LTHEChat 312: Supporting students through pre-arrival academic questionnaire

Posted on December 13, 2024 by susan89706

Led by Michelle Morgan @it_se

We need to look forward and not back

The value of a pre-arrival academic questionnaire (PAQ) in understanding prior learning experiences, concerns and expectations on entry in providing support guidance and advice for our increasingly diverse student body.

Entire committee cycles are focussed on “review” – look back, synthesise, tweak, repeat. The National Student Survey invites students to look back on their time at university. The end of and even mid-module review asks students to reflect on what happened in the recent past.

However, as a sector,  we need to move the focus from understanding student “outcomes” (e.g. NSS) to understanding “prior learning experience, expectations and concerns on entry”. This can be achieved by undertaking a pre-arrival academic questionnaire (PAQ) to help provide the right support on entry. If we can lay stable foundations and building blocks for our students then we are better placed to improve their experience as well as their progression and success throughout the study lifecycle. If we get that right, then the all-important metrics that we are weighed, measured and judged by should also improve. 

I  have designed and undertaken numerous pre-arrival and entry-to-study questionnaires at undergraduate and postgraduate levels over the years, with the most recent being a three-university report looking specifically at Prior learning experience, study expectations of A-Level and BTEC students on entry to university This report has been submitted as part of the National Curriculum and Assessment Review.

What would you do if you knew the following?
A Pre-arrival Academic Questionnaire can be a powerful tool in changing the assumptions of staff and university leaders regarding understanding the needs and expectations of incoming students. As a sector, student diversity has increased, and we need to be much more aware of the impact student characteristics can have on their engagement, behaviours, progression and success. 

So if……….

  • Your course teams knew that the top two learning resources at school for incoming undergraduate students were handwritten notes and a course textbook; even during COVID-19, when teaching went online, how would the first few weeks of teaching be adapted in introducing them to online learning resources? The core business of a university and the primary activity for a student is learning. So it is perplexing that understanding the prior learning experiences is such a neglected practice across the sector.

So if……….

  • Colleagues knew that the top priorities for new undergraduate and postgraduate taught students were academic life, balancing study, work and life demands, and mental health, and that social activities and joining clubs and societies were at the bottom of their list, how could these be incorporated into the course/curriculum as we know they help with creating a sense of belonging and mattering?

The delivery and use of PAQ data
I have delivered the PAQ centrally, at course level, with and without student IDs. The best collection method is an anonymous questionnaire completed as a course-based pre-arrival academic activity. This helps with engagement and completion by incoming students as they know they cannot be identified, as does the promise that the headline findings will be fed back to them with support and advice four weeks into their studies through videos and an interactive digital App. Departments get their basic frequencies within one week of the survey closing along with headline findings.

The PAQ has evolved over numerous years and has been developed with students. It takes students through six reflective sections, starting with their prior learning experiences, concerns about entry, how they expect to study at university, their strengths and weaknesses and university study outcomes. 

Examples of areas explored include:

  • What support do they expect to use, and what support do they feel would be helpful to them?
  • How are they used to studying?
  • How do they expect to study at university?
  • What do they understand by the term ‘feedback’, and how are they used to receive it?
  • What concerns (if any) do they have?
  • What do they see as their main study strengths?
  • How are they used to being assessed, and what is their preferred assessment method?
  • What skills do they hope to obtain, and what do they wish to do after graduation?

What is done with the PAQ?
The information gleaned from the PAQ helps inform every area of a university’s work, from Access and Participation Plans to recruitment, orientation, reorientation and outduction activities, designing learning, teaching and assessment practices, developing mental health and wellbeing support, and evolving policy. The PAQ also has numerous other benefits.

For the incoming student, asking appropriate and targeted questions can effectively kick-start the university learning process and get students to reflect on prior and expected learning behaviour. This can be especially helpful after a long summer vacation or lengthy break from study.

The findings can also help students a few weeks in when some experience a wobble and start questioning whether university is right for them. By highlighting some of the anxiety levels and concerns of new students along with signposting to relevant support services to help reduce them, it not only provides targeted and practical advice for this specific cohort but also helps entrants realise that they may not be alone in feeling worried or concerned. Importantly, they can see that their responses are being used for their learning benefit and not merely to improve university processes.

