Seeds for Solutions: Innovation Projects from 2016/17

Project Title: Using corpora to enhance autonomous language learning unit in PGR students
Project Leader(s): Russell Clark, Suzanne Heaton and Alison Long

This project will develop a series of videos and activities to train international postgraduate research students in how to use published English language corpora, corpus programmes, and the information generated. It will then create specialised corpora, initially for students studying in Keele Management School and the School of Pharmacy, along with tasks designed to raise awareness of specialised language use. The students will then be trained in how to create and exploit their own corpus, and how to use the information generated not only to improve their writing, but also to develop a sense of autonomy and ownership.

Using corpora - Final Project Report


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Project Title: Project Ponder - Making students think using 'Posh Clickers'
Project Leader(s): Russell Pearson and Tejesh M.Pattni

Project Ponder encourages students to think using small, frequent interludes of a classroom response system based on “Clicker” handsets. Phase 1 of this project involved 140 students having a year-long loan of a clicker handset to answer MCQs. Our student feedback clearly shows that smart and thoughtful clicker usage has a powerful impact with 97% requesting their continuation next year and 81% asking for handsets with free text answering capabilities. Phase 2, therefore, introduces “Posh Clickers” and so this proposal describes (1) how just 35 devices would be required, and (2) why alternative mobile phone technology should be avoided.

Project Ponder - Final Project Report


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Project Title: Virtual laboratories as a complementary E-learning tool in Biomedical Science
Project Leader(s): Anne Loweth and Sheila Hope

Laboratory investigation lies at the heart of the biomedical sciences and acquisition of excellent laboratory skills is essential to our undergraduates’ employability. Delivering high quality, resource-intensive practical classes is economically challenging hence, despite extensive laboratory classes, students encounter some complex techniques in theory only. This project evaluates the merits of Labster laboratory simulations, integrating virtual laboratories with theory and molecular animations, in improving students’ learning, firstly, of a theoretically-encountered technique and, secondly, as a preparative adjunct to support laboratory classes. Test performance and questionnaire data analysis will assess our hypothesis that female students may especially benefit from this learning resource.

Virtual laboratories - Final Project Report


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Seeds for Solutions: Innovation Projects from 2016/17

Project Title: Video Resource Pack: Developing Academic Communication Skills for International Students
Project Leader(s): Ella Tennant

The need to adapt to Keele’s academic culture is one of many challenges faced by international students. This project will focus on the design, production and publication of a video resource pack aimed at helping students develop the communication skills necessary to succeed in their degree programmes.  The resource pack composed of short video films and an accompanying handbook will serve as a learning tool embedded in the KLE, concentrating on three areas: giving presentations, participating in tutorial/seminar discussions and communicating with a personal tutor, within the Keele academic context.

Video Resource Pack - Final Project Report

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Project Title: The Lecture as Performative Pantomime: (Back)channelling student conversations to maximise engagement and collaborative learning in lectures
Project Leader(s): Angela Rhead and Matthew Brannan

This project will explore the use of TodaysMeet to create temporary chatrooms unique to each lecture, which employs students’ personal electronic devices (smartphones / tablets / laptops) to stimulate and capture individual / small group dialogues. These dialogues create a feedback loop between lecturer and audience to facilitate a collectively produced learning event. 

The Lecture as Performative Pantomime - Final Project Report

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Project Title: Supporting the international student transition: The English-Mandarin 'talking glossary' for Environmental students
Project Leader(s): Katie Szkornik

Students from China coming to study in the UK face significant language and cultural barriers. Studies show that despite extensive support, English Language problems remain a major barrier to achievement within assessment from China (Mathias et al., 2013; Szkornik et al., 2015). This study develops a subject-specific, English-Mandarin 'talking glossary', which will be used as a learning tool in modules currently delivered in China by Keele-based academics (flying faculty; Smith, 2014), as part of our collaborative degree programme in Environment and Sustainability with Nanjing Xiaozhuang University. 

