In the post-pandemic context of higher education, the ways academics and staff experience connection through meetings, events, and conferences have undergone significant change. On December 12, 2022, the Department for Learning and Teaching Enhancement at Edinburgh Napier University hosted ‘Beyond the Obvious: Exploring Online, In-Person, and Hybrid Conferences’, an event designed to explore how insights from online teaching and learning might inform the design of academic gatherings. Participants reflected six key themes: language, technology, third-space professionals, belonging, costs, and learning from pedagogy, and were invited to form research collectives. This article reports on the collective that explored sense of belonging, comprising nine researchers from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Belonging was defined as the experience of being welcomed, accepted, and included within a community, characterized by opportunities to build relationships, feel valued, and participate meaningfully in shared purposes. Drawing on thematic analysis, five themes were highlighted: (1) Community: Visibly Defined and Organically Found or Sought, (2) Equity: Embedded and Integrated Inclusivity, (3) Lived Experience: Impacts of Identity, Perception, and Memory, (4) Power Relationships: Positions, Credentials, and Hierarchical Complexity, and (5) Intentional Design: Strategic Hospitality and Continuous Reflection. Findings highlight that conferences function as both relational and performative spaces that can either foster or inhibit belonging. While belonging is recognised as a fundamental human need, some participants did not seek it as a primary motivation for conference participation. The study called for an intentional, equity-driven conference design that accommodates diverse purposes and modes of engagement. Integrating belonging as a relational and structural practice can cultivate agency, authenticity, and inclusive community across the spectrum of academic participation.
Playful learning practices are recognised in higher education as they align with active learning pedagogies. They promote innovation and leadership that influence and inspire educators. An escape room is one such playful learning practice. Among educators, it is commonly identified as a game that is designed mostly by experts. However, this paper presents work by a learning designer with no prior knowledge of designing escape rooms, yet is an enthusiastic learner who wants to inspire the higher education community. The work reflects on the design journey acquired from novice to leader level. Three escape rooms were designed to reflect on the experience. Two of the escape rooms were digital, and the other was in physical space. The paper interprets the experiences and informal feedback from colleagues captured during the design and facilitation of these escape rooms. The reflections indicated that taking the initiative to design and facilitate escape rooms promoted playful learning pedagogy and leadership. Distributed and transformational leadership were visible throughout the journey. This work is situated within educational escape rooms, playful learning and leadership theories. The findings highlighted that the foundation of leadership in playful innovations is being transparent about experiences gained along the journey and encouraging other educators to start with smaller and simple steps. In this way, the community can be inspired to recognise that playful pedagogical innovations are not limited to experts and experienced educators. This inspiration brings the community together, opening avenues for collaboration and co-creation to promote them as leaders in the innovative learning design process. Even though the findings cannot be generalised across all contexts, the paper shares the experience of a novice designer of escape rooms in building community knowledge through pedagogical innovation and leadership.
Professional reliability, including planning, communication, logistical judgement, and accountability, remains important yet often weakly specified in higher music education. This topical discussion offers a design-analytic account of a production-based music module in which work-like conditions are structured through assessment rather than through formally embedded external stakeholders. Rather than reporting empirical outcomes, the paper examines how proposals, checkpoints, documentation, execution under real-time production constraints, and reflective accountability function as assessment signals. It argues that the educational value of preparatory simulation lies less in surface realism than in how curriculum and assessment make professional reliability visible and consequential beyond technical performance alone. The discussion outlines implications for academic practice, curriculum design, and employability development in contexts where externally embedded opportunities are limited or uneven.
This article explores the transformative potential and complexities of integrating disability-related lived experience into higher education pedagogy. It contextualizes the concept of lived experience within phenomenological and autoethnographic traditions, highlighting its value in challenging conventional academic norms. Drawing from narratives of academics and students, we illustrate how the inclusion of lived experience can enrich learning, promote inclusivity, and foster a deeper sense of belonging. We reveal the emotional labour, strategic disclosure, and institutional resistance often faced by disabled academics and students navigating ableist structures. Through first-person accounts, we uncover how vulnerability, when embraced, can disrupt rigid pedagogies and catalyse collective transformation. Our major contribution to higher education practice is a set of practical strategies for incorporating lived experience into teaching. We propose these strategies for academics and students to engage ethically and critically with lived experience, advocating for structural change that centres accessibility and embodied knowledge. We conclude with a call to action: to move beyond tokenistic inclusion and toward a systemic reimagining of education that values lived experience as a foundational epistemology. By reframing disability as a vital source of insight, we position lived experience not as supplementary, but as central to fostering an equitable, empathetic, and intellectually vibrant academic community.
