Mentimeter: Empowering presenters and students in online teaching

We have recently seen the number of users of Mentimeter breach the 1,000 mark. That the numbers of colleagues (and students) creating presentations is still increasing is testament, we believe, to the flexibility of Mentimeter as a tool to support engagement and indeed empowerment even where teaching has been increasingly… Continue reading

The time has come to make your breakout: opportunities and pitfalls when using breakouts in live online sessions

“When explanations make no senseWhen every answer’s wrongYou’re fighting with lost confidenceAll expectations goneThe time has come to make or breakMove on, don’t hesitateBreakout” (Swing out Sister, 1986) The lyricists behind ‘Breakout’ were prescient, as a ‘need’ for breakout spaces within platforms used for online teaching can sometimes be seen… Continue reading

Avoiding being the sage on the screen – Facilitating online sessions

In 1993 Alison King suggested we move our teaching away from ‘sage on the stage’ to a role of ‘guide on the side’ but what does this mean in the blended learning context? In my role, I am focused on supporting colleagues in preparing their teaching for 2020/21 and many… Continue reading

Mentimeter: our student response system, available to all students and staff

Mentimeter is a university-wide tool that enables electronic voting, contributions, discussion prompts and questioning in and outside of taught sessions.  To sign in or sign up, go to: http://mentimeter.com/join/greenwich “It radically improves the connection between lecturer and audience, and makes the process of teaching feel more collaborative.”Dr Oliver Robinson, Programme Leader, BSc… Continue reading

Open Lecture on Learning Gain

Our initial Open Lecture for the 2017-18 academic year was on Learning Gain and was delivered by Prof Simon Lancaster from East Anglia University, who reflected on his personal experiences based on feedback from his own students but also from his participation to an institutional project on learning gain. Learning gain is often used to measure the learning… Continue reading

Tailoring GOLD Guidance for Research Supervisors in Mathematical Sciences

As teaching excellence become part of the HE vocabulary and with university KPIs concerning teaching qualifications becoming a growing concern for all departments,  more colleagues are applying for fellowship via the Greenwich Opportunities in Learning Development framework (commonly referred to as the GOLD scheme) than ever before. The GOLD (Greenwich… Continue reading

Going for GOLD!

What is GOLD? The GOLD (Greenwich Opportunities in Learning and Development) Professional Development Framework provides a flexible route to professional recognition for all staff, whose role involves teaching or actively supporting learning. It is accredited by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and Fellowship is recognised by the Higher Education Statistics… Continue reading

APT2015: Recordings of the presentations

At this year’s APT conference we made recordings of as many of the presentations as possible; these are now available on the EDU Vimeo site, at https://vimeo.com/channels/apt2015 They can also be seen on the conference site, embedded within each presentation page. Thanks to the presenters for agreeing to share their… Continue reading