University course design and delivery

How to design in-person, hybrid and online courses that maximise student engagement, inclusion and learning. Here, you can find advice on instructional design including lesson planning, creation and organisation of educational materials and effective use of digital technologies; as well as teaching methods and styles to help you achieve specific learning outcomes.

Who provides academic skills support at your institution? The answer may be more complex than you think

Academic skills support can end up spread between teams and departments. Here’s a guide to who’s providing what and how to coordinate

Steve Briggs

University of Bedfordshire

Young woman wearing virtual reality headset with globe in background

How to create a virtual field trip

Virtual field trips have the potential to prepare students more thoroughly for experiences on location. Here’s how to put one together

James Allen

University of Southampton

The key to designing outreach activities students remember

Five ways to spark students’ curiosity during outreach activities and encourage them to keep exploring

Kenneth Wai-Ting Leung

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Colourful outlines of people emerging from an illustrated motherboard

Course design for a new age

Learn how to design courses that respond to the evolving needs of both students and employers

Campus contributors, Laura Duckett

Campus

Students in a classroom with an online student appearing on a screen at the end of the table

Give students greater flexibility with HyFlex learning

Designing different routes through the same module so they offer an equivalent learning experience is where the real work begins, writes Stuart Samuels, who offers practical planning advice

Stuart Samuels

Rethinking course design to enliven student engagement

To foster students’ meaningful learning, educators should be using class time to maximise the benefits of the in-person experience, as Nasreen Sultana explains

Nasreen Sultana

The University of Queensland

Five principles for designing industry-relevant microcredentials

Microcredentials that respond to student and employer needs require industry-backed, thoughtful design, writes Karla Margarita Banda Martínez, who offers guidance

Karla Margarita Banda Martínez

Tecnológico de Monterrey

University staff on laptops listening to a speaker out of shot

How to build an inclusive curriculum design toolkit

Educators often understand the benefits of inclusivity but lack the skills to embed it in courses and curricula. An inclusive design toolkit can bridge institutional ambition and everyday teaching practice

Emma Whewell, Sian Davies-Vollum, Faith Tucker, Helen Tiplady

University of Northampton

Black female student taking notes at laptop

Leveraging student agency in course design

Giving students choice is not about reducing expectations or allowing students to take shortcuts in their study, writes Courtney Kimmel. Here, she explains how course structure can create pathways to deeper learning

Courtney Kimmel

Virginia Tech

How to show students’ learning beyond grades: a five-step process

Teaching success should not rely solely on pass rates or student satisfaction. Here’s how to gather evidence that students understand, apply and transfer what they learned

Anabel Campaña

Universidad del Caribe (UNICARIBE)

Show students why your classes matter

When we demonstrate clear benefits, offer incentives that support learning and intervene when students fall behind, we can make attending a more attractive choice. Read strategies based on student insights

Andrew Snyder, Bingqing Wang, Jiayu Zhou

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Young female Asian student doing an online course

Identifying and addressing accessibility issues in courses that use LaTeX

Learn how to use digital tools to solve accessibility issues with online learning materials at the source. Iliria Stenning and Paul Vrbik discuss a pilot programme to improve accessibility using tools such as Blackboard Ally

Iliria Stenning, Paul Vrbik

The University of Queensland

Gamification can support sustained engagement with course content

Game mechanics use feedback, rankings, discussion and participation over time to maintain students’ attention throughout the semester

Fabrizio Marozzo

University of Calabria

Bring playfulness into teaching for collaboration and creativity

In learning, playfulness is often overlooked. Yet it could be key to embedding the soft, ‘human’ skills students will need for the future. Isabel Taurel shows how

Isabel Taurel

Al Akhawayn University

Students sitting in a circle with no desks

Tech-free teaching: how to get it right

Carefully designed device-free lessons can help students learn to articulate their thoughts, engage with peers and brainstorm ideas. Learn how

Arpita Ghosh

The University of Exeter

Young male college student studying in library

AI literacy cannot be bolted on to first-year courses

Future teachers, nurses, engineers, lawyers and business leaders need more than rules and policies about when to use AI. Inexperienced students benefit from courses that help them practise responsible judgement alongside foundational learning

Nicole Brownlie

The University of Southern Queensland

Retro style poster for space tours to Mars

Does student attention have a half-life?

Can a theatrical approach to teaching a dry subject free up brain space? Chris Jones uses cognitive load theory to manage when students’ attention drifts

Chris Jones

Regent’s University London

Back view of student raising his hand to answer teacher's question

When the university lesson becomes a ritual

By turning your classes into ‘interaction rituals’, you could re-energise even the most apathetic of students – and yourself – and spark excitement for learning. Allan McCoy explains how

Allan McCoy

University of Nottingham

"AI" and "..." in speech bubbles superimposed over a chatroom webpage

How an AI-integrated anonymous chatroom boosted AI literacy and inclusion

A single course design choice helped make AI literacy intrinsic and opened up a way to level the playing field educationally

Fridolin Ting

The Education University of Hong Kong

Business colleagues having a meeting in a boardroom

An academics’ guide to integrating industry engagement in course design

How to embed short, structured company projects into courses, from securing institutional support to building lasting relationships with external organisations

Paulina Vargas

CETYS Universidad

A student wearing earphones on her laptop

How to navigate multilingualism in global online classrooms

Virtual international collaboration can develop intercultural competence and critical thinking skills. Here are strategies that help make these experiences valuable

Francisco Alberto Núñez Tapia

CETYS Universidad

Students play a game designed to improve their clinical communication

Why serious skills need serious play

Are your students struggling with role play? Game-based learning can offer structure, safety and feedback, especially when combined with AI support. Here’s how

Mark Anthony Chan Wen Kein

Singapore Institute of Technology

Five ways to turn students from spectators into collaborators

Practical tips for transforming traditional assignments, research projects and graduate theses into opportunities to connect students with real-world stakeholders

Rafael Núñez

Universidad del Caribe (UNICARIBE)

A student works at a laptop with headphones on

What future-proofing a course really means

Instead of attempting to predict the future, future-proofing online courses is about making them easier to update, more inclusive and more useful to students, even as context changes

Gennadii Miroshnikov

King’s College London

Three business professionals standing in an office and smiling to camera

What skills will help students thrive in the job market of the 2030s?

