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UCL Education Conference 2021 is delighted to feature, for the first time, live and asynchronous sessions. View all abstracts here.
On this page, you will find abstracts for all live and asynchronous sessions. You can also view the full conference schedule here.
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Room one
- 35. COVID19 : Online not distant – student’s feedback on a blended approach of teaching MSc medical statistics
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Saiful Islam
Theme: Assessing, evaluating, feeding back
Dr Saiful Islam with Yasna Palmeiro, Alexender Cozzi-Lepri, Saiam Ahmed, Mifuyu Akasaki, Rosamund Greiner, Carlos Valencia, Masuda Khanom, David Blundred. (contributions from No) (Institute of Neurology)COVID-19 has challenged learning and teaching (L&T) activities worldwide. During Term 1 (Sept-Dec) 2020-2021, we ran the “Research Methods and Introduction to Statistics” module online, facing challenges related to lecture delivery and teaching statistical software. As a response, a blended approach (pre-recorded lectures, slides and live session, instant response to the student queries) was adopted, including weekly student feedback surveys.
On average, we received 8 responses each week (n=66/120). After statistical analyses, we found that overall feedback improved weekly (Figure 1). Students valued live question and answer sessions. This feedback was reviewed weekly and assisted tutors to improve teaching in their subsequent sessions.Although the weekly response rate was low, the overall evaluation of this blended approach for teaching medical statistics was highly satisfactory. Weekly feedback is absolutely necessary to improve L&T activities. It helped improve tutors’ capability of teaching and if distance learning ordinance remains we would consider repeating a similar approach in the upcoming year(s).
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference blog
- 68. Modern Language Learning in times of the Pandemic
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Ulrich Tiedau
Theme: Assessing, evaluating, feeding backIn this presentation, Connected Learning Leads will present a selection of interesting case studies from across the School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) and the Centre for Multidisciplinary and Intercultural Inquiry (CMII) and reflect on the lessons learned from the past year of remote learning for the post-pandemic future of Modern Foreign Language Teaching & Learning across SELCS-CMII. Apart from best practices that have emerged, the presentation will pay particular attention to innovative forms of assessment.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference blog.
Room two
- 46. Creating and delivering accessible and affordable online professional development short courses
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Jane Simmonds
Theme: Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievementsReaching the admissions requirements for post-graduate paediatric physiotherapy at UCL can be very challenging for individuals in developing countries or in countries where undergraduate degrees contain insufficient subject-specific or research content. Furthermore, access to affordable online professional development education in paediatric physiotherapy is limited.
To address these needs, the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health paediatric physiotherapy teaching team, applied for a UCL innovation grant to create a series of accessible self-paced, online courses which aim to provide graduate physiotherapists with the fundamentals of evidence-based paediatric physiotherapy practice and to prepare participants for postgraduate masters level education. The courses have been successfully delivered on a rolling basis since January 2020. In this presentation, we will welcome the opportunity to share and discuss the challenges and successes of our journey so far, reflecting on the creation of teaching materials, course recruitment, completion rates and impact feedback from students.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference blog.
- 54. How our distance learning Clinical Neurology maintains top ranking of inclusive student representation
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Tim Young
Theme: Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievementsIn a major recent data review, our MSc in Clinical Neurology by distance learning was equal top out of 1,695 courses across UCL in terms of a composite of student characteristics which universities nationwide have long tried to promote. These include:
- representation for BME students (78% of students on our overall course)
- percentage of overseas students and students in a low acorn quartile (reflecting geo-economic status)
Our course was top outright for these measures within its Faculty (Brain Science).Our success is related to course structure, being fully online, allowing enrolment from students worldwide. To enhance a sense of belonging, we proactively seek to build a genuine community of learners. Student location has included 15 developing nations. Testimonies of our course impact on healthcare in developing nations has been striking. We hope our diverse and inclusive course can act as a beacon to others of what can be achieved.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog.
Room three
- 19. Experience of a UCL international PGR student navigating Covid-19...: reflections and recommendations
Experience of a UCL international PGR student navigating Covid-19, lockdown, pregnancy and maternity leave, racial abuse, repatriation and quarantine: reflections and recommendations
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Sally Zou
Theme: Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievementsThe lead author reflects with her primary supervisor on:
- how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted her PGR studies
- the first lockdown in London
- learning of her pregnancy
- experiences of racial abuse when wearing a mask in public in London
- her experience of isolation in London
- the decision to leave London before the second lockdown
- anxiety about interrupting her studies
- anxiety about possible changes in the relationship with her supervisors
- the long journey home to Ningbo, China which had multiple stages including a detour thousands of miles from her home-town, necessitating multiple periods of quarantine.
Reflecting on the PGR student’s metaphorical journey and her own (literal) journey, including academic discoveries, the supervisory relationship, boundaries, her changing self-concept, time-management and the use of technology, this presentation will end with 3 key recommendations for staff supporting PGR students and 3 recommendations for PGR students.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog.- 45. Clinic-based teaching in a pandemic: lessons earned
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Sumanjit Gill
Theme: Learning through collaborationMedical students learning experience was hugely disrupted by the pandemic as opportunities to learn in the clinical environment were suspended then adapted to meet their needs in a safe way. We established teaching clinics for medical students during the pandemic which were modified to allow students to engage in a consultation with patients and practice communication skills whilst managing their exposure to COVID. There was positive feedback from students (10) and patients (5). Here we share lessons we learnt this year and discuss how this experience has changed the way we teach clinical medicine.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room four
- 40. Connected Learning Internships – involving students in moving teaching online during the pandemic
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Fiona Wilkie
Theme: Learning through collaborationThis presentation will share how Connected Learning Internships were created to address two major challenges as a result of the pandemic: summer internship cancellations for students, and a huge workload for staff faced with moving their teaching online, including induction and co-curricular activities.
The collaboration between UCL Careers and the staff/student partnership (ChangeMakers) team in UCL Arena Centre helped to shape the role into one that was valuable for staff and helped students to develop and articulate employability skills but also began to foster partnership work between staff and students.
The presentation will discuss data from our evaluation activity (surveys, student focus groups and staff interviews) to think about the future of the internships – which have continued into 2020/21 – looking at both the potential to involve students in other areas of the University and also how it fits in with our other staff/student partnership activity.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog.- 22. Our tips for teaching: collaborate, connect and get creative
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Gemma Moore
Theme: Learning through collaboration
This is a story of one online session, but behind it lies years of collaboration. One of our collaborations is a lecture about open space and food systems for the MSc module Health and Wellbeing in Cities. This lecture is usually delivered in a community garden, with one author in a Trustee. Rethinking our session we took an asset-based approach: considering the opportunities of students located in different geographies.Alongside asynchronous materials, we gave students a task to take a photo/find an image and write a story about food in their city, encouraging them to get connected with their neighbourhood (if they could). In a synchronous session, we ran a storytelling exercise, putting the students in small groups to share their stories.
Their stories reflected issues including the impact of the pandemic, isolation, family, regeneration, to name a few. After the session, we created 2 issues of a magazine, a collective of the students’ stories. Students gave positive feedback on the magazine, read and commented on each other's work.
Through connecting, creativity and collaboration we adopted culturally relevant pedagogy, tapping into cultural, personal and socio-political issues.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog.
Room five
- 26. Bringing Language Learners Closer (BLLC): ChangeMakers project on social interaction in the modern foreign languages classroom
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Dr Alejandro Bolaños-García-Escribano
Theme: Learning through collaboration
Scholarly inquiry on distance-learning practices in foreign language education is far from new and although in the past two decades many higher-education institutions had already embraced blended and electronic learning and teaching approaches, the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a true catalyst for a sudden move from offline to online learning/teaching across the board. This has proved particularly challenging for modern languages teachers and students, especially those who were used to more traditional forms of tuition.Presential, teacher-student and student-student oral interaction is considered paramount to fostering in-class discussion and dynamism in higher education. Yet, it is even more so in the modern languages classroom, where active engagement is deemed essential to attaining a higher command of structures and acquiring fluency in the foreign language (Council of Europe 2020).
