Feature article

Students applauding their professor

The flipped classroom: an evidence-based approach

The flipped classroom is most effective when it places active learning at its core, research suggests. A new model for flipped learning, developed by Manu Kapur and colleagues, aims to do just that

Manu Kapur

ETH Zurich

Timeline and calendar for project management

How to use a project management approach to help run research projects

Jon Gunnell explains how to adopt the PRINCE2 project management method to help overcome the many challenges of running a multi-year research project

Jon Gunnell

University of Sheffield

Students drinking coffee

From cohort to community: how to support student-led initiatives

Building a strong cohort starts with supporting students directly. Here, we, as student and staff co-authors in the humanities, share insights on how to encourage solutions designed for students by students

Ranita Thompson, Joanne Walmsley, Ben Graham

The University of Queensland

A young researcher collects a water sample from a pond

Questions to test students’ understanding of research methods

How to craft questions for closed book examinations on undergraduate research methods

Adrian Man-Ho Lam

The University of Hong Kong

Storyboarding is a crucial step in using animations for university teaching

Using animation to stimulate learner engagement

Videos are a popular means of engaging students in learning concepts, and using animated videos allows a wide range of contexts and situations to be explored

Mahmud Masum, Janice Loftus , Paul Moss

The University of Adelaide

Diverse group of people around a table

Saying people’s names right: what policymakers can do

How can leaders and policymakers in higher education help staff and students to respect people’s name-based identities? Jane Pilcher and Hannah Deakin-Smith identify steps to take

Jane Pilcher, Hannah Deakin-Smith

Nottingham Trent University

Business student presents to her peers

How business schools could lead the charge to revive faith in higher education

As US higher education faces a drop in student numbers, business schools could help transform universities into the cross-disciplinary experiential learning hubs needed today, write Ahmad Al Asady and Siri Terjesen

Ahmad Al Asady, Siri Terjesen

North Dakota State University, Florida Atlantic University

Kids in university science lab

How a school exchange with my daughter led me to question the role of universities

Giving a class at my daughter’s school and having her visit my university gave rise to serious questions about childcare, education and how our universities fit into society, says Andy Farnell

Andy Farnell

Visiting professor

Man climbing up-and-down graph-like staircase

How to sustain a journal and beat the academic publishing racket

Starting a journal is hard enough – keeping it going is an ongoing challenge. Here’s how to maintain success in academic publishing

James Williams, Asma Mohseni

University of Derby

Design thinking at university

Recommendations for using design thinking in the classroom

How to prepare a design thinking workshop, from introducing the concept to students through to ideation and eventually pitching their idea

Karla Margarita Banda Martínez, Graciela González-Valdepeña

Monterrey Institute of Technology

Indigenous Australian people perform a ritual of lighting a fire

Indigenous knowledge provides skills for lifelong learning that AI cannot

Indigenous ways of knowing can provide skills and strategies for learning that could assist educators in addressing the climate emergency, decolonisation and balance the outsourcing of knowledge to AI, Alexandra Sherlock writes

Alexandra Sherlock

RMIT University

Watering can with daisies

Grow your own accessibility allies

The steps to making learning content accessible include identifying areas that need attention, overcoming barriers and recruiting allies to get the job done, writes Luke Searle

Luke Searle

University of Southampton

University leadership

A tale of two models: rethinking shared governance

Ryan Litsey and Jon McNaughtan discuss how the growth of faculty-turned-administrators has complicated the traditional view and execution of shared governance

Ryan Litsey, Jon McNaughtan

Texas Tech University

A city hit by an extreme heatwave

Setting scenarios for a university adapted to climate change

In the second part of their series, Rob Wilby and Shona Smith explain how running institutional plans through different scenarios can help improve a university’s resilience to future challenges relating to climate change

Robert Wilby, Shona Smith

Loughborough University, University of Leeds

blurred hands at a keyboard

Assessment tasks that minimise students’ motivation to cheat

Academic dishonesty occurs for reasons that include students’ fear of missing deadlines, being overwhelmed and lack of language skills. Here are ways to reframe assessment

Temesgen Kifle

The University of Queensland

Global classroom in action with student

An introduction to the global classroom: benefits, challenges and value added

Eric Tsui explains how to intensify internationalisation-at-home efforts, bringing many benefits to students and institutions alike, such as the sharing of transcultural knowledge

Eric Tsui

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Two hands, one offering up a tree growing out of the earth, the other offering up a high-rise city

Decolonisation as a driver for the Sustainable Development Goals

How decolonial approaches can underpin and drive work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals across higher education

