learning across disciplines, projects with external partners, real-world examples and conceptual approaches such as environmental justice”. These approaches integrate complexity, purpose, and holistic development, but are they universally applicable across disciplines? Do they always focus on solutions, or is their scope broader?

The role of personal development and reflective practice
There’s been a growth in the use of reflection on personal/ academic/ professional experiences through the academy as a way to facilitate students’ individual development. Developing greater self-awareness through reflective practice offers students a way to not only develop on a personal level but to bring a greater sense of awareness to their interactions with others and of their surrounding context/ environment(s). We’d suggest this requires more emphasis in the ESD and related spaces as reflective practice can be a key enabler of much the transformative learning alluded to earlier.

To end, we leave you with a take on the why of ESD :

“ESD recognises that education in its current form is unsustainable and requires radical change. The goal here is large-scale collective transformation of a profound nature, beyond changing personal values and consumer behaviour. Universities are uniquely placed to bring this about, as collectivities of learners and researchers in a range of disciplines with a civic concern that connects them with their local communities and the world of work.” (Vogel et al, 2023:6)

This really brings focus to the question of what is (higher) education for, if not for the betterment (and preservation) of our world – environment and society? And if we buy in to that, is ESD an essential underpinning pedagogical approach to assist in the achievement of that aim? Discuss!

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on any of the above and in response to our #LTHEChat questions.

References

Advance HE and Quality Assurance Agency (2021) Education for sustainable development guidance. York: Advance HE; and Gloucester: The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

Algurén, B (2021) ‘How to bring about change – a literature review about education and learning activities for sustainable development’, Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education, 12 (1): 5-21.

Gardiner, S and Rieckmann, M (2015) ‘Pedagogies of preparedness: use of reflective journals in the operationalisation and development of anticipatory competence’, Sustainability, 7 (8): 10554-10575.

Horn A, Scheffelaar A, Urias E and Zweekhorst M (2022) ‘Training students for complex sustainability issues: a literature review on the design of inter- and transdisciplinary higher education’, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 24 (1): 1-27.

UNESCO (2017) Education for Sustainable Development Goals: learning objectives. Paris: UNESCO. Available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247444

UNESCO (2023) What you need to know about education for sustainable development. Paris: UNESCO. Available at: https://www.unesco.org/en/sustainable-development/education/need-know

Vogel M, Parker L, Porter J, O’Hara M, Tebbs E, Gard R, He X, Gallimore J-B (2023) Education for Sustainable Development: a review of the literature 2015-2022. AdvanceHE. Accessed from: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/education-sustainable-development-review-literature-2015-2022

Author Biographies

Rosalind Beaumont

Rosalind Beaumont is an educator, academic and leader in academic and researcher development, with expertise and research interests in inclusive doctoral education, professional learning for educators and researchers – around mentoring and reflective practice, digital education, and Education for Sustainable Development. She works across contexts and disciplines in her roles as Director of Education for School X (interdisciplinary school), Learning and Teaching Mentor, and module leader/ contributor to the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Researcher Education and Development Programme at Newcastle University. At Durham University she is leading the development of educational provision around interdisciplinary research.

Dr Emma McCulloch

Dr Emma McCulloch has 18 years of experience in teaching and Educational Professional Development. Emma is a Senior Fellow HEA and a Master of Education, with a particular interest in Learning and Teaching professional development. She taught for 12 years in secondary education, moving over to Higher Education 6 year ago. Her current role as lead in Academic Practice has enabled her to support colleagues thinking around curriculum design, assessment and feedback approaches and inclusive teaching approaches. More recently, Emma’s been involved with the Sustainable Development committee at Newcastle University focusing on how to embed the SDGs into curriculum across the university and develop colleague’s awareness and understanding of what this all means.

Michelle Black

Michelle Black has more than 20 years of experience in professionally supporting and developing research, teaching and learning practices in higher education. Michelle is a Senior Fellow HEA and has a Master of Education, with a particular interest in learning design and curriculum development. Her role focuses on working in collaboration with colleagues to facilitate the design and development of quality educational practices, accessible and inclusive education. Along with focusing more recently on embedding SDGs in the curriculum and supporting students and colleagues to enhance SDG knowledge and skills development across the student journey.

