John Hedley, Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering, explains how his module’s NUMBAS exam assesses students’ effort during the module, by giving them the opportunity to see, practise and ask for advice on all exam questions prior to taking the exam, and in the process developing a deep understanding of the module’s learning outcomes.
Dr John Hedley, Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering, designed a marking criteria for a team of markers on a large population engineering module, enabling fast and consistent marking, alongside effective descriptive student feedback that is automatically generated.
In this case study Dr Vicky Fawcett, Research Associate in Astrophysics, describes how Newcastle, Durham and Northumbria Universities collaborated to design a hugely successful astronomy exhibition at the Great North Museum, with the aim of getting more children from low socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as their families and the wider local community, interested in STEM subjects.
Dr Stephanie Holton, Senior Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, explains how students used AI generative tools to create visual representations of self-chosen textual sources, and how the software enabled students who struggle with confidence in their drawing skills to produce striking visual images, by allowing them to focus on the content of the text rather than on artistic ability.
Dr Angela Mazzetti from NUBS explains her partnership work with Liv Jonassen of the Academic Skills Team from the Library to produce engaging and informative assessment support videos on the subject of designing infographics for BUS2040, resulting in an improvement in student achievement, and increased confidence when engaging with the assessment.
Jytte Seested Nielsen (Reader in Economics) from Newcastle University Business School developed decision-making experiments for her students to participate in, promote engagement in the module and encourage active learning to consolidate their understanding and prepare them for assessment.
Lee Fawcett, Senior Lecturer in Maths, Stats and Physics, discusses how he collaborated with the University of Florida to develop a short virtual exchange course around the use/misuse of data – enabling students to collaborate with overseas students, while also addressing inequalities relating to physical mobility opportunities and embedding intercultural awareness into the undergraduate curriculum.
Dr Helen Mason and Gabrielle Vallons explain how the Peer Mentor Induction Period Challenge on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is incorporated into first year teaching and delivered to students studying Nutrition and Dietetics, creating opportunities for students to submit group proposals for creative and innovative solutions to campus related issues with the potential to have lasting impact across the student body, alongside enhancing Peer Mentors’ personal and professional development.
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).