Students will need a skills-focused mindset as GenAI absorbs entry-level jobs. Here, Raphael Dennett and Lisa Harris share lessons from developing a module that prepares undergraduates for a radically different start to their professional lives

Raphael Dennett, Lisa Harris

The University of Exeter

Jose Eos Trinidad teaching at the University of California, Berkeley

How I used chalk and paper to win back students’ attention

It’s not just about kicking AI and other technology out of the university classroom. A return to analogue teaching methods requires preparation in order to reap the benefits of deeper learning and engagement, writes Jose Eos Trinidad

Jose Eos Trinidad

University of California, Berkeley

Indigenous Mexican women dressed in colourful traditional clothes

How to turn humanities students into advocates

How a design thinking approach to a community project helped students raise awareness about racism against Indigenous women in Mexico

Eunice Costilla Cruz , Adriana García Domínguez

Tecnológico de Monterrey

A construction student uses a VR headset

How VR can embed the health and safety standards of the future

Virtual reality simulations can equip construction students with technical skills and impress on them the importance of safety. Find out how here

Tsang Yiu-Fai, Kevin Chan Yan-Wai

The Education University of Hong Kong

How to be present in teaching, even when you’re not physically there

Asynchronous course design has to work for the student logging in alone at 11pm, or it doesn’t work at all. Here’s how to design to make your presence felt, even in absence

Lucy S. Méndez Santiago

Universidad del Caribe (UNICARIBE)

Students gather around a table to work together

Creating empathetic graduates requires us to go beyond exams

Drawing on self-determination theory and using immersion technology can help educators shape civic-minded, people-focused students. Find out how

Angel Lai

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

University students working individually at their desks

Five pillars of collaborative online learning

How to promote interaction, a sense of collective responsibility and reflective practices to prevent students from ‘dividing and conquering’ in group projects

Mariana Elizondo, Elizabeth Marcial Morales

Tecnológico de Monterrey

A student opens an AI chatbot in a lecture hall

Your students use GenAI. Let’s redesign learning so thinking still happens

We can’t put AI back in the box. Instead, higher education needs to find a way to make students think despite it

Soukaina Aijou

Al Akhawayn University

When teacher training mirrors the classroom we want to build

How to deliver large-cohort teaching development programmes that help postgraduate students see educating as a professional practice, rather than an imposed obligation

Ka Yan So

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Use XR to make invisible networks visible to students

Computer science students often need to understand technical concepts hidden within layers of software. Here’s how extended reality could offer a solution

Pablo Salva Garcia, Ahren Hart

University of the West of Scotland

The answer to personalising education isn’t technological, it’s organisational

Is higher education too focused on tools and algorithms when it comes to personalised education? Perhaps there’s a simpler answer

Fabián Olmos

Universidad Austral

Course design for non-traditional students: lessons from adult learning theory

Strategies for ensuring relevance, building on existing knowledge and creating flexible learning experiences to better serve increasing numbers of non-traditional students

Catherine Wehlburg

Athens State University

A young woman holds a megaphone at a protest

Why we should teach students about academic freedom

Empower students with both a theoretical understanding of academic freedom and hands-on experience in advocating for those stripped of it. Here’s how

Kate Murphy, Tony Williams, Suzy Killmister

Monash University

What are students really paying attention to?

If we want to engage students, we must reuse and regenerate their attention rather than take, make and waste it, writes Christine Rivers, who shares advice on how to do this

Christine Rivers

University of Surrey

A hand holds a phone, on which an influencer is live streaming

Click like: how to use influencers in authentic assessment

Bridge the gap between students’ education and their online lives by deploying social media content creators in assessment. Here’s how

Melissa Y. L. Yeung , Ryan S. W. Lo, Hansel H. Y. Chan , Derek C. T. Au

Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Male and female engineers consulting on a work site

The global STEM workforce is multilingual. Is your institution keeping up?

English may dominate research and industry, but engineers increasingly work across languages, cultures and markets. Universities that recognise multilingualism as a professional asset will better prepare graduates for the realities of global practice

Sarah L. Rodriguez

Virginia Tech

Student raising their hand to speak in a lecture

The Democracy Lab: how 20 minutes of debate can revive the lecture

By introducing short debate about a current issue or trend tied to that day’s lecture, Theo Koutmeridis discovered a simple way to boost student interest and engagement for the whole two-hour class

Theodore Koutmeridis

University of Glasgow

An illustration of screwed up bits of paper leading to a lightbulb moment

Design learning that works with the brain, not against it

Educating used to be about explaining concepts – now it’s about designing experiences to help the brain develop understanding. Find advice to tweak your teaching here

Mussab Aswad

Nasser Centre for Science and Technology

A student uses a laptop in a lecture hall

I start my lectures by introducing my teaching assistant: GenAI

Artificial intelligence is offering us an opportunity to give every student in the lecture hall the chance to think ideas through and truly understand. Let’s take it

Dan Sarofian-Butin

Merrimack College

A phone interface with a chatbot conversation open

How to let students fail – so they can bounce back

If we’re preparing students for the