Instructional design

How to design online, flipped and in-person courses – from lesson planning and technology use to assessment – that maximise student engagement, inclusivity and learning outcomes

Online student studying at her laptop

Bringing the human touch into the virtual classroom

Personalising learning experiences and building trust are just two of several strategies outlined in this resource aimed at helping teachers build supportive online learning environments

Lauren Flannery

University of East Anglia

Students sitting at their desks in class while a teacher speaks

Teach research methodology using these low-prep exercises

Use these engaging exercises to gently introduce your undergraduate students to research methods

Adrian Man-Ho Lam

The University of Hong Kong

Latin woman looking thoughtful with book

How to bring Indigenous knowledge into classrooms and curricula

Academic institutions have a mandate to engage and serve the Indigenous communities whose land they occupy, writes Edward Polanco. Here, he offers tangible techniques for amplifying these voices on campus

Edward Polanco

Virginia Tech

A running track

Four tips for setting up a fast-track accountancy degree programme

The Flying Start programme helps students from lower socio-economic backgrounds get started on their accounting careers. Here’s four things to remember when setting up your own alternative degree pathway

Ishani Chandrasekara

Queen Mary University of London

Yooung woman studying at her latop at university

Ensuring online education is inclusive and accessible to all

Creating a culture of inclusivity where every student feels welcome and listened to is paramount. Here are some ways to achieve it

Mayela Beatriz Rodríguez Romo , Martha Fabiola Espinosa Mata, Abraham Esteban Gómez Coss

Monterrey Institute of Technology

Members of Gen Z use a range of devices

For Generation Z, online courses are the future of education

What do online courses need to offer to engage Generation Z? Find out what young people want and how to make their education serve them better

Samar Abdelazim Ahmed

Dubai Medical College for Girls

A metal toy robot looks into the distance

The two key steps to promoting responsible use of LLMs

Large language models offer opportunities for higher education, but also present challenges. Here is how to balance both

Xiangen Hu

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Students studying together on campus

Strategies to enhance your online course

Read about some strategies to make your online courses more engaging

Sara Camacho

Monterrey Institute of Technology

Students working at their laptops in class

Using GenAI tools to refine EAP assessment

There are several tools available to help English for academic purposes assess students’ writing skills. Here is some guidance on how to use a selection of them

Rui Xu (Tiffany) , Mengqi Hu

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Young people in a meeting to discuss sustainability

Three ways universities can enhance teacher engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals

Using the UN SDGs to teach core content in a ‘real world’ context can enhance student engagement – but what about overstretched educators? Rebecca Watts Hull shares three strategies for bringing faculty on board

Rebecca Watts Hull

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

A student looks thoughtfully into the distance

Universities owe it to society to produce good citizens

Higher education’s role in creating the citizens of tomorrow’s world should not be underestimated. Here’s how to shape the leaders of the future and foster a sense of civic responsibility within them

Hind Lebdaoui

Al Akhawayn University

Millennial man thinking at laptop

Online tests as a method of engagement in higher education

Continuous e-assessment helps students engage with course materials and reduce procrastination, and offers educators benefits such as automated marking

Panagiotis Giannarakis

University of Southampton

Middle-aged man smiling at laptop

What are students paying for when they learn online?

Understanding the time investment, industry input and subject matter expertise that go into creating quality online content should give learners a sense of confidence, write Mick Grimley and Lisa Burdes

Mick Grimley, Lisa Burdes

Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury

Clock drawn on blackboard, time management

Around or against the clock: time management tips for higher education teachers

Careful lesson planning, understanding your universities’ support services and accepting mistakes will all save you time as a university educator. Here, John Weldon offers five time-management tips

John Weldon

Victoria University

A hand holds out a compass in front of a divided path

Let’s equip the next generation of business leaders with an ethical compass

In an AI-focused world, how can MBA programmes shape the students of today into the compassionate leaders of tomorrow?

Ana Côrte-Real

Porto Business School

A health professional checks a patient's lymph glands

Taking trust to the next level in healthcare assessment

When educating health professionals, the role of trust is paramount. Here’s how we can link entrustment with student consensus grading and programmatic assessment

James Thompson, Amanda Maddern

The University of Adelaide

Young female student in a lecture hall

Welcome! Now what?

