Good practice and the UK LLB degree or:how I learned to stop worrying and love the 21st century

Law schools have - unlike for example the arts or humanities - been resistant to change when it comes to progressive student pedagogies, preferring to hold on to traditional models of teaching and learning. This paper looks at what is considered to be good practice in the current higher education landscape broadly, and then develops what it considers to be good practice for law schools specifically. This law-specific definition of good practice encompasses both active as well as reflective learning that can be facilitated by means of a blended classroom. Whilst traditional pedagogies remain prevalent in law schools generally, this paper questions whether a teaching-intensive modern UK higher education institution like Abertay University is able to break the mould. To this end the paper explores to what extent this definition of good practice is reflected within Abertay University’s law school using as a case study the Public Law module of 2017/2018. It concludes by finding that, contrary to popular belief, there is much that ancient institutions can learn from modern establishments when it comes to the student experience

Innovation and Optimization of the Blended Teaching Paradigm of the Open University: Based on the Perspective of Experiential Learning Theory

The scientific and advanced nature of the teaching paradigm of the Open University not only directly represents the overall appearance and actual level of teaching, but also essentially determines the quality of talent training in the university. Innovating and optimizing the blended teaching paradigm is an important way to improve the quality of university teaching, and it is an inevitable way for the Open University to complete the mission of high-quality development of lifelong education. This paper starts with the current situation and problems of the blended teaching paradigm of the Open University, and re-examines, innovates and optimizes the original blended teaching paradigm. With the goal of effectively improving the teaching quality of the Open University, and guided by the latest progress in teaching theory, it analyzes the basic logic and practical paths of the construction of the Open University’s blended teaching paradigm based on experiential learning theory

Graduate attributes and the knowledge society:developments in Scottish higher education

Higher education is in a state of transformation across the world. The 2009 synthesis report from the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI) entitled ‘Higher Education at a time of Transformation: New Dynamics for Social Responsibility’ draws attention to the many challenges that confront the sector that stem from those of wider society. It argues that we must move beyond the ‘ivory tower’ or market‐oriented university’ towards one that innovatively adds value to the process of social transformation. However, there are emerging tensions that bear upon this question and coalesce around such issues as reactive versus proactive approaches with respect to knowledge paradigms; a focus on the knowledge economy versus the knowledge society; and knowledge relevance versus competitively driven knowledge. One approach to higher education that attempts to grapple in with these issues is 'The Graduates in the 21st Century Enhancement Theme' within the Scottish higher education system. This goes some way to recognising that graduate attributes rest, not simply on the ability to aster knowledge content, but perhaps more importantly on the personal qualities that graduates acquire during the course of their learning. These qualities are now regarded as key aspects of being able to contribute to the evolving globalised knowledge society and economy. This paper offers a sympathetic and yet critical appraisal of this approach as it attempts to inculcate and develop in students a range of abilities to deal with complexity, uncertainty and multi or transdisciplinarity. The demands made upon such attributes are ones that are not only concerned with employability but also an increasing concern with global issues and the development of civic awareness and responsibility. It is argued that these pressures, in effect, lead to a concern with how graduates develop their sense of identity as something that is engineered and re‐engineered to meet these demands

Relationship Between Assessment for Learning and English Learning Motivation of University Students in Blended Learning Environment

The study was sponsored by Hubei Provincial Department of Education’s Important Humanity and Social Sciences Research Project (Project ID: 16D068); Hubei Provincial Department of Education’s Research Project on Teaching Reform in Colleges and Universities (Project ID: 2016490); Hubei Provincial Education Science Twelfth Five-year Plan Project (Project ID: 2014B113); Educational Ministry of Hubei Province (Project ID: 19Q307); College of foreign studies, Hubei Normal University (ID: 1705). Abstract Recently, assessment for learning (AFL) has gained increasing popularity by researchers worldwide. It is generally accepted that AFL enables students to optimize their learning process and improve their learning proficiency through various informal assessment. This study aims at investigating the relationship between AFL and English learning motivation at university level as well as students’ perceptions of this kind of assessment in a blended learning course. Blended learning combines the advantages of traditional face-to-face classroom teaching with online learning in order to provide a better learning environment. Both quantitative and qualitative method were used in the study. The quantitative data comes from two questionnaires: Assessment for Learning Questionnaire for Students which consist of Monitoring and Scaffolding part was used to investigate students’ perceptions of assessment for learning and the Motivation Subscale of Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire was selected as the instrument to measure students’ motivation, which was furthered divided into value component, expectancy component and affective component. 115 university students from Hubei Province of China completed the two questionnaires. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS 22.0. Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with the selected 6 students. The results of correlation analysis show that intrinsic goal orientation and task value of value component is positively correlated with AFL. Expectancy component is positively correlated with AFL. There is no significant correlation between extrinsic goal orientation and AFL. AFL is not significantly associated with test anxiety. Both monitoring and scaffolding factors contribute to the increase of students’ motivation. Results of the interviews indicate that students with high language proficiency are more willing to accept AFL. It is suggested that AFL should be advocated and applied in teaching language course in China. Future studies are needed to investigate the influence of AFL on students’ learning outcome in an all-around way. Keywords: Assessment for learning; English learning motivation; University students; Blended Learning DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-5-09 Publication date: February 29th 202