Sean Porter, Eleanor Cook

The University of Exeter

Getting ready to mark university work

Written feedback for students – keep it clear, constructive and to the point

James Derounian offers tips for giving compassionate feedback that will enable students to understand where their work went right and wrong

James Derounian

De Montfort University

Two Maori women talking in an office

Decolonising interview methods: a call to look to the moon

The interview process often rests on colonial perceptions of what counts as knowledge, how knowledge is generated and who ‘owns’ it. But researchers can use orienting questions to reflect upon and decentre this approach

Rosalind Edwards, Teah Carlson , Rachel Liebert

University of Southampton, Massey University, University of East London

International graduate in job interview

The top three ways to support international graduate employability

Building effective partnerships with employers and using feedback to shape curricula and careers services will boost outcomes for students, universities and industry alike

Eric Huang

University of East London

A student raising a hand with a question in class

Want to know how your class is going? Ask your students

A guide to what, when and how to ask your students for feedback on your course in order to inform improvements to your teaching

Stephanie Foster, Kalpana Gupta

The University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University

Diverse group of people around a table

Making an inclusive ‘unconference’

Many people in minority communities within our universities do not have enough opportunities to be platformed or validated, or to share their lived expertise within our institutions. An ‘unconference’ could cultivate these voices for positive impact

Brooke Szücs, Joanne Walmsley

The University of Queensland

A racing driver and his co-pilot in a simulation

Co-pilots: a new way of improving hybrid teaching for everyone

Bringing in a ‘co-pilot’ instructor to support the running of hybrid classes can improve the teaching and learning experience for students and their lecturers, write Omar Merlo and James Eteen

Omar Merlo , James Eteen

Imperial College London

A woman logging onto her laptop while eating lunch

A quick guide to designing and delivering effective bite-sized learning

A beginner’s guide to creating content, using the relevant tech tools and fostering active engagement through bite-sized learning

Patrina Law

The Open University

Darwin and teaching originality in university

Teaching originality: an essential skill in the age of ChatGPT

Academic originality is not about chance, genius or magic. It is about engagement and a clear sense of scholarly contribution. And it can be taught, writes Alastair Bonnett

Alastair Bonnett

Newcastle University

Female Asian students studying for an exam

Exam skills instruction: fostering a sense of self-efficacy

Practice, regular feedback and opportunities to experience mastery can help students develop sound exam technique and improve their performance, writes Cheong Fan

Cheong Fan

Macau University of Science and Technology

Disabled student at university

Apply the social model of disability to HE: viewing inclusion as a social good

William E. Donald and Marius Frank present 10 benefits to applying a disability framework that empowers individuals to create a more inclusive society

William E. Donald, Marius Frank

University of Southampton, Ronin Institute, Microlink

Four people expressing different emotions through large smileys

Negative thinking has a role to play in helping students plan their careers

Three recommendations that balance the power of negative and positive thinking to guide career planning for students

Anna Branford , Harriette Richards , Carolina Quintero Rodriguez

RMIT University

“Feedback” appears in white text with a yellow background, with a contrast ratio of 1.7:1. The image has a reflection of an open window on it, making the text much harder to read. In some places the contrast of the text is as low as 1.0001:1

A colour matrix to make visual content more accessible

Accessible content is better content. One way to boost accessibility in visual materials is paying attention to colour contrast during the design process. Here’s a tool to make that simpler

Matthew Deeprose

University of Southampton

An old map of Africa showing countries as former British and French colonies

Bring staff and students together to decolonise in seven steps

Seven stages to decolonising a curriculum, drawing lessons from a staff-student collaboration to decolonise the teaching of geography

Caitlin Kight, Eleanor Cook

The University of Exeter

Mixed age classroom at university

Introducing microcredentials: a guide for educators and students

May Lim provides insight on how to design effective microcredentials that provide tangible benefits for students’ job function and career aspirations

May Lim

Singapore Institute of Technology

How to enhance recruitment and retention at your university

Gareth Morris and Junhua Mo outline ways to address the twin critical factors of motivation for new employment and boosting job satisfaction

Gareth Morris, Junhua Mo

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Soochow University

Three architecture students and an instructor work on a project

What is authentic enquiry learning?