This paper will report on a student-led research project that exemplifies the principles of research-led/-based education in as much as the student collaborators work under their teachers’ supervision in order to gauge student expectations, experiences and evaluation at three different stages of the learning/teaching process (before, during and after term time). The benefits of involving students in research-led/-based teaching practices are manifest; indeed, by building on reflective practice, this research proposed immediate action for the provision of online modern languages training, including the development of year-long portfolios at the departmental level.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog.- 32. Moving the face-to-face workshops of the SELCS Brazilian Translation Club online
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Ana Claudia Suriani da Silva
Theme: Learning through collaborationThe SELCS Brazilian Translation Cub is a series of workshops in which students, translators, and enthusiasts of Brazilian literature meet to discuss the translation of a selected contemporary Brazilian short story.
We offered 15 workshops from January 2019 to November 2020: 10 workshops at UCL and 5 online due to COVID-19. A new series of 10 workshops will start in March 2021.
My presentation will discuss the workshops’ objectives and the benefits and opportunities for collaborative translation between UCL students and international partners that have emerged from the pandemic.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room six
- 76. Remote, Virtual, and Hybrid Biomedical Engineering Laboratories
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Henry Lancashire
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?UCL’s Biomedical Engineering degree includes laboratory and group project work throughout the four-year programme.
We will discuss some different approaches taken across the programme, this year, from on-site socially distanced labs in term one, to virtual simulated experiments and home kits with Zoom support sessions. Challenges included providing spaces and opportunities for student interactions, including hands-on learning, and ensuring equitable access.
We will discuss positive experiences including collaboration across entire classes and students engaging their families with their work and achievements. We are considering what changes must be made to future in-person labs to allow for students with less, or different, hands-on experience, and what we would do differently for future socially distanced and/or remote delivery.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog- 79. Improving virtual field trip resources for teaching geology: A case study from Dorset for UG and PGT students
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Sudeshna Basu
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?Fieldwork is an indispensable part of geology. In the department of Earth Sciences, UCL, two field trips to Dorset run every year for UG and M.Sc. students. Dorset is located in the South of England with classical erosional and depositional landforms and fossil sites.
The virtual field trip to Dorset developed last year, can be used either as a supporting resource to a traditional field trip or, replace when accessibility becomes challenging. The module coordinators and demonstrators are working on students’ feedback, to make the existing contents more engaging while incorporating new assessment methods to test field geology skills.
There will be emphasis to recreate teamwork and complement virtual materials with planned live sessions. In addition, aligned to UCL’s Education Strategy, new content on landslides and coastal erosion are being developed, to address these issues along this coast (Gallois, 2008).
Reference:
Gallois, R.W. (2008). Geoscience in South-West England,12, 101-108.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room seven
- 53. Active Collaborative Learning in Content: Talis Elevate in SHS
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Jon Chandler
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?At university, the conversation around course content is ubiquitous: it is relevant for all disciplines, all institutions, and all students. The pandemic this year highlighted a particular challenge around the close analysis of sources, which is a core principle of teaching practice for many courses in History.
This academic year, the Department of History adopted Talis Elevate, a collaborative annotation tool allowing the discussion to take place within content across documents, images, and media. The software has since been adopted more widely in the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences.
In this session, we will detail the practical application of the tool within our specific pedagogic approaches, provide an overview of the engagement and activity observed, and evaluate the tool for wider application.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog- 81. Lessons learned from over 600 hours of online teaching of short courses
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Catalina Suarez-Rivera
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?The UCL Centre for Applied Statistics Courses (CASC) offers short (1-5 day) courses for non-statisticians from UCL and beyond to build understanding of research methods and statistical techniques. Our face-to-face courses moved online in March 2020 and since then, CASC members have completed approximately 600 hours of online teaching aggregated across 75 courses. We will share our unique level of experience to inform others about teaching at UCL online. Student participation and engagement are critical in online classrooms.
Therefore, we have actively tested technology/materials (i.e., online platforms, practical activities, breakout groups, asynchronous content, hardware solutions including drawing tablets) and incorporated student feedback to converge on optimal, dynamic solutions that continue to attract students from all walks of life and seniority to our virtual classrooms.
The discussion will draw from our experience, student feedback, current issues (e.g., measuring student understanding in real-time), and future plans (e.g., multiple student screen sharing, encouraging interaction between students).
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room eight
- 55. IDEA (Inspirations for Digital Engagement Activities)
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Silvia Colaiacomo, Leo Havemann, Sam Ahern, Tim Neumann, Abbie Shaw, Simon Walker, Clive Young
Theme: Learning through collaborationThis session introduces IDEA (Inspirations for digital engagement activities), a set of resources and activities to support student engagement in digital teaching settings, developed collaboratively by UCL Arena and Digital Education. The resources are equally student and staff facing, flexible, and grouped by pedagogical aim (such as assessment literacy, collaboration, reflection and revision etc.). Each of them includes a rationale and instructions for use. We also have patterns for Gateway Assessments to help prepare students for summative submissions. These “lesson plan” patterns are available in the Learning Designer to facilitate implementation and transfer to subject domains.
All resources are available on a dedicated blog, where we invite staff to contribute, share examples and experiences.
The session will be interactive and model the use of the activities. Participants will be involved and invited to provide feedback on how they might use the resources.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog- 15. Student Wellbeing Questionnaires – a proactive approach to supporting students
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Stefanie Anyadi and Kathryn Ball
Theme: Learning through collaborationWe will report on two different versions of student wellbeing questionnaires, which were piloted in Biosciences and in Psychology and Language Sciences during the 2020/21 session with undergraduate and Masters students.
We will give an overview of the questionnaire design, messaging and outcomes as well as lessons learnt, and look forward to discussing our experience with colleagues who have undertaken, or are planning to undertake similar work.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room nine
- 84. Escape the Pharmacy
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Ellie Bates
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?This presentation will explore the redesign of a Pharmaceutical calculations workshop for online delivery and the development of an online escape room. Pharmaceutical calculations are an important part of the pharmacy curriculum and an area in which students struggle.
The aim of the workshop was to improve learning outcomes by increasing engagement and providing opportunities for collaboration. The online escape room was developed on the UCL Reflect platform, utilising several features of the platform, such as “locked doors”, video embedding and form inputs.
The design of the workshop allowed for groups of students to work together to solve a variety of puzzles, applying their knowledge by simulating a pharmacy layout. During the presentation, we will explore how the game was designed and how learning attributes have been linked to the game mechanics (Lameras et al., 2017). We will share some initial user feedback and explore ways of patterning game designs.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog- 62. Student Engagement in a Virtual Setting: A Departmental Society’s Experience
Presentation type: Pecha Kucha (20 slides, 20 seconds each) 10-15 minutes discussion time
Presenter: Aditya Mori
Theme: Learning through collaborationIn this presentation, we, the Senior Committee of The Economist’s Society (the student society of UCL Economics), will reflect on the content and the format of events we have organised during the pandemic through a 10-minute synchronous presentation under Learning through Collaboration. Student community building is one of our key responsibilities, alongside extending opportunities for our members to comprehensively explore Economics beyond the lectures. We do this by organising extracurricular events like academic talks, socials, networking sessions, workshops and inviting submissions for our magazine, The Economic Tribune.
We will reflect on our activities to answer questions surrounding the following categories:
1. Relationships among students
2. Relationships between staff and students
3. Relationships between UCL and other universitiesSpecifically, we will discuss our Economics Conference, talks by three Nobel Laureates, the Drayton Discourse Podcast, Get to Know Your Professor series, Tribune Essay competition, Pub Quizzes and the inter-university Economics Debate.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room one
- 69. Teaching practical classes during a pandemic: how do we support students remotely?
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Asma Buanz
Theme: Assessing, evaluating and feedbackAn important aspect of a Pharmacy degree is practical skills in Pharmaceutics. We deliver practical classes for Pharmaceutical Technology, where 2nd-year students work in groups to develop a formulation of a fictitious new therapeutic agent into tablets and capsules.
This practical activity provides the students with the opportunity to learn about the fundamentals of Pharmaceutical Formulation through practice in a “real-life scenario” in a pharmaceutical company.
In 2019, we reviewed the classes and on the basis of the need to assure consistency and continuity of the delivery, we planned to use a blended learning approach and reduced the impact of unexpected changes to staff. The first step was creating a video recording of some of the components. We started with one key formulation step and used that in the classes in early 2020. As the pandemic hit, providing alternative online format became a priority.
Learning from feedback from our tutees about other classes, and based on our initial experience, we decided to design ‘virtual classes’ of videos with suitable narration and quizzes impeded into asynchronous weekly ‘lessons’ on Moodle. Concerned about how best to support students and providing them with something close to what we would have had in the laboratory, we have provided interactive synchronous sessions in smaller groups throughout February.