Supporting the International Student Transition - Final Project Report

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Seeds for Solutions: Innovation Projects from 2016/17

Project Title: 'Lets meet at basecamp': A mobile app designed to increase group cohesion and student satisfaction in collaborative learning projects
Project Leader(s): Grant Bosworth and Donna Berry

Many modules involve elements of group work aimed at enhancing certain employability skills. However, students often cite difficulties regarding communication with, and contributions made by, other group members. The aim of our teaching innovation project is to tailor a project management app to better engage students and facilitate collaborative learning. The app creatively combines the features students desire from social media (instant message, notifications on progress) with required components for academic work (transparent scheduling, equitable workload distribution and file sharing). Any improvements in the student learning experience will be evaluated from questionnaire responses, compared to responses from a control group.


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Project Title: Introducing undergraduate students to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles' theory and practice
Project Leader(s): Alex Nobajas

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have become increasingly popular and feature regularly on the news, both for positive and negative reasons. However controversial, their use has proven to be successful in a myriad of applications which go from disaster management to agricultural surveying. Nonetheless, due to a lack of courses offering UAV training there is a current shortage of professionals capable of performing missions with UAVs satisfactorily, something this project aims to mitigate by introducing UAV training as part of the university offering. This will be achieved by developing new teaching materials and activities involving UAVs.

Introduction to UAVs - Final Project Report


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Project Title: The pedagogic potential of Turnitin's originality reports
Project Leader(s): Nicholas Seager and Ben Anderson

This project explores the educational potential of Turnitin’s originality reports, as used by students, guided by educators. The project’s foci are: (1) the implications of shifting from a detection-based to a prevention-based approach to academic misconduct with the aid of software; (2) using the instant and ongoing formative feedback that originality reports can provide to develop students’ academic skills (referencing, writing, finding and using sources). To these ends, the investigators will measure Humanities’ students’ take-up of access to the originality reports, the nature of how they use them (and how they might), and staff and student perceptions of the reports.

The Pedagogic Potential - Final Project Report



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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Ways to produce bespoke video resources

Theme: Sharing experiences of using technology to enhance your practice

Author: Sarah Aynsley

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Medicine

Abstract: Video use in our student population has soared in popularity over the years and there have been benefits to using videos identified in regards to teaching and learning. However just capturing a lecture as a recording doesn't always fulfill the needs of the students or topic, instead I use three different approaches to produce short custom video animations to support learning including bespoke video animations, Snagit capture of images and lecture snippets and hand drawn responses to student questions captured as short video responses. This session will introduce you to these three different approaches how they work and what you could use them for.

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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Why diversity in tech matters: A personal journey of using technology

Theme: Creating an active learning environment

Author: Cat Hallam

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract: This session will explore the relationship between the use of digital technology and challenging unconscious bias. Using examples from Keele, personal experience and pedagogy, you will gain insight and strategies to reflect and review your current practices.

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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Applications of Google Apps in Chemistry at Keele

Theme:

Author: The Chemistry Team

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Chemical and Physical Sciences

Abstract: The intention of this lightning presentation is to highlight the breadth of applications of Google apps to support teaching and learning and the administration of teaching within Chemistry at Keele. Examples include: Google Docs for undergraduate group projects; Google Slides for Group Presentations; Google sheets for data pooling (e.g. laboratory practicals); Google forms for module evaluations; Google sheets for assessment timetables; Google sheets for marking teams; Google sheets for Peer Observation of Teaching; Google sheets for coordinating external examiner feedback on assessments and responses.


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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Moodle 'Database Activity', facilitating specific pedagogical needs in the virtual learning environment (VLE)

Theme: Sharing experiences of using technology to enhance your practice

Author: Phil Devine

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Lancaster University

Abstract: At times the institutional VLE, third party applications and related plugins can not, or do not, meet the pedagogical needs of lecturers. Reasons for this can be legion, for example, the institutional VLE may not have that native functionality available to meet that specific pedagogical outcome or, the wider institutional suite of existing applications and third party tools do not integrate with institutional processes, regulations, systems or financial budgets. Set within that context, my presentation will give an account of, the use of, the 'Moodle Database Activity'. The 'Moodle Database activity' is a semi-flexible 'in' VLE 'small' scale development environment that can combine, html templates, cascading style sheets (CSS), javascript and database field entry - connecting with Moodle Grade-Book.

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