Pedagogy

What is pedagogy? Academics offer insights into the theory and practice of learning and how knowledge is transferred in the classroom or online

An educator comforts a distressed student

Let’s embrace compassionate pedagogy for a more humane academy

How can we bridge the compassion gaps in the day-to-day experiences of students and staff in higher education? Kathryn Waddington and Bryan Bonaparte offer their solutions – and warn of the challenges we’re still facing

Kathryn Waddington, Bryan Bonaparte

University of Westminster

A teacher filming herself on her iphone

Create engaging educational video content using these cognitive theories

The power of video content to engage an audience is widely known, but creating effective videos requires a considered approach. Here are 15 principles to bear in mind

FA Triatmoko HS

University of Indonesia

Multiracial group of three people looking at a computer

Inclusive co-teaching can draw on educators’ lived experience

Joint teaching between academic faculty and experts by experience offers not only professional development for future teachers, but benefits student understanding as well. Here’s how to put it into practice

Pablo Rodríguez Herrero

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

subconscious mind concept

‘What artists do is say the quiet bits out loud’

As teachers, we know our students will face the harsh demands of creativity and problem-solving in their daily professional lives – and we need to help them tap into deeper places that lead to novel solutions to intractable problems

Stephen Sewell

Australian National University

A woman working at a desk, viewed from above

Portfolio assessment may be the key to deeper learning

Portfolio assessment has proved to be an innovative way to track students' progress in economics classes, making learning deeper and more meaningful. Here’s how to do it

Belén Pagone, Cecilia Primogerio

Universidad Austral

Image representing an understanding of multiple viewpoints and perspectives

Encourage intellectual development in students to improve work readiness

By supporting students to become independent thinkers who can evaluate different viewpoints within specific contexts, educators better prepare them for employment, argue Jennifer Rose and Bill Moore

Jennifer Rose, Bill Moore

University of Manchester, The Perry Institute

A student painting on a canvas

Preparing students for careers in the creative industries

How interdisciplinary and experiential learning that is integrated into inclusive curricula can equip students for their future creative careers

Miaomiao Jia

University of Bristol

A woman works on an essay, using her laptop and several books

The renaissance of the essay starts here

In the age of AI, has long-form writing in higher education reached a dead end? Martin Compton and Claire Gordon discuss the unique aspects of the essay and introduce a manifesto to revitalise it

Claire Gordon , Martin Compton

The London School of Economics and Political Science, King’s College London

Business students chatting in a classroom

Cultivating emotional intelligence in business education

Four strategies for fostering emotional intelligence in business students and preparing them for the workplace

Cecilia Primogerio , Camila del Carril

Universidad Austral

Webinar image

Campus webinar: The art of bringing creativity and fun into the classroom

Learn how to get creative with your teaching and inject a sense of fun into the classroom for better student outcomes, from experienced educators at Campus+ partner universities in the UK

Simon Brownhill, Gary Burnett, Kelly Edmunds

University of Bristol, Loughborough University, University of East Anglia

A teacher reads a story to her primary school class

An on-campus primary school helped to enrich the community and embed social responsibility

Establishing a university primary school made a difference in the local area and sparked a sense of social responsibility in students. Andrew Lenehan explains how he did it

Andrew Lenehan

Manchester Metropolitan University

An illustration of a man holding an umbrella while emotions rain down upon him

Psychological safety can be a positive, powerful influence on learning environments

In order for students to feel confident speaking up in class and flexing their creative muscles, educators must create a sense of psychological safety. Here are eight tips to do so

Jenny Moffett

RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

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 on a project together in class

Essential GenAI skills for marketing students

Educators from the University of Bristol demonstrate how to equip marketing students with the skills and knowledge to use AI ethically

Rushana Khusainova, Eleonora Pantano, Esther Kang

University of Bristol

A student smiling in class

Using emotions to boost learning

A professor explains how he leverages emotions to enhance students’ learning, using an approach called ‘mastering emotions in entrepreneurship education’

Vik Perez

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Question marks against a yellow background

Let students know they don’t know

Overconfidence often prevents students from being able to identify areas of weakness. As teachers, we must help them realise what they are

Tony So

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Student speaking to a teacher in front of laptop

Using philosophy to enhance online students’ critical thinking skills

Online courses often lack the kind of spontaneity that builds critical thinking skills. So how can we make up for this?

Garth Elzerman

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Student testing out a wind turbine model

Critical approaches to incorporating the SDGs into curricula

Mapping curricula against the SDGs has become a key objective for education institutions aiming to showcase their commitment to sustainability. But we must do this through a critical lens

Sean Porter

University of Exeter

An audience in a darkened lecture hall

To demystify AI for your students, use performance

Updating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for the AI era helped students to understand the opportunities and limitations of the tool, in an engaging way. Here’s how to use performance as pedagogy

Will Shüler, Chris Hogg, Karim Shohdy

Royal Holloway, University of London

Mature age female student with hand up in lecture theatre

Why your students aren’t speaking up in lectures

When the risk of putting their hand up and giving an answer is greater than the benefit, students will remain silent. Here are strategies to encourage them to participate in class

Jade Garratt

Psych Safety

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

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

Black female student doing online education

Blended learning is the short-term fix that turned into a long-term stay

Yes, the transition between online and in-person methods can make blended delivery challenging for students and educators alike, but keeping students engaged and sustaining their learning is worth the effort

Nisha Detchprohm

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

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

Dragon animation from a video game

Using AI to create engaging educational games for humanities students

Combine AI with gamification and storytelling activities to enhance student engagement