As global mobility continues to increase, a growing number of students are choosing to study abroad, including a substantial population attending UK universities. International students often seek to enrich their lives through higher education; however, many face challenges such as adapting to unfamiliar teaching methods, navigating a new cultural environment, and developing a sense of belonging within host communities. Previous research studies have framed belonging as a student-led process; however this paper argues that international students’ sense of belonging can be shaped, influenced and facilitated through course management structures and academic practices. It investigates how course management processes (e.g. timetabling, course design, delivery, assessment, feedback etc) can both support and hinder inclusion for international students. The purpose of this paper is to propose course management practices that enhance international students’ sense of belonging. Focus groups were conducted with undergraduate and postgraduate business students from India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Vietnam and Chile at a university business school in the North of England, where three interconnected themes were identified: (1) social integration (2) academic practices and teaching (3) extracurricular activities and employment. The findings highlight the criticality of course management teams who play a frequently overlooked role in facilitating and supporting student integration, together with broadening institutional understanding of belonging to include pedagogical design. A range of practical and scalable approaches are therefore proposed for course leaders, these include structured pre-arrival onboarding, peer mentoring schemes to support cultural integration, development of student-led communities to encourage social and professional engagement and specific training for staff closely involved in supporting international students. This paper contributes to applied academic practice by recommending evidence informed strategies that enhance belonging through programme design and delivery.
This reflective analysis will explore the overlooked impact of hidden social communication barriers on learner involvement, academic identity, and inclusive teaching practice within higher education. Drawing from the author's personal history of growing up with these undiagnosed communication barriers, especially when it came to expressing emotions, forming peer connections, and the navigation of adolescent social environments. This paper will look to examine how these early struggles continue to impact learners when it comes to engagement and well-being in university settings. These issues are commonly related to primary or secondary education; such challenges persist into higher education, where students are anticipated to contribute actively in seminars, collaborate in group projects, and work with increasing academic independence, which can be quite challenging. For such learners with hidden communication barriers, these expectations can result in learners being excluded, leading to anxiety, especially within educational institutions that privilege verbal fluency and extroverted forms of participation. Relevant literature on social communication disorders, the SEND Code of Practice, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the reflection links lived experience with inclusive pedagogical strategies in higher education contexts. The author discusses how these insights have allowed them to inform their current practice as a senior educator and academic leader in the higher education institution while offering approaches such as trauma-informed teaching, diversified assessment methods, and learner-centred curriculum design, which can ensure that learners struggling with these are identified and given adequate support. By linking this personal narrative within evidence-informed frameworks, this article will contribute to ongoing discussions around the importance of inclusive teaching and learning in higher education, and it promotes greater awareness of the “invisible” barriers that can affect student participation, identity, and achievement.
Abstract This paper presents an early-stage, collaborative reflective analysis of experience in a doctoral-level course Foundations of Teaching, aimed at challenging participants' underlying conceptions of teaching and learning. The course design was grounded in the premise that for development of teacher identity and a meaningful change in teaching practice we need to address teachers’ understanding of what teaching is. Drawing on reflections from the course instructor and participating doctoral students who are co-authors of this paper, we apply thematic analysis to identify preliminary themes relating to which aspects of the course supported shifts in participants' conceptions of teaching and why these changes may have occurred. The paper contributes to discussions about how doctoral education can prepare future academics for teaching through transformative rather than purely skills-based approaches.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted established pedagogic routines and challenged assumptions about the purpose of face-to-face learning in higher education. As teaching moved online, notions of engagement, belonging, and attendance were re-examined. When universities reopened, students’ expectations of flexibility persisted, requiring educators to reconsider how classroom participation could remain meaningful. This reflective paper introduces the LAVIDA Teaching and Learning Framework (LAVIDA TLF), a structured yet adaptable model developed to support autonomy, belonging, and purposeful participation in post-pandemic teaching. The framework comprises five iterative stages - LAV (Literature, Audio, Visual), followed by the in-class stages; Introduce, Deepen, Apply, and Create & Capture. Drawing on Ryan and Deci’s (2000) self-determination theory (SDT), aligning with principles associated with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (CAST, 2018), and informed by Biesta’s (2013) conception of teaching as relational and intentional, LAVIDA positions educator expertise and learner autonomy in dynamic balance through deliberate shifts in pedagogic control across a structured learning cycle. Early reflections suggest that providing students with choice in preparation, structured dialogue, applied learning activities, and planned consolidation enhances engagement and belonging while maintaining academic rigour. The framework demonstrates how post-pandemic pedagogy can preserve flexibility and inclusion without diminishing the central role of teaching. Designed for adaptation across disciplines and wider educational or professional learning contexts, LAVIDA TLF offers a conceptual model and practical guide for educators seeking to sustain motivation and participation in face-to-face, blended, or online learning environments.
Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) is an established pedagogical scheme which facilitates group learning by using the experiences of higher year students to support the learning of lower year peers. It has been implemented on a global scale in tertiary education settings and is based on the pedagogical framework of Supplemental Instruction (SI-PASS; Martin & Arendale, 1992). This case study focuses on the implementation of PASS into the first year BSc Psychology Degree Programme at Queen’s University, Belfast. The main objective of this study was to evaluate first year psychology student perceptions of the PASS scheme across three domains of interpersonal skills, academic skills, and social adjustment. A mixed methods approach was taken which merged quantitative survey data measuring these three domains and qualitative data which captured the student voice of PASS students and PASS leaders. Results demonstrated participation in PASS enhanced students’ understanding of the subject matter, student confidence, and positively impacted class attendance and overall engagement. A thematic analysis of student survey comments produced themes of improved peer connection and social integration, skill development, and academic reassurance amongst first year students. The pedagogical significance of these results lends support to the enduring value of peer support in large first year student cohorts and provides a model of good practice and recommendations on how to enhance first year student experiences by embedding PASS into an undergraduate curriculum.
This paper reports on findings from a recent project entitled ‘Space + [time x practices] = engagement?’, conducted at Munster Technological University (MTU), a multi-campus Technological University spanning counties Cork and Kerry, Ireland. The overarching objectives of the project were to deepen understandings of and open paths to addressing a broadly perceived sector-wide reduction in lecture attendance and in time devoted to learning and study among contemporary learners. Here, we will outline salient findings from an all-student survey conducted during semester 2 of the 2024-25 academic year on learner perceptions of time in relation to study and related activities and offer some insights into the study/time beliefs of first-year students. We highlight an interesting trend in first-year learners’ perception of the ‘occupation’ of being a university learner. 79% of these ‘novice’ students agree that it is important to attend all lectures, yet also report limited engagement with study or university work outside of their timetabled lectures. This is suggestive of an emergent paradigm of being-a-student which confines itself to the ‘9-to-5’ and involves pragmatic decision-making and trade-offs between competing commitments. We point to some of the most prominent competing priorities outlined by students and raise critical questions about the setting of expectations in the transition from second- to third-level education.
Papers in this sub-section explore curriculum in the broadest sense: not only module or course content, but the designed learning journey, the hidden curriculum, assessment, induction, disciplinary belonging, skills development, professional identity and co-curricular practices that are aligned with learning. Support for those who teach first year students is an important element of this sub-theme. We are increasingly seeing approaches designed to support first year student success that align with Kift’s (2009) ‘Second Generation FYE Curriculum Principles’: transition, diversity, design, engagement, evaluation and monitoring. Some articles in this part two focus on one or two of these core principles. Important for this theme within the Special issue is also Butcher et al.s’ (2019) model of curriculum, which includes a range of education related opportunities and experiences. He argues for the addition of co- and extra-curricular, as well as the hidden curriculum. Articles here challenge the narrow view of curriculum as content alone, highlighting the significance of relational (between learners, and between learners/educators) aspects and developmental spaces (real and online) that engage learners and academics. Crucially many of the articles remind us too of those people who enable curriculum development and effectiveness beyond taught content, including: professional learning staff, student counsellors, technical staff and student mentors (though see part 1 for other articles about student mentors). Kift spoke about the importance of getting everyone around the table when designing first year programmes and McIntosh and Nutt (2022) argue for the importance of drawing on a range of roles and expertise to support student success. We have already explored (in part 1) the focus on students across some of the papers in this collection, which is where any consideration of supporting student success in a tertiary world should begin, and in this second part of the Special issue students continue to be central to processes, practices and decisions, but the articles here all provide insights into curricula focused activity.