An important learning objective is teamwork, thus we provided ‘supervised’ group meetings during the synchronous sessions to encourage student interactions. We also have optional in-person sessions running in March and students’ opinion on the effectiveness of having the online material and the support beforehand will be compared and assessed during these sessions.
Going forward, we are looking into implementing a ‘blended’ approach with the ambition to design interactive scenario-based online content exploring interactive videos and augmented reality.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog- 61. The use of video and audio feedback in the assessment of post-graduate coursework
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Samir Nuseibeh
Theme: Assessing, evaluating and feedbackTraditionally, one of the main areas of complaint from student cohorts is the quality of feedback they receive on their coursework with many suggesting that written feedback is often meaningless and impersonal.
There is an increasing amount of data in the literature to support the idea of moving away from written style feedback and provide more informative feedback through the medium of video (which is capable of providing both auditory and visual cues to the student). Video style feedback comes in a few different forms, but all have been shown to strengthen the student-marker relationship with a high level of acceptance for both students and staff.
This academic year, a “combination screencast” feedback technique was used to provide feedback to students taking BENG0084 (a PG module) for all of their assignments. This presentation will discuss the logistics of carrying out such a task and some initial responses from the students in terms of what they thought of it.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room two
- 12. Learning from Lockdown: Listening to students’ voices about the challenges and benefits in the post-Covid digital practices
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Cosette Crisan
Theme: Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievementsThe sudden move to remote teaching and learning in Spring 2020 brought together staff and students in order to learn from each other how to best address the challenges of the new ways of teaching and learning. In this synchronous presentation the six authors will take turns:
- to introduce the two institutionally-supported studies conducted last year, one surveying the UCL undergraduates, and the other one surveying the postgraduate taught students in the CPA department of UCL IoE;
- to share the framework that guided the analysis of students’ views of their experiences and priorities surrounding online learning, gathered via online surveys and focussed group discussions;
- to propose alternative conceptions for what could be a meaningful and rich online educative experience;
- to discuss our findings and their implications for theory, research, policy and practice in a post-pandemic context;
- and last and most important,
- to describe how staff and students collaborated on carrying out these projects, and later worked together to write an academic paper about to the two projects.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 71. Supporting Chinese students at UCL Engineering: An exploration and first steps
Presentation type: Pecha Kucha (20 slides, 20 seconds each) 10-15 minutes discussion time
Presenter: Johanna Novales, Izzie Harvey
Theme: Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievementsMainland Chinese students at UCL, including in UCL Engineering, face specific challenges with belonging and wellbeing that are often not visible to staff or even other students until the problems become severe. While Covid has exacerbated the problem, the issues pre-date the pandemic.
Through surveys and interviews with Chinese students, we have gained perspective on how issues relating both to British and Chinese culture impact their experiences.
We present an overview of the challenges and our recommendations to begin addressing what is a very complex issue. Solutions we recommend include tools specifically for students as well as staff to navigate both practical and cultural differences. We hope that these ideas can also be adapted to address belonging and wellbeing for other student cohorts at UCL.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room three
- 49. How UCL Economics Walk went virtual
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Ramin Nassehi
Theme: Learning through collaborationUCL Economics Walk is a walking tour of Bloomsbury, where the tour leader (i.e. lecturer) takes the audience through different locations in this area that have an economic story to tell.
The project’s aim is to explain complex economic ideas in an accessible way to students and/or members of the public and encourage critical discussion on those ideas. I have offered this tour in person for thirteen times and twice virtually.
In terms of pedagogy, this tour follows a dialogical approach in the sense that the tour leader starts a conversation about each location with, and among, the audience. In this presentation, I will talk about the challenges I faced to create a virtual version of this tour on Zoom, particularly the different mediums (group games, Google Map, music, short snippets from movies) I used to encourage peer dialogue and create a sense of collective intellectual journey. This tour takes a place-based approach to teach economics that can be easily adapted to different campuses, towns or cities.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 65. Automated, collaborative, receptive and interactive: a data generation exercise for teaching statistics
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Dean Langan
Theme: Learning through collaborationStudents find it easier to engage when presented with examples from a familiar subject area. However, when teaching students of varying professional backgrounds, finding relatable examples can be especially challenging.
Data generation exercises offer a solution for training in statistics as all students are involved in the process from data collection through to the choice and use of appropriate analyses. One such exercise that forms an integral part of an introductory statistics course is based on beermat (coaster) flipping, a popular UK pub game.
We have recently moved the data collection process online so that students can enter data via their smartphones and developed a web application. This application allows students to explore the results interactively and independently and is a welcome addition to online and classroom interactivity. We present details of this exercise, focusing on use of the web application, example outputs, and student feedback.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room four
- 44. Facilitating active learning using interactive vodcasts
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Jane Simmonds
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?Video podcasts (vodcasts) have been used increasingly in education over recent years. They offer students the advantages of convenience, equitable access, the ability to selfpace, and the ability to repeat content. In addition, they can be used to support other learning resources. A
lthough the ability to self-pace is an advantage for users of vodcasts, the user may not necessarily have to actively engage with the content or practice applying the content. Evidence suggests that active learning results in improved learning outcomes.
Newer software, H5P and Articulate Storyline can be used to create interactive vodcasts and have been used extensively within UCL physiotherapy short courses and postgraduate module provision to engage learners and facilitate active learning. Drawing on our experience and feedback from students, this presentation discusses the strengths, challenges and top tips for using these methods.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 23. Reflections on adaptable education in Economics - lessons learned for in-person teaching and learning
Presentation type: Pecha Kucha (20 slides, 20 seconds each) 10-15 minutes discussion time
Presenter: Parama Chaudhury
Theme: Learning through collaborationIn summer 2020, we (2 Economics lecturers and 2 Connected Learning interns) worked together to completely redesign the way in which economics is taught and learned at UCL, with an eye towards making our education model more adaptable and resilient beyond the immediate Covid crisis.
This included developing an Economics-specific Moodle page inspired by the Connected Learning baseline but tailored to the specifics of a very large programme with significant technical learning embedded in modules, redesigning the assessment structure to align with the “semi-flipped” approach to education, testing out technical solutions with students spread around the world, and thinking about how this model of education facilitated easy switching between online and in-person modalities and everything in between.
We provide initial reflections and evaluation of this model in this presentation, bringing in lecturer and student voices, as well as effects on learning outcomes.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room five
- 88. The benefits and challenges of designing programmes
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Simon Walker, Sandra Lusk, Martin Compton, Anne Preston
Theme: Learning through collaborationTo support the development of new programmes at UCL East and the recommendations of the 2020 PGT review, UCL is piloting a holistic approach to its development of new programmes. As part of the preparation for Programme Module Approval Panel a series of workshops have been developed that enable programme teams to work together to discuss and explore the many complexities involved in creating well-designed programmes with students at the centre.
The programme design workshops integrate the work of other central units including market research, employability /careers and sustainability and lead to the ABC module design. Initially offered as face-to-face workshops, these have been adapted to run online since March 2020 to support the development of 12 UG/PG programmes, one involving 2 student reviewers.
The session will introduce the approach, and drawing upon evaluations, discuss some of the challenges and plans for enhancement.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 60. The importance of learning and feedback through collaboration in a large-scale, cross-departmental, student project
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Ryan Grammenos
Theme: Learning through collaborationThis presentation will talk about what we "learned about learning" in the current climate, and the need for and value of collaboration between staff and students. The talk will draw on the experience of running a cross-disciplinary project across two departments for over 400 first-year students while coordinating 18 members of staff and postgraduate teaching assistants.
It will discuss the challenges encountered in bringing a 100% hands-on, physical and team-based project online with students dispersed literally around the globe. Issues "we didn't know...we didn't know" and the "human factors” we took for granted, yet which pan out very differently in an online, remote learning environment, will be addressed.
Overcoming this challenge required us to reach out to a specific circle of students who acted as the “bridge” between staff and their fellow students. The talk will wrap up with lessons learned and how we might do things differently in future.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room six
- 34. “I can’t see students’ reactions”: The experiences of UCL academics in the move to online teaching during lockdown
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Allison Littlejohn
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?In this presentation we examine the challenges posed by the technological mediation of student-teacher and student-student interaction while teaching online during Covid19. The UCL Moving to Online Teaching and Homeworking study traced the experiences of UCL staff March-August 2020 working under lockdown conditions.
