Supporting student – centred learning experiences: teaching and learning priorities 2025
By Shane Sutherland, CEO and Founder, PebblePad
Following an unprecedented period in Higher Education, universities up and down the country are taking the opportunity to rebuild, reset and plan. And while there are plenty of reports on what the future might look like for universities- how they can remain competitive and demonstrate value – less has been written about the nuts and bolts of what’s next for teaching staff.
This new study intends to put that right. As the team at PebblePad hits our milestone 18th birthday and is focused on looking ahead, we have interviewed more than 100 teaching and learning staff at UK Higher Education institutions to find out what the next three years holds for them – painting a picture of what HE teaching and learning might look like when we reach 21.
Our research uncovered a group that is optimistic about the future; committed to enhancing all aspects of the student experience, from curriculum design and development to providing feedback and assessment. Teaching and learning staff want to deliver even better student outcomes – by supporting student-centred learning experiences with new and exciting learning technologies, adopting inclusive models of teaching and learning, and improved assessment design.
Importantly, this group is aware that the next three years also holds significant challenges, from shoring up employment outcomes in an uncertain economic climate, to overcoming obstacles to technology procurement.
Embedded employability in 2025
Perhaps unsurprisingly, today’s teaching and learning staff say that ensuring employment success for their students is amongst their top concerns for the next three years. Against the backdrop of an uncertain post-Covid employment landscape, students are increasingly demanding that their course provides them with the best job prospects possible – and adequately prepares them with the skills needed for work.
Indeed, an overwhelming majority of university educators (82 per cent) say it will be key to embed employability into the curriculum in the next three years. To shore up employability, educators will focus on providing students with the opportunities to develop knowledge, skills, experiences, behaviours, attributes, achievements and attitudes to enable students to make more successful transitions to work.
When it comes to the skills students need for employment, 89 per cent of teaching and learning staff say that soft skills will be the order of the day in 2025. Including elements like collaboration, communication skills and critical thinking, soft skills are notoriously difficult to measure and quantify - which is perhaps why we are also seeing an increased focus on alternative methods of assessment for learning that encourage learners to use received feedback to monitor and improve their own development.
Approaches to assessment in 2025
Assessment has long been an area of interest for educators – as they work out the best way to measure student success. And, as teaching and learning evolves, seven in ten (71 per cent) of educators think that the next three years will also bring about a significant change in the way they approach feedback and assessment.
While exams were once the dominant assessment method, we’ve recently seen a shift towards authentic assessment approaches – where more focus is placed on relating assessment to what students experience in the real world. Instead of testing students’ proficiency in knowledge recall and completing tests, authentic assessment methods are designed to provide opportunities for students to apply their knowledge in real world situations. In 2025, 86 per cent of respondents agree that authentic assessment will be more important than ever – with an increase in simulations and student-led projects, and elements such as self-reflection and peer review likely to feature heavily in assessment design.
84 per cent of respondents said that more emphasis needs to be placed on helping students articulate their skills throughout their studies – building up a bank of evidence to support their further studies and employment opportunities. This is where traditional ‘portfolio’ solutions come in – enabling students and educators to track and evidence skills and capabilities.
The student experience in 2025
Universities are in the continual process of planning and delivering a coherent and excellent student experience - grappling with delivering high-quality provision and a positive student experience through uncertain times, delivering value for money and boosting employment prospects. And, while these are high-level institutional priorities, we found that they are reflected in the classroom too.
92 per cent of respondents think that student-centred learning will be a critical focus for the next three years, helping empower students to influence what, how and where they learn. Indeed, many experts think that the move to hybrid learning – which includes the best of both online and face-to-face tuition – is largely driven by student demand. 77 percent of respondents also talked about the need for students to ‘co-create’ their learning experience, where students' initial input, feedback, opinions, and other resources such as their intellectual capabilities and personalities, will be integrated alongside institutional resources.
We know that the pandemic has had a significant effect on students’ wellbeing – with many of the classes of 2020 and 2021 reporting feelings of stress, loneliness and isolation. However, one of the bright spots of these turbulent times is that they have shone a spotlight on student wellbeing – and have prompted university staff to think hard about how they support students’ emotional and mental health. 89 per cent of teaching and learning staff say that shoring up student wellbeing will be a crucial part of delivering education in 2025.
Tech-enabled learning in 2025
Given that 87 percent of respondents believe that the learning experience will be a hybrid one in 2025 – combining online and in-person studies – it’s perhaps no surprise that adopting technology is set to be an important priority for the next three years. 69 per cent of respondents expect their investment in classroom technology to increase by 2025. And it’s not only an increase in the amount of tech which will be bought – 92 per cent of respondents predict that they will see an increase in the range and scope of learning technology in the next three years.
Looking at the benefits of tech enhanced learning, a quarter of teaching staff (24 per cent) believe that learning technologies will be the single most important aspect in driving a more flexible learning environment. 13 per cent of teaching staff believe that the single biggest benefit of learning tech will be to increase opportunities for students to engage in self-regulated learning while 12 per cent of people say that the biggest benefit will be in helping students engage more with learning materials.
A blueprint for success in 2025
So, there are plenty of challenges and opportunities ahead as teaching and learning staff embark on their plans for the next three years. Not only are they tasked with meeting institutional priorities like increasing student numbers, prove value for money and improving students’ employment prospects, they must also meet the day-to-day demands of their student base – delivering more engaging courses, better ways of supporting and evaluating student success and much more.
By looking at the concerns and ambitions of teaching staff we can uncover four ‘golden rules’ for ensuring success in the next three years:
- AN INCLUSIVE APPROACH TO TECH PROCUREMENT
Technology projects fail when a top-down approach to procurement is taken. Tech must be chosen to meet concrete and measurable objectives, at least in part by those who will ultimately use the tools.
- A MORE AUTHENTIC AND CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT PROCESS
While exams will still feature in 2025’s classrooms, a more continuous and authentic approach to assessment will be prevalent – where students are tested in real world scenarios, and are continuously helped to evidence and articulate their skills and qualifications.
- A COMMITMENT TO STUDENT COLLABORATION
To ensure engagement (and ultimately value and retention), students will be more involved than ever in ‘co-creating’ their learning – leading and negotiating their own projects and collaborating with staff through open forums, peer review and much more
- EMBEDDING EMPLOYABLITY WITHIN CURRICULA
Success will ultimately be measured by whether a student finds employment at the end of their studies. Employability will be embedded in curricula from the very start of a student’s learning journey, and teaching staff will ensure students know how their course content is preparing them for employment success.
To read the full PebblePad report, please visit https://resources.pebblepad.co.uk/teaching-learning-priorities-report