Posted in announcement | Tagged education, learning, pedagogy, sustainability, teaching | Leave a comment

#LTHEChat 303: Generative AI in HE – Beyond the Hype and the Fear: Some Provocations to Challenge Your Assumptions (or Alleviate Your Concerns)

Posted on October 11, 2024 by quirksahern

Led by Gerhard Kristandl (@drkristandl)

A toolbox containing a range of digital and intelligent tools

When I open this blog post by stating “generative AI has taken the world by storm”, then I’m sure that you have heard (or read) that before. A whirlwind of hype, hope, and fear has swept not only through higher education, but society at large. In the AI-related trainings, workshops, and talks I run for my fellow educators, I often come across the same set of pervasive ‘myths’ – or rather persistent statements – about AI’s impact on teaching and learning, amidst the frenzy and the “fast-paced developments in the realm of education” (if I mimic a typical GenAI-generated phrase). In this post, I will briefly examine six of these ‘myths’ and reflect on a more nuanced reality, in hopes of triggering reflections, challenging assumptions, and – hopefully – alleviating concerns. Disclaimer at this point: When I write ‘AI’ in this blog post, I mean ‘generative AI’ (as technically speaking, the two terms are not synonymous, but often synonymously used).

About the Capabilities and Limitations of Generative AI

One seemingly common misconception I come across in my training participants is that ‘AI is the same as ChatGPT’. Of course, OpenAI has kicked off the AI-wave when launching ChatGPT in November 2022, so it’s unsurprising that “ChatGPT” is equated widely to “AI” (or rather “Generative AI”), similar to “hoover” being used synonymously with “vacuum cleaner” – first-mover advantage and good branding. However, while ChatGPT is currently the most well-known generative AI tool, it is far from the only one. A vast ecosystem of AI models with diverse capabilities is rapidly expanding – Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity, Midjourney, Adobe Firefly – I could go on and on. Equating all generative AI with ChatGPT only ignores this kaleidoscope of AI tools, from varying capabilities (text, images, audio, etc.) to availability (closed and open source) to training data and use cases.

About the Impact of Generative AI on Education

There are some concerns that generative AI will stifle student creativity (Atkinson and Barker, 2023). After all, just ask it to perform a task for you, and it does it, right? No more creativity needed, then? Not quite! At the end of the day, it is a question of ‘how’ it is being used. If GenAI is stifling student creativity – we’re doing it wrong. AI can inspire – not stifle – creativity by exposing learners to diverse ideas and prompting original thinking (Inie et al., 2023). Sure, using it as an essay-spewing machine, accepting its output uncritically, won’t achieve this. But using it as an ideation facilitator, a brainstorming tool, to support and trigger creative thinking processes, and it’s a different story. The key is how we use technology – for evil or for good. Teaching students to use AI as a brainstorming tool, not a crutch, is paramount, and it falls back on the human educator to be in charge of the AI (Mollick, 2024a).

Closely related to this comes the perception that critical thinking skills may no longer be relevant if students and educators can just ask an AI tool to do the thinking for them. Again, here is a reminder that it’s ‘how’ – not ‘that’ – AI is used. Of course, it can provide quick answers and seemingly well-crafted arguments, but it is crucial to recognize that these outputs are based on patterns in the AI’s training data, not genuine understanding or reasoning (Prade, 2016). Responses may not be the final article, and blindly accepting AI-generated responses without critical evaluation can lead to the perpetuation of biases and inaccuracies present in the training data, and shallow thinking in students and educators alike.

However, when used as a tool to augment and enhance human critical thinking, generative AI can facilitate sharpening these essential skills. By presenting diverse perspectives and prompting students to interrogate the logic and evidence behind AI-generated arguments, educators can create valuable opportunities for critical analysis and debate (Berg and Plessis, 2023). The key is to teach students to approach AI outputs with a critical lens, asking questions like: What assumptions underlie this argument? What evidence supports or refutes it? What perspectives might be missing? By engaging in this type of critical dialogue with AI, students can develop a deeper understanding of the complexities and nuances of the topics they are studying, ultimately strengthening their own critical thinking abilities.

About Strategies for Engaging with Generative AI

Although becoming less and less prevalent since early 2023, the belief that banning AI is advisable and possible is still widely found amongst educators (Xiao et al., 2023), seemingly often born out of hope that ‘this soon will be over’. However, it still rings true today as it did in early 2023, what proponents for ‘engaging’ (rather than ‘embracing’ – thank you, Martin Compton) have been repeating time and again – that prohibition is neither practical nor beneficial in the long run (Volante et al., 2023). As these tools become ubiquitous, students need to learn to use them responsibly, and outright banning them rather would drive many into the very thing a ban aims to avoid – unethical uses, cheating, and added to that, poor AI literacy. Like it or not, but engaging thoughtfully with AI, rather than futile bans, raising AI literacy and critical exposure to it is the path forward.