Most academics used synchronous videoconferencing tools to connect with students. Some teaching staff evolved a repertoire of techniques to create a sense of social presence with students. However, a persistent challenge was enabling interaction between staff and students in ways that supported effective, caring pedagogies.
In this presentation, we discuss the use of technologies to support connections and presence. We will pose questions around the reasons why some academics chose to teach synchronously (immediate) rather than asynchronously (over time) and will discuss challenges and opportunities for developing practice in ways that engender interaction and caring pedagogies.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 59. The 3Cs in action: from the classroom to the digital stage
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Rikke Duus
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?In this presentation, I will introduce my concept the ‘3Cs of Async’ and explain how academic faculty can take on the roles of Creator, Curator and Connector (the 3Cs). This approach can assist colleagues in the planning, design and development of async-led course material, including audio, video and interactive features, and align with online live sessions to ensure engagement and relevance. I will share how I selected specific digital tools and software (including Mural, Canva, Strategyzer, Excel, Wix, iMovie and QuickTime) that I used to edit and produce the async video material and create collaboration and interaction in live sessions.
In January 2021, I had an article accepted by Harvard Business Publishing about the ‘3Cs of Async’ and how this approach can drive student engagement and learning:
Duus, R. (2021) Develop More Impactful Asynchronous Course Material. Harvard Business Publishing Education. January. Access here: https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/develop-more-impactful-asynchro....You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room seven
- 29. Help! 5 days to deadline day with just 1 PTES participant
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Tim Young
Theme: Learning through collaborationThe annual Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is the key collator of postgraduate student views, yet nationally participation is typically below 30% making interpretation challenging. Our distance-learning Clinical Neurology course experience, with some 80 students, demonstrates how to dramatically improve participation
Our course 2017 PTES participation was 14% despite repeated email requests. In 2018 I showed that bespoke personalised requests massively increased participation to nearly 68%.However, my bespoke method was too time-consuming and thus inapplicable to larger courses.
Without input from me in 2019 our course PTES participation was 20%, reflecting the national average.In the 2020 PTES I demonstrated a rapid method of mail merge request, personalising the email subject-line using outlook offline, dramatically expanded participation. Starting just 5 days before PTES deadline, I increased our MSc/Diploma student participation from under 3% to 45%-this would have been 50% had I started sending requests 12 days before the deadline.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 27. Learning Together: Creating Student Online Community
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Sinead Harmey
Theme: Learning through collaborationIn this session we will provide participants with a brief overview our ongoing UCL Changemakers project from the perspective of both staff and students. This project aims to enhance students’ educational experience at UCL.
The project team aspire to support MA students in the Department of Learning and Leadership (UCL IOE) in Terms 2 and 3, with the goals of creating an online peer support and learning community. This is particularly relevant to students in the COVID-19 context because learning is online and students are missing the ‘hidden’ academic and social opportunities to be on campus and become part of an academic community.
The project includes an ongoing series of events (drop in chats, writing workshops, alumni talks) that revolve around peer support, support for dissertation, and support for career development and beyond. Through this suite of supports we hope to develop transferable skills and enhance the student experience. We will address key issues including: connecting with students, involving staff, creating community in an online world, and addressing the ‘hidden’ opportunities of an MA programme as students study in the context of an ongoing pandemic.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room eight
- 31. Discover UCL Summer School for year 11 and 12 deaf students: Lessons from 2020
Presentation type: 45 Minute discussion
Presenter: Manjula Patrick
Theme: Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievementsIn 2020, a 3-day residential event transformed to a remote experience. Asynchronous content delivered as a self-directed ‘short course’, with live sessions for discussion and Q&A.
Challenges included:- Multiple presenters, creating accessible asynchronous content, and using this to create an engaging short course.
- For live sessions, meeting safeguarding and accessibility requirements within the limitations of technology.
- Complexities for students accessing asynchronous/synchronous sessions on different platforms, further affected by digital resources in their home environments.
- Safeguarding prevented any interaction between students – the key issue with Discover 2020.
Discover 2021 will run in a similar format to 2020. The issues from 2020 are clear, the Discover team are exploring solutions, we will reveal more in our session.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room nine
- 42. Moving teaching online: what worked, what didn’t work and what to do next
Presentation type: 5 minutes with 10 minute discussion time
Presenter: Chris Evans
Theme: Learning through collaborationIn February 2021, the Department of Computer Science evaluated the impact on students of its move to online learning. This session will present the results of a survey of undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as focus groups and interviews.
There are important lessons to be learned about our choice and application of teaching technologies as well as our model of teaching and learning. Early indications are that students valued the freedom and flexibility afforded by the move online and would like this to be maintained as we return to face-to-face teaching. The discussion will explore the challenges that students faced as well as the differences in experience across departments and faculties.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 63. Innovative assessment and students collaboration in online classroom
Presentation type: 5 minutes with 10 minute discussion time
Presenter: Silvia Dal Bianco
Theme: Assessing, evaluating and feedbackThe pedagogical literature has demonstrated that an assessment strategy entirely based on examination might be biased towards particular learning styles (Jenkins et al., 2019). Moreover, the COVID emergency has accelerated the transition to digital assessment (Times Higher Education, 2021). Our research investigates how to deal with the critical aspects of implementing mixed assessment in an online environment. In particular, we will consider the coordination costs related to students’ collaboration in different time zones.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 3. Student Discourse on Current Bioscience Research Topics: Findings from face to face and online activities
Presentation type: 5 minutes with 10 minute discussion time
Presenter: Stephen R Price
Theme: Learning through collaborationAuthentic experiences in Science are crucial to facilitating participation of marginalised groups in advanced science education. We took the approach of curating science experiences that do not involve laboratory work but instead focus on the collaborative and discursive aspects of contemporary research.
We have exposed students of various ages from schools in the UK and in Cyprus to discussions of contemporary Biosciences research with a practicing scientist. Our analysis of the recorded sessions indicates several key features that correlate with rich student discussions. These include the presence of disruptor argumentation, often by female students, and that deeper discussions were found in groups from more socioeconomically challenged areas.
Our experiences during this project and subsequent work in online widening participation activities prompt us to design hybrid activities which we propose to deliver to groups of school pupils in the UK and in Brazil.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room one
- 72. Closing the feedback gap: a dual-pronged approach
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Jane Simmonds
Theme: Assessing, evaluating and feedbackFeedback is inseparable from the learning process, and is integral to theories of learning. Feedback should help students to: understand their performance, perform to a higher standard on future assessments, aid confidence and the belief they have control over their success in higher education.
However, students in higher education report dissatisfaction with feedback and some data suggests that students often do not check their written feedback when they receive their marks. When students do engage, they often report that feedback is not useful to them, that they struggle to apply the comments and suggestions given to future assignments, and that feedback looks back at work that has been done, rather than forward to how they can improve.
These issues are particularly difficult to address within one year full-time postgraduate programmes. Based on student feedback from the Post Graduate Taught Experience survey (PTES), the Faculty of Population Health Sciences has identified feedback as an area of teaching and learning in which we need to improve on current practice. To address this, we have elected to use a dual pronged approach, working with students and staff to understand and close the feedback gap that exists between what students understand and expect from feedback and how staff perceive and provide feedback.
We would value the opportunity to share with colleagues and students our work to date and discuss and learn with groups from across UCL practical solutions for improving the perceptions and application of quality feedback.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 38. Online assessments at UCL Medical School
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Gil Myres
Theme: Assessing, evaluating and feedbackDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, in academic year 19/20, we were unable to run practical assessments and could only hold remote online assessments. This meant that we needed to replace our assessments, which combine assessments of applied knowledge with observed communication skills and practical procedures, with ones that could be delivered remotely. These assessments needed to maintain the academic standards of summative assessments on which to base progression decisions.
We will present our experiences of holding a virtual OSCE (practical exam), the challenges of online proctored SBA papers, and other online adaptations.
We will reflect on our experiences and offer an insight into the process, the pitfalls and the planning necessary to implement these adaptations into the existing curriculum either as a formative or summative assessment.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room two
- 18. Teaching and facilitating learning during the Covid pandemic, academic year (2019/20): UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter(s): Lianna Bamberg, Steward C. Lee, David Blundred, Masuda Khanom, Sarah Lawson, Michael Moutoussis, Caroline Selai
Theme: Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievementsBackground: Given the timing of the first lockdown in the UK (March 2020), many of our Taught Masters students (2019/20) had to modify significantly their main research or switch to a different project altogether. Students were invited to document the impact of the pandemic by inserting an ‘impact statement’ into the acknowledgements section of their project dissertation.
