Overview
This term we have had the pleasure of being the organising team for #LTHEChat. As we sign off from our tenure, we have composed some reflections on our individual and collective learning, gleaned from across the programme this term.
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James' retrospective
Reflection in vogue
Two of the chat topics this term centered specifically around reflective practice, first in #LTHEChat 294 from a creative arts perspective, and most recently with Iain Wilson's SMOR model of reflection in #LTHEChat 296.
The theme also organically emerged in a number of discussions, and this has made me ponder as to whether we are starting to see a more wholesale, mainstream shift towards critical reflection beyond the subject areas we might expect (e.g. Health Sciences, Social Sciences) in a response to the rise and prevalence of Generative AI. Aligned to this, I have noticed lots of talk around the value of cultivating 'meta' skills such as self-efficacy and feedback literacy.
New 'norms' in practice, and critical discourses around technology
It feels like we've had a number of big triggers of change in Higher Education over the last few years – COVID-19 being, of course, a significant one. With that said, there's always been a sense in some quarters that changes in practice were just temporary accommodations, and that a return to 'normal' would inevitably be somewhere around the corner. With respect to the particular example of COVID-19, I do think it is fair to suggest that we haven't entirely embraced certain aspects - such as online learning – in some of the wholesale ways once predicted. While this perhaps owes much to the difficult experiences of both and staff and students who grappled with 'emergency remote teaching', it is notable that many Universities have since gone in the complete opposite direction with strategic pushes that 'double down' on identities as 'campus-based' providers of education.
With Generative AI, however, I feel that this really is different, and that has been apparent in some of the #LTHEChat discussions this term.
I feel that even the most reluctant corners of our sector are now really engaging with the notion of authentic assessment (Sambell et al, 2013). This was apparent in some of the creative approaches to assessment which have been discussed this term, such as podcasts in #LTHEChat 290 and digital escape rooms, which we explored in #LTHEChat296. I've also noticed that there is now a broader awareness and recognition of concepts such as assessment 'for' (Boud, 2010) and 'as' (Dann, 2014) learning. This has also been evident this term in the rich dialogue which has emerged around topics such as compassionate assessment in #LTHEChat 291 and the invaluable provocation to think more squarely from a student-first perspective in #LTHEChat 293.
Operationalising some of these things in the present climate really does mean that we must engage with more fundamental epistemological questions about knowledge creation, about skills development, about ownership, about digital identity, about 'what is plagiarism', about the climate impact of some of these tools, and (quite importantly) the business practices of those who vend them. These topics emerged, as you might expect, in a number of discussions this term, but I felt they reached a crescendo in #LTHEChat 298:" What does good HE look like?". For me, these discourses place into the spotlight the wider purpose of HE as a developer of critical thinkers and as a creator of global citizens at a time when the current UK Government (although for how much longer, one can only speculate) are questioning the purpose of some forms of degree education using politically charged language (Gov.UK). Such agendas attempt to encapsulate the 'worth' of a degree within short-term (and convenient to quantify) metrics such as employment outcomes, over long term, more holistic values, which inevitably are much more complex to capture (and, if I am being cynical) sensationalise. As such, I enjoyed engaging with discussions around these points in #LTHEChat 292: "Employability Strategies: Going Beyond The Metrics".
I get the sense that many of these discussions which explore assessment and the perceived 'value' of HE are being underpinned by genuine considerations around how changes in learning outcomes may reflect 'new norms' of a world that is shaped ever more by developments in technology and decisions made by large and powerful venture capitalist actors. While these influences cannot be denied, a pedagogic future determined by technology has always felt uncomfortable to me as an educator – and in many ways the pressures underscoring this are more the case now with Generative AI than they have ever been. As such, to me, some of the #LTHEChat discussions this term have helped to embolden my belief that the role of the generalist educator is evolving (or will need to evolve) to reflect the implications on academic practice and the graduate workplace in a world where the capabilities of Generative AI are expanding more rapidly than we can account for. Critical digital pedagogy discourses are now more relevant than ever as we grapple with – and indeed help our learners to navigate – this new terrain. I accept, however, that this is not a universally-held opinion, and I have enjoyed engaging with peers who take a far less skeptical view of the technologies, and question whether the generalist educator is equipped with the expertise to embed these sorts of discussions into mainstream teaching.
For me, though, that's indicative of what we need to do next. The challenge is on for academic development provision to meet these needs, and as the discussions in #LTHEChat 297 outlined, the key to this being a success is collaboration with peers and experts across a range of academic disciplines.