Closely linked to this is the misconception (I daresay – hope) that so-called AI detectors can reliably distinguish AI-generated text from human writing. The bad news is that there is no such app for that. As studies (e.g., Liang et al., 2023; Sadasivan et al. 2024) and thought leaders (Furze, 2023; Mollick, 2024b) have shown, these tools largely overstate their success rates, whilst remaining opaque about their approaches and methods. These detectors often produce false positives, disadvantage non-English native speakers, and struggle to keep up with the sheer speed AI is developing (Furze, 2023). Not only are these detectors unreliable, but relying on them is outright dangerous and does a disservice to the students, unfairly penalizing them.

About the Future of Generative AI in Higher Education

Despite sensational predictions, AI will not render human educators obsolete. Yes, the technology has the potential to enhance learning with personalized feedback and content; AI avatars based on especially trained large-language models can interact with students already (Fink et al., 2024), but it cannot replace the nuance, intrinsic experience, empathy, mentorship, and adaptability of skilled teachers (Pila, 2023). After all, we are talking about sophisticated algorithms, not self-aware AI that is at the time of writing still the fabric of science fiction. It may replace tasks and run processes it can do better in the future, but replacing human educators altogether? Not anytime soon! The future lies in human-AI collaboration and ‘co-intelligence’ (Mollick, 2024a), not replacement; in enhancement through technology, not elimination.

Now what?

Of course, many more myths and misconceptions need critical discourse and debate. We are all together in largely uncharted waters. Generative AI has moved past the Peak of Inflated Expectations in Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies and is at the brink of the Trough of Disillusionment, where the hype is starting to cool down. It seems that every day, there are quantum leaps in what ‘AI’ can do. But as we grapple with real-world challenges and limitations of the technology and its impact on sustainability and the environment, we must steer clear of these often-simplistic myths. The reality is more complex and filled with both challenges and opportunities. Neither must we be completely for or against AI. By engaging critically, cautiously, but optimistically, teaching responsible use, and leveraging them to augment rather than replace human instruction, I hope we can harness GenAI’s potential to enhance learning for all our students and us.

References

Atkinson, D., & Barker, D. (2023). AI and the social construction of creativity. Convergence, 29, 1054 – 1069. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231187730.

Berg, G., & Plessis, E. (2023). ChatGPT and Generative AI: Possibilities for Its Contribution to Lesson Planning, Critical Thinking and Openness in Teacher Education. Education Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100998.

Compton, M. (2024a) Navigating the AI landscape in he: Six opinions, HEducationist. Available at: https://mcompton.uk/2024/07/06/navigating-the-ai-landscape-in-he-six-opinions/ (Accessed: 06 October 2024).

Fink, M.C., Robinson, S.A., and Ertl, B. (2024). AI-based avatars are changing the way we learn and teach: benefits and challenges. Frontiers in Education. 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1416307

Furze, L. (2023) ‘AI Detection in Education is a Dead End’, *Leon Furze*, 9 April. Available at: https://leonfurze.com/2024/04/09/ai-detection-in-education-is-a-dead-end/comment-page-1/ (Accessed: 1 October 2024).

Inie, N., Falk, J., & Tanimoto, S. (2023). Designing Participatory AI: Creative Professionals’ Worries and Expectations about Generative AI. Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3585657.

Liang, W., Yuksekgonul, M., Mao, Y., Wu, E., and Zou, J. (2023). GPT detectors are biased against non-native English writers. Patterns. 4:7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2023.100779

Mollick, E. (2024a). Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. New York, New York: Penguin Publishing Group

Mollick, E. (2024b) ‘Signs and Portents’, One Useful Thing, 6 January. Available at: https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/signs-and-portents (Accessed: 06 October 2024).

Pila, A. (2023). Will artificial intelligence overcome teachers that just addresses content?. Concilium. https://doi.org/10.53660/clm-1590-23j20.

Prade, H. (2016). Reasoning with Data – A New Challenge for AI?. In: Schockaert, S., Senellart, P. (eds) Scalable Uncertainty Management. SUM 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9858. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45856-4_19

Sadasivan, V.S., Kumar, A., Balasubramanian, S., Wang, W., and Feizi, S. (2024). Can AI-Generated Text be Reliabliy Detected? ArXiv, abs/2303.11156. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2303.11156

Volante, L., DeLuca, C., & Klinger, D. (2023). Leveraging AI to enhance learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 105, 40 – 45. https://doi.org/10.1177/00317217231197475.

Xiao, P., Chen, Y., & Bao, W. (2023). Waiting, Banning, and Embracing: An Empirical Analysis of Adapting Policies for Generative AI in Higher Education. ArXiv, abs/2305.18617. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4458269.