Aims: (i) To review and analyse using qualitative techniques, the Impact Statements added to all main MSc/MRes research projects submitted in the academic year (2019/20) (ii) to supplement this analysis with 4 case studies.Methods: Using qualitative techniques, two of the authors (LB+CS) analysed the Impact Statements and extracted the key themes. Four case studies will also be presented:
- an international student from Taiwan
- staff who supported students with mental health difficulties
- staff from QSIoN Library
- staff from the QSIoN Education Team
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room three
- 41. Science documentaries as a tool to ‘decolonise’ science education
Presentation type: 5 minutes with 10 minute discussion time
Presenter: W Jacob
Theme: Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievementsDecolonisation in higher education refers to the movement to highlight and mitigate inequalities resulting from colonial attitudes and racism. The objective of this work is offer a platform to address topics regarding inclusivity and encourage active learning. I have used an award winning BBC 2 documentary ‘War in Blood’ highlighting the UCL CAR T programme led by UCL researchers.
I developed a toolkit based on the documentary to attain the module learning objectives and also to initiate discussion on racial differences in cancer survival outcomes. This discussion based teaching motivated students to critically examine different perspectives within and outside UK and gain an understanding on how multiple factors influences perspectives and cancer survival outcomes.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 43. How to run an online laboratory session: the challenges of sending electronic kits to students
Presentation type: Pecha Kucha (20 slides, 20 seconds each) 10-15 minutes discussion time
Presenter: Chris Evans
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?Interaction Design is an applied module that considers issues in human-computer interaction with physical devices.
The pandemic presented a unique teaching challenge: how could we get students to interact with a physical device when interaction became virtual? With financial support from the Faculty of Engineering the decision was made to attempt to ship physical devices in the form of BBC Micro:bit kits to students around the globe.
This presentation will consider the challenges of running a remote laboratory class, including questions such as: How would we get devices into the hands of students as postal services became suspended, electronics stores were closed, and students went into lockdown? Who would purchase them? How would we ship them? How would we run the class once students actually got them? What would we do if students didn’t have them?
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room four
- 30. Driving change through Staff-Student dialogue: The first 5 years of the UCL Student Reviewers of Teaching Practice
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Sandra Lusk
Theme: Learning through collaborationThe Student Reviewers of Teaching Practice programme brings staff and students together in reflective dialogue about the staff member’s teaching practice. UCL has run Student Reviewers of Teaching Practice every academic year since 2016/17, leading to staff-student dialogue and impacting numerous courses and contributing to a culture of partnership.
‘Partnership reminds us of the shared goals of teaching and learning, inextricably linking learners and educators.’ (Matthews, 2016, Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 1(1) p2)
The programme develops both staff and students, brings staff and students together with a shared goal of enhancing teaching & learning practices and is embedded in UCL’s Quality Review Framework as Peer Dialogue; Option C of the academic manual.
We will present a retrospective analysis of the first 5 years of this programme at UCL, showcasing successes and challenges and reflect on our plans as we look ahead to expand into the post-COVID future.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 9. Bringing us all together: building a community of online learners spanning 6 continents
Presentation type: 10 minutes with 10-12 minutes’ discussion
Presenter: Tim Young
Theme: Learning through collaborationOver the last ‘pandemic year’, many face-to-face courses made heroic efforts to convert to online teaching. As a well-established fully online course, our clinical neurology by distance learning MSc/Diploma/PG Certificate programme was fortunately in a position to help guide others with this transition.
We also saw the opportunity to develop our own course of 82 students (all doctors) based worldwide. Building on proactively obtained student feedback, in 2020 we developed our first live regular group discussions based on clinical cases.
These synchronous, fully interactive, case discussions evolved into a true community of learners. Our 2021 February iteration incorporated synchronous tutor and student interaction spanning 6 continents.
Online teaching is often viewed as ‘second best’ to face-to-face teaching, especially for the building of communities. We will demonstrate that this does not have to be the case. While many courses are concentrating on getting back to the way things were, we wish to strongly advocate the ongoing use and development of online techniques as a powerful way forward, not just for Covid-19, but for future education too.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room five
- 73. Online and hybrid chemistry workshops: promoting collaborative problem solving and peer-to-peer learning
Presentation type: Pecha Kucha (20 slides, 20 seconds each) 10-15 minutes discussion time
Presenter: J.L. Kiappes
Theme: Learning through collaborationFrom the perspectives of students, introductory courses, focusing on core concepts and problem-solving approaches, can feel disconnected from the global challenges and fundamental questions that inspired them to pursue science.
Workshops were developed that serve a dual purpose of emphasizing the utility that first-year concepts have for contemporary and cutting-edge research, while consolidating material at key points throughout the academic year.
Each workshop includes exercises similar to “typical” introductory course questions, but also ones that challenge students, while working together in small groups, to answer the same questions approached by researchers. Initially developed as classroom sessions, these workshops have been adapted to a remote format over the past year.
This talk will discuss the adaptations and online tools used to preserve the key aspects of the original workshop design:
- synchronous student collaboration
- research-centered questions
- student-led discussion and peer-to-peer teaching (with the instructor in a facilitator role).
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 8. How to develop an ever-increasing list of interactive and accessible digital resources for students
Presentation type: 5 minutes with 10 minute discussion time
Presenter: Hannah Timlin
Theme: Learning through collaborationWe will discuss how we created a dynamic and accessible digital resource that will continue to grow each year using software available to us. This method can be a part of anyone’s digital pedagogy.
With a rapid shift online our practical course needed a dramatic redesign. We thought ‘how do we incorporate digital technology so to make the course more engaging for our students?’
Early in the year I had a designed an interactive video using H5P after the learning technologist showed me how it use the tool. I then had the idea that if students could also use H5P to create a suite of interactive videos then each year we would have 20 more videos for students to learn from. Therefore I enlisted the learning technologist to set up a space so my idea could come into fruition.
In a short 5 minute presentation we will show you how to set up this resource for your class and discuss student feedback.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room six
- 20. Creative interactive learning tasks for live teaching
Presentation type: 5 minutes with 10 minute discussion time
Presenter: Eva Krumhuber
Theme: Learning through collaborationWhen teaching synchronous sessions, students have typically been asked to discuss a piece of research (e.g., journal article, book chapter). With the emergence of new learning platforms and software to engage students online, a range of interactive learning tasks has become available.
Those go beyond the mere acquisition and discussion of course materials by enabling students to apply their knowledge collaboratively in small groups.
In this brief presentation, I would like to give an overview of some live activities (using Infographics, Voki, Kialo) that students experienced as highly engaging and fun in reaching a deeper understanding of the core concepts.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 64. Maximising student engagement through a novel interactive assessment
Presentation type: 5 minutes with 10 minute discussion time
Presenter: Mark Kristiansen
Theme: Learning through collaborationThis presentation will focus on how the use of a creative interactive assessment enhances student participation and engagement throughout the module and beyond. A major aim of this module is to equip students with critical key transferable skills that apply to real life scenarios, particularly in the life sciences.
The presentation will provide an overview of the interactive assessment structure for Applied Genomics module and its benefits to both the student and educator. The implementation of the interactive component of this module assessment has significantly improved communication between students from multiple disciplines and has created an inclusive workspace for all.
This method of assessment has further empowered the student to engage, discuss and challenge during the personalised feedback sessions for this module, has significantly increased knowledge transfer and hence student marks, and has provided students with a forward thinking skill set that can be applied throughout their programme.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
- 2. Benefits of joining the Student Health and Wellbeing Community of Practice
Presentation type: 5 minutes with 10 minute discussion time
Presenter: Mitesh Vagadia
Theme: Learning through collaborationThe Student Health and Wellbeing (SHW) Community of Practice (CoP) is sponsored by the Registrar and Director of Student Support and Wellbeing and has two leads Mitesh Vagadia – Head of Student Support and Wellbeing and Madiha Sajid – Teaching & Learning Officer for MSc Health Psychology.
The purpose of the SHW CoP is
- To improve physical health, mental health, and wellbeing across the whole student body
- To empower all academic and administrative staff who have contact with students, so they are better to direct to appropriate services, and so they can design programmes, courses, and administrative processes with wellbeing in mind
This CoP is for colleagues across UCL who have some knowledge or experience of SHW, or want to learn more about it for they own career development and are in a student facing role, have regular contact with students, or work on a function that has a significant impact on SHW.