For the department or faculty, the findings can enable course leaders and academic advisors to be proactive in identifying and bridging any concerns about study skills and skill gaps. Central services providing learning support can use the information to effectively tailor their provision based on identified student needs. For example, this can include dedicated support or early intervention mechanisms for mature or BTEC students.

Understanding incoming students’ perceptions of how they are expecting to learn enables marketing departments to provide targeted course advice in their publications to help correct any misunderstandings of what is expected. This helps manage expectations and, in turn, satisfaction levels.

Lastly, it can stop assumptions being made about the knowledge and experience of incoming students across all levels of study, and it stops merely lifting shifting support appropriate for one level automatically to another.

A national survey
If these types of pre-arrival and entry questionnaires were undertaken nationally, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) and the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES), results could inform policymaking at a national level. For example, universities could compare their pre-entry/entry expectations data with NSS/PTES results. This would enable institutions to understand how their interaction with students and the development of targeted support initiatives have impacted the student experience on entry through to completion. Importantly, it would also enable the sector to understand different incoming student support requirements based on student characteristics, institution, region, and mission group. 

If we understand the expectations, concerns, and anxieties of incoming students at the front end of their studies, then we are better placed to improve not only their overall student experience but also student retention, progression, and attainment. 

The LTHE chat on Wednesday, 18th December 2024, will pose six questions based on PAQ findings to explore with colleagues what they would do in bridging the study journey into higher education at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Join us and tell us what you would do if you knew these findings about your student body.

Pre-arrival Academic Questionnaire reports

Morgan.M. (2023) Prior learning experience, study expectations of A-Level and BTEC students on entry to university and the impact of Covid19 | London: University of East London

Morgan, M. (2020a) Financial concerns and working intentions of incoming Level 4 students -The potential implications for applicants and students in 2020/21 due to Covid19. Available online at: https://www.improvingthestudentexperience.com/library/covid19/Financial_concerns_and_working_intentions_of_incoming_Level_4_university_students-_implications_of_C19.pdf

Morgan, M. (2020b) Bridging the gap between secondary and tertiary education. Available online at: https://www.improvingthestudentexperience.com/library/UG_documents/Bridging_the_gap_between_secondary_and_tertiary_education-Morgan_2020.pdfdf

Morgan, M. and Direito, I. (2016) Widening and sustaining postgraduate taught (PGT) STEM study in the UK: a collaborative project. Creating change through understanding expectations and attitudes towards PGT study, experiences and post-study outcomes from the perspective of applicants, students, universities and employers. Available at: https://www.improvingthestudentexperience.com/library/PG_documents/Postgraduate_Experience_Report_Final.pdf

Creator and author of https://www.improvingthestudentexperience.com/

Editor/Chapter and Case Study Author of Improving the Student Experience- a practical guide (published by Routledge 2011)

 Editor/Chapter and Case Study Author of  Supporting Student Diversity in Higher Education- a practical guide (published by Routledge 2013).

Author Biography

Dr Michelle Morgan is Dean of Students at the University of East London. She was previously associate professor and associate dean of the student experience at Bournemouth University. Michelle is extensively published in the area of supporting student diversity and improving the student learning experience at undergraduate and postgraduate taught levels in, through and out of the student study journey. Her two edited books, which revolve around her Student Experience Transitions Model (SET), are designed to help academic and professional service colleagues support students. She has developed a free portal for staff which provides a range of information and links for anyone interested in improving the student experience in higher education www.improvingthestudentexperience.com 

During her career, Michelle has been a faculty manager, lecturer, researcher and academic manager. She describes herself as a ‘Third Space Professional’ student experience practitioner who develops initiatives based on pragmatic and practical research. Michelle has over 50 publications and has presented over 100 national and international conference papers (including 53 keynotes and 35 invited papers). She co-wrote and co-presented a 5 part Radio series for BBC China in 2011 on the student learning experience. Michelle was the creator and PI/Project Lead of an innovative, £2.7 million, 11-university collaborative HEFCE grant, looking at the study expectations and attitudes of postgraduate taught (PGT) students. The project report received praise from across the sector, including UKCGE, OFFA, the HEA and the Engineering Professor’s Council. Michelle is a Principal Fellow of the HEA, Fellow of the AUA, an elected council member of UKCGE. She is an NTF Reviewer and Student Minds Mental Health Charter Assessor. She was awarded the EFYE Leader/Champion Award and SRHE Contribution to the Field Accolade in 2024.