Dania Arriola Arteaga , Bárbara Regina Granados Guzmán

Monterrey Institute of Technology

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

angel fish jumping from small to bigger bowl

Why university-wide curriculum transformation is a leap of faith

Overhauling an institution’s entire education curriculum is a silo-busting undertaking. Here’s what one university, now in its second year of implementation, has learned

Marion Harney, Julian Chaudhuri

University of Bath

A student uses a pen to take a test

Ten tips when instigating an assessment transformation programme

Higher education is facing pressure to reform assessment. But how to get started? Steve Briggs offers 10 tips

Steve Briggs

University of Bedfordshire

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

A group of four students working on a project

Use student-centred learning strategies to motivate international business students

Support your international students by incorporating strategies that promote student-centred learning into your teaching

Giselle Bate

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

Student outside holding a notepad while thinking deeply

Want to increase student satisfaction? Activate higher-order thinking skills

Activating students’ higher-order thinking skills enhances student satisfaction, research shows. Here are some examples of ways to do it

Irina Shcheglova

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Academic integrity concept

Teaching international students about academic integrity

Cultural misunderstandings can lead to international students being referred for academic misconduct. An answer for university educators can be to tailor course content to bridge gaps in your students‘ understanding

Julija Jones

University of Southampton

Professor at the front of a class full of students

Four things you can do right now to improve your teaching

With a new term upon us, here are three practical strategies to enhance your teaching practice

Rebecca Wakelin

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

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 student at her laptop deep in thought

Harness the power of ‘I wonder’ in your teaching

By embracing the power of ‘I wonder’, we can transform our physical and virtual classrooms into dynamic spaces for exploration and discovery, creating a more inclusive and responsive educational atmosphere

Lauren Flannery

University of East Anglia

A teacher addresses a classroom of students

Conjure the magic of learning with facilitation

When facilitating learning, planning and versatility are key. Here’s how to balance the two

Tan Chin Pei

Singapore Institute of Technology

Students creating a mindmap on a whiteboard

The humble whiteboard: the most flexible learning tool in your classroom

The whiteboard serves as a powerful tool to help students visualise concepts, facilitate group work and provide immediate feedback, aligning with the theory that knowledge is built through active, hands-on experiences

Alan Meek

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Studious student memorising notes at her desk

Don’t forget Bloom’s Taxonomy’s ‘remembering’ level

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a pedagogical framework covering six levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating. Building a strong foundation to help students store and retrieve information is crucial

Adeola Matthew

The University of the West Indies

Students learning english in class

A new way of ensuring repeated EAP vocabulary exposure

Practical steps to enhance student vocabulary learning through a systematic approach that assures repeated exposure to important terms

Alan Meek , Jingfei Zhang, Lin Ma

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Male speaker giving presentation at a university to a room full of students

Relieve student boredom by ‘activating’ lectures

How lecturers can ‘activate’ traditional lectures to relieve student boredom and stimulate learning

Simon Brownhill

University of Bristol

Various sqiggly arrows straightening into the same direction, blended learning concept

Teaching public policy research skills to tomorrow’s leaders

When students learn the fundamentals of public policy research, they also acquire tools to evaluate how institutions operate and how those same tools can be used to solve problems in their communities. This blended learning approach can level up these skills

Christopher Kromphardt, Mark Anthoney , Cassidy Branch

Johns Hopkins University, University of Iowa

The hand of Adam reaches towards a robot arm, with a buffering sign in between

Apply the principles of critical pedagogy to GenAI

Artificial intelligence can shape our educational practices – but when we allow this to happen unthinkingly, what do we risk losing? Here’s how to stay uncomfortable and ask the critical questions

Richard McInnes, Simon Nagy, Laura Airey

The University of Adelaide

Students in class working on a project together

Events-based authentic assessment that can boost employability

While demonstrating knowledge through exams has its place, how often do we use exam techniques and skills in our daily lives? Events offer a more authentic way to demonstrate and test professional skills

Becky Lewis, Colin McClure

University of East Anglia, Queen’s University Belfast

Colourful paper explodes from one wooden head, black paper from the other

Let’s kindle the fire for discovery in our students

In his new book ‘Mindset Matters: The Power of College to Activate Lifelong Growth’, Daniel R Porterfield explores how to spark a heat-seeking search for knowledge among undergraduates

Daniel R. Porterfield

Aspen Institute

Students role-playing a psychology appointment

What simulations bring to teaching soft skills

Role play and immersive VR experiences can bridge the gap between theory and practice as students acquire – and teachers assess – skills in communication and problem-solving

Daniel Brown, Krystal Schaffer, Kim Stewart

University of Southern Queensland

Students working on a project together

Students need a balanced diet of assessment practices

We propose evaluating our assessments and incorporating innovative elements to better emulate real-world tasks in terms of both the process and product of assessment, write David Tree, Stephanie Baines, Pauldy Otermans, Nicholas Worsfold and Emily Hobson

Multiple authors

Brunel University London , University of East Anglia

Teaching presence

Develop and nurture teaching presence in a learning community

Strong teaching presence helps students facilitate their own learning. Here, Hannah Shaw and Mike Hackman offer quick wins for educators with advice on how to provide clear instruction and a safe learning space, and recognise topics as interconnected

Hannah Shaw, Mike Hackman

Cardiff University

Teacher explaining concepts to a group of students

The zone of proximal development in four stages

The zone of proximal development offers a practical and effective approach to bridging the gap between the knowledge and ability of students with and without assistance

Arunima K V

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Students sitting on a patch of grass talking

The zone of proximal development: how the theory translates to the classroom

Theories of proximal development and social contagion suggest that group activities enhance knowledge-sharing and internalisation through feedback, discussion and the development of skills, writes Shwetha Mudabagilu Krishnappa

Shwetha Mudabagilu Krishnappa

Manipal Academy of Higher Education