Discover and share good practice for smarter working universities

Innovative spaces and pedagogies for enhanced teaching and learning

The rise in tuition fees over recent years has made delivering value to students increasingly important, placing renewed spotlight on the quality of teaching and learning spaces within higher education. A recent forum event, hosted by FaulknerBrowns Architects, explored how innovative teaching and learning spaces could support radical new pedagogies.
partnership

Student empowerment pays off for UCL’s ChangeMakers

Encouraging staff and students to suggest improvements in their learning environment has seen UCL's student satisfaction scores improve. Jenny Marie describes how fostering a culture of student partnership makes for a powerful recipe to enhance education.
Smiley face made out of paperclips

Slack: the social media that’s suitable for work?

Academia and social media are slowly making friends. Some institutions are even finding it's making collaboration more efficient - and fun - by improving communication. Mike Ewen from the University of Hull shares the story of how a small group of social media enthusiasts in East Yorkshire has spawned a UK-wide collaboration network.

The UK Higher Education Learning Space Toolkit: a SCHOMS, AUDE and UCISA collaboration

This toolkit has been produced by three higher education organisations to help their members share best practice and work more effectively when creating learning spaces. It is intended to serve both as a practical guide and as a source of inspiration in the design of spaces that delight and motivate students, as well as meet their functional needs.
A cartoon case study of Edinburgh Napier's exam logistics project

First class results delivered in exam logistics process improvement project

When Edinburgh Napier trialled streamlining the logistics around the production of exam papers they expected the changes would save some time for staff. But the benefits produced went further than that as Louise McElhone and Steve Yorkstone explain.
DMU Replay Student View

Raising the quality of teaching and learning for disabled students

Using tech to provide ways to make teaching and learning more accessible has won De Montfort University admiring words from government. Abigail Moriarty explains how DMU Replay works and why it doesn't only aid students with disabilities.
Mike Sharples professor of educational technology at the Open University

Mike Sharples: ‘we are using analytics in a much more active way than before’

The Open University (OU) has led the way in pioneering innovative methods of teaching and learning. Mike Sharples, professor of educational technology, at the OU tells Rosie Niven how technological changes and better learning analytics is making its teaching more effective.
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Be better with digital, students tell staff in Jisc survey

Students have stated their frustration at staff's lack of training in - and inconsistent use of - technology in Jisc's digital student tracker report. The survey which involved 22,000 higher education students is one of the largest of its kind.
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Welcome to the intelligent campus

As 'smart homes' become more and more sophisticated, universities are harnessing technology to improve the campus or classroom experience for students. Now institutions are planning on taking it to the next level, by using data from sensors, tracking and the internet, combined with information from other sources, as Jisc's James Clay describes in this blog.

Analytics in higher education

Universities already collect vast amounts of data about their student populations, but often this is underutilised. This Universities UK report, written in partnership with Civitas Learning and Jisc, sets out the case for better use of analytics in higher education through effective implementation of appropriate technology and techniques.