A course induction can be more than an information-giving session in the student welcome timetable. It can introduce students to the practice of reflection on short- and long-term goals and what they want to achieve, writes Marianne Savory

Marianne Savory

Leeds University Business School

A smiling student uses her laptop to work

Make the most of online education for your students

Students appreciate the value of online education. How can educators maximise this value as much as possible?

Ayten Ordu

Near East University

A student in front of a screen coding

Eight innovative ways to teach coding online

Advice on how to create dynamic, engaging and supportive online learning environments that cater to the diverse needs of today’s coding students

Manojkumar Nagasampige

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Man covering his eyes in front of his laptop

To trigger-warn or not to trigger-warn: that is the question

An instructor subjectively defines what they consider triggering, so how useful are they and how can we get trigger warnings right?

Daniella Sieukaran

Dalhousie University

Students in a class look at their phones

Transform digital pedagogy with social media

In order to ready the classroom for the digital age, integrate social media platforms into your teaching. Here’s how to do it

Mehmet Demir

University of Birmingham

Student on a healthcare placement looking at x-ray

Where there’s WIL, there’s risk

As demand for universities to support work-integrated learning rises, so does exposure to potential pitfalls such as personal injury and reputational harm. What can higher education institutions do to mitigate the risks?

Clare Murray

Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury

A human and a robot shake hands

A four-step process to embedding AI literacy in business courses

Business students will need to know how to work with AI tools in their future careers. Prepare them with this four-step process

John Murphy

The University of Adelaide

A group of people work around an office table

The benefits of engaging third space practitioners in curriculum development

Third space practitioners are often overlooked in the curriculum development process, to everyone’s detriment. Here’s a look at the viewpoints they can offer and how to engage them better

Steve Briggs

University of Bedfordshire

Post-it notes showing smiling and frowning faces

Peer feedback: a burden for students or route to better academic writing?

Asking students to give anonymous feedback on each other’s work can not only result in better writing skills but also offer them opportunities to try new approaches and refine assessment tasks

Alison Daniell

University of Southampton

A student raises his hand in a lecture hall

Branch out to boost student engagement in flipped learning

When using a flipped learning method, it’s crucial that students engage with the pre-class content. Here’s how to make sure they do

John Warren

Loughborough University

Students collecting water samples

How to bring teaching, research and knowledge exchange together

By getting students involved in real-world ‘live’ projects, academics can integrate research and knowledge exchange into teaching, resulting in positive impacts reaching far beyond the classroom, as Alan Chandler explains

Alan Chandler

University of East London

A lecturer gives a talk

Three ways to integrate emerging technologies into the curriculum

Your students’ future jobs will depend on technology just in its infancy today. But how best to teach them the skills they need? Sabrina Azzi offers advice

Sabrina Azzi

University of the West of Scotland

Group of four racially diverse women

Students as co-creators in online learning

Offering students paid opportunities to be involved in generating and modifying online learning content could deliver novel experiences for learners, reduce academic workload and help close the awarding gap

Dean Fido, Gary F. Fisher

University of Derby

Student sitting at her desk in front of a computer

AI-aware pedagogy for business courses

AI-aware pedagogy integrates an understanding of specific AI technology relevant to specific courses

Rohini Rao

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

A student raises a hand in a classroom

Educate to empower your students and prevent harassment

To make campus safer, why not teach first-year students the principles of harassment prevention? Here’s how

Dinara Pisareva, Nikita Durnev

Nazarbayev University

An illustration of business people sat on a growing plant

Three ways to embed career development learning more deeply in your curriculum

Embedding career development learning into curricular learning can be invaluable for students. Here’s how to integrate it more meaningfully

Anna Branford , Julian Lee

RMIT University

black woman at laptop with scales and gavel, law studies

International collaboration is a legal education opportunity

Cross-cultural understanding can enrich the ways in which educators in law integrate comparative legal analysis into their teaching, writes Petra Butler

Petra Butler

Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury

A teacher giving a lecture at the front of class

A new learning outcomes model to nurture future-proof skills

A new framework allows us to use a transdisciplinary lens when crafting learning outcomes to help students develop future-proof skills

