Blog Archives

Rapid student feedback: A simple method for real-time course improvement

Dr. Gillian Sandstrom is an Associate Professor in the Psychology of Kindness in the School of Psychology. Gillian worked in industry for 10 years as a computer programmer before discovering positive psychology. This led to pursuing a Masters in Psychology

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Episode 4: Scholarship for science teaching

The Learning Matters Podcast captures insights into, experiences of, and conversations around education at the University of Sussex. The podcast is hosted by Prof Wendy Garnham and Dr Heather Taylor. It runs monthly, and each month is centred around a particular theme. The

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Insights from the Sussex Education Festival, 2024

In July this year, 90 colleagues from across the University came together to share their experiences and insights into teaching, learning and assessment at Sussex. Over two days, both online and in person, the Education Festival covered a whole range

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Clarifying assessment expectations for inclusivity

Different countries have different ways of doing assessments and it makes a lot of difference to have the academic expectations outlined by the convenors at the beginning of the course or module, so that students can approach their studies accordingly.

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Pedagogical perspectives on high stakes final examinations

Sam Hemsley, Academic Developer, discusses the pedagogical perspectives on high stakes final examinations: Generative AI has, understandably, led to calls from many academics for a return from online to in-person exams. My role, along with my colleagues in the Educational

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AI and Academic Integrity: Implementing University Guidelines in Assignments

Dr Rona Hart is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Positive Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex and is the Course Leader for The Psychology of Kindness and Wellbeing at Work. What I Did In January

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Oral assessment as an AI-proof assessment tool

Dr Louise Newnham, a teaching focussed Senior Lecturer in Genome Stability in the School of Life Sciences, shares insights from her experience of using, since 2018/19, an oral exam (viva) as part of the assessment for a 30 credit masters

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Insights from the Annual Course Reviews

The University of Sussex’s Annual Course Review (ACR) process provides an opportunity for review, reflection and evaluation of the delivery of our teaching and is a key part of the University’s quality assurance and enhancement framework. However, the ACR isn’t

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Measuring educational gain through Assurance of Learning (AoL)

Farai is Associate Dean (Education & Students) in the University of Sussex Business School and Professor in the Department of Economics. She has several years’ higher education teaching experience in statistics, development economics and other applied economics topics. She has

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Assessment in a world of Generative AI: What might we lose?

Introduction For the most part, assessment in higher education is viewed in the negative as opposed to the positive. It is something to be endured, worked through, marked and managed. Assessment causes significant anxiety and stress for students and staff

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About this blog

Learning Matters provides a space for multiple and diverse forms of writing about teaching and learning at Sussex. We welcome contributions from staff as well as external collaborators. All submissions are assigned to a reviewer who will get in touch to discuss next steps. Find out more on our About page.