Author Biography

Dr Gerhard Kristandl is a National Teaching Fellow and an Associate Professor in Accounting and Technology-Enhanced Learning at the University of Greenwich. He has 18 years of experience in higher education across the UK, Canada, and Austria, focusing on learning technologies in HE. He is the chair of the University’s AI Special Interest Group and has talked internationally on various aspects of Generative AI in HE. He is the university lead for Mentimeter, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a former management consultant. He blogs about Generative AI on LinkedIn and Medium, and runs his own YouTube channel, with recent videos around generative AI and its applications in education. He is passionate about creating engaging and innovative learning experiences for his students and is a strong believer that generative AI makes and will make human educators even more important than ever before.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerhardkristandl/

Medium: https://medium.com/@gerhard.kristandl

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@drgeekay

Posted in announcement | Tagged AI, artificial intelligence, chatgpt, education, learning, pedagogy, powerdynamics, powergogy, research, teaching, technology | 1 Comment

#LTHEChat 302: Let’s teach and learn about power! Exploring Powergogy

Posted on October 5, 2024 by Gustavo Espinoza

Led by Pablo Dalby (@PabloDalby)

We need to talk about power.

Not just the kind of power that charges a television. I’m talking about the kinds of power relations, systems and structures that shape our world and our diverse experiences of it. Specifically, I’m talking about power in relation to formal education systems like higher education. This includes forms of power that perpetuate social injustices; that unfairly advantage some people and disadvantage others. But I’m also talking about the kinds of power that shape our agency to resist and transform inequities, the power of hope in higher education.

Yet, talking’s not enough. In my view, we need to do. We need to ‘talk the talk and walk the walk’. We need to teach and learn how to critique, challenge and change power structures. This is where my power-centred pedagogy – Powergogy – comes in. And that is what I’m looking forward to talking about with you at this week’s LTHE Tweetchat! But first, here’s a brief overview of some key ideas to set the scene ahead of our chat.

Challenging power in higher education

In some contemporary higher education (HE) contexts (e.g. in the United Kingdom) learning and teaching initiatives such as ‘peer learning,’ ‘students as partners’ and ‘inclusion’ have challenged lingering teacher-centred pedagogical orthodoxies. These learner-centred innovations make invaluable contributions. That said, I suggest that they have, for the most part, only implicitly and partially challenged relations, systems and structures of power that operate in and through HE. They don’t, I argue, amount to a concerted attempt to explicitly focus on power and place it at the centre of the process and content of teaching and learning.

What is ‘power’ (in relation to learning and teaching)?

Power is conceptualised in multiple ways. For instance, some commentators (e.g. see Lukes, 2005) have focused on forms of ‘power over’ that are exercised when a person or group has the capacity to impact other people against those peoples’ best interests. Other scholars (e.g. see VeneKlasen & Miller, 2002) remind us that power can also be understood and expressed in a less pernicious, more positive light; for example, as ‘power to’ (e.g. individual agency to do something a person wants to do) and ‘power with’ (collective agency to do something we want to do together). Theorists of power have debated the ways in which power is, for example, differently ‘possessed’ by people, ‘internalised’ by people, or better understood as an ‘authorless’ omnipresent force that flows through all aspects of our lives, shaping and being shaped by people (e.g. Foucault, 1980, Hayward, 1998). For instance, Hayward says:

Power’s mechanisms are best conceived, not as instruments powerful agents use to prevent the powerless from acting freely, but rather as social boundaries that, together, define fields of action for all actors. Power defines fields of possibility. It facilitates and constrains social action… (1998:12).

Other scholars have also discussed distinct forms, or ‘faces’, of power such as ‘visible’, ‘hidden’ and ‘invisible’ power (e.g. see Batliwala, 2019; Lukes, 2005) and the different levels and spaces power operates in (e.g. see Gaventa, 2006; Pettit, 2010). This Powercube resource visually integrates and explains more about notions of power I’ve only had time to briefly touch on here.

In terms of the relationship between power, learning and teaching, it can be argued that formal education systems like higher education are particularly influential as products and producers of social power dynamics, including inequities and inequalities. For example, some (e.g. Bourdieu and Passeron,1990) suggest that formal education functions as a mechanism for social class stratification, a way to order people hierarchically, both within education contexts and more broadly as learners and teachers take their learned ways of being (e.g. in relation to knowledge and power) into the world. My ethnographic research into how higher education contexts can reproduce inequities analyses how and why this can happen in forensic detail (Dalby, 2017). However, it also highlights the potential for pockets of space in which transformative pedagogy can provide alternatives. Enter Powergogy!

What is Powergogy?

Powergogy encompasses, builds on, and redresses the limitations of several contemporary HE initiatives (mentioned earlier) in terms of offering a means for how we can explicitly focus on power in HE and beyond. The Powergogy Framework (see the linked resources below) synthesises a set of principles and ‘big picture’ ideas about the social purpose of higher education with specific, practical activities for supporting learners and educators in developing the ‘power literacies’ to critique, challenge and change power dynamics.