This paper describes a three-year institutional journey to enhance equity, engagement, and belonging in first-year mathematics at Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE). The initiative emerged in response to growing diversity among incoming students, who arrive from a wide range of national and international educational systems with varying levels of mathematical preparation. Over time, differences in readiness had translated into persistent achievement gaps and lower confidence among specific student groups, particularly those from under-represented backgrounds. The project unfolded in three iterative phases. The first, Bridging the Gap (2023/24), introduced instructor-led learning modules, each including a self-paced online quiz, aimed at consolidating core mathematical skills. Data analysis showed that student engagement, measured by quiz attempts, strongly predicted achievement, yet participation was lowest among those most in need of support. The second phase, Closing Equity Gaps (2024/25), implemented a diagnostic assessment that enabled early identification of underprepared students and targeted support through structured workshops. This intervention reduced performance disparities and increased students’ self-efficacy. The current phase, No Student Left Behind (2025/26), expands the approach into a holistic model that integrates diagnostics, active learning, peer mentoring, and community-building to foster belonging and confidence. Across all phases, the findings demonstrate that equity in mathematics is best achieved through proactive, data-informed, and compassionate pedagogy. The project shows how early assessment, structured support, and relational engagement can transform mathematics from a barrier into a shared academic journey, ensuring that every student can succeed.
Addressing the challenges that Professional Service (PS) colleagues can face in attaining Advance HE recognition, this paper presents the initiatives undertaken at Manchester Metropolitan University to address this challenge. The paper outlines the framework and approach used to raise awareness and demystify the process of Advance HE recognition. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be shared indicating the success and impact of the initiative, offering food for thought in how institutions encourage and engage PS staff to attain recognition. Using service data from the last five academic years, and research data gathered from a two-year institution-wide project into experiences of gaining Fellowship, this paper will reflect upon a dramatic increase in the number of colleagues from PS gaining Advance HE recognition. Firstly, the paper will outline the steps we have taken to challenge hidden biases and assumptions that previously favored colleagues in academic roles. Secondly, the paper will detail a cohort approach to supporting whole areas of PS in these goals, creating temporary communities of practice working towards recognition. Finally, the paper will document the headline figures around the growth of our PS colleagues gaining AdvanceHE Recognition. Across the past four academic years, approximately 37% of all awarded Fellowships (across all categories) have been to colleagues in PS roles. Data also reveals an evolution across the past four years where PS colleagues seeking Advance HE recognition have shifted from predominantly applying for Associate Fellowship to a more even spread across all categories of Fellowship in 2024/25. By sharing the approaches taken and research into the experience of PS colleagues, it is hoped that colleagues in PS roles and colleagues with responsibilities for supporting PS colleagues to achieve recognition of their teaching and learning practice can take some of the lessons learnt and apply them to their own work.
This paper presents part of a pilot project at a faculty of engineering technology in Belgium, aimed at embedding inclusive design principles within the curriculum. This is in response to persistent challenges in attracting and retaining underrepresented groups, including female students and students with migration backgrounds. Efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in higher education often focus on supporting minoritised groups through targeted interventions. While valuable, such approaches risk overlooking structural and cultural dimensions of exclusion. This project focused on cultivating inclusive students among students through targeted curricular interventions. Three case studies were developed to explore inclusion across course types, engineering fields, and stages of the bachelor’s programme. These interventions addressed (1) diversity in the engineering profession, helping students imagine diverse future selves; (2) diversity in teamwork, encouraging inclusive collaboration; and (3) cultivating reflection on the students' own biases and positionalities. Findings suggest that even small-scale, discipline-anchored interventions can foster awareness, collaboration, and critical reflection on diversity. The paper concludes with lessons learned for educators and institutions seeking to structurally embed inclusion in engineering education, and outlines future directions for sustaining inclusive practices across curricula. We underscore that inclusive education requires more than goodwill. It needs structures, tools, and visible practices aligned with core educational goals.
This 'On the Horizon' article presents a reflective case study on the implementation of a reimagined undergraduate tourism curriculum. Grounded in Freirean principles and compassionate pedagogy, the innovative design of the first year moves beyond traditional modular learning and graded assessments. Our students undertake an ungraded and holistically assessed year-long learning journey that is team-taught and project-based. This article documents the pragmatism and compromise required to bring this pedagogical disruption into being, focusing on those moments of realism and concession required during both its introduction and first delivery. I reflect on how my team and I navigated three separate, but interlinked areas of resistance: institutional rigidity, initial perceptions amongst the teaching team around the loss of professional identity traditionally related to module leadership, and the pedagogical work of guiding students through the unlearning of their entrenched relationship with assessment. Initial findings, drawn from personal reflections noted after ongoing staff action research meetings and curated from student reflective portfolios, reveal that while this process caused initial anxiety amongst different groups, it ultimately fostered some deeper critical consciousness and a shift in motivation from grades to intentional learning amongst numerous, but not all students. The paper concludes by distilling key lessons from this messy middle of pedagogical innovation to support other curriculum designers considering a radical reimagination of their course.