You can learn more about Michelle on LinkedIn or talk with her on Twitter / X @it_se or by email mail to mgmorgan8@hotmail.com 

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LTHEChat 311: Anxiety, Neurodiversity and Learning

Posted on December 8, 2024 by susan89706

Led by Cora Beth Fraser @drcorabeth

We all know that anxiety is a problem for students in higher education – and it probably won’t surprise anyone to hear that it’s getting worse. A 2023 survey by The Tab found that 61% of students are now living with anxiety, and categorised anxiety as the most prevalent mental health issue among students. It also found that many students were reluctant to disclose their problems to the university – so anxiety may be under-reported in official figures.

Neurodivergent students are particularly at risk from anxiety and its consequences. There’s an often-quoted figure of around 50% for rates of anxiety disorder amongst autistic and ADHD people – but again, this may be an underestimation. In my experience (both personal and professional) it’s pretty rare to meet a neurodivergent person who doesn’t suffer from a significant level of anxiety. 

So what can we do, in higher education and related areas, to address the problem of anxiety, and the ways in which anxiety disproportionately affects neurodivergent students? How can we improve the comfort levels of our students without taking away the motivating pressure to learn?

That’s what I’ve been working on at the Open University over the last few years. My focus has been on teaching environments – and because I work in distance learning, for me that means online teaching environments. 

The project I helped develop at the OU is called the Relaxed Tutorial Project. 

Relaxed Events

‘Relaxed’ here is being used in a very specific sense, to connect the project to ‘relaxed’ events which are common in Arts settings like theatres and cinemas, as well as museums and galleries. The original goal of relaxed theatre performances was ‘to make as few changes to the actual show as possible but rather to make adjustments to the organization of the front of house in order to reduce anxiety and stress’ (Kempe, 2015, p. 60). These adjustments were designed in the first instance for autistic people, but they were also found to benefit others too.

So in a ‘relaxed’ cinema showing, the volume in the cinema might be turned down a bit, and the lights might be turned up so that people aren’t in total darkness. Or in a theatre, the social rules might be relaxed so that it’s acceptable for audience members to talk or move around. During relaxed museum opening hours, sudden sounds from interactive exhibits are turned off, and a quiet area might be offered to anyone who needs a break.

The content remains the same; it’s just the environment that is modified.

Relaxed Teaching

In developing the Relaxed Tutorial Project, we thought about how these ‘relaxed’ adjustments might map onto the ‘front-of-house’ arrangements of an online synchronous teaching session. How could we modify the online social and sensory environment to make students more comfortable?

To reduce sensory input, we cut down on elements like break-out rooms, microphone and webcam use, and multiple windows. We also adjusted our expectations of social behaviour, assuming that students would need to leave and rejoin the session, and accepting that many attendees would not want to participate visibly. We planned our teaching to fit around these expectations (Fraser et al 2024).

The ‘relaxed’ sessions were a big hit with students who said that anxiety (around being put on the spot, in particular) had previously affected their learning. They were more willing to attend, took in more information and were (surprisingly) more willing to participate, with around 90% of attendees typing comments in the chat box. Students mentioned feeling comfortable – some for the first time in their higher education experience.

Why does anxiety matter?

We can argue that anxiety is sometimes productive: it can drive learning and push students to exceed their own expectations. This is true for many. But it can also drive our most vulnerable students away, and push them out of an environment which feels hostile to them. Anxiety matters because it disproportionately affects students who are already dealing with a range of challenges and accessibility needs.

Beyond that, anxiety connects two key practical issues in higher education: attendance and retention. Students suffering from anxiety will struggle to attend classes if they are concerned about having to take part in active or collaborative work (Macfarlane 2017 p. 76), or about being put on the spot. Students (particularly autistic students) are at risk of withdrawing from their course if their anxiety is not addressed (Beardon 2021 p.92). 

So by focusing on anxiety and its reduction we might be able to make real gains in access, retention and student success, as well as in equitable support for neurodivergent students.

References

Beardon, L. (2021). Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Adults. Sheldon Press.

Fraser, C.B., Yamagata, N. and Mac Mahon, A. (2024). ‘The Relaxed Tutorial Project: distance learning and anxiety in Classical Studies’, Journal of Classics Teaching, pp. 1–5. doi:10.1017/S2058631024001004.