When students work in teams to examine a real-world problem, the result offers a means to bring teaching and research together. Here, Kate Black and Jonny Hall explain how this pedagogy benefits students, academics and society

Kate Black, Jonny Hall

Northumbria University

Struggle, strength and growth: preparing students for the changing future

Struggle, strength and growth: preparing students for the changing future

How to emotionally prepare students for uncertainty and complexity in their future lives by helping them recognise their strengths and embrace change

Kathleen Chim, Lai Tsz Chui, Benjamin Tak Yuen Chan

Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Military in the classroom

Dos and don’ts for welcoming military in the college classroom

We need to be prepared for the specific needs of active military, veterans and their affiliates and know how to work with them in appropriate, thoughtful ways, says Stone Meredith

Stone Meredith

Colorado State University Global

Gay couple using online learning

Pride in HE: how to create an inclusive community online

With more university education now being delivered digitally, Richard Senese offers advice on how leaders can make sure they are building an LGBTQ+ inclusive community online

Richard Senese

Capella University

A young woman expressing disappointment over her work

Six steps to overcoming setbacks and rejection

Rejection is an inevitable part of being an academic, so it is vital to develop strategies to cope with and learn from setbacks in order to succeed in the longer term. Paul A. Walcott shares six such strategies

Paul A. Walcott

The University of the West Indies

woman gives press conference

A bridge between academics and communications staff

Science communication in a post-Covid world calls for a new way to span the gap between researchers and university comms teams – and a new skill set, as Michael Head explains

Michael Head

University of Southampton

A person using artificial intelligence tools in their work

Useful applications of AI in higher education – for which no specialist tech knowledge is needed

The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence has left users struggling to keep up. Cato Rolea explores practical applications of these tools in higher education

Cato Rolea

Nottingham Trent University

Coffee cup for a good manager

Key knowledge to be a good manager in higher education

Academics are the most important asset for any university, though they are often the most neglected, making it even more vital to be a good manager, says Şerife Eyüpoğlu

Şerife Eyüpoğlu

Near East University

leopard and cub

I’d tell my younger self that my chequered past would be my strength

With the benefit of hindsight, Anson Mackay re-examines their career path to see lessons in self-compassion and being their authentic self in collaboration and the classroom

Anson W. Mackay

UCL

Research team at university

A model for maximising the impact of small research units

Qingyan Chen explains how adopting a quasi-centralised management approach can help stimulate large-scale research

Qingyan Chen

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

ADHD in the head of a university student

ADHD in higher education: is digital learning making it worse?

Hopping between multiple apps and platforms can easily overwhelm students with ADHD – we must be alert to the effects of too much digital multitasking, says Adrian J. Wallbank

Adrian J. Wallbank

Oxford Brookes University

A young Black female engineer looks up in a satellite manufacturing facility

What are the barriers to success for under-represented early career researchers in maths, physics, computer science and engineering?

Recommendations for improving equity, diversity and inclusion in maths, physics, computer science and engineering, based on research into the barriers faced by ECRs from under-represented groups in these disciplines

Lucy Yeomans, Daniela Fernandez, Lauren Stentiford

The University of Exeter

Road towards Aoraki mountain on South Island, New Zealand

Can we really decolonise the university?

To explore what is possible, non-Indigenous scholars Mahdis Azarmandi and Sara Tolbert offer an anticolonial feminist praxis for unsettling settler institutions

Mahdis Azarmandi , Sara Tolbert

Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury

Hands typing on a Braille keyboard

What I’ve learned from a decade of working with a disability in academia

Meredith Wilkinson gives her younger self advice on climbing the academic ladder in an able-bodied world, but also calls for greater support for academics with disabilities

Meredith Wilkinson

De Montfort University

A university tutor gives students feedback

What students told us ‘good’ feedback means to them

Asking students what they need from our feedback and responding to their answers makes them active partners in their learning process

David Waller, Kaye Chan, Geetanjali Saluja

University of Technology Sydney

A woman looking after her toddler

How to win at the part-time ‘game’ in academia

Higher education might be more accommodating of part-time employment than many private sector organisations, but working part-time comes with challenges. So how can you make a success of part-time working in academia?

Rushana Khusainova, Maria Kukhareva, Rebecca Feasey, Christina Hughes

The University of Bristol, University of Bedfordshire, Bath Spa University, Women Space

Three The Thinker statues around a laptop

Is critical thinking the answer to generative AI?

Designing assessment that tests critical thinking has value and practicality, so the challenge is figuring out questions that flummox the AI without creating wildly difficult problems for students, write Luke Zaphir and Jason M. Lodge

Luke Zaphir , Jason M. Lodge

The University of Queensland

Siutcase packed

Lots to unpack: tips for those considering visiting positions abroad

Having worked in numerous countries across different continents, Farish A. Noor gives advice on what to look out for when potentially moving overseas

Farish A. Noor  

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg