Teaching Matters

" By situating students as active agents of their own learning, teachers can’t ask students to simply “receive, memorize, and repeat (…) [as] merely spectators, not re-creators” of knowledge (Freire, 1968, p.62). For education to be empowering, our classrooms should be collaborative spaces in which knowledge is co-constructed through student engagement", writes Inma Sánchez García, a Teaching Fellow in Intermediality Studies at the Department of European Languages and Cultures (LLC). Inma looks to the concept of intermediality (combining two or more media) to encourage diverse modes of engagement that go beyond the verbal. In this post, Inma gives an example of how this can be achieved at course level. Read more in comments below.

Wonderful to see Celine Caquineau Teaching Matters blog post published on Times Higher Education Campus blog - a really important reflection on why students want to matter. Congrats Celine! https://lnkd.in/ewbWciDb

Really excited to share the first post of the last instalment of the Engaging and Empowering Learners series. Really inspiring posts, and I love that Legos can also help to inspire us!!!

Want to know how to run a workshop using Lego Serious Play (LSP)? Jane Hislop and Simone Dimartino share a fantastic blog post about how they designed a LSP workshop as part of the Edinburgh Medical School's Summer School in Clinical Education (ESSCE), where qualified healthcare professionals aimed at improving their knowledge and skills around clinical education. This post is also a wonderful example of sharing practice in action - when Jane saw Simone (from School of Engineering) run a LSP workshop at The University of Edinburgh's Learning & Teaching Conference in 2023, they decided to work together in Jane's discipline (Medical Education) to develop a workshop for ESSCE. This workshop included three Lego-block building stages: 1. A warm-up activity where participants were asked to build a tower within 60 seconds, allowing everyone to familiarise themselves with the feel of the bricks, their bright colours and their assorted shapes.  2. A metaphor activity, where participants could build the LEGO® blocks in to blocks that represented their understanding of learning, e.g., "this green block means safety in learning".  3.  An activity around storytelling, prompting the participants to use the Lego blocks to create a story about, “what an ideal learning environment looks like to you”. Jane and Simone note, "as well as engaging our learners in discussion of concepts around learning, we hoped that, as educators themselves, our learners might take this approach forward into their own practice." Read more at link in comments below! #lego #legoseriousplay

Registration for the 7th Annual The University of Edinburgh Learning & Teaching Conference is open! Tickets selling fast! Register here: https://lnkd.in/et22Bx-p

Welcome to the fourth - and last - series in the theme: Engaging and Empowering learners, co-edited by Kirsten Cowan. This series on 'Celebrating best practice' will be hosting blog posts on: 💡 LEGO Serious Play® by Jane Hislop and Simone Dimartino; 💡 Inma Sanchez Garcia discusses how intermediality can transform engagement in educational settings; 💡Agata Dunsmoree explores innovative uses of simulation in medical education; 💡 Catriona Gilbert provides an insightful look into the often-intimidating world of metalwork; 💡 Polly Hashmi discusses the effectiveness of using vivid and humorous analogies to teach complex physiological concepts to first-year medical students. Watch out for these posts published during April. Read more in the link in comments!

The School of Biological Sciences have introduced a simple but powerful initiative to build stronger School community and support students through the cost-of-living crisis. Abby Cabrelli, a Student Support Tutor, describes the impact of the weekly breakfast club on students and staff: “On most Mondays, it was the only day where I could have two meals instead of one. The generous spread allowed me to refuel from the weekend and prepare for the week too”. “Breakfast Club is a good opportunity to meet up with friends you don’t usually see during your project, and definitely contributed positively to my week”. Read more at the link in comments.

Want to know more about The University of Edinburgh's Teaching-Focused Network? Next event - 2 April! Read more below! The organisers are four academic staff on open-ended, teaching-focused contracts: Megan Hunt, Sophie Newman, Charlotte Desvages & Amelia Hope-Jones. They wanted to establish a supportive, staff-led network for teaching-focused (TF) staff at the University, with the following initial aims:     1. To connect staff across The University of Edinburgh on teaching-focused contracts, of any kind (including guaranteed hours, fixed term, and open-ended, both academic and professional services) across all subject areas. 2. Create a space to support teaching-focused staff in response to their interests and concerns through regular networking, dialogue, meetings and events. 3. Share ideas and experiences surrounding career development at the University. 4. Advocate for consistent recognition, working conditions, and career progression for teaching-focused staff across the University.    More than 100 people have so far registered their interest in the network, and around 30 were able to attend the first event on 27th January, held in Edinburgh College of Art. The organisers write: "The meeting was productive and collegial. We introduced ourselves and spoke about our ideas for the network. We had some very interesting group discussions, which centred on the challenges of working in a teaching-focused role, and ideas for how the network might support, and advocate for, staff on teaching-focused contracts in future. There was a clear sense among respondents and attendees at the meeting that the establishment of this staff-led network was both welcome and beneficial.     We collated all the issues and ideas that were raised at this meeting and have made them available on a Teams channel:  https://edin.ac/4hOWO5d Charlotte has done some research on the numbers and proportion of academic staff on teaching-focused contracts across the University and has also made this information available to members of the channel.     Following a constructive and encouraging first meeting, we have scheduled a second event in Week 11, Weds 2nd April 4-6pm at LG.10, 40 George Square. At this meeting, we intend to give an update on the issues raised at our first event, highlight the numbers of teaching-focused staff across the University, articulate our revised aims as a network, and invite input from attendees on matters significant to them.     At a time of budget cuts and the threat of compulsory redundancies, we feel strongly about the particular value and contribution of staff on TF contracts - for the learning conditions of our students, and for the vitality of our University. We hope that the TF Network will continue to grow, to offer beneficial support to its members and to champion the contributions of teaching-focused staff.”  You can join the network on the Teams site: https://edin.ac/4hOWO5d  

Gillian Batty, Shannon Branigin, and Anna Chiumento, from the Global Mental Health and Society MSc Programme, share how Student Partnership Agreement funding supported their vision to develop an alumni and student network to create connections and community. They founded the Global Mental Health and Society (GMH&S) Alumni and Student Network - an online resource that seeks to sustain connection and foster community for students and alumni of the GMH&S MSc programme. Read more at link in comments:

Board of Studies Network event: Skills for Success Framework - update and next steps Date and Time: Wednesday 21 May 10.30am-12pm Format: online via Teams – register here: https://lnkd.in/ePgcBnma The Skills For Success Framework (SFSF) will be used to transform our approach to skills development for all University of Edinburgh students. It will contribute to ensuring that our Student Vision is reflected in the student experience by: · Embedding opportunities for skills development in the Edinburgh journey of all students;  · Surfacing these opportunities clearly to students and staff; and  · Ensuring that students and staff are able to articulate skills development for themselves and to others (e.g. prospective employers).    Boards of Studies will have an important role to play in overseeing the curriculum changes associated with SFSF implementation.      This session will provide a brief update on work-to-date and offer an opportunity to discuss what support would be helpful for Boards of Studies. For example, when and how are convenors and members of Boards of Studies likely to look for guidance and what formats would you expect will be more/less helpful for you and your colleagues? The University of Edinburgh, Teaching Matters