Colleagues can contribute to the four CoP projects and promote the projects in their own departments and networks or simply be a wider member and have access to the MS Teams page which provides regular updates related to SHW.
The 3 – 5 minute pitch will be used to promote the SHW CoP and encourage colleagues to become members.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room seven
- 75. Disruptive thinking in assessment
Presentation type: 45 Minute discussion
Presenter: Simon Walker, Sabina Lamstaes, Steve Rowett, Joanne Moles
Theme: Learning through collaboration2020 has accelerated the pace of educational change, some of which will persist. Whilst moving assessment online was a response to an emergency, evaluation demonstrated both benefits and challenges.
In April 2020, UCL embarked on an initiative to procure a dedicated digital assessment platform capable of supporting a wide range of assessments and exams taken by UCL students. A specification for the end-to-end assessment process was drawn up and around 20 products were considered.
A robust and relatively mature platform was procured, and AssessmentUCL (an umbrella term for digital assessment and exams) was launched and immediately road-tested with students.
We discuss:
- Is the genie finally out of the bottle – is digital assessment the last frontier of higher education?
- Will it disrupt our thinking of assessment and feedback and offer more authentic assessments that mirror real-world tasks?
- What risks might this new frontier hold for the academy?
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room eight
- 14. Research projects from home: what skills do students acquire outside the labs?
Presentation type: 45 Minute discussion
Presenter: Anne Vanhoestenberghe
Theme: What did we need, what did we use?The panel will share their experience of leading project modules in undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes in the faculties of Engineering and Medical Sciences. Our approach is not to offer ready made “solutions” for one field, but rather to engage the audience in a discussion with the hope of generating cross-pollination of ideas and collating an overview of good practices from across fields (as well as identifying challenges, since we can’t improve what we do not identify as needing improvement).
Our starting point will be that we are told that students apply for our programmes because of the technical skills they expect to learn thanks to our emphasis on practical work. We argue that equating non-lecture based work to acquisition of technical skills is a limitation, and a lot of the learning outcomes of a lab or project are not specific to the techniques used, they are more general and can be acquired in-home learning situations.
Identifying the element of non-lecture based learning that can be acquired from home could be beneficial in future years, for all students who cannot readily access the campus to study or are limited in the amount of technical work they can reproduce (whether it is because of unmet accessibility needs, caring duties or others).
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room nine
- 66. In Search of fun and games
Presentation type: 45 Minute discussion
Presenter: Ellie Bates, Janina Dewitz, David Perez-Suarez, Tom Olney
Theme: Learning through collaborationDuring this session we will present three case studies, showcasing serious games developed at UCL. Each game has been developed for a different teaching context and utilising different software. We will explore the issues that we encountered developing games independently and the possibilities that establishing a formal special interest group presents for skills sharing, play testing and critical feedback.
Utilising the discussion format, we will explore how and why colleagues from across UCL might develop games for learning, how a formal group and network might support members in their game development and how best to share skills and knowledge when designing and building games.
The session will be facilitated by members of the newly established Game-Play-Learn group, founded following the discovery of a shared interest at UCL #LearnHack 2020.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Room ten
- 52. Experience of supporting personal tutees remotely in 2020/21
Presentation type: 45 Minute discussion
Presenter: Peter Fitch
Theme: Learning through collaborationWe bring together a group personal tutors from different UCL faculties to share their experience of personal tutoring during the 2020-21 academic year.
The discussion will focus on examples of remote personal tutoring in practice; including common challenges, approaches for checking in with and engaging tutees, group personal tutorial activities, and useful local and central support services for tutees and tutors.
We will conclude with a high level reflection on personal tutoring approaches post 2021.
You can comment on this abstract on the UCL Education Conference Blog
Assessing, evaluating, feeding back
- 6. What the performing arts can teach us about giving feedback in the engineering classroom?
Author: Andrew Gillen
Providing feedback on open-ended work in the engineering classroom has always been challenging, and even more so as we transitioned to online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this presentation, I will present a method I use for engaging students in an empowering and participatory feedback process that situates the learner to be in control. This approach, called the Critical Response Process, comes from dance choreographer Liz Lerman.
Both the full method and smaller aspects of the techniques can be implemented to improve the way we give feedback and engage students, whether that be in a solely online, blended, or face-to-face format.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 37. From student feedback to marksheet renewal: making the grade in the time of Covid-19
Author: Jen Agustus
In 2019/20, IoN students used anonymised Unitu feedback to highlight inadequacies in the specificity of mark sheets, transparency of marking, and clarity of feedback. A student academic representative collated the constructive feedback and presented it at the SSCC meeting. The feedback formed the foundation for a new IoN departmental-wide working group to develop improved assignment-specific marking criteria and mark sheets over the summer of 2020. This process reflected the UCL connected curriculum guidance towards student-staff partnership through dialogue.
The aim was to create mark sheets that increased marking transparency to better support students in preparing their assignments, interpreting feedback and understanding their marks. Given the increase of online learning in response to Covid-19, it was especially important to ensure clarity and transparency in the marking process for both students and markers working remotely. Discussion to determine further refinement is underway, including gathering opinions from students and markers that have used the new mark sheets.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 77. Designing and developing e-portfolios in Reflect
Author: Ellie Bates
The presentation will explore the design and development of e-portfolios for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the School of Pharmacy. Portfolios at the School of Pharmacy fulfil a number of functions depending on course requirements and student level; including the documentation of specific learning goals, the recording of ongoing learning processes and showcasing competencies (Hewett 2014).
The presentation will highlight how the different functions of Reflect (WordPress) can be utilised to fulfil these requirements and the limitations of the platform.
In addition, the presentation will explore how to design frameworks such as ‘The Laws of Simplicity (Maeda 2006) can be utilised as a reflective tool to improve useability and navigation.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
Learning through collaboration
- 5. Undergraduate Students Researching UCL Biosciences’ Response to Education in a Global Pandemic
Author: Stephen Price
BIOS0025 is a 45-credit module for final year BSc Biomedical Sciences students to undertake research in education of the Biosciences. The module is a collaboration between the UCL Division of Biosciences and the UCL Institute of Education. Students taking the module have two research supervisors, one from Biosciences and one from the IoE, and undertake a mixed-methods (both quantitative and qualitative) research project based around curriculum, pedagogy and assessment of Biosciences as it is taught at UCL. This academic year, four students chose BIOS0025 in their final year and we present their research project ideas and findings based around four interconnected themes. These themes include, student motivation and the impact of the pandemic on student learning online, staff perspectives of UCL Biosciences’ pandemic response, practical learning in Biosciences with limited face to face teaching and how the transition from school to university has been affected by the Covid pandemic.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 7. The UCL Medical School Curriculum Map: A Staff-Student Collaboration
Author: Dan Ntuiabane
Whole programme curriculum maps are uncommon in undergraduate medicine, partly due to the theoretical complexity of defining ‘curriculum’. We co-created a novel electronic resource with students: the ‘MBBS Curriculum Map’ (CM), informed by a pan-student survey and student focus groups.
93% of students completing the quantitative survey (n=409) said they were ‘likely’/‘very likely’ to use a CM. 84% stated the importance of clear Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) in aiding preparation for assessments.
Thematic analysis of qualitative data indicated that students wanted the CM to be easy to use and to link between modules/years of the programme, and to Outcomes for Graduates (General Medical Council, 2018).
These data underpinned co-design of the CM, populated with academic curricular content from Faculty and published in September 2019.
Improved scores in the 2020 National Student Survey (NSS) evidence the translational impact of the CM on the student learning experience.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 10. 4 mini polemics about student engagement and online teaching: can you change my mind?
Author: Martin Compton
In a video of around eight minutes I will present four arguments which represent the four biggest and ongoing debates about online teaching I have dealt with this year, very much from my perspective. I hope they will act as provocations for debate with the 'change my mind' challenge.
- Why live lectures are rarely the best option
- Why our intuitions about video length are often wrong
- Cameras off or cameras on? Why this misses the point
- Why compassion and community building must usurp the preeminence of 'content'
In the video below (9m38s) I present four interrelated arguments about teaching online. In my view these represent four of the biggest and ongoing debates about online teaching in terms of lecturer agency. They are, in other words, things we can all do something about, if we agree there is a need to change practices. These provocations are designed to challenge thinking and stimulate debate. I start with the 'change my mind' challenge because I am aware that I am as likely as anyone to have biases moulded by my experiences and disciplinary expertise. After the video is a link to a very short (3 mins) Mentimeter poll.