Kempe, A. (2015). Widening Participation in Theatre through ‘Relaxed Performances’. New Theatre Quarterly, 31(1), 59-69. 

Macfarlane, B. (2017). Freedom to Learn: The Threat to Student Academic Freedom and why it Needs to be Reclaimed. Routledge.

The Tab (2023). ‘‘They made me feel invalid’: Shocking new figures show scale of student mental health crisis’. Available online at https://thetab.com/2023/05/02/they-made-me-feel-invalid-shocking-new-figures-show-scale-of-student-mental-health-crisis (accessed 28/11/2024).

Author Biography

Dr Cora Beth Fraser (SFHEA NTF) is a part-time Associate Lecturer in Classical Studies at The Open University, working in a student-facing role with distance learners. With a Masters in Education and another in Online and Distance Education, she combines her work in Classics with research interests in online teaching and learning. Beyond the OU, she is passionate about widening access to Classics; she is a member of the Council of University Classics Departments EDI Committee and is Co-Chair of the Women’s Classical Committee, and she heads a neurodiversity organisation called Asterion. 

Cora Beth was diagnosed with autism five years ago, after a lifetime of struggling with social communication and sensory difficulties. Since her diagnosis she has been working to make neurodiversity an institutional priority in the planning of learning activities. She devised and conducted the Relaxed Tutorial Project at the OU, which is continuing to make an impact on teaching practices throughout the organisation, and is currently working on improving access to PhDs for autistic candidates.

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LTHEChat 310: Exploring Learner Psychology in Higher Education

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Gustavo Espinoza

Led by Chris Martin @Linguist1980 

The landscape of higher education in the UK is as diverse as its student population. As many students come from varied cultural, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds, understanding what makes them tick and their psychology as learners could be key to fostering academic success and personal growth. This blog post aims to introduce readers to three key psychological theories that could be applied to our learners in higher education: Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000), Expectancy-Value Theory (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) and Wellbeing Theory (Seligman, 2012).

One key area of learner psychology is that of motivation and engagement. There is a growing emphasis being placed on the application of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) within educational settings (Dimitriadou et al., 2023; Neufield, 2023; Zhou & Zhang, 2023). The theory was pioneered by Ryan and Deci (2000), who posit three key forms of motivation: amotivation, extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

Amotivation: Amotivation occurs when an individual has no desire or wish to participate in a task or pursue an activity. This may be due to a disconnect between the individual and content – the individual sees no value in completing the task or may not feel competent enough to complete the task without support. Amotivation may lead to negative outcomes such as anxiety, aggression, and depression when faced with tasks or activities that the individual does not wish to undertake. This would have a negative impact on the individual’s wellbeing and may lead to creating a contiguous pair (when two things occur repeatedly, leading to an association e.g., assessment periods and anxiety).

Extrinsic Motivation: Extrinsic Motivation can be viewed in multiple ways. The overarching definition is that an individual is motivated by external means (e.g., reward, praise). If an individual is externally regulated, this means that their motivation comes from external sources (e.g., parents offering gifts for doing well, rewarding them with praise). If any of these external sources are removed, the individual risks becoming demotivated. If an individual displays introjected regulation, this means that the individual could be motivated by obligation or guilt. For example, a student just flying under the radar and not performing as well as they could when they see others doing well may feel a sense of guilt and would, therefore, be motivated to do better. Extrinsically motivated individuals tend to attribute their success or failure at a task to external factors e.g., task difficulty, pure luck on the day.

Intrinsic Motivation: This form of motivation is considered the more desirable form of motivation within educational settings. Intrinsically motivated individuals are those who feel a sense of excitement or desire when participating in a task or activity. These individuals feel competent and have autonomy/agency over the task at hand, and they feel connected to the task, their surroundings, and their peers. They also see a value to participating in an activity or completing a task. Intrinsically motivated students tend to attribute their success or failure at a task to internal factors, e.g., effort, willpower, and ability.

