Swansea Academy of Learning and Teaching

"After 13 years delivering and sharing content to support teaching practitioners across higher education, further education and skills, Jisc will be retiring its Jorum service in September 2016. "

"A growing number of studies have been carried out to understand learning and teaching activities in online learning environments (OLEs) and to design effective OLEs for meaningful learning in higher education. Although there were a small number of studies to provide research trends in educational technology in regards to research topics, methods, and researchers, more research is necessary to help educators to understand new trends and issues of OLEs in higher education. This study intends to provide an overview of practical and theoretical issues pertaining to OLEs by analyzing literature recently published in peer-reviewed journals. The present study qualitatively analyzed research questions and purposes to identify themes of OLEs in higher education. The OLE research topics were grouped into three major themes: (1) participants, (2) micro-level environments, and (3) macro-level environments. The findings are followed by discussion of an ecological approach as a new theoretical framework to guide future OLE research and practice."

"Lecturers with formal teaching qualifications are valued by students far more highly than those who are active researchers, says a major survey that is likely to reopen the debate over the need for compulsory teacher training."

"Routine and inertia too often rule the way that departments and institutions devise their curricula; the same goes for the ways individual faculty members teach and assess student learning."

"Leaders in assistive technology Conversor have announced that their SEN-friendly Notetalker solutions are now available for purchase and downloading. Notetalker App, combined with a Universal microphone and cable kit for any smartphone or tablet, uses a simple user interface which allows students to record classes, with the added ability to tag important information with a bookmark or a text description. Photographs can be added to the recording as a visual reminder."

"In partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, EDUCAUSE explored the gaps between current learning management tools and a digital learning environment that could meet the changing needs of higher education . Consultations with more than 70 community thought leaders brought into relief the contours of a next generation digital learning environment (NGDLE). Its principal functional domains are interoperability; personalization; analytics ,advising, and learning assessment; collaboration; and accessibility and universal design. Since no single application can deliver in all those domains, we recommend a " Lego" approach to realizing the NGDLE, where NGDLE- conforming components are built that allow individuals and institutions the opportunity to construct learning environments tailored to their requirements and goals"

"The Open University has collected and analysed student data as a means of providing information relating to student support and retention for many years. The changing landscape of higher education has seen the rapid expansion of uses to which student data is put. The Open University, in common with many other higher education institutions, is now looking at its use of learning analytics."

"You have probably heard of them - you fill in a questionnaire to be told that you a 'visual learner' or an 'auditory learner', a 'reflector' or a 'pragmatist', a 'diverger' or a 'converger'? But exactly what are Learning Styles? They are, unfortunately, one of the great myths in learning theory"

Shows an enviable commitment to a well thought through strategy that Swansea could learn a lot from!

"The e-Assessment Toolkit exists to provide clear, current, practical information to e-assessment practitioners, or those thinking of adopting e-assessment. The toolkit offers useful tools and resources, helping users to develop and share their knowledge of e-assessment for effective implementation."

""It's true that a lot of undergrads don't visit physical libraries, but as counter-intuitive as it sounds, we have found that making students do Wikipedia-based assignments is a great way to get students back into the library, looking for sources that they can't find online,""

"Digital technologies are pervasive in every aspect of Higher Education, and though their use is undoubtedly common in learning development activities, this field is underreported as an area of expertise.This Special Edition of the JLDHE focuses on ways in which digital technologies are used in the work of learning developers, academic teaching staff or other practitioners seeking to improve student learning. This focus has been chosen because of the large number of technology-related submissions we receive."

"Providing an innovative, research-focused approach to nineteenth-century disability studies, undergraduate history students at Swansea University combine the use of archival resources with blogging to publicly disseminate their work. Here, Professor David Turner reflects on the multiple teaching and learning approaches to 'Researching and Re-telling the Past'."

"A digital system designed to help university staff to collect and act on student feedback is one of two student-designed technologies to win £25,000 in funding from higher education technology body Jisc."