Please note: The video contains frequent 'quick cuts'. If you prefer a simple, talking head version, please use this link. Transcript is available here.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 24. Taking the First Year Challenge online - Community Building with 800 Students Across the World
Author: Parama Chaudhury
The First Year Challenge, a multimedia group project which introduces first years to UCL, the study of economics and their peers during induction week is a cornerstone of the Economics department BSc programmes and has now inspired similar programmes across the UK as well as a national one run by the Royal Economic Society.
In summer 2020, we (2 lecturers in Economics and 2 Connected Learning interns) worked together to design an online version of this project, something that was challenging both because the programme has usually involved physical locations around UCL and also because physical meetups and teambuilding activities are an essential part of this community-building exercise.
In an asynchronous presentation involving video interviews with some of the 800 participants and the organisers, explanations of the bespoke interactive materials developed for this year’s project, and clips of the final outputs, we aim to showcase the work of students and lecturers to develop a sense of belonging and peer interaction in a difficult year where this was even more important than usual, but because of the circumstances, was harder to facilitate.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 33. Promoting Collaborative Learning in Employability Workshops
Author: Susanne Stoddart
I run employability workshops on Blackboard Collaborate, with each session attended by a maximum of 15 students from across any programme or year group. For one activity, students work in pairs in breakout rooms to provide feedback on each other’s personal application materials such as CVs.
A key issue for me is how to rapidly facilitate online community building and create a collaborative “safe space” when the students have usually never “met” before, unlike when they work with their peers online for their academic programmes over the course of weeks and months. Sometimes students are reluctant to provide constructive criticism when working online with peers for the first time.
I aim to introduce more interaction from the start of the sessions, encouraging students to speak rather than typing in the chat box. I’ve also considered introducing more ice-breaker activities, but that can be difficult within a limited time frame.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 36. Helping students help each other: Using Slack to build online community
Author: Kate Roll
For the last two years IIPP has used the online sharing platform, Slack, as an 'virtual common room' and informal meeting place for MPA students and faculty. It has emerged as a site for discussion on difficult topics, teamwork, and peer-to-peer support. In addition, the messaging functions have also been popular with many students, including those who may be less comfortable face-to-face, improving inclusivity. This presentation would focus on sharing IIPP's experience and encouraging other departments who do not yet use this type of platform.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 50. "‘It’s kind of grow inside of me’: a structured approach for student peer support.
Author: Alexandra Wilson, Ann Parker and Carolyn Bruce
The project we describe was conducted prior to the pandemic, and the intervention used has now been successfully adapted, including online delivery.
This talk presents the results of a student project investigating the use of peer-delivered support for first-year undergraduate students. GROW, a framework for structured goal-setting and planning of related actions, has been used in diverse contexts, including teaching and coaching, though empirical evidence to support claims of its success is limited.
There is a growing awareness that additional support systems are needed for university students. Rising numbers of overseas students, possibly facing additional linguistic and cultural challenges, provide further reasons to explore new methods of support. Peer support has become an accepted way of supporting students in higher education. Introducing explicit frameworks and practices, such as GROW, to enable students to support each other might ensure more effective use of existing resources.
All four volunteers for the project were from China. A five-week intervention was provided by one student peer, involving individual weekly GROW sessions. Outcomes across a range of measurements were positive. All participants achieved the majority of their goals and experienced a noticeable but non-significant improvement in well-being and quality of life. Gains were maintained for a minimum of ten weeks. Thematic analysis revealed that the most important benefits of the intervention were perceived as new approaches to goal-setting and goal-attainment, positive feelings about self and self-reflection.
These results highlight the benefits of peer support based on the GROW model and suggest the need for greater support for international students. For the wider education community, the evidence indicates that this is a valuable area for further development.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 51. Applying a TBL model on Journal club sessions
Author: Eleni Makrinou
Team-based learning is an active learning approach, that allows students to apply conceptual knowledge through a sequence of activities that involve both individual learning, as well as through teamwork, with immediate feedback.
We have used the TBL model to run a series of journal club sessions for undergraduate students in their final year.
Data collected, were based on 6 journal club sessions, with a cohort of an average of 25 students and over a period of 2 academic years. The sessions were both as face-to-face activity, as well as remote.
An article was given to the students a week in advance to read. During the session, the students were completing an iRAT, followed by a tRAT.
Data analysis indicated an overall improvement in the right answers between the iRATs and the tRATs.We conclude that our model was successful, both as a face-to-face and remotely set activity, keeping the students engaged and helping with knowledge consolidation and critical-thinking development.
Additionally, Team-based learning has encouraged teamwork and student engagement, with an element of friendly competition that helped raising the standard of individuals and the moral of the group.You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 56. From lab to long-distance - online practical simulation during the pandemic
Author: Renee Vancraenenbroeck
When face-to-face teaching was suspended in March 2020, an alternative for the extended laboratory practical that is core to the year 1 UCL Biochemistry post exam key skills module was urgently sought.
An alternative was found using a free web-based protein purification lab simulation program. This enabled our students to access an online, problem-solving, real-world activity using MS Teams. Students worked in small groups on the assessment and showed their results with presentations that were rated by their peers.
The rapid adaptation to online delivery and the success of maintaining the learning objectives of the laboratory practical provide valuable sources of information, as seen from both staff and student perspectives.
Key questions covered: How to…
- provide undergraduate practical experiences remotely?
- make the most of the available tools?
- engage students in online team projects?
- implement peer-to-peer feedback?
- evaluate and develop our online teaching?
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 67. Collaborative research with student interns during the covid-19 pandemic
Author: Abbie King
This presentation will draw on the reflections of two members of staff from the UCL Arena Centre and two students working with the team as interns on a research project to explore the experiences of staff and students involved in the 1st year capstone assessments.
While this presentation will not discuss the findings of that project – which is still ongoing – we will draw from our individual reflections to jointly consider:
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of collaborative research with students in higher education settings?
- How can collaborative research be mutually beneficial and meaningful for students, staff and the institution?
- What are the implications of conducting collaborative research in a remote context?
We will also look at how staff can combine an authentic partnership approach when working with student interns by drawing on their expertise and insights to create an enriching experience for all.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
What did we need, what did we use?
- 1. Learning robotics from home
Author: Pradeep Devadass
How has the pandemic impacted the workshops & labs of the UCL’s architecture department? How has the B-made (Bartlett’s Manufacturing and Design Exchange) team addressed a complex subject like ‘robotics in architecture and construction’ in their teaching?
The presentation will introduce the newly developed ‘B-made Robots’ course which teaches applied robotics to students using blended and interactive teaching methods.
The course provides comprehensive information, not only on how to program and operate robots but focusses also on how to develop architectural robotic processes.
As the course utilizes online teaching methods, the course allows the students to learn at their own pace and independently explore robotic research with limited face to face interaction which is intended to support especially during the current pandemic circumstances.
The presentation will also demonstrate how the course has impacted students and future possibilities.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 13. Visiting buildings virtually - Replacing fieldtrips with YouTube
Author: Kerstin Sailer
Replacing first-hand experiences made through fieldtrips with an equivalent remote activity is a tremendous challenge. Normally, I take my postgraduate students at the Bartlett School of Architecture into a different building every week, where we observe and discuss spatial layouts, design choices and how they impact user behaviours on the ground. This forms the basis of a bi-weekly blog post, which then feeds into the final assessment.
In the absence of these weekly fieldtrips, I collected and curated a list of short online videos, many of them sourced from YouTube. I also asked students in week 3 to film their own videos, wherever they were based, or curate their own list of links on a building of their choice.
In this discussion group I want to share my experiences and offer reflections on what went well and what could inspire future practice, once in-person teaching can be resumed.
Understanding case studies through first-hand experiences is an excellent way for students to learn. In architecture as a discipline, fieldtrips are a common pedagogical device, allowing students to experience the built environment in a certain place together with their peers and tutors, discussing aspects of architectural or urban design while being immersed in the situation. ‘Students making connections out to the world’ is one of the dimensions of UCL’s Connected Curriculum framework, and arguably, connecting students to real-life examples of built space provides ample learning opportunities, as argued by Sailer and Kendall in their book chapter ‘Contextualising and Connecting Learning’.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 21. Moving 4th-Year M.Sci. Symposia Online: Challenges and Opportunities
Author: Stephen Potts
A key point in fourth-year chemistry calendar is the Symposium for Advanced Research Projects in Chemistry (SARPIC), which takes place annually in May. SARPIC typically comprises up to two days of seminars in which the final-year students present their work from the past six months.