For more information, here’s a short ‘Introducing Powergogy!’ YouTube vlog (video blog) for AdvanceHE, an ‘Overview of Powergogy’ on Microsoft Sway (including the Powergogy Framework) and an example of a practical activity from the Powergogy Framework in this short video on ‘Revolving Roles’ for Times Higher Education.

References

Batliwala, S. (2019). All About Power: Understanding Social Power and Power Structures. CREA.

Bourdieu, P., and Passeron, J. C. (1990). Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture (Second Edition). London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Dalby, T. P. (2017). Space for a change? An exploration of power, privilege and transformative pedagogy in a gap year education programme in South America (Doctoral dissertation, University of East Anglia).

Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977. New York: Random House.

Gaventa, J. (2006). Finding the Spaces for Change: A Power Analysis. IDS Bulletin, 37(6), 23–33.

Hayward, C. R. (1998). De-Facing Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lukes, S. (2005). Power: A Radical View (2nd ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Pettit, J. (2010). Multiple Faces of Power and Learning. IDS Bulletin, 41(3), 25–35.

VeneKlasen, L., & Miller, V. (2002). A New Weave of Power, People and Politics: The Action Guide for Advocacy and Citizen Participation. Oklahoma City, OK: World Neighbors.

Author Biography

Dr Pablo Dalby is a National Teaching Fellow, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and University Teaching Fellow at the University of East Anglia (UEA). As UEA’s Learning Enhancement Tutor for Inclusive Education, he founded and leads the cross-institutional Inclusivity Network (IN), providing continual professional development through training, guidance and support to help staff and postgraduate researchers enhance their inclusive practice.   

Across 30+ years’ experience in inclusive teaching and learning for social change in multiple contexts, and a PhD in power and transformative pedagogy, Pablo has developed a signature power-centred pedagogy. ‘Powergogy’ equips learners to critique, challenge and change the power relations that produce social inequities. This work is close to Pablo’s heart and rooted in his upbringing in (pre-gentrified) Hackney, a richly diverse yet largely impoverished area of London. For more bio info, here’s Pablo’s AdvanceHE bio, here’s Pablo’s LinkedIN profile and here’s Pablo’s one-minute video intro/bio with sensory and social descriptions.

Posted in announcement | Tagged education, learning, pedagogy, powerdynamics, powergogy, research, teaching | 1 Comment

#LTHEChat 301:How can we successfully embed retrieval practice in our teaching to improve student learning?

Posted on September 27, 2024 by susan89706

Led by Katy Burgess (@DrKatyBurgess)

There is a vast literature demonstrating that the best way to learn and retain information is by retrieving that information from memory (Yang, Luo, Vadillo, Yu, & Shanks, 2021). I like to think of memory as any other skill that you develop. If you want to learn to play an instrument or play a sport well, you practice. If you want to remember well, you have to practice (see Burgess, 2024a, for further information about how and why it works).

Beyond learning and remembering more (e.g., Yang et al., 2021), regular retrieval through testing (e.g., by answering multiple choice questions) has a range of benefits to the learner. For example, testing is more likely to lead to long-term memories (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006), it helps to identify how well students remember the information and increases their awareness of their learning (Ariel & Karpicke, 2018), boosts learning of new information presented after the test (Yang, Potts, & Shanks, 2018), reduces test anxiety (Yang et al., 2023), and enhances problem-solving (e.g., Agarwal, 2019; Wong, Ng, Tempel, & Lim, 2017).

However, there is a knowledge-practice gap, which shows that most students tend to use other learning strategies such as re-reading notes, re-watching lecture recordings, note-taking and highlighting. In a recent survey at Cardiff University, 87% of 226 first-year psychology students noted that they wanted to use retrieval practice in their learning, but that retrieval makes some students feel anxious, and many struggle to find time in their own learning to engage with it.

I recently argued how educators can help support students to allay both issues by including retrieval practice as a regular part of their teaching, and by making a safe space for students to make mistakes (Burgess, 2024b). My experience of both formative and low-stakes summative quizzing in lecture settings is that students really enjoy the opportunity, and particularly value getting live feedback to support their learning. Students learn a lot from making mistakes (Gartmeier, Bauer, Gruber, & Heid, 2008), and often learn more than if they never make mistakes (Huelser & Metcalfe, 2012; Kornell, Hays, & Bjork, 2009; Metcalfe, 2017; Potts & Shanks, 2006).

However, there are numerous ways to provide retrieval opportunities, and different formats may work better for different subjects and courses. This tweet chat will encourage people to think about how their might embed retrieval practice in their context, and how they can support their students to use this fantastic learning strategy.

