We sent round bookmarks to academic staff outlining five new things they could try in their teaching – this post includes more detail about those things and where you can get support to try them.
1. Get Moving – Spend five minutes of your session moving the furniture around to create a more dynamic learning environment and energise your students.
2. Live Lecture Polling – Introduce online polling for instant learner feedback and to encourage active learning.
The Digital Education Office exist to support with this sort of activity – get in touch with them to find out more here.
This comprehensive bibliography on classroom responses systems includes subject-specific examples.
3. Start a Podcast – Create informal engagement with your subject by starting a podcast and invite your students to take part.
We can help you set up your podcast using our equipment and advise you on any purchases you may want to make, as well as how to make the podcast available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. We can also put you in touch with staff who have set up podcasts for their subject to provide additional support.
4. Explore the City – Students love to feel connected to our city and it makes learning memorable when concepts are connected to reality.
The Engaged Learning team exist to support academics in partnering with community organisations and businesses.
There are many examples where academics have used the city and its history to connect learning to a space. Two excellent examples are the MAP Bristol project, undertaken with a BILT grant in 2017/18 by Chris Adams, and the Bristol Futures open units.
5. Gamify Learning – Whether it is a points-based system for engagement or a tailored card game, games can make difficult content more accessible and enjoyable to learn.
Suzi Well and Chrysanthi Tseloudi run a ‘Learning Games’ event, where staff come together to discuss their ideas and examples of game-based learning. Any upcoming events will be shared in the BILT Briefing.
The BILT Discretionary Seedcorn Funding is available for staff to apply for small amounts of money (up to £1500) – last year three games were developed from this funding.