Kay Harrison

University of Auckland

A young student wearing a mask studies in the library

Three ways to support the post-pandemic mental health of Generation Z

Post-pandemic, students are still struggling with their mental health. Here are three ways to help

Sumbal Riaz, Aena Khan

Dubai Medical College for Girls

Dentistry students

How to capture the attention of new generations of dentistry students

From traditional lectures to seminar-based group work, the evolution over 20 years of a dentistry course shows how course design and pedagogy can adapt to students’ expectations and learning styles

Máté Jász, Szilvia Ambrus , Péter Schmidt , Péter Hermann, Szandra Körmendi

Semmelweis University

Students talk to their teacher round a table

Five tips for blended learning design

Blended learning has become more prevalent in higher education in the past few years. But what do students think about it? A students-as-co-creators project found out

Gustavo Espinoza Ramos , Setenay Dilek Fidler, Mahima Singh, Drilena Ukperaj

University of Westminster

Students debating something in class

Active learning: what can we learn from secondary teaching?

A great deal of teaching in higher education appears to be inactive, despite the proven benefits of active learning. Here are some practical active learning strategies

Sarah Shaw

University of Chester

Young woman in lab coat with tablet

Lessons in chemistry: widening university students’ participation through storytelling

Storytelling can bridge the gap between complex STEM content and student engagement – it gives learners a discovery-based approach and educators an inclusive teaching tool and means of assessment

Karen Ho

Mount Royal University

young woman working at laptop with gavel in foreground

AI as tutor and critic: using tech to personalise education

Artificial intelligence can have practical applications for assessment in higher education, despite the focus on the threats it poses. Here are considerations when using AI to support teaching and generate feedback

Michael Butler

King’s College London

podcast graphic

THE podcast: what constitutes good teaching in higher education?

Two academics with experience in delivering and researching teaching in varied educational contexts discuss the complexities of effective instruction

Leon Tikly, Jason M. Lodge

University of Bristol, The University of Queensland

human intelligence v AI on scales illustration

Assessments that maintain fairness and authenticity without AI

In-person, reflective and analytical tasks require students to apply their learning in real-world ways that AI can’t easily replicate. Here are eight ways to tailor AI-resistant assessment

Temesgen Kifle

The University of Queensland

Female lab technicians carrying out experiments

Developing interdisciplinary courses for tomorrow’s scholars

Many universities are developing new interdisciplinary degree programmes to prepare students for working across sectors on complex issues. But how can we engage faculty in this whole-institution approach?

Anne Preston, Katherine Fletcher

University College London

People walking in Brick Lane

The transformative power of immersive field studies

Embracing experience in teaching can bring the curriculum to life and help students forge their own learning journey. Here are five benefits it offers

Myria Georgiou, Afroditi Koulaxi

The London School of Economics and Political Science

Robot with people rolling coins, AI subscription

Is it worth paying for GenAI?

How useful is artificial intelligence for syllabus design? A law lecturer compared the free and subscription versions of three generative AI platforms, with surprising results

Sophia De Arez Cintra

King’s College London

A lecturer speaks to a group of students

Four ways to tap into students’ family experiences for better learning

Using students’ family experiences as a jumping-off point for learning can help engage them and prepare them for the workforce. Here’s how to do it

Ankit Agarwal

The University of Adelaide

Example of a rhizome

Rhizocrit: Rhizomatic learning and critical digital pedagogy in the post-digital age

Higher education needs transformative practices to respond to the challenges of the 21st century. Combining expansive, organic learning with active, critical use of technology could be the way forward

Daniel Gutiérrez-Ujaque

University of Lleida

A group of students fist-bump over a table of work

Spark creativity in your students – and boost their employability

Thinking creatively is a crucial skill for the future workplace. But how can we instil it in today’s students?

Sarah Montano, Inci Toral

University of Birmingham

A woman watches a laptop while wearing headphones and making notes

Training interpreters in the age of AI

Instead of fighting against the dawn of artificial intelligence, educators should be teaching future interpreters the skills to use it effectively. Here’s how

Nan Zhao

Hong Kong Baptist University

A group of students sit happily around a laptop in the sunshine

Making group work work: how to enable successful student collaboration

How can we help students collaborate without weighing down staff with extra admin? First-year interdisciplinary research projects could be the answer

Jillian Terry

The London School of Economics and Political Science