References

Agarwal, P. K. (2019). Retrieval practice & Bloom’s taxonomy: Do students need fact knowledge before higher order learning? Journal of Educational Psychology, 189-209.

Ariel, R., & Karpicke, J. (2018). Improving self-regulated learning with a retrieval practice intervention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 43-56.

Burgess, K. V. (2024a, September 4). How can we support students to embrace testing? Retrieved from AdvanceHE: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/news-and-views/how-can-we-support-students-embrace-testing

Burgess, K. V. (2024b, April 30). Why we should test our students more. Retrieved from WONKHE: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/why-we-should-test-our-students-more/

Gartmeier, M., Bauer, J., Gruber, H., & Heid, H. (2008). Negative Knowledge: Understanding Professional Learning and Expertise. Vocations and Learning, 87-103.

Huelser, B. J., & Metcalfe, J. (2012). Making related errors facilitates learning, but learners do not know it. Memory and Cognition, 514-527.

Kornell, N., Hays, M. J., & Bjork, R. A. (2009). Unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance subsequent learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 989-998.

Metcalfe, J. (2017). Learning from errors. Annual Review of Psychology, 465–489.

Potts, R., & Shanks, D. R. (2006). The benefit of generating errors during learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 644-667.

Roediger, H., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 249–255.

Wong, S. S., Ng, G. J., Tempel, T., & Lim, S. W. (2017). Retrieval Practice Enhances Analogical Problem Solving. The Journal of Experimental Education, 128–138.

Yang, C., Li, J., Zhao, W., Luo, L., & Shanks, D. R. (2023). Do Practice Tests (Quizzes) Reduce or Provoke Test Anxiety? A meta-analytic review. Educational Psychology Review, 35-87.

Yang, C., Luo, L., Vadillo, M. A., Yu, R., & Shanks, D. R. (2021). Testing (quizzing) boosts classroom learning: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 399-435.

Yang, C., Potts, R., & Shanks, D. (2018). Enhancing learning and retrieval of new information: a review of the forward testing effect. NPJ Sci Learn., 1-9.

Author Biography

Katy Burgess

Katy Burgess (SFHEA) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Cardiff University. Katy focuses on applying findings from cognitive psychology in the classroom, ensuring we can support students in learning and remembering information in efficient and enjoyable ways. Katy’s current work is focused on the inclusivity of learning and teaching methods and aims to improve the student experience by combining student voice and evidence-based strategies.

Katy advocates for teaching-focused careers and co-leads two networks for Teaching and Scholarship staff. One network is aimed at staff in psychology and related disciplines (T-FUN), and the other is for all teaching-focused staff (The National Learning and Teaching Focused Network). Feel free to join these networks to meet like-minded people and gain support in developing your teaching-focused career!

Posted in announcement | Tagged education, learning, psychology, teachers, teaching | Leave a comment

LTHEChat 300: Life-wide Learning and Academic Practice

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Gustavo Espinoza

Led by Claire Stocks (@DrClaireStocks)

In this week’s #LTHEChat I’d like to explore how aspects of life-wide learning impact our practice as HE professionals – in particular, I’m interested in how our hobbies, leisure activities and/or exercise preferences might help us to think about teaching and/or supporting learning in HE. As we educate others, how does our life-wide learning help us advance or enhance our understanding and practice?

My interest in life-wide learning has grown from my reflections on how my hobbies and interests have positively contributed to my practice as an academic developer. For example, as a keen swimmer who has never had a formal swimming lesson, I had to find ways to improve without the support of a teacher. My approach, which used YouTube videos, peer feedback, observation and lots of deliberate practice, provided me with concrete examples of how these learning strategies play out in a real-world context that many others could relate to. Trying to help my partner improve his swimming also gave me a real-life example of a threshold concept in action (you can read more about that here), and observing a variety of approaches employed by fitness instructors as they lead group exercise sessions made me reflect on the strategies that they use to motivate people and deliver effective group feedback.

The concept of learning outside of formal study or education is not a new one, though, and in connection with HE, it goes back at least as far as 2008 when the term ‘life-wide learning’ was proposed by Norman Jackson (cited in Jackson, 2011). Ronald Barnett has gone on to define life-wide learning as “learning in different places simultaneously. It is literally learning across an individual’s lifeworld at any moment in time” (Barnett, 2010: 2). As Barnett suggests, life-wide learning can appear to be ubiquitous and can happen in many formal or informal ‘spaces’ at ‘any moment in time’. As such, it might be challenging to identify where this life-wide learning happens and what we are learning. These are two questions that I would like us to reflect on in this #LTHEChat.

