Experience – all levels

Activities suitable for students who are new to each other or new to participating in higher education. Typically these accommodate diffidence about contributing in public. However, any activity which is suitable for inexperienced students is also suitable for experienced ones.

Call out icons, ellipses and arrows

Discussion forums

April 2, 2020 0

What is it? Forums allow students and staff to have a group conversation, with each participant posting their contributions at times convenient for them. Most posts are text-based, but often support images, links and even […]

"The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C." at Queens College, CUNY in Fall 2012

Role-play

August 20, 2019 0

What is it? Role-play is experiential learning based on perspective-taking within a scenario. Participants inform themselves about the viewpoint of an interest group or character and then perform that role according to a set of […]

Students sit round a table in a small room concentrating on a problem.

Problem-based learning

August 9, 2019 0

What is it? Tutorial groups of eight to twelve students address realistic, ill-structured scenarios in complex, interdisciplinary domains, through a defined sequence of steps facilitated by a tutor. PBL is a curriculum approach – a […]

Brainstorming

August 5, 2019 Mary Seabrook 0

What is it? Brainstorming is a method used to generate multiple answers or ideas.  It encourages creativity and divergent thinking which can be used to solve problems or answer questions.  It was popularised by Alex […]

Hand holding phone displaying Polleverywhere response system

Tests and polls

May 6, 2019 0

What is it? Tests, sometimes known as Quizzes, are usually no-stakes or low stakes opportunities for learning (i.e. students work with knowledge as well as recalling what they already know) which can take place within […]

From the back of a lecture theatre - Prf Krsreenivasan Lecture

Confidence to contribute

May 5, 2019 1

What is it? Some students tend to contribute disproportionately to discussions while others hardly ever speak. This guide offers some alternative ways to even out student participation in a group discussion. Why do it? Hearing […]

Jigsaw activity diagram from https://itali.uq.edu.au/files/3077/Resources-teaching-methods-jigsawtechnique.pdf

Jigsaw activity

May 5, 2019 0

What is it? Each student within a ‘home group’ focuses on a separate segment of a given concept or unit of learning. They convene into temporary ‘expert groups’ to develop their ideas before returning to […]

Concentric circles discussion

Concentric circles

May 5, 2019 0

What is it? A discussion prompt is given. Equal numbers of students in two concentric circles rotate every two minutes so they have the chance to meet and talk with everyone in the circle. Why […]

Image from Cooper Professional Education at https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/aflkings/students-directing-their-own-learning/concept-mapping/

Concept maps

May 4, 2019 0

Students visually represent a concept in terms of its attributes and their connections, using pen and paper, software, or (in groups) post-its and string. Concept maps have similarities with some of the physical structures that […]

Stopwatch by Casey Marshall on Flickr

Minute paper

May 4, 2019 1

The minute paper, usually associated with physics professor Charles Schwartz, is a simple assessment form which elicits students’ knowledge about a topic or concept, or the contents of a lecture. It fosters deeper learning because […]