First-year students often face considerable challenges adjusting to university life and integrating into the academic community. Facilitating peer interaction and collaborative learning can ease this transition by enhancing academic outcomes, and fostering a sense of belonging and connectedness with peers and the broader university community. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of these connections, as campus restrictions and social distancing severely impacted belonging and academic motivation. Physical learning spaces, and specifically their lay-out, can play an important role in enabling interactions among students and between students and educators. In response to the limitations of the traditional classroom configuration, educational developers of the Faculty of Science at KU Leuven (Belgium) launched a bottom-up initiative to convert several flat-floor seminar rooms on the science campus to official collaborative learning spaces with group islands, without additional costs or loss of seats. In this paper, we briefly outline the rationale for the initiative, reflect on the implementation process, and consider its implications regarding formal and informal interactions and sense of belonging. Preliminary survey results suggest that the redesigned spaces encouraged peer and teacher interactions, which support students’ sense of belonging. Given the role that learning space design can play in fostering interaction and belonging in first year-students, this initiative offers reflections for universities to consider (simple) spatial interventions and the physical learning environment as part of a broader education policy aimed at supporting student transition.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) seeks to develop competencies such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking and self-awareness to prepare learners to address global challenges, which requires effective teamwork. However, group work in higher education often faces persistent challenges, including unequal participation and communication barriers. This study investigates a scaffolded group assessment implemented in an undergraduate Environmental Economics course, designed to foster collaborative learning among students from diverse backgrounds through setting structured milestones and authentic tasks (a podcast and a policy brief), as a pathway for developing key ESD competencies. We designed a two-stage assessment which was scaffolded and accounted for more than two-thirds of the overall course grade. The design aims to encourage sustained group interaction and promotes the perception that individual success depends on group achievements and teamwork. To evaluate the assessment’s effectiveness, we analysed responses from a reflective survey focusing on students’ learning, group dynamics, conflict resolution and the benefits of collaborative work. Thematic analysis revealed that the scaffolded design strengthened group cohesion, supported the development of core ESD competencies and enriched students’ learning experiences.
Our Sustainable Chemistry module was established in 2013 and has evolved significantly, adapting to the changing perceptions of what sustainability means to and requires of education, and the shifting educational paradigms that have characterized teaching in Higher Education in the UK including transnational degrees, distance learning, decolonize the curriculum and co-creation, the rise of active learning approaches, the surging skills agenda, and generative AI. In this vignette we reflect on our approach to seeing change as an opportunity to enhance our students’ transition into higher education while maintaining core values that focus on student success. We will also briefly share our insights into where next for a module like this and consider the new challenges before us.
The questionnaire developed by the Life Coaching Center of the University of Szeged aims to reveal the reasons behind the intention to interrupt university studies. The test is anonymous, voluntary and diagnostic. Based on the answers, the system provides feedback on the most decisive risk factors and recommends personalized services to students - whether they are in active or passive status. In addition to presenting the operation of the tool, the article analyzes the responses of first-year students of the last two years (2024-2025), shedding light on the patterns of dropout and the possibilities of preventive interventions. The questionnaire for students of the University of Szeged aims to identify the psychological and situational factors underlying the intention to interrupt their studies. The 80-item, self-report scale uses a Likert-type response format and measures the psychological burden, academic satisfaction, social support, and level of commitment of students along several thematic areas. Based on the results, thematic feedback and institutional support recommendations are generated. The test is not diagnostic, and completion is anonymous and voluntary. The answers to the “Should I go or stay?” questionnaire are evaluated by the system along nine thematic scales, which map the psychosocial and academic background of student dropout (e.g. motivation, academic performance, self-esteem, relationship support, stress management, information, etc.). The scores achieved in each area are supplemented with feedback texts, which are not diagnostic, but serve an orientation and prevention purpose. Low scores are supplemented by recommendations for specific university services, with personalized information. The results are interpreted based on a 70% threshold.
This On the Horizon paper presents the vision and development of the “MTU Ethical Learning with GenAI” project, a cross-institutional initiative that aims to address the ethical challenges and opportunities posed by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in higher education. Grounded in the principles of academic integrity and critical Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy, the project builds on prior Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement (SATLE) work at Munster Technological University and leverages evidence from a multi -disciplinary student survey, staff focus groups, and national academic policy networks. This project introduces a multi-tiered strategy: updating Courageous Conversations guidelines, embedding GenAI and integrity-focused induction for first-year students, and evaluating GenAI’s role for first year students in tutoring within the Academic Learning Centre (ALC).