For an individual to be intrinsically motivated, three psychological conditions need to be met: Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness. Autonomy refers to the ability to feel a sense of agency or control over a particular task or behaviour. It involves being able to make one’s own decisions and a feeling of independence. Competence relates to having the required skills, intellect, and qualities to perform a given task. Someone who feels competent has a sense of mastery over the task/activity at hand. Finally, relatedness is about fulfilling the need to have close relationships and a sense of belonging to a social group, in this case, peers in the classroom. Without relatedness, an individual would feel disconnected from their surroundings and would lack support and help from their social group, making self-determination difficult to achieve (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Image of intrinsic motivation

When considering the design of student learning experiences, it is helpful to keep these three conditions in mind, particularly when designing assessments. Authentic assessments, for example, provide students with the flexibility to approach an assignment that makes them feel the most competent and to make their own judgments about the information contained within and the format in which the assignment is presented (McArthur, 2022). When students see that their peers are also fully engaged with the assignment, this supports the condition of relatedness. 

Expectancy-Value Theory

This is an additional motivational theory, pioneered by Wigfield & Eccles (2000), that explains how an individual’s expectancy to succeed and the perceived value of the task at hand impact on the level of effort that is put in to complete the task. If an individual goes into a task feeling prepared and competent and expects to do well as well as seeing the value of doing well, there is a strong likelihood that they will have a favourable outcome.

Image of performance

Achievement-related choices are motivated by a combination of people’s expectations of success and subjective task value. Task value can be broken down into four sub-levels: attainment value (the importance of doing well), intrinsic value (personal enjoyment), utility value (perceived usefulness towards goals) and cost (time investment and competition with other goals). Expectations for success are strongly correlated with performance, i.e., students who expect to do well tend to perform well compared to those who do not expect to do well.

The Role of Positive Psychology in the Classroom

‘Positive Psychology helps to foster happiness and emotional wellness. It does it by helping individuals to capitalise on their strengths, heighten their gratitude and awareness, connect to others, and develop the wisdom needed to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life’ (Harvard Medical School, 2023).

Positive Psychology is a nascent field of psychology that focuses on individuals’ well-being and happiness in their daily lives. One key theorist within this field is Martin Seligman (2012), who pioneered the PERMA+ Theory. PERMA+ is an acronym that stands for:

Positive emotion (hope, interest, joy, love, pride)

Engagement (loss of self-consciousness – total absorption in the task)

Relationships (partners, peers, friends, mentors, the wider community)

Meaning (sense of value and worth, having meaning/purpose)

Accomplishments (achievements, mastery, competence)

+ (sleep, nutrition, physical activity)

Links with Self-Determination Theory

This theory links extensively to Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000) which stipulates that, for an individual to be intrinsically motivated, three psychological conditions need to be met: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When considering PERMA+ theory association with SDT, Seligman’s reference to ‘relationships’ links clearly with ‘relatedness’ of SDT – an individual feels connected to their environment and those around them. In addition, ‘Accomplishments’ are linked with ‘competence’ – an individual is motivated when they feel a sense of achievement and competence when doing a task. Finally, ‘Engagement’ could be linked to ‘autonomy’ – an individual is agentive in completing the task, being completely absorbed and not requiring much (if any) guidance.

Possible recommendations for practice

When designing learning experiences or engaging with students in personal tutoring, for example, consider ways of empowering the student to showcase their accomplishments, experience a sense of achievement, possibly through praise, and demonstrate the value of their learning in securing future employment. Students are more likely to put more effort into their work when they can see clear value in doing the task (cf. Expectancy-Value Theory, Wigfield & Eccles, 2000).

For students to feel ownership over their studies, providing them with open-ended, complex tasks or problems that are not prescriptive in nature would allow students to approach the task how they see fit, demonstrating a variety of skills and presenting the product of the task in a chosen format (cf. Authentic Assessment). From an employability perspective, this may align with workplace experiences where autonomy is required, and constant guidance may not be on hand.

References

Dimitriadou, I., Vasileiadis, I. & Koutras, S. (2023). The self-determined learning model of instruction: implementation to elementary school students with learning disabilities. European Journal of Alternative Education Studies, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.46827/ejae.v8i2.4873

Harvard Medical School (2023) Positive Psychology [Online]. Available at: https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/positive-psychology#:~:text=Positive%20psychology%20helps%20to%20foster,more%20meaningful%20and%20fulfilling%20life. (Accessed on 27 November 2024)

McArthur, J. (2022). Rethinking authentic assessment: work, well-being, and society. Higher Education, 85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00822-y

Neufeld, A. (2023). Moving the Field Forward: Using Self-Determination Theory to Transform the Learning Environment in Medical Education. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2023.2235331

Ryan, S., & Deci (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Wellbeing. American Psychologist, 55(1). DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.1037110003-066X.55.1.68 

Seligman, M. E. (2012) Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Atria, USA.

