Please note the journal has ceased publication so is no longer accepting submissions. LJMU's journal for pedagogic research, and reflections on teaching practice and student engagement. In the spirit of LJMU’s ‘one university’ principle, Innovations is our journal; it is a celebration of the many ideas, thinking and pedagogical research being undertaken by colleagues. Whilst Innovations has undergone major cosmetic changes the spirit and culture that established it has endured. We pride ourselves on our developmental and supportive approach. Innovations is peer-reviewed so, whilst publication cannot be guaranteed, we can assure that you will receive support, guidance and effective pointers. We hope you really enjoy reading the journal and that it inspires you to engage with and contribute to it in future; we would encourage you to be bold and creative. We welcome submissions from teachers (new and experienced), researchers, professional services staff and students.
Copyright is retained by the author and will be published under a CCBY-ND-NC (Creative Comons Attribution, no derivatives, non-commerical) license.
Memories of the future: educational concepts in the shadow of a pandemic year
In June 2021, just after England had entered a fresh national lockdown, Liverpool John Moore University’s Teaching and Learning Conference (on the theme ‘Transition to Transformation’) was hosted entirely online for the very first time. This paper was produced as a conference resource to offer a reflection on the pandemic year, 2020/21. Its aim was to encourage delegates to consider ten educational concepts (Bildung, critical social theory, epistemology, colonialism, identity, diversity, care, friendships, creativity and performativity) in the context of key national and international developments of the pandemic year, including the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA.
Embedding value: perspectives on a foundation level course in arts and humanities
The number of learners opting to study on a foundation level programme at universities in England has risen sharply over the last few years. Foundation level courses at university represent a vital opportunity for learners to progress to undergraduate courses, especially those learners from areas where participation in higher education has been traditionally very low. This paper offers a reflection on the foundation level course delivered at LJMU’s School of Humanities and Social Science, which has featured on the institutional prospectus since 2017. The tutors reflect on the adjustments that have been made to both the organisation and delivery of teaching, underlined by the development of an inclusive and open learning community. Based on the authors’ experiences, it is argued that foundation level courses at university are well calibrated to support the UK government’s levelling up agenda and, ahead of the 2021 Spending Review, the paper is therefore a counterpoint to recommendations made on the foundation level programme in the Augar Review of post-18 education funding.
Copyright (c) 2021 Daniel J Feather, Christinna Hazzard
Higher education: sector reports review - September 2019 to January 2020
This paper provides a summary of selected reports and papers (‘grey literature’) published by key HE sector organisations in England/UK and think tanks between September 2019 and January 2020. These include: Advance HE; The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS); The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ); Department for Education (DfE); Education Policy Institute; Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC); Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI); Intergenerational Foundation; Jisc; Leading Routes; LKMoo; National Education Opportunities Network (NEON); National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE); National Union of Students (NUS); Office for Students (OfS); Stonewall; Student Minds; Theos; Unite Students; Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS); Universities and Colleges Union (UCU); Universities UK (UUK); Universities UK International (UUKi). The themes covered in the paper include: students response to the Augar review; university priorities; unconditional offers; outreach; social mobility; care leavers; student engagement; student expectations; sustainability; postgraduate experiences; mental health and wellbeing; initiations; racial harassment; Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students; Latinx students; LGBT students; prisoner education; religion; disability; online harassment; digital experiences; copied materials in HE teaching; language learning; employability and transition after graduation; male participation in nursing and allied health HE; casualisation of staff; staff diversity; the 2019 General Election; privilege in HE; and university chaplaincies.
Age against the machine: active ageing and guest learning on campus
This paper offers a brief overview of ‘the guest student’ initiative, established in countries like Germany, and highlights its potential to support those in later life – or the ‘third age’ – in particular. In a nutshell, where the initiative is supported, universities open up selected lectures to the public which they, as ‘guest students’ (Gasthöreren), can apply to attend. The paper considers how UK third age citizens are supported (e.g. through the U3A initiative) and how universities might think about supporting their communities in a post-pandemic world.
Copyright (c) 2020 Sylvia Terbeck, Virendra Mistry
Learning Together: forging belonging among students with experience of the criminal justice system
The Learning Together methodology at Liverpool John Moores University attempts to open up higher education for people with criminal convictions. Applied in a criminal justice course, Learning Together aims to create a safe space for criminal justice academics, students, service users and practitioners to come together and form a unique community of practice whereby scholarly activity, life events and professional experience are recognised, applied and practiced within and beyond the classroom. As the initiative has grown and developed, course co-creators have recognised how community engagement as a pedagogical framework holds the ability to reduce cultural distance between academic researchers and the communities in which they work whilst at the same time enriching learning and strengthening communities. This paper provides an insight into the initiative and reflects on how belonging can be embedded via a connected curriculum framework.