Exploration and Practice on Blended-Teaching Golden Course Featured “Dual Link, Triple Advancement, Quadruple Coordination”

Against the background of educational informationization, and based on the requirements for Golden Course, which should be advanced, innovative and challenging, this thesis takes the course “Teaching of Toy Making” for example to explore the major problems in teaching, and conduct an innovative and practical teaching reform of the course, in the hope to promote and expand our teaching work, optimize students’ learning styles, and improve our teaching quality. Specifically, the “dual link” refers to the link between online classroom and offline classroom; the “triple advancement”, which refers to the advancement of teaching contents, objectives, and forms, highlights the advanced quality of Golden Course; the “quadruple coordination”, which includes coordination of teaching contents, forms, difficulty and assessment, promotes students to realize a better, organic integration of their knowledge, competence and quality, and help to cultivate students’ comprehensive ability to deal with complicated problems as well as their advanced thinking

Trialing project-based learning in a new EAP ESP course: A collaborative reflective practice of three college English teachers

Currently in many Chinese universities, the traditional College English course is facing the risk of being ‘marginalized’, replaced or even removed, and many hours previously allocated to the course are now being taken by EAP or ESP. At X University in northern China, a curriculum reform as such is taking place, as a result of which a new course has been created called ‘xue ke’ English. Despite the fact that ‘xue ke’ means subject literally, the course designer has made it clear that subject content is not the target, nor is the course the same as EAP or ESP. This curriculum initiative, while possibly having been justified with a rationale of some kind (e.g. to meet with changing social and/or academic needs of students and/or institutions), this is posing a great challenge for, as well as considerable pressure on, a number of College English teachers who have taught this single course for almost their entire teaching career. In such a context, three teachers formed a peer support group in Semester One this year, to work collaboratively co-tackling the challenge, and they chose Project-Based Learning (PBL) for the new course. This presentation will report on the implementation of this project, including the overall designing, operational procedure, and the teachers’ reflections. Based on discussion, pre-agreement was reached on the purpose and manner of collaboration as offering peer support for more effective teaching and learning and fulfilling and pleasant professional development. A WeChat group was set up as the chief platform for messaging, idea-sharing, and resource-exchanging. Physical meetings were supplementary, with sound agenda but flexible time, and venues. Mosoteach cloud class (lan mo yun ban ke) was established as a tool for virtual learning, employed both in and after class. Discussions were held at the beginning of the semester which determined only brief outlines for PBL implementation and allowed space for everyone to autonomously explore in their own way. Constant further discussions followed, which generated a great deal of opportunities for peer learning and lesson plan modifications. A reflective journal, in a greater or lesser detailed manner, was also kept by each teacher to record the journey of the collaboration. At the end of the semester, it was commonly recognized that, although challenges existed, the collaboration was overall a success and they were all willing to continue with it and endeavor to refine it to be a more professional and productive approach

Exploring the future of mathematics teaching: Insight with ChatGPT

This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the future of mathematics teaching from the perspective of ChatGPT, an advanced language processing artificial intelligence (AI) developed by OpenAI. The results of the chat transcripts edited with ChatGPT suggest that the future of mathematics teaching will see the integration of technology and AI to provide personalized learning experiences, blended learning environments, and computational thinking, data literacy, and statistics. Problem-solving, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary connections will continue to be emphasized, and equity and inclusion will remain crucial. AI is expected to revolutionize mathematics education, but thoughtful implementation, ongoing professional development, and pedagogical considerations are essential. However, the future of teaching mathematics will continue to evolve. Therefore, teachers and lecturers need to keep abreast of the latest developments and adapt to them while remaining committed to providing quality teaching.Studi ini bertujuan untuk memberikan gambaran komprehensif tentang masa depan pengajaran matematika dari perspektif ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence (AI) pemrosesan bahasa tingkat lanjut yang dikembangkan oleh OpenAI. Hasil transkrip obrolan yang diedit dengan ChatGPT menunjukkan bahwa masa depan pengajaran matematika akan melihat integrasi teknologi dan AI untuk memberikan pengalaman belajar yang dipersonalisasi, lingkungan pembelajaran campuran, dan pemikiran komputasi, literasi data, dan statistik. Pemecahan masalah, pemikiran kritis, dan koneksi interdisipliner akan terus ditekankan, dan kesetaraan dan inklusi akan tetap penting. AI diharapkan merevolusi pendidikan matematika, tetapi implementasi yang bijaksana, pengembangan profesional berkelanjutan, dan pertimbangan pedagogis sangat penting. Namun, masa depan pengajaran matematika akan terus berkembang. Oleh karena itu, guru dan dosen perlu mengikuti perkembangan terkini dan beradaptasi dengannya sambil tetap berkomitmen untuk memberikan pengajaran yang berkualitas