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

Zhou, Z., & Zhang, Y. (2023). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in Distance Education: A Self-Determination Perspective. American Journal of Distance Education, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/08923647.2023.2177032

Author Biography

Dr Chris Martin (EdD, SFHEA) is a Senior Learner Developer within the Education Development Service (EDS) at Birmingham City University (BCU). He oversees the open-access student-facing provision for academic writing and skills development, student life coaching, maths and statistics, and leading Transition-related projects across the university.

Chris has over 15 years of experience in both secondary and higher education, and his academic background is in applied linguistics and learner psychology in language learning. He has taught modern foreign languages (French, German and Spanish) in secondary schools across the Midlands, and he started his career in higher education as a Teaching Fellow in English for Academic Purposes. After completing his doctorate, Chris chose to pursue a full-time career in higher education and, more specifically, academic and learner development. His key areas of expertise are in learner psychology (motivation, engagement, positive psychology), student transition, authentic assessment, and academic literacy.

You can learn more about Chris on LinkedIn or talk with him on Twitter / X @Linguist1980 or by email chris.martin@bcu.ac.uk

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#LTHEChat 309: What is a flourishing space and how might they be enabled in higher education?

Posted on November 22, 2024 by quirksahern

Led by Professor Louise Younie, Institute of Health Sciences Education, Queen Mary University of London and Olumide Popoola, Queen Mary Academy, Queen Mary University of London

X: Professor Louise Younie @LouiseYounie

X: Olumide Popoola @OluPopoola3

Flourishing Oases in a Neoliberal Desert

The ‘Flourishing Spaces’ project has grown out of medical education and healthcare, where we are facing ‘moral injury’ and a growing ‘wellness crisis’ (1). Our work on #flourishingspaces involves a shift from the scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, where resources like time and opportunities are viewed as shareable and regenerative. We have been supported by funding from a diverse range of sources including Advance HE.  Our most recent funding has been from the inaugural President and Principal Educational Excellence Fund, administered by the Queen Mary Academy at our own institution – Queen Mary University of London – where the flourishing of staff and students is core to our stated mission 

We are in VUCA times – Volatile Uncertain Complex Ambiguous. In higher education, where neoliberalism frames institutions as businesses and students as consumers, both students and educators are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. The increase in burnout and impaired mental health is well-documented, yet solutions remain elusive. This competitive agenda prioritises measurable outputs—such as performance metrics over the cultivation of creativity, intellectual curiosity, and connection. The result is an erosion of spaces for humanity and flourishing. Medicine today similarly operates within a framework dominated by neoliberal principles, where science is prioritised over relationships and human connection is sidelined. This focus alongside the biomedical positivist framing of medical education contributes to a hidden curriculum shaped by ‘macho invulnerability’.

Although there are no quick fix answers to the challenges we are up against, we have been promoting Creative Agency and Flourishing Spaces as antidotes to the neoliberal principles which are compounding issues in both higher education and healthcare. As a core part of this we have been encouraging movement away from the development of ‘resilience’ towards the fostering of human flourishing, in higher education and healthcare (2, 3).

A comic strip of 5 images each representing an element of the flourishing spaces model: ecological, connection, meaning making, compassoin and keeping it real, shadow work
Figure 1 Flourishing Spaces Model by LY, graphics @CamilleAubry

The emphasis on resilience training has grown exponentially, with thousands of published studies in recent decades on “resilience in healthcare”. The concept of resilience, while initially appealing, has started to face criticism for its overemphasis on the ability to “bounce back” from adversity (4, 5).  The Latin root is ‘resilire’ to ‘spring back’ or ‘rebound’.  In the physical sciences resilience indicates materials resuming their original shape after being bent or stretched. Translated to humans this suggests withstanding challenges and an individual capacity to be tough and unchanged through adversity.  Resilience as a solution often places the burden on individuals rather than addressing the systemic failures. This can be damaging or even abusive, for example, expecting individual resilience in the face of systemic racism or injustice of any kind.