These presentations are marked by staff and provide credit for their project module.
The unwelcome appearance of COVID-19 last year forced the remaining teaching of 2019/20 online and SARPIC was no exception. The symposium usually takes place in lecture theatres and is open to all, so the challenge faced was to try to replicate this experience online with as little detriment to students as possible, including pre-recording of presentations and providing extra student support.
Overall, moving online was well received by the students and staff. In this presentation, we will discuss the challenges faced and make recommendations for carrying out similar teaching online.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 70. Minecraft: hands-on & collaborative learning in a virtual world
Author: Rebecca Yerworth
How do you move an interdisciplinary lab project for ~250 students online? Somebody mentioned that UCL has access to Minecraft, Education Edition* …. I had visions of students ‘immersed’ in a Minecraft world, interacting with each other and a 3d simulation of the lab.
Hours of work later, students were donning virtual personal protective equipment and twiddling dials to customise and take measurements from their ‘bioreactor’, working in teams of 6 to decide on the best parameter settings to use.
I reflect on the joys, sorrows and success of turning this vision into (virtual) reality – and what needs doing if it is used again next year.
*Minecraft is a popular computer game where players modify a virtual world made of cubes, interacting with animals and items. The education edition comes with features for ‘classroom’ management and writing code to customise the behaviour of blocks, items and interactions.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 74. No Labs, no problem: Teaching genomics using cloud computing platforms with open datasets
Author: Toryn Poolman
The final year of a biochemistry degree is usually a time to experience research. COVID19 made the format of final year research projects impossible. To overcome these problems we used open datasets to teach metagenomics to biochemistry undergraduates (with limited computing experience).
We aimed to give the students a chance to explore any dataset, rather than use a small number of artificial datasets. To achieve this, we utilised Google Colaboratory (Colab), a virtual computing environment.
Colab was used as a framework to retrieve raw sequencing data, complete the analysis (stored in Google Drive), and generate visualisations. Setting up the environment requires no prior knowledge, all students have the same drive structure and notebooks can be shared (with synchronous sessions).
Colab is an excellent environment to develop data skills. In future, all student projects will involve the integration of public datasets, developing data science skills to understand the projects of their choice.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 78. Considering Digital Education Advice on Connected Learning
Author: Tim Neumann
Digital Education, Arena, Faculty Learning Technology Leads and by extension, Connected Learning Leads provided different layers of advice during the Coronavirus pandemic and its associated shift towards online learning and teaching. During this time, the content and format of advice were not constant, but dynamically adjusting to change in circumstance, observation of practice, as well as input from and consultation with tutors and students.
We would like to invite you to a guided discussion on
- recapping how advice evolved due to sticking points and situational developments
- what advice was useful and easy to implement, and what not, and
- which issues to address going forward.
The discussion will provide opportunities for feeding back what worked well for you and compose a wish list of items to improve on. The discussion will run during conference week and culminate in a synchronous summary session.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 80. Bridging Employer and Student Connections
Author(s): Weronika Benning, Patrick Molloy, Georgina Potts
Connection with employers is a key element of our students’ employability education. While huge swathes of summer 2020 internships were cancelled, employers themselves underwent a rapid shift to remote working, recruitment, selection, onboarding and induction – amidst slashed budgets and limited resources. The Careers team quickly learned to adapt to digital event delivery, continuing to connect students and employers, whilst keeping abreast of the graduate labour market perspective and the situation facing recruiters.
We have presented seven career fairs since the start of the pandemic entirely online, making use of our existing Careers platform, myUCLCareers, in novel and innovative ways – and persuading our employer contacts to take a leap of faith with us. We found numerous benefits in delivering the fairs in this way – ranging from greater inclusivity, respect to the practicalities of our students’ and employers’ circumstances, and delivery of a return on investment in the form of rich, bespoke data.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 86. Studying Arts & Humanities Online: student reflections on what worked, and what we take with us
Author: Abbi Shaw
Studying Arts & Humanities at UCL comes with both disciplinary and educational hopes and expectations. Drawing on student rep interviews and town halls, a Mentimeter poll (already conducted with over 100 students), and a series of informal interviews with student reps, we present for discussion a collection and analysis of student reflections on their experience of aspects of the Faculty’s digital pivot.
Topics include:
- Pre-recorded video and live recordings: what video content did students find most effective?
- Specific benefits and constraints of studying artistic, linguistic and discursive disciplines online.
- Highlights: what kind of positive experiences were possible amidst it all?
- What one thing would A&H students most like to take with them into a post-pandemic UCL?
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 87. Learning science communication skills online through peer collaboration and interactive activities
Author: Elvira Mambetisaeva
The biggest challenge that university teachers faced during remote teaching forced by the COVID-19 pandemic is student engagement. In teaching science communication skills, student engagement and interaction with other students have been achieved by the introduction of peer assessment, group work and participation in a scientific debate.
Working in small groups (3-4 students) during pre-class preparation for in-class presentations enabled students to interact with other students irrespective of their location.
Throughout the term, the flipped classrooms were combined with the use of breakout rooms in the Teams and Zoom during synchronous sessions allowing students in small groups to collaborate and work with each other on the given science communication activity. Finally, the scientific debate enabled students to express openly their own opinions and hear the views of other students.
These approaches helped with student engagement in learning science communication skills during remote teaching and gained positive feedback from students.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 89. Team-Based Learning – Moving from the classroom into a virtual environment
Author: Sofia Barbosa Bouças
In 2020/21, our teaching practices had to change in response to the challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the guidelines set by the University and the guidelines set by accrediting bodies – Putting the safety, wellbeing and additional needs of students and staff first, whilst ensuring best practice, consistency and the use of the most appropriate pedagogical tools. We will be focusing on the use of online Team-Based Learning (through LAMS software) and discuss students’ engagement, experience and academic performance.
We will draw on the advantages of using online tools and how we can take this forward to a post-COVID-19 teaching and learning environment.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
Celebrating inclusiveness, commitment, achievements
- 4. Legal clinic in a virtual world: transcending barriers to access to justice
Author: Rachel Knowles
We teach access to justice and community engagement, a third year module which brings together literature on the fundamental obstacles to access to justice with experiential learning in our legal advice clinic in East London.
With the advent of the pandemic lockdown, our challenge was how to transition a practical, clinical module into an online environment, whilst retaining our core values and objectives. We had to address very real challenges of our client base, who were particularly vulnerable due to their social welfare needs, whilst also taking into account how to build a successful community of practice with our students to best support their learning and engagement.
We will draw on our experience of delivering this module both in person and virtually, to address the key questions about the benefits and limits of virtual teaching and advice delivery in the context of inclusivity (related to both digital inclusivity and other barriers).
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 25. Using enrichment activities to bring students and staff together to diversify the curriculum
Author: Amy Thornton
Diversifying the curriculum is in and of itself a noble endeavour, but our aim was to do so in a way that brings students and staff together to discuss some of the big issues within society.
Alongside showing them the wider value of their degree within that society and creating connections between students and staff, the face-to-face enrichment activities gave us the opportunity to tackle head-on some of those issues that our department studies and teaches about: racial inequality in the criminal justice system, views on racism and policing, and movements like Black Lives Matter.
Weekly interactions and feedback surveys allowed us to understand what students appreciated about these interactive sessions, as well as changes to be made to incorporate these sessions into the curriculum permanently.
The value to students to tackle these topics in small groups with staff members was recognised, but resourcing issues remain moving forwards.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog
- 58. UCL Careers: Charting a way forward for race equity at a departmental level
Author: Nicole Estwick
Racial inequalities came to light more than ever in the last year. Recognising that anti-racism should not be an agenda pushed by those from ethnic minorities alone, UCL Careers established a group to bring racial equity to the core of everyone’s work.
In this presentation we provide an overview of our actions to date working with UCL’S EDI team to increase the visibility of race equity issues and aide our colleagues learning.
We will cover how we used a framework developed by UCL’s EDI team to initially address racial inequality and how we adapted this in recognition of local challenges, our collaboration with different teams within the department, work we are doing in areas such as recruitment and how we are amplifying the voices of diverse groups in our work. Finally, we will share insights into how other departments can develop their own roadmap for making progress on racial equity.
You can view the full presentation and comment on the UCL Education Blog