Copyright (c) 2020 Helena Gosling, Lol Burke, Sarah Maclennan
Lifting the lid on period poverty in higher education: a student engagement perspective
In 2018/19, Liverpool John Moores University became the first university in England to offer free menstrual products on campus. This paper shares insights from the project – called The Free Period – which was established to tackle period poverty, or menstrual hygiene management (MHM). The authors reflect on student engagement as a significant proportion of menstruators had missed classes owing to period poverty. The paper highlights the need for better dialogue and communication to: improve data; tackle stigma and taboos; and cultivate healthier relationships on campus.
Copyright (c) 2020 Ambar Ennis, Laura Donovan-Hall, Kay Standing, Virendra Mistry
Book Review of Shirin Housee (2018) Speaking Out Against Racism in the University Space
In Speaking Out, Shirin Housee invites the reader to share in a personal and, at times, emotional and complex journey of some of the lived experiences of minoritised students in UK universities. In this book, Housee offers many compelling reflections that echo a voice that is finding considerable traction (cf. Arbouin, 2018) in these uncertain and discordant times that deserves to be shared and heard. Provocatively titled, the reader is provided with a sense of the unseen, silenced, unheard, or ignored accounts of students to offer a more nuanced and critical understanding of racism in universities, whilst offering reflective tools to address an internal innocence or naïveté and to counter institutional racism. [Review continues]
On embracing failure and the cultivation of knowledge
In Yuval Harari’s Sapiens – a book that offers a magisterial sweep of the history of humankind – the beginning of our enslavement by wheat (about 10,000 years ago) is posited as a pivotal moment in our civilisation. In recognising the crop’s potential and value, our ancestors turned their backs on the frenzied existence of hunter gathering or the nomadic pastoral existence and, in effect, stayed put. And, in this state of contemplation, things began to change. The entanglement with wheat led to the formation of enclosures, the cultivation of fields and domestication of animals. Eventually flatbreads produced by the early strains of grain gave way to the emergence of a ‘loaf-bread culture’ about 2,000 years ago in Europe (Marchant et al., 2008; Rubel, 2011). Those early pioneers were gloriously curious, a trait that has followed human beings since the beginning of time. The techniques for grinding, the conversion of grain to flour and, later, yeast discovery, baking methods, cooling, proving, dividing, kneading and other mixing techniques, led to the celebrated sliced white we have today. All this required patience but, and I’d like to think, the trials and errors enabled our ancestors get to know a little more about themselves along the way. [Editorial continues]
Religion and belief on campus: notes from ‘just your average Muslim’
At the start of 2019/20, religion and belief featured in two prominent sector reports that highlighted problems in social integration on our campuses. This paper offers a personal reflection on faith on the campus, from the perspective of ‘just an average Muslim’, Zia Chaudhry MBE. It presents an overview of the Muslim student experience on campus and endorses the notion of ‘religious’ literacy as a means of nurturing respect and spiritual wellbeing.
BAME underrepresentation in UK universities: a view from the humanities
Significant divisions have emerged out of the political turmoil of the past three years or so. Yet, out of this unrest has come an increased attention to the virulent racism and racial injustices that still exist in UK society and overseas. In the UK, a number of reports have facilitated more nuanced and evidence-based discussions on BAME underrepresentation, the achievement gap, and the racism experienced by BAME students and staff in universities. This article will summarise the findings of these reports and reflect on their impact for the humanities.
Personal tutoring: a recognition of ‘levelness’ in the support for undergraduates
The changing terrain of higher education in the UK, and particularly the greater diversity of the student body, has undoubtedly led to the need for universities to provide greater support, both from frontline teaching staff and in the provision of extra institutional services. Added to the mix are sectoral concerns for the wellbeing and welfare of the student. It is therefore unsurprising that we are seeing a renewed focus on, and interest in, personal tutoring. Taking a qualitative approach, we set out to explore the needs of undergraduate students, on an event management programme, in relation to personal tutoring. Outlined in this paper are the different senses of personal tutoring as student transition through their course.