Flourishing is an old concept but also is receiving a resurgence of attention across political, cultural and educational spheres with for example the Templeton foundation in USA investing $100 million in the field of flourishing and starting in a new Global Flourishing Conference in 2022. It might be helpful to define flourishing as there are different conceptualisations emerging. By flourishing we mean enabling meaning, purpose, agency and growth in the lives of students and educators, drawing on Aristotle’s eudaimonia which can be juxtaposed with hedonia – the pleasure of the quick fix bar of chocolate, or purchase of luxury goods (6). Flourishing can be thought of as a noun and therefore measured – to what degree are we flourishing – see Harvard’s Flourishing Measure (7). This however risks again the attention on the individual rather than seeing the barriers faced by many towards flourishing, as found by research in the Mid-West US, where people of certain races and financial brackets were less likely to say they were flourishing (8). We focus on flourishing as a verb, and the ways in which we might support greater flourishing in our times of challenge and adversity. 

We have been exploring two theoretical frameworks underpinning flourishing – Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Belonging Dignity Justice (BDJ) framework. SDT and flourishing align (9). SDT emphasizes autonomy, relatedness, and competence as key psychological needs and research supports the value of holding intrinsic aspirations like personal growth, community engagement, and meaningful relationships, as enhancing wellbeing in the workplace, compared to focus on extrinsic goals such as status or earnings (9). 

The Belonging-Dignity-Justice framework has emerged in recent years as an alternative to the corporate EDI practices that have captured and somewhat constrained the original social justice aims of EDI. Belonging fosters open dialogue and mutual understanding. Dignity recognises individual worth, even in imperfection. Justice ensures equal voice and opportunity, challenging systemic inequities. Through creative enquiry and artistic exploration we have expanded the concept of flourishing by integrating belonging, dignity, and justice as foundational principles; this new Flourishing-Belonging-Dignity-Justice framework has been adopted by the Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Developers network to bring social justice dimensions to the training and development of Postgraduate Researcher Educators.

Flourishing spaces are characterized by curiosity, creativity, compassion, and co-creation. They invite participants to engage with their humanity, challenge existing hierarchies, and imagine new possibilities for growth and connection. In order to support the creation of flourishing spaces and oases in our workplaces, we have created a Flourishing Spaces ‘ASK’ toolkit: 

Attend:  Attending involves being fully present with oneself and others, fostering mutual recognition and understanding.

Share stories and Shadow work: Sharing stories facilitates deeper connections and allows individuals to process and integrate their experiences.

Kindle hope: Kindling hope provides a sense of purpose and community, essential for navigating complex and challenging environments. 

By fostering these spaces we enable the building of trust and connection as well as sharing the challenges we are facing which can be both deeply humanising and perhaps provide clarity on ways to move forward and further reclaim space for our humanity. In a world shaped by neoliberal values, the concept of flourishing offers a transformative alternative. By prioritising connection, creativity, and compassion, we can create spaces that nurture human potential and address the systemic challenges that undermine wellbeing. The vision and framework of our ‘Flourishing Spaces’ group provides a roadmap for building these flourishing oases, challenging us to imagine and realise a more equitable and just future.

Case study: Flourishing in Medical Education SSCS through Creative Enquiry

Student Selected Components (SSCs) in medical education have served as laboratories for exploring and nurturing flourishing (10). Feedback from participants reveals that these sessions provide a unique space for vulnerability, connection, and creative expression. One student described flourishing as “a kinder way to grow,” and reflected on how these sessions allowed her to embrace her struggles as part of her identity rather than flaws. Such reflections highlight the potential of flourishing to transform educational experiences and foster deeper human connections.

The transition to digital education during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted challenges in preserving human connection, a core component of flourishing spaces. The elective course “Exploring the Creative Arts in Health and Illness,” which I (LY) has lead, serves as a case study for creating a flourishing space, even in virtual environments (11). This course integrated Noddings’ pedagogy of care, emphasising relational pedagogy and fostering a sense of connection, creativity, and compassion among medical students. Educators modelled care by building trust through vulnerable leadership, fostering psychological safety, and co-creating group rules. Dialogue was encouraged through interactive strategies like ‘kettle boiling’ breakout groups, where students shared personal reflections in small, informal settings, emulating the relational warmth of face-to-face interactions. These strategies illustrate the potential of relational pedagogies to transform digital spaces into flourishing environments.