Furthermore, the idea that learning can happen outside of formal teaching times and spaces might provide us with a productive way of challenging our established ideas about where and how our continuing professional learning could occur. Having supported many colleagues to achieve awards and recognition that rely, in part, on the applicant’s ability to articulate their approach to and the impact of their CPD, I would argue that many of us probably take a narrow view of what constitutes professional learning or development. We tend to focus on things like accredited schemes and programmes, webinars, workshops, talks and conferences – formal learning opportunities that are easy to identify and attend (especially when so many now take place online) but which don’t always result in an identifiable impact on practice.

However, by taking a more life-wide view, notions of CPD could be “burst open”, in Barnett’s words, by a consideration of the part that life-wide learning plays in our professional (as well as personal) development (2010: 1). We might, therefore, identify a much more comprehensive range of rich and impactful opportunities for developing our understanding and practice. For example, Jackson suggests that, in addition to curricular and co-curricular activity, HE students might also learn from ‘life in the wider world’, including travel, caring for others, creative enterprises like playing music, making videos for social media or participating in dramatic productions, and volunteering or entrepreneurship (2011: 249). To the extent that we are simultaneously learners and teachers – as we seek to enhance and develop our professional practice – the same might apply to staff.

These examples illustrate the effectiveness of life-wide professional learning, and I look forward to hearing how others combine personal and professional practice and interests in the chat this week.

References

Jackson, N (2011). Recognising a more complete education through a Lifewide Learning Award. Higher Education, Skills and Work Based Learning. 1 (3) pp. 247-261

Barnett, R. (2011). ‘Life-wide education: a new and transformative concept for higher education?’. A lifewide concept of learning, education and personal development, 22-38.

Author Biography

Claire Stocks

Dr. Claire Stocks is Head of Academic Practice and Development at the University of Chester. She has been an Advance HE Senior Fellow since 2016 and has a doctorate in American Literature (focused on representations of trauma in American War fiction). She is also Chair of the Supporting Professionals in(to) HE (SPiHE) network, which is focused on understanding and supporting the experiences of professionals who have moved from industry or practice into teaching in Higher Education. Claire is the proud owner of an extremely loopy Springer Spaniel, a Bodycombat enthusiast and a keen swimmer – all of which positively influence her academic practice.

Posted in announcement | Leave a comment

#LTHEChat 299: Poetry and pedagogy

Posted on September 8, 2024 by Gustavo Espinoza

Led by Sam Illingworth (@samillingworth) and Kirsten Jack (@Heijinxs)

Image of an open book with flowers — **Copyright Free image**: https://www.pexels.com/

In the fast-paced world of higher education, where efficiency and measurable outcomes often take centre stage, there is a quieter, yet equally powerful, tool available to educators: poetry. This might seem an unexpected ally in the realm of academia, but poetry offers unique opportunities for enhancing teaching and learning across disciplines.

Poetry is not just for literature classes. It can be a versatile method of engaging students, encouraging deeper reflection, and fostering creativity, no matter the subject. For instance, using poetry in scientific disciplines helps to communicate complex ideas in more relatable and emotionally resonant ways, as evidenced in studies where poetry has been used to teach topics as varied as sustainable development (Walshe, 2017) and chemistry (Furlan, 2007). Poetry can also be instrumental in developing empathy and critical thinking, skills that are crucial in fields such as healthcare and management (Jack and Illingworth, 2024).

The process of writing and reflecting on poetry allows students to connect with their learning on a personal level. For example, when nursing students were encouraged to write poems reflecting on their clinical experiences, it not only enhanced their reflective skills but also helped them process the emotional aspects of their work (Jack and Illingworth, 2017). Similarly, in law education, poetry has been used to humanise abstract concepts, making them more accessible and memorable for students (Manley, 2018).

Despite the clear benefits, integrating poetry into non-literary disciplines can be challenging. Resistance often comes from a perception that poetry is irrelevant or too abstract for certain fields. However, the evidence suggests otherwise. When properly introduced, poetry can complement traditional teaching methods, providing a richer, more holistic educational experience (Donaldson, 2001; Chan, 2013).

Incorporating poetry into higher education does not require students or educators to become poets. Rather, it is about using poetry as a tool for exploration, expression, and understanding. By doing so, educators can create more inclusive and engaging learning environments, where students feel more connected to both the material and to each other. Further, poetry can support educators to learn more about themselves to enhance self-connection, awareness and growth.

In our book Poetry and Pedagogy in Higher Education (Illingworth and Jack, 2024) we hope to inspire educators across disciplines to explore the transformative potential of poetry in their teaching practices. We aim to provide practical strategies and authentic examples that demonstrate how poetry can enrich learning experiences and foster a more empathetic and reflective academic environment. In this Tweetchat, we look forward to engaging with you, hearing your experiences, and discussing how we can collectively harness the power of poetry to create more dynamic and inclusive classrooms.