Copyright (c) 2019 Laura Dixon, Tom Fletcher, Valerie O'Gorman
Barriers to student engagement in clubs and societies: a social capital perspective
In 2018/19, John Moores Students’ Union embarked on a ‘ground clearing’ exercise to determine the barriers students face when engaging, or trying to engage, with a student-led sports club or society. An online survey to students revealed several barriers: difficulty in ‘fitting in’, costs, time, geography, and communication. This paper reflects on the outcomes of the survey and offers an interpretive lens based on the ideas of social capital, as espoused by Pierre Bourdieu and Robert D. Putnam.
Copyright (c) 2019 Fiona Brereton; Virendra Mistry
Sector reports review: February to August 2019
This paper provides a summary of selected reports and papers (‘grey literature’) published by key HE sector organisations in England (and the UK), and ‘think tanks’ between February and August 2019. These include: Advance HE; The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS); Careers Research and Advising Centre Ltd (CRAC); Department for Education (DfE); Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU); Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI); Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA); The Insight Network/Dig-In; Jisc; Milkround; National Education Opportunities Network (NEON); National Union of Students (NUS); Office for the Independent Adjudicator (OIA); Office for Students (OfS); Onward; Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA); Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) The Sutton Trust; The Student Engagement Partnership (TSEP); Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS); Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA); UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA); UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment (UKSCQA); Universities and Colleges Union (UCU); Universities UK (UUK); Universities UK International (UUKi); and UPP Foundation. The themes covered in the paper include: The Augar Review; the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework; value-for-money and student expectations; teaching quality and assessment; student complaints; the digital experience; learning spaces; learning gain; university admissions; contextualised admissions; clearing; unconditional offers; degree apprenticeships; mature learners and healthcare courses; transition to university; accelerated degrees; equality and diversity; mental health and wellbeing; hate crime, sexual violence and online harassment; the Prevent duty; graduate attainment; destinations of disabled graduates; graduate earnings and value; Longitudinal Educational Outcomes; employability and careers; internationalisation; the civic university; HE management and leadership; transformational change; Athena SWAN; BAME leadership in HE; and BAME library staff.
Book Review of Naomi Winstone and David Carless (2019) Designing Effective Feedback Processes in Higher Education: A Learning-focused Approach
Many in higher education have advised of the need to move from transmission-based approaches to those in which students are active participants in their learning. Assessment and feedback, especially, have been much slower – even, seemingly reluctant, to adapt. Encouragingly though, pedagogic discourse and research on feedback is now shifting away from teachers’ actions towards those of students and, more specifically, how they engage with and use messages about their work. [Review continues]
Book Review of Flower Darby, with James M. Lang (2019) Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes
This book endorses the idea of small changes to teaching practice in the context of distance learning. However, even if you are not delivering distance learning, there are useful ideas and tips here for everyone. This is a US-based publication, where there are now over 6 million students a year who are engaged in learning at a distance. Although there has been little growth in the UK in terms of ‘pure’ distance learning students (HESA, 2019), there is a growing interest in flexible approaches to learning (Universities UK, 2018). Therefore, this book is interesting because it supports the immediate need to develop teaching practice through small, manageable, research-informed changes, whilst also helping us to reach forward to explore the bigger potential questions around flexible delivery. [Review continues]
Book Review of Samuel Stones and Jonathan Glazzard (2019) Supporting Student Mental Health in Higher Education
Samuel Stones’ and Jonathan Glazzard’s, Supporting Student Mental Health In Higher Education is part of a new series, Positive Mental Health, that aims to provide a “modern and comprehensive set of evidence based strategies for promoting positive mental health”. The authors write from perspectives informed by research focused on special educational needs, disability and LGBTQ+ inclusion, and the promotion of mental health in educational contexts based on their experience as educators in compulsory and post-compulsory settings. Consequently, they impart an appreciation of the crucial contributions that educational professionals can make to student mental health, given appropriate training and practical guidance informed by contemporary research. At just 144 pages, the authors have focused on offering concise explanations, which enhances the book’s accessibility. Mental health is a complex area and can be daunting to many practitioners, new or experienced. That said, the book is commendable in its scope, covering: transitions, risk factors, common mental health needs and how to support specific groups of students.