Central to this flourishing space was creative enquiry—a pedagogical approach that uses the arts to explore lived experiences. Students engaged in creative activities, from poetry to visual art, enabling them to process and express complex emotions. Sharing their creations in a supportive environment nurtured trust, voice, and agency. The arts served as a bridge to deeper self-reflection and collective understanding, facilitating a holistic exploration of the human dimension in healthcare. Creative enquiry lies at the heart of flourishing pedagogy. By engaging with lived experiences through the arts—metaphor, storytelling, and visual expression—creative enquiry allows individuals to explore the complexities of their humanity. This approach humanises both practitioners and patients, fostering empathy and connection. Creative enquiry also serves as a form of social justice pedagogy, amplifying marginalized voices and creating spaces where diverse perspectives can be shared and valued.

References

1. Sinskey JL, Margolis RD, Vinson AE. The Wicked Problem of Physician Well-Being. Anesthesiol Clin. 2022;40(2):213-23.

2. Younie L. What does creative enquiry have to contribute to flourishing in medical education? In: Murray E, Brown J, editors. The mental health and wellbeing of healthcare practitioners: research and practice: Wiley-Blackwell; 2021. p. 14-27.

3. Younie L. How might we cultivate flourishing spaces? Journal of Holistic Healthcare. 2024;21(1):14 – 6.

4. McArdle S, Byrt R. Fiction, poetry and mental health: expressive and therapeutic uses of literature. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 2001;8(6):517-24.

5. Taylor RA. Contemporary issues: Resilience training alone is an incomplete intervention. Nurse Education Today. 2019;78:10-3.

6. Huta V. The Complementary Roles of  Eudaimonia and Hedonia and How   They Can Be Pursued in Practice. In: Joseph S, editor. Positive Psychology in Practice  : Promoting Human Flourishing in Work, Health, Education, and Everyday Life: John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2015. p. 159-82.

7. VanderWeele TJ. On the promotion of human flourishing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017;114(31):8148-56.

8. Willen SS, Williamson AF, Walsh CC, Hyman M, Tootle W. Rethinking flourishing: Critical insights and qualitative perspectives from the U.S. Midwest. SSM – Mental Health. 2022;2:100057.

9. Ryan RM, Current RR, Deci EL. What humans need: Flourishing in Aristotelian philosophy and self-determination theory. In: Waterman AS, editor. The best within us: Positive psychology perspectives on eudaimonia: American Psychological Association; 2013. p. 57-75.

10. Younie L. Arts-based inquiry and a clinician educator’s journey of discovery. In: C.L.McLean, editor. Creative Arts in Humane Medicine. Edmonton: Brush Education Inc.; 2014. p. 163-80.

11. Younie L, Adachi C. Nurturing the Human Dimension in Digital and Medical Spaces Through Pedagogy of Care – a Case of Creative Enquiry. Perspect Med Educ. 2024;13(1):307-12.

Author Biographies

Professor Louise Younie
Professor Louise Younie

Professor Louise Younie:
Louise Younie (NTF, PFHEA, EdD) is a General Practitioner and Professor of Medical Education at Queen Mary University of London where she leads on faculty development, innovation and flourishing. She has extensive experience with creative enquiry methodologies in medical education for humanising medicine, professional identity formation and human flourishing. She is also co-lead for the QMUL co-creation student recognition SEED award. She is co-chair of the Royal College of GPs Creative Health Special Interest Group (SIG).

Olumide Popoola

Olumide Popoola:
Olumide Popoola (LLB MSc FHEA) is an Education Developer (social justice pedagogies; assessment integrity) at QMUL’s Queen Mary Academy. He is a module leader on the PGCAP, a mentor for early career educators seeking teaching recognition and lead coordinator for the Queen Mary Postgraduate Researcher Educator Programme. He is also an active member of the GTA Developers Network, where he has launched the  Flourishing-Belonging-Dignity-Justice Working Group to tackle EDI issues in GTA training. He has published research and scholarship applying forensic linguistic techniques to academic misconduct detection and is currently exploring the connections between academic integrity and social justice.

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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 22nd 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
Wendy Taleo
Maeve O’Dwyer
Dr Maeve O’Dwyer
Malgorzata (Gosia) Drewniok
Dr Malgorzata (Gosia) Drewniok

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.

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#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 7th 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

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.

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#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

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.

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#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 logo
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

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#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

Photo of Ros 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

Photo of 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

Photo of 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.

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#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

Gerhard Kristandl

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