What makes a good #LTHEChat question?
One of the great joys of mentoring the #LTHEChat initiative this term has been the peer review process. I think peer review and peer feedback are beneficial for every party involved. It's a wonderful way of breaking down disciplinary barriers, creating a collaborative dialogue and, ultimately, improving the quality of the discussion in each #LTHEChat.
To give and to act upon feedback, it doesn't matter whether you are an experienced practitioner or a more early-career professional. To make this work, however, the process must be scaffolded and managed well. As such, I really wanted to try and get it right this term, and the key tenets to making that work were to create time and to set expectations.
Some of our fantastic guest hosts this term may have wondered why I was contacting them specifying deadlines for materials over a month in advance of their chat (sorry) but I value a policy of 'no surprises', and that means deadlines which are clear. This allowed me to create a review window where materials could be considered by the team, where I could anonymise the feedback and return it to the guest host, and where the guest host had the time to engage with the feedback and make any changes they wished to make. All of this was done with the aim of allowing us to have the materials ready to go in good time to promote each #LTHEchat from the Thursday morning ahead of the week to come, to ultimately give the chat participants a whole week to read the blog.
My advice for the next team mentor is: draw up a project plan, set deadlines, create a healthy review window for each chat, and communicate the process to the guest hosts well in advance.
References
Boud, D. and Associates (2010). Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education, Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
Dann, R (2014) Assessment as learning: blurring the boundaries of assessment and learning for theory, policy and practice, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 21:2, 149-166, DOI: 10.1080/0969594X.2014.898128
Sambell, K., McDowell, L. and Montgomery, C. (2013) Assessment for learning in higher education. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Ben's Retrospective
Reflecting on reflecting
Some common themes emerged either as wholesale topics of the #LTHEchat evenings - as individual questions and prompts for response - or organically in responses from participants during the hour discussion. Chief amongst these themes was undoubtedly reflection: as a means of assessment, as learning activities, and as a means of self-development and evaluation.
Attending the Assessment in Higher Education Conference 2024 also highlighted the emphasis which is being placed on reflective practice by many in the pedagogic sphere. Reflecting on this burgeoning drive for reflection raises a couple of key questions for me:
- In drivng for inclusive practice, we should remember that reflection does not come easily to some, and can be a completely foreign concept for many?
- As Ian Wilson's SMOR model encapsulates well - there is no one size fits all model of reflection, and we should encourage learners to find / develop / 'frankenstein' a reflective approach which works for them, and encourages them to learn and develop practice as opposed to aiming for strict models which must be followed.
And finally, playing a joker role: are we in danger of forming our own reflective echo chamber? Everyone must reflect because we say it is good to do so. We keep telling ourselves this, and many of our colleagues and peers through conferences, networking events and training sessions. Do we need to get out there and talk to others about what they would expect to see instead of reflective assessments and assignments? Do PSRBs recognise or believe such emphasis on reflection to be valuable at the cost of other 'academic' content? Will learners ever really use reflection in their career path? Some provocative musings, as much for myself as anyone else to consider when, designing course content.
"I'd like to but ..."
Another common theme which came out across the term has been limitations on people's ability to incorporate new ideas, aspects, etc in to teaching activities and practice - commonly amongst which has been "I don't have time". This is a line I have often used myself in responses, and is totally true. Time is incredibly squeezed for everyone involved in HE, and it doesn't look like that is going to change anytime soon. Staff need the freedom to develop learning materials and approaches which can have positive impact, with the assurance that it is okay for things to not work as envisaged - unforeseen or unintended outcomes are not failures and wasted time, but part of a supported development process.
Hopes for the future
The final #LTHEchat on: 'What does good HE look?' like offered glimpses of what we would like for the future of Higher Education. As James succinctly reflected above, the role of HE is much broader than pure education delivery.
But again, playing the Devil's Advocate role: is it? To be brutally honest, I'd like my optician, ophthalmologist, vet, doctor, pharmacist etc to have spent ALL of their degree learning about correct medicines, diseases, cures, etc rather than learning how about reflective practice, ethics in a global context, or other soft 'social skills'.
And this is why Higher Education is special. It is the place to build global citizens, it is the place to learn ethics. But in the same way that the 1990s push for ever more school leavers in the U.K. to study a degree at University (of which I am a product) created different social problems to those than it intended to resolve and highlighted that there is no single form of education which can be used for everything, maybe we need to consider that actually, not all degrees are the same. There is place and need for the more traditional liberal arts degrees which have come under so much pressure in recent years which (who can forget the Government advertising campaign "Give up on art, retrain in computer tech"), as there is place and need for degrees which have a different emphasis and focus in following solid skills based approaches with less focus on softer skills.
Certainly, the current political climate in the U.K. could place the future of the HE system at (or at least rapidly approaching) a cross roads. Perhaps what we all, generally need to remember are those three words from a 1996 political party conference: "Education, Education, Education."?
They should be our top three priorities. But Higher Education is not alone in fulfilling that role, and must enmesh within wider educational settings to enable and facilitate learner growth and development.
As you can probably tell from these reflections, they are still in process of full digestion and consideration of the provocative questions and comments across the last twelve weeks of #LTHEchat.
Apart from meta-cognition, that's gone straight into inclusion for September.
The final reflection turns to what makes 50% of the role of educators: colleagues. They support and inspire. Networks like #LTHEchat can open our eyes to new ideas, and provide reassurance that we are not alone - either in our thinking or our challenges. Keep on #LTHEchatting!
John's Retrospective
Reflection again!
Like the two previous reflections by my organising teammates, reflection came across as a recurring theme cross the different chats. While reflection was explicitly mentioned in several topics, it was a theme occurring across many weeks. It might be taken as granted, but posts from folks #LTHEchatting were filled with reflections on current practice. I could see from responses the extent to which reflectivity is embedded in teaching practice as well as the work of those working in higher education.
Generative AI isn't going anywhere!
We all remember the shock, horror and / or excitement of the launch of ChatGPT. Generative AI is not a flash in the pan trend but something that is here to stay and is affecting so much of our practice, teaching and learning in higher education. It is affecting so many strands of work and it feels like we are only just starting to come to terms with the potential of Generative AI.
Positive collegiality
As a newcomer to #LTHEChat, I was impressed with the collegiate nature of the initiative. It was great to see colleagues from across the higher education sector sharing ideas and experiences. This sharing showed high levels of similarities in practice across institutions, but also nuggets of ideas which could be used by others. While X / Twitter is often portrayed as an echo chamber of similar ideas with unpleasant disagreements flourishing, the #LTHEChat community showed that colleagues can share ideas and disagree amicably with one another.
Tips for future #LTHEChat organising teams
One aspect of being an #LTHEChat organising team member that I particularly enjoyed was the peer review of blogs and questions for the weekly chat. This process helped me develop my understanding of numerous different higher education topics. When thinking about questions for the #LTHEChat, my biggest pieces of advice would be to make sure questions are open-ended and that all questions will be clear and approachable to folks from different disciplines joining the #LTHEChat.
Team Profiles
April 2024- June 2024 Organising Team
Ben Jennings
Ben Jennings (SFHEA) is an Associate Professor in Archaeology at the University of Bradford, and Director of Studies in the School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences. As a programme and module leader, he focusses on inclusivity in teaching practice, while his oversight of programmes brings interests in assessment and feedback methodologies, literacy, and professional standards benchmarking in to focus. His current pedagogic research focusses on feedback dissemination to and reception by student cohorts. You can connect with Ben at b.r.jennings@bradford.ac.uk and on Twitter @benrjen.
John Parkin
John Parkin is an academic employability consultant at Anglia Ruskin University. In this role, John works with academic staff and external organisations to embed employability into degree programmes. Before starting this position, he was a senior lecturer practitioner in education and led the BA Primary Education Studies programme. John's research interests include examining how playful learning supports higher education learning and how more men can be encouraged to become primary school teachers.
James Youdale (Mentor)
James Youdale (SFHEA) is a Senior Digital Education Consultant at the Durham Centre for Academic Development (DCAD) at Durham University. James has worked in Higher Education in learning technology, learning design and learning systems service management roles for over 10 years, with previous roles at The University of Huddersfield and the University of York prior to joining Durham University in 2020. Before moving into education, James began his career in music technologies and web development, and completed an undergraduate degree in Music.
James is active in pedagogic research into learning technologies, and has previously presented and disseminated findings relating to how students study with lecture capture, the impact of introducing a new virtual learning environment (VLE) during the COVID-19 global pandemic, dual-mode teaching, and how virtual reality (VR) technology can be used to teach drama to English undergraduate students.
James has a specific research interest in Flexible Learning Spaces (FLS) in a HE context, and is currently a PhD student at Newcastle University.
You can contact James at james.w.youdale@durham.ac.uk or @james_youdale on Twitter (he refuses to call it 'X').
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