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Spotting and Addressing Problems Early (student voice)
Recipe details
Attributes Value Contributor Name: Piers von Berg
Job role: Senior Lecturer in Law
Email address: piers.vonberg@bcu.ac.ukPiers teaches Law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He teaches critical thinking, human rights, criminal justice and children’s rights. He is interested in and researches human rights and citizenship education.
Keywords student voice, inclusivity
Time duration: 6-7 mins
Student level: any
Preparation time before class: 2 mins (NB 30 mins of evaluation and response after class is needed)
Additional materials or equipment needed: 1 page of blank A4 printer paper per student (depending on class size)
Other general tips/advice:
- In large modules (300+ students) to get a wider coverage use in at least one lecture and 3 seminar groups.
- Use a yellow highlighter to pick out common themes afterwards.
- Dispose of the survey paper after in confidential waste.
- Provide to other members of the teaching team so you can understand what is happening across a range of classes.
This is a simple student feedback exercise that enables problems on a module to be identified early in the semester and addressed by week 4. It is less extensive than the Mid Module Review (MMR) in questions and coverage, but complements the MMR. It can also be administered by an academic without any technology. It works best with large modules where the module lead needs to understand a large cohort’s experience. 30 minutes is needed after class to go through the responses, action any changes (may take longer depending) and put up a ‘you said, we did’ Moodle announcement.
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Tackling misconceptions
Recipe details
Attributes Value Contributor Flo Hayles
Senior Lecturer in Primary Education and Early Years
Flo Hayles has taught all ages internationally and nationally, in state and private Education. She teaches and leads on the Primary Initial Teacher Training Programmes. She is interested in developing a love of learning at all ages and in spotlighting well-being in Education.
Keywords critical thinking, active learning, accessing prior knowledge
To reveal and discuss students’ preconceptions about a given topic. activate and assess prior learning on [a given topic].
Sometimes, students can feel uncomfortable in openly sharing their individual initial thoughts on a topic when it is introduced in a forum environment. This activity is designed to support students in sharing initial misconceptions anonymously for ‘myth-busting purposes,’ so that misconceptions do not lie dormant as learning progresses. As such, it provides an opportunity for lecturers to assess prior learning and adapt the forthcoming session(s) so that learning is sequenced meaningfully for the cohort/group concerned.
Learning Objective:
To reveal and discuss students’ preconceptions about a given topic. activate and assess prior learning on [a given topic].
Sometimes, students can feel uncomfortable in openly sharing their individual initial thoughts on a topic when it is introduced in a forum environment. This activity is designed to support students in sharing initial misconceptions anonymously for ‘myth-busting purposes,’ so that misconceptions do not lie dormant as learning progresses. As such, it provides an opportunity for lecturers to assess prior learning and adapt the forthcoming session(s) so that learning is sequenced meaningfully for the cohort/group concerned.
Tried and tested (used and developed over three academic years or more)
Key words: critical thinking, active learning, accessing prior knowledge
Please complete the following key features in relation to your activity:
Time duration: 10-15 minutes
Student level: Any
Preparation time before class: 15 minutes
Additional materials or equipment needed: PPT slide, Padlet account and a ‘true’ and ‘false’ signs on opposing walls of the teaching space, sticky tape (*or mini whiteboards pens)
*If you have students with mobility challenges, or reluctant contributors in the early days of their university studies, you can invite students to hold up ‘true’ or ‘false’ on a piece of paper from the front of the class without everyone seeing what they wrote. Individuals with dyslexia may find black text on white background difficult on Padlet, signage and the PPT.
Other general tips/advice:
If the group contains learners with support summaries relating to cognitive processing, they may need a little longer to form judgements/ideas/stances; and, students may wish to have some time to discuss the ideas on the Padlet Therefore, you can give the class some time to discuss the ideas one to one with a partner before you invite them to move or display their choices for true or false.
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Tax Game
Recipe details
Attributes Value Contributor Name: Mark Hunt
Job role: Senior Teaching Fellow in taxation
Email address: mark.hunt@bcu.ac.ukMark worked in the accountancy profession in Birmingham city centre for over 25 years, specialising in taxation before moving into a teaching role. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and sits on the local branch committee. Mark is the author of the book “UK Taxation: a simplified guide for students”. In addition to his teaching roles, Mark provides tax and book-keeping advice to students.
Key words Gamification for learning, international tax, tax evasion, tax morale
A game to introduce students to aspects of international taxation, from both the perspective of a country and a company. Also introduces aspects of tax compliance and tax morale.
Time duration: 1 hour
Student level: Level 5 and higher
Preparation time before class: 2 hours to print and prepare resources
Additional materials or equipment needed: Bespoke game materials (see activity plan – envelopes, handouts)
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Using 3-D model making to develop your thinking.
Recipe details
Attributes Value Contributor Name: Julia Gillies-Wilkes
Job role: Lecturer
Email address: julia.gillies-wilkes@bcu.ac.ukA lecturer and post-graduate module lead, Julia is an accredited psychotherapist and enjoys nothing more than bringing the two disciplines together by using creative approaches to teaching counselling to students.
Keywords Reflective task; teamwork; creative approaches
This exercise supports learners to go beyond words and use 3-D model making to develop their thinking. It can be used to support academic learning on any topic to meet any learning outcome. The objectives of the session are to:
- allow fresh thinking on any topic that requires reflection and self-evaluation
- encourage teamwork
- bring energy and fun into a teaching session
The attached Power Point presentation provides a generic lesson plan. The subject can be amended as required. Key things to remember as facilitator are to ensure you remain curious and engaged with what the learners are doing throughout.
Time duration: 90 minutes
Student level: Suitable for all levels where students are comfortable with self-reflection and dynamic group activity
Preparation time before class: 30 minutes
Additional materials or equipment needed: Lego, or any other available ‘building materials’ such as egg boxes, pens, boxes, straws etc.
Other general tips/advice:
Be prepared to make a noise and encourage people to bring some energy to the activity. For example, if using Lego, tip it all out so people can really rootle through and find the pieces that work for them. Encourage people to think metaphorically and allow their imaginations to soar.
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Who am I activity EC
Recipe details
Attributes Value Contributor Dr Emma Craddock
Senior Lecturer in Health Research
emma.craddock@bcu.ac.ukDr Emma Craddock is a qualitative researcher specialising in gendered health inequalities and neurodiversity, applying a social justice lens to research and teaching. An experienced Research Methods educator, she is committed to supporting students to develop confidence in qualitative, participatory, and mixed methods approaches. Her academic background is Sociology.
Keywords Positionality, reflexivity
This activity invites students to begin thinking about and reflecting critically on their positionality as researchers. It aims to introduce students to enacting researcher reflexivity and to open up discussions about researcher positionality.
Tried and tested: used and developed over three academic years or more
Key words: Positionality, reflexivity
Please complete the following key features in relation to your activity:
Time duration:
20-25 minutes but can be flexible
Student level:
All levels, but levels 4-5 might require more instructor input to discussions
Preparation time before class:
5 minutes to do the slides
Additional materials or equipment needed:
none
Other general tips/advice:
Try to encourage different perspectives and ensure that it is clear that this is a safe, respectful learning environment so individuals feel comfortable to speak up and to disagree.
Except where otherwise noted, all teaching materials on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).