Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education:

A useful driver?

Mark Russell Deputy Director of Blended Learning Unit (BLU)Lauren Anderson Technology Mentor BLUElizabeth Terry Marketing Assistant BLU

Helen Barefoot Deputy Head of the Learning Teaching Institute(LTI)

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Seminar

• Original study - background• Suitable for us at UH?• Relating to practice• Student thoughts• Concluding thoughts and discussions

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Brief history of the 7 principles

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

• Invited small task force of scholars (12)

• React to 8 principles – produce a list of no more than 9 at end of two days

• Wanted emphasis on the how rather than the what of effective undergraduate education

• Insisted that principles be “accessible, understandable, practical and widely applicable”

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Brief history of the 7 Principles

Going public …• Published in March 1987 issue of AAHE

Bulletin• 250 participants• Inventories published Autumn 1989– Faculty inventory– Institutional inventory

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Good practice in undergraduate education…1. Encourages contact between students and lecturers2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among

students3. Encourages active learning4. Gives prompt feedback5. Emphasises time on task6. Communicates high expectations7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Institutional Inventory

1. Climate• St & fac, student reps, hard work!

2. Academic Practices• Work / life, graduates, clear criteria …

3. Curriculum• Hands on, choice, cultural diversity

4. Faculty• On campus, time for CPD, fac feedback

5. Academic and student support services• Counselling, studs act as advisors, help for poor record

6. Facilities• Classrooms, public transport, café, comfy spacesThe Learning and Teaching Institute incorporating

The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Relevance for UH?

• Good common sense• Accessible language• Stood the test of time• Not subject specific “address the teacher’s

how, not the subject matter what…”• Considers ‘student experience’• Positive feedback from staff

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Principles in practice

• Research literature• Case studies • Quick ideas / hints tips - general

Quick ideas

A domain of scholarship?

Number of people

Scho

lars

hip

Student Thoughts

Regarding the 7 Principles for Good Practice…

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Video

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Summary of student’s comments

“ You don’t have a good relationship with your tutors and are not encouraged to talk to them therefore you end up working on your own”- #1 Student-staff contact “Teachers get defensive and don’t answer the question given very well”- #1 Student-staff contact“I’m not actively learning anything they just give us the task and we do it by ourselves”- #3 Active learning “We get given a task that should take half an hour but it gets given to us for a whole hour so I’m just sitting there bored and not learning from it”- #6 Communicate high expectations “Staff should say when they are available and when they’re not to stop people turning up at pot luck”- #1 Student-staff contact

Negative comments

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“In engineering my lecturer wrote down examples on a tablet PC and put this on to StudyNet…”- #3 Active learning

“I make maximum use of the LRC and journal”- #7 Respects diverse talents and ways of learning

“Most of my law lecturers record the lesson so I can watch it back when I like”- #3 & #7

“My most enjoyable learning experience was when I used a voting system”- #3 Active learning

“In Spanish we use the labs which I have never used before so that was quite cool”- #3 & #7

Summary of student’s commentsPositive comments

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Effective Assessment

#5 Time on Task

#6 Communicate high expectations

#3 Active learning

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The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Effective Assessment

#4 Prompt feedback

#6 Communicate high expectations

The Learning and Teaching Institute incorporating

The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Effective Assessment

#1 Encourages contact between students and staff

#2 Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students

#7 Diverse talents and ways of learning

The Learning and Teaching Institute incorporating

The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Effective Assessment

#4 Give prompt feedback

#2 Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students

The Learning and Teaching Institute incorporating

The Blended Learning Unit a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Where next?

• How should we use the Principles?• Levels of granularity

– Students ?– You ?– Module teams ?– Programme teams ?– Schools ?– UH ?

• How to take forward