The lecture is broken: a manifesto for change
Let me start by saying that I love lecturing. I take pride in preparing high-quality slides and standing in front of the class imparting my knowledge to a captive audience who seem to appreciate it, on the whole. But if I’m honest, I’m just not convinced the lecture is fit for purpose. There is growing evidence that the traditional didactic lecture is past its use-by date. Students are now sophisticated IT-literate learners who demand a rich, multimedia experience from their studies. They have grown up on a diet of rich media (YouTube, iTunesU, podcasts, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google, etc.) and are fully conversant in finding information quickly to satisfy their needs. Didactic lectures are often delivered in rooms that serve multiple purposes and fail to address the unique needs and desires of aural, visual and kinaesthetic learners with a single, blunt instrument (often a PowerPoint presentation). Attendance patterns in lectures exhibit some large variations and if the main tool in our arsenal is the lecture, there may be over 40 per cent of our students who may regularly missing (or avoiding) this mechanism. This paper highlights some of these problematic areas and propose some radical ideas for a future teaching environment in which the lecture takes a back seat in favour of a ‘didactic mash-up’ of engagement activities and exploitation of the full power of the Internet as a learning tool. This includes looking at how our IT facilities are used, how staff-student ratios can be better applied, how our future learning spaces should be constructed and how academic staff can guide students through the mass of online learning that is available 24 hours a day via the Internet.
Another country: the trans-Atlantic alliance and the benefits of studying abroad in the USA
This paper, which is written by an American LJMU-based academic, reflects on the new strategic alliance between LJMU and Southern Connecticut State University. In particular, in highlighting the experiences likely for LJMU students whilst studying in the USA, it provides a succinct overview of the post-compulsory US education, underlining the different experiences of the US student compared with their UK counterpart. The paper further emphasises the benefits likely for LJMU students as a result of this alliance.
Navigating the discourses of unauthorised collusion and collaboration: a UKES narrative
An often misunderstood challenge facing higher education students is the tension of legal regulation of authorial rights discourse and the dilemma which with is reinforced by institutional discourses about student engagement and collaborative learning. This paper draws on the reflections of staff and students in focus group data from the Geography, Law and Mathematics programmes, who were offering feedback on the UK Engagement Survey (UKES).
Self-directed learning: a toolkit for practitioners in a changing higher education context
Although self-directed learning (SDL) first emerged as a pedagogic model over forty years ago, recently it has been all but mandated as a fundamental principle of higher education. This paper examines recent literature from the Quality Assurance Agency and Higher Education Academy, published research and research projects by the author. These sources inform discussion about implications for teachers of SDL in contemporary practice, with particular reference to changes in the student profile in higher education: where might it be most appropriate, how might it be facilitated, and what cautions might need to be exercised? The paper concludes with a basic toolkit of principles and ideas for practitioners who may be interested in implementing SDL in their own teaching. The concepts presented in this paper were initially given in presentations delivered at the Liverpool John Moores University 2014 Learning and Teaching Conference (16-17 June), and the Higher Education Academy 10th Annual Conference (2-3 July 2014), Aston University, UK.
Block teaching and the three A’s: attendance, attainment and attitudes
This paper examines results from a small study that looked at the relationship between intensive teaching in blocks and its impact on students’ attendance and attainment. The research also looked at students’ perceptions of block teaching and their engagement with the taught topic, and whether the students felt that block delivery method enabled them to learn more than traditional delivery methods. The results indicate that students prefer to be taught in the block format and that they feel more engaged. Students’ attendance when taught in blocks is significantly improved which could contribute to attainment. Ideas which might help inform embedded practice are listed at the end.
Sector reports review: September 2015 to January 2016
Summary of UK higher education sector organisations’ reports and publications between September 2015 and January 2016. Organisations featured in the review include: ATOC Association of Train Operating Companies BIS Department of Business, Innovation and Skills British Council GuildHE HEA Higher Education Academy HEFCE Higher Education Funding Council for England HESA Higher Education Statistics Agency Hobsons EMEA Ipsos MORI Jisc NUS National Union of Students OIA Office of the Independent Adjudicator QAA Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education Rand Europe SCONUL Society of College, National and University Libraries The Sutton Trust THE Times Higher Education UCAS Universities and Colleges Admissions Services UCISA Universities and Colleges Information Systems UKCISA UK Council for International Student Affairs UK HE International Unit Unipol UUK Universities UK
Books reviewed: Betty Leask (2015) Internationalising the Curriculum, Abingdon: Routledge (978-0-415-72815-7 [Pbk], 208pp) Laura Ritchie (2015) Fostering Self-efficacy in Higher Education Students, London: Palgrave (ISBN 978-1-137-46377-7 [Pbk], 159pp) Markus K. Harmes, Henk Huijser, & Patrick Alan Danaher (Eds.) (2015) Myths in Education, Learning and Teaching: Policies, Practices and Principles Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 978-113747699-9 [Hbk], 205pp) Andrew Middleton (Ed.) (2015) Smart Learning: Teaching and Learning with Smartphones and Tablets in Post-Compulsory Education, Sheffield: Media-Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group and Sheffield Hallam University (ISBN 978-1-84387381-5 [ePub]; 978-184387383-9 [Print on Demand], 297pp) Christian Beighton (2015) Deleuze and Lifelong Learning: Creativity, Events and Ethics, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 978-1-137-48079-8 [Hbk], 204pp)
TEF plus transformational learning: the key to enhancing student learning and improving the student experience?
