New Learning and Teaching Hub from the Guardian and the HEA

The series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation.

Harold Jarche on Communites of Practice

So, what else could we do with the handsets. Well, lots. For Economics, how about a simulation where different teams play the Treasury, Bank of England, Banks etc in a simulation of the economy. Controlling machinery in Engineering. Determining the functioning of the human body in medicine.

Information on all the Clickers from Turning Technologies UK

A science fiction story about what you see when you die. Or: the Singularity, ruined by lawyers

This report analyses the findings of the 2012 survey of various aspects of the student experience, including the amount of contact students have with their staff, the size of teaching groups, and the overall number of hours they devote to their studies. It updates the results of earlier surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007, and reflect on some of policy lessons to be drawn from the results

Following a successful first run last year, which saw several participants produce their first published paper relating to their work in the area of technology-enhanced learning, Write-TEL (Writing for Publication in Technology-Enhanced Learning) is back!

Tape measures. Rulers. Graphs. The gas gauge in your car, and the icon on your favorite digital device showing battery power. The number line and its cousins -- notations that map numbers onto space and often represent magnitude -- are everywhere. Most adults in industrialized societies are so fluent at using the concept, we hardly think about it. We don't stop to wonder: Is it "natural"? Is it cultural?

The purpose of this study was to explore group forming strategies by examining participation behaviours during whole class discussions associated with active participation in a following small group activity. Written communication data, posted in class discussion forums (843 messages/70,432 words) and small group forums (732 messages/59,394 words), were analyzed quantitatively. The result indicated that individuals' participation quantity in small groups was significantly correlated with their own participation behaviour in whole class discussions. Also, a significant portion of small group participation was explained by their group members' participation (i.e., group member effect). Based on the results, we suggest instructors use the information of participation behaviours during the initial period of whole class activities for allocating students into small groups heterogeneously.

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." Simply put, this is the advice that J. Scott Armstrong, a marketing professor at the Wharton School, coolly gives his fellow academics these days. It is based on his studies confirming what he calls the Dr. Fox ypothesis: "An unintelligible communication from a legitimate source in the recipient's area of expertise will increase the recipient's rating of the author's competence."

In Print or On Screen? Investigating the Reading Habits of Undergraduate Students Using Photo-Diaries and Photo-Interviews

Publishing recordings of lectures and other recorded audio and video teaching materials is a growing practice supported by a loose family of technologies, often awkwardly labeled 'lecture capture'. At this seminar Dr Jon Anderson of the School of City and Regional Planning, Steven Vaughan of Cardiff Law School, and Dr Steve Rutherford of the School of Biosciences presented three contrasting perspectives on how this practice can be used to supplement, or even redefine, teaching practice. The session was well attended, with around 50 members of staff hearing from the speakers and engaging in question and answers and discussion.

Australian open-source services provider NetSpot has been bought up by online learning firm Blackboard, along with US-based Moodlerooms.