Alina Schartner, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics collaborated with Nathan Rousseau, from Indiana University-Purdue University, Columbus (IUPUC) on a 4-week curriculum-embedded virtual exchange activity entitled ‘critical intercultural incidents’, involving MA Cross-Cultural Communication students at Newcastle University and undergraduate sociology students at (IUPUC).
Dr Adam Rathbone, Lecturer in Social and Clinical Pharmacy at the School of Pharmacy collaborated with Dr Meganne Masko, Associate Professor of Music Therapy, to adapt the intergroup dialogue method of developing cultural competence to a virtual exchange between Pharmacy students in Newcastle and Music Therapy students from Indiana University – Purdue University, Indiana (IUPUI).
Dr Lucy Hatt, Senior Lecturer in Leadership, discusses how the Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) at Newcastle University Business School uses the structured process of a Design Sprint to enable learners to develop entrepreneurial thinking and utilise design thinking techniques that can be applied to the workplace in real time.
As part of a doctoral research study, Dr Lucy Hatt, a Senior Lecturer in NUBS, conducted concept mapping workshops across all years of an undergraduate entrepreneurship programme. This case study explains how the workshops enabled the evaluation of students’ understanding of entrepreneurship and discusses the benefits of concept mapping as a tool to help students and educators visualise the development of conceptual understanding.
Dr Xin Li, Senior Lecturer in International Management and Degree Program Director for MSc International Business Management describes how he used in-class debate with the 2022/23 cohort of full time MBA students, using group work to develop presentations and debate to encourage communication, self-reflection and learning by giving students the opportunity to listen to and engage with different opinions.
Dr Stacy Gillis and Dr Chiara Pellegrini present the findings of their NUTELA Funded project researching the technologies used by supervisors to provide feedback and advice to postgraduate students, highlighting the the most and least popular methods of feedback and making recommendations for best practice to improve the student experience of feedback.
Dr Sarah Ganassin oversaw a highly successful Virtual Summer School, bringing together students and staff from Newcastle University and the University of Nicosia in Cyprus to explore a wide range of issues, including decolonising theoretical perspectives, intercultural communication and collaboration, with the aim of equipping doctoral students with the research skills needed to progress their academic career.
Dr Catherine Douglas (staff: she/her) and Manjot Brar (student intern: she/her) from the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, discuss the development of an innovative ice-breaking board game to enable students to discuss effective strategies for addressing common group working issues, and learn about the value of feedback. Students were integral to the design of the game which was funded to address requests for support in preparing for groupwork. This extremely successful pilot initiative will continue to be used and can be loaned out to anyone interested in reviewing the game and trialing with their students.
Rosalind Beaumont, Senior Lecturer in School X discusses how Newcastle PGR students had the opportunity to come together via a cross-faculty series of events during COP26 in November 2021, to explore and discuss their research through the lens of sustainable development. This allowed students to develop a wide range of skills, collaborate across disciplines and reflect on their experiences and learning.