Normative data for idiomatic expressions

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Lecture rapture: The place and case for lectures in the new normal

Following the pivot to online teaching as a result of COVID-19, a longstanding debate as to whether higher education should abandon traditional face-to-face lectures has reignited. In this paper, we set out our reflection on this issue based on the evidence available. We conclude that traditional on-campus lectures, and the recordings of those lectures have a place in higher education and the suggestion that they should be abandoned is as unhelpful as the suggestion that they should be the default mode of teaching. When lectures are deliberately chosen as the most appropriate method of teaching and when the same pedagogical care and attention is given as to other modes of delivery, they provide an effective, pragmatic solution, particularly for large classes

Lights, camera, active! Appreciation of active learning predicts positive attitudes towards lecture capture

Much has been written about instructor attitudes towards lecture capture, particularly concerning political issues such as opt-out policies and the use of recordings by management. Additionally, the pedagogical concerns of lecturers have been extensively described and focus on the belief that recording lectures will impact on attendance and will reduce interactivity and active learning activities in lectures. However, little work has looked at the relationship between attitudes towards lecture capture and broader conceptions of learning and teaching. In this pre-registered study, we administered the Conceptions of Learning and Teaching scale and a novel lecture capture attitude scale to 159 higher education teachers. We found that appreciation of active learning predicted more positive attitudes towards lecture recordings as an educational support tool, whilst higher teacher-centred scores predicted greater concern about the negative educational impact of recordings. The effects observed were small; however, they are strong evidence against the view that it is instructors who value participatory and active learning that are opposed to lecture capture. Exploratory analyses also suggested that those who did not view recordings as an essential educational resource record fewer of their lectures, highlighting the real-world impact that attitudes can have, and further strengthening the need for staff to be provided with evidence-based guidance upon which to base their teaching practice. Data, analysis code, and the pre-registration are available at https://osf.io/uzs3t/

Turn up, tune in, don’t drop out : the relationship between lecture attendance, use of lecture recordings, and achievement at different levels of study

Open Access via Springer CompactPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Lecture capture in higher education: time to learn from the learners

In this review we consider the evidence concerning the impact of student access to lecture recordings. Overwhelmingly, students perceive having access to recordings as enhancing their experience and providing a flexible resource to aid their studies, deal with competing demands, and reduce anxiety. Research to date has largely focused on a binary question concerned with attendance and not the rich pedagogic tapestry revealed by the student data. There is no systematic evidence to suggest that access to recordings alone significantly impacts attendance and the impact of access to recordings on performance is related to a range of individual student characteristics such as level of study, ability, and approaches to learning. We argue that situating research in broader conceptual frameworks of student learning will prove a more fruitful approach to opening potential avenues of future research based, for example, around concepts of deep processing and distributed practice. Finally, we provide an overview of current institutional lecture capture policies and present, as a ‘starter for 10’, recommendations for guidance to support students, staff, and policy writers

I can be a “normal” student: the role of lecture capture in supporting disabled and neurodivergent students’ participation in higher education

After the return to on-campus teaching post-Covid, reports of student disengagement and low attendance are common and anxieties over the relationship between lecture recordings and attendance have re-emerged, leading some educators to remove recordings. To understand the potential impact of such decisions, this study explored how neurodivergent and disabled students use recordings using a qualitative survey approach. Reflexive thematic analysis emphasised the need for learning flexibility and questioned traditional lectures. Neurodivergent and disabled students raised concerns over accessibility, highlighting the crucial nature of recordings beyond attendance. For example, features such as pausing or speed adjusted were described as vital for managing learning among disabled and neurodivergent participants. Our findings do not support an uncritical view of lecture recordings. Participants discussed the self-discipline required for effective use and responses reflected prior concerns discussed in the literature regarding recordings leading to focusing on lectures to the detriment of other sources of information. However, despite challenges, we found multiple examples of students using recordings to maintain engagement as a successful self-regulated learner. In line with Universal Design for Learning, our findings support the provision of lecture recordings as an inclusive and accessible technology for all students, not just those with declared disabilities. All data and analysis code is available at https://osf.io/ue628/

The cost of asking ‘say that again?’: a social capital theory view into how lecture recording supports widening participation

FUNDING This work was funded by Quality Assurance Agency Scotland as part of the Collaborative Cluster: Widening Participation with Lecture Recording: https://www.enhancementthemes.ac. uk/completed-enhancement-themes/evidence-for-enhancement/ student-engagement-and-demographics/widening-participation- with-lecture-recording. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We acknowledge the support of the Widening Participation teams at the University’s of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and the student participants in this project. We also acknowledge the support of the QAA Widening Participation with Lecture Recording Collaborate Cluster.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Maximising the educational and research value of the undergraduate dissertation in psychology

The undergraduate research dissertation in psychology is the capstone demonstration of research skills including project planning and design, considering and resolving ethical issues, and the analysis and dissemination of findings. The dissertation represents an opportunity for learning as well as an opportunity to contribute to the research literature in the student’s chosen area; however, few articles have considered both dimensions in detail. This article provides a roadmap for undergraduate thesis supervision, for early-career supervisors and supervisors aiming to better align their supervision and research activities and/or engage their students in open research practices via the dissertation. Specifically, we review prior literature on undergraduate psychology research supervision and identify several dimensions that vary in existing approaches. Drawing on our own supervision experiences, we describe four key recommendations for undergraduate supervision in psychology and discuss how these can support student learning as well as benefit research

Category is... Staff and student experiences of Rainbow Office Hours

In this paper we present staff and student experiences of "Rainbow Office Hours", a distinct, safe space for LGBTQ+ community engagement in higher education, challenging traditional professional identity boundaries and promoting visibility and representation. Originating at the University of Glasgow in 2019, students are invited to attend specific times labelled as Rainbow Office Hours with an LGBTQ+ member of staff to discuss anything LGBTQ+ related. This initiative has helped foster an inclusive campus climate, underscoring the need for broader institutional support for LGBTQ+ identities. We advocate for integrating queer perspectives across academic disciplines, emphasising the critical role of representation in educational environments and critiquing the prevailing heteronormative and cisnormative institutional cultures that discourage the integration of sexual and gender minority issues into academia. We cannot, and will not, leave who we are at the door when we arrive at work

Embedding data skills in research methods education: preparing students for reproducible research

Many initiatives to improve reproducibility incentivise replication and encourage greater transparency without directly addressing the underlying skills needed for transparent and reproducible data preparation and analysis. In this paper, we argue that training in data processing and transformation should be embedded in field-specific research methods curricula. Promoting reproducibility and open science requires not only teaching relevant values and practices, but also providing the skills needed for reproducible data analysis. Improving students’ data skills will also enhance their employability within and beyond the academic context. To demonstrate the necessity of these skills, we walk through the analysis of realistic data from a classic paradigm in experimental psychology that is often used in teaching: the Stroop Interference Task. When starting from realistic raw data, nearly 80% of the data analytic effort for this task involves skills not commonly taught— namely, importing, manipulating, and transforming tabular data. Data processing and transformation is a large and inescapable part of data analysis, and so education should strive to make the work associated with it as efficient, transparent, and reproducible as possible. We conclude by considering the challenges of embedding computational data skills training in undergraduate programmes and offer some solutions