Current discussions around the Teaching Excellence Framework provide numerous opportunities and challenges for the HE sector. An awareness of transformational learning, with its focus on understanding the connection between a student’s overall sense of the world together with personal components, such as knowledge, skills, values and beliefs about one’s own experiences, is especially pertinent in these times of change and scrutiny in the sector. A focus on excellent teaching with transformational learning at its core can build on the strengths of the university. A strong network of educators creating innovative pedagogy, for maximum impact, and disseminating their finding provides sound basis to deal with the new challenges of competing as an HE institution nationally and internationally.
Student expectations: what is university really about?
Students spend 12 to 14 years in school learning in a carefully controlled and structured system. It appears that many students enter university with unrealistic conceptions of what is expected of them in many aspects of teaching and learning, including assessment. Hence, when they reach university they are faced with the challenge of adjusting to radically different styles of teaching, learning and assessment. It follows that this lack of preparedness is key reason why students drop out or take longer to complete their studies. To compound the issue, university teachers may not fully appreciate students' expectations and are unable to anticipate and address these in curriculum development and delivery. Therefore, developing a better understanding of students’ perceptions, expectations and experiences is crucial to being able to deliver programmes of study that support students in the transition from school to university and as they move through their university life. This paper explores the perceptions of Level 5 and Level 6 students on two LJMU programmes in the Faculty of Education, Health and Community with the overarching aim to investigate key aspects of the student experience relating to induction, support and transition. By exploring students’ ideas around key areas we hope to be able to better understand what the student expectation is and identify strategies to bridge any gap that exists between staff and student beliefs.
Copyright (c) 2016 Julie Money, Fran Tracy, Claire Hennessy, Sarah Nixon, Emma Ball
Mining institutional data for hidden truths
While a great deal of thought and effort is devoted to developing assessment strategies, policies and processes, there is little evidence that the re-assessment of students who fail at the first attempt receives the same level of scrutiny. This Viewpoint paper is stimulated by a research project, discussed at the HEIR (Higher Education Institutional Research) Conference (LJMU, September 2016) that explored the success rates of undergraduates who have had Level 4 re-assessments. One of the purposes of this research was to understand more explicitly how re-assessment policies can contribute to the retention, continuation and success of students, one of the metrics referred to in the higher education White Paper, ‘Success as a Knowledge Economy’.
Overassessment in higher education: does less mean more?
In spite of recent claims of the need to reduce overassessment in higher education, there is a surprising lack of consensus of what this term really means together with a lack of empirical evidence of the effects of multiple assessments on student learning and achievement. This study explored the relationship between student achievement and number of assessments, and their potential links to student satisfaction, based on data from modules of the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, LJMU during 2014/15. The trends found suggest that there is no relationship between fewer assessments and improved academic performance. Indeed, there was a slight trend showing the opposite and, further, modules with more assessments recorded higher feedback (module appraisal) marks. This paper discusses the potential implications of the results in the context of overassessment concerns. Suggestions are given for practice to clarify the concept and shed light into its potential implications.
Sector reports review: February to August 2016
This paper provides a summary of key reports and papers published by UK HE sector organisations between February and August 2016. The organisations covered include: Action on Access; Higher Education Academy (HEA); Higher Education Commission; Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE); Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI); Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA); Jisc; Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE); National Union of Students (NUS); Office for Fair Access (OFFA); Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA); Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA); QS Digital Solutions; Scottish Funding Council (SFC); Teach First; The Sutton Trust; UK HE International Unit; University Alliance; Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS); Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) and Which? The themes covered in this paper include: the Teaching Excellence Framework; institutional capability in supporting teaching excellence and innovation; student satisfaction; the student experience; student complaints; university identity; supporting transition; transition to postgraduate studies; equality and diversity; the digital experiences of students; learning analytics; impact of continuous professional development; learning spaces; pedagogic research; resource discovery; teaching and freedom of speech; academic misconduct; employability; post-graduation experiences; studying abroad; internationalisation; transnational education; and alternative providers.