References

Chan, Z.C., 2013. Exploring creativity and critical thinking in traditional and innovative problem‐based learning groups. Journal of clinical nursing, 22(15-16), pp.2298-2307. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12186

Donaldson, D.P., 2001. Teaching geography’s four traditions with poetry. Journal of Geography, 100(1), pp.24-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221340108978414

Furlan, P.Y., Kitson, H. and Andes, C., 2007. Chemistry, poetry, and artistic illustration: an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and promoting chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 84(10), pp.1625-1630. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed084p1625

Illingworth, S. & Jack, K., 2024. Poetry and Pedagogy in Higher Education: A Creative Approach to Teaching Learning and Research. Bristol: Policy Press

Jack, K. and Illingworth, S., 2017. ‘Saying it without saying it’: using poetry as a way to talk about important issues in nursing practice. Journal of Research in Nursing, 22(6-7), pp.508-519. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987117715293

Jack, K. and Illingworth, S., 2023. Rehearsing empathy: exploring the role of poetry in supporting learning. Arts & Health, pp.1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2023.2256361

Manley, S., 2018. Home-made poetry as pedagogical tool: an experience from the law classroom. English in Education, 52(3), pp.213-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2018.1508324

Walshe, N., 2017. An interdisciplinary approach to environmental and sustainability education: Developing geography students’ understandings of sustainable development using poetry. Environmental Education Research, 23(8), pp.1130-1149. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1221887

Author Biographies

Sam Illingworth

Sam Illingworth is a Professor of Creative Pedagogies at Edinburgh Napier University, where his work involves using poetry, games, and GenAI to explore staff and student belonging. You can find out more about his work via his website www.samillingworth.com and chat with him on Twitter / X @samillingworth.

Kirsten Jack

Kirsten Jack is a creative psychotherapist and writing for wellbeing facilitator, working with individuals and groups, using poetry to support emotional wellbeing. Before that, she was Professor of Nursing Education at Manchester Metropolitan University, where her work with students involved the use of poetry to explore the emotional aspects of health and social care practice. You can learn more about Kirsten via her website www.kirstenjack.co.uk or talk with her on Twitter / X @Heijinxs.

Posted in announcement | Leave a comment

Follow #lthechat via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

Join 532 other subscribers
Thank you everybody for voting for #LTHEchat

#LTHEchat also included here...
This work by #LTHEchat is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Search for:
#LTHEchat every Wednesday 8-9pm GMT
visitors
March 2026

M T W T F S S

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

« Feb
Tags
accessibility announcement collaboration community end of year post equity guest identity RAISEnetwork review SoTL Special edition story summary Technology Learning Uncategorized
Search for:
Recent Posts

March 2026
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

	Redundancy, resilien… on LTHEchat 349: Redundancy, Resi…
	@Danceswithcloud on LTHEchat 348: Navigating the N…
	Prof David T Evans,… on LTHEChat 344: AdvanceHE fellow…
	Weekly Resource Roun… on LTHE Chat 341: Superpowers for…
	Crynodeb Wythnosol o… on LTHE Chat 341: Superpowers for…

Archives
Categories
- accessibility
- announcement
- collaboration
- community
- end of year post
- equity
- guest
- identity
- RAISEnetwork
- review
- SoTL
- Special edition
- story
- summary
- Technology Learning
- Uncategorized
Meta

References

Author Biographies

Share this:

My Storytelling Awakening

What is Digital Storytelling?

How can Digital Storytelling be used in HE?

References

Author Biography

Share this:

Led by Neil Ford @NeilJohnFord

References

Author Biography

Share this:

Led by Sue Beckingham @suebecks

Volunteering as a guest or member of the organising team

Share this:

Led by Ros Beaumont (@RosBeaumont), Emma McColloch (@EmmaMcC86075031) and Michelle Black (@black_sfhea)

References

Author Biographies

Share this:

Led by Gerhard Kristandl (@drkristandl)

References

Author Biography

Share this:

Led by Pablo Dalby (@PabloDalby)

References

Author Biography

Share this:

References

Author Biography

Share this:

Led by Claire Stocks (@DrClaireStocks)

References

Author Biography

Share this:

Led by Sam Illingworth (@samillingworth) and Kirsten Jack (@Heijinxs)

References

Author Biographies

Share this:

Follow #lthechat via Email

Thank you everybody for voting for #LTHEchat

#LTHEchat every Wednesday 8-9pm GMT

visitors

Tags

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Meta

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives