Teaching and learning

New report seeks to engage with criticisms of distance learning and suggests ways they can be overcome

UK students only marginally happier with the overall quality of their course than they were a year ago

First-of-its-kind commitment promises return to 2019 levels of first- and upper-second-class degrees

‘Micromajors’ grow in popularity as number of university leavers hits 10 million annually

A new scheme will see West African and Australian universities co-create courses that can be replicated across the region, says Joanna Newman

The number of assignments per term has been going up and up; is continuous assessment now harming, rather than helping, students’ learning?

Ad-hoc modules that bear little relation to a student’s degree are too easily forgotten – especially if they aren’t road-tested, says Boris Walbaum

Survey finds UK undergraduates appear a lot less supportive of free speech than they were six years ago

Peking and Tsinghua join drive to smooth journey from undergraduate to postgraduate studies

One-word responses such as ‘excellent’ and ‘perfect’ been given to those taking assessments

Academics urged to be more present while teaching to foster better learning environments

The myths underlying politicians’ insistence on a blanket return to face-to-face teaching must be busted carefully, says Alistair Jarvis

Rather than repeating other institutions’ mistakes, universities should embrace established ‘modalities’ for collaborative online international learning – and appreciate it as more than a Covid stopgap

A reliance on critical thinking alone will fall foul of students’ cognitive biases, says James Southworth

Global survey conducted by THE finds far fewer students turning up and engaging in lectures and seminars

Lifelong Learning Commission says proposals to exclude microcredentials from loan entitlement are a mistake

Helping students is not just about securing more counsellors and money for mental health support, according to bereaved family

By helping colleges deliver degrees, the OU will be fulfilling its founding mission, say Nadhim Zahawi, Tim Blackman and David Hughes

Disabled, disadvantaged, introverted and international students may all appreciate ongoing online options, says Robert Phillips

Eye-popping results from Australian study warrant complete overhaul of how teaching subsidies are distributed, researchers say

Free online courses have much to offer professors, including feedback on their own performance

Language is a powerful tool for breaking down resistance and normalising unhealthy cultural change, says Bruce Macfarlane

Mahidol University is focusing on nurturing academic talent and introducing more flexible education in a bid to attract a wider pool of students, says its president Banchong Mahaisavariya

THE questionnaire explores whether half-empty classrooms are the new normal, and what students and academics really think of in-person and online teaching

Universities seek to win over staff with bonuses and consider subcontracting assessment

Without practical teaching at their heart, many departments of music technology, drama and dance could face closure, says Ian Pace

Ditching digital provision will waste pandemic progress and make life harder for students who are disabled or carers, says Meredith Wilkinson

Jeff Grabill says lifelong learning will bring thousands more students to higher education, and universities must be honest about what they can expect

Interactions with his student neighbours have convinced Harvey Graff that they crave a supportive, broadly based, interactive education

Six in 10 firsts awarded in England last year would get lower classification under historic marking standards, claims Office for Students

Virtual tools have unprecedented power to bend teaching towards research-proven ideals, yet opportunity of lockdown getting squandered, MIT experts tell colleagues

Funding reforms set to drive up demand, but institutions uncertain about likely intake and course interest

Universities must ‘recalibrate promotion criteria’ to place more value on teaching, says scholar

Universities seen as lacking capacity and strategy to embrace blended learning long-term

Academics at 44 institutions to refuse to mark work or set exams in midst of busy summer assessment period, in ongoing row over pay and pensions

The King’s College London president says universities are ‘not in any way toxic places’

Higher education is key to reassessing who we are as a nation and why we’re tolerating such extreme division and deception, says Vincent Rougeau

Well-meaning initiatives that prioritise student satisfaction over educational objectives deny students access to the type of rich learning experience that universities were designed for, argue Rebekah Wanic and Nina Powell 

Some institutions embracing in-person assessment again after lifting of Covid-19 regulations

The University of Leeds vice-chancellor discusses why UK higher education should go Dutch and the national scandal that drew her to academia

Singaporean students are focused on grades, but their skills and attitudes are just as important for their success, says Thanusha Raj

While staff hostility towards philanthropically backed humanities courses has not abated, entry and satisfaction scores suggest students take a different view

After years of resisting university managers determined to graduate students at all costs, one US professor decided it was time to quit

Universities urged to work alongside edtech companies and other online players to improve offering to students

Academics experiment with allowing undergraduates to text each other during assessments, and get positive response

Hundreds of academics refuse to take part in system as part of ongoing industrial action, prompting institutions to draw up contingency plans

Unreliable internet connections and underdeveloped pedagogies will blunt the potential impact of online options, says Mukhtar Ahmad 

After fighting off attempt to expel them, academics resign from learned academy over ‘untoward political focus’

Long-standing issues put into sharp focus as expert predicts half of students pursuing medicine abroad fail to become doctors

Global horrors reverberate in far-off campuses, widening the gap between students and their prosperous surrounds

Universities will be told what approaches to online education fail to meet Office for Students' requirements as government pushes for return to face-to-face education

Teaching students to hack is necessary to show them how to defend against it – but we need to do more to instil ethics, says Andy Farnell  

Data useful ‘if considered in context’, Australian university says, but union insists its publication is ‘dangerous’

Australian study probes the difficulties facing latter-year students – and the ‘balancing act’ required of their lecturers

New guidelines for undergraduates to properly treat their study subjects fuels debate over net gain for science

Industrial relations umpire overturns finding that information implicitly identifies individual staff

Obsessed with graduate employment, US universities are doing little to improve students’ ability to think independently, a major new study has concluded. Paul Basken speaks to the Harvard academics behind the decade-long investigation and hears how student learning can be repaired

All academics have had that anxiety dream about standing up to give a lecture, only to realise they have forgotten to prepare anything – or to put on any clothes. But real teaching failures are rarely so disastrous – and many are teachable moments. Seven academics tell us their hard-earned lessons

Back-to-campus plans postponed as classes make way for crisis centres

No group should have exclusive ‘authority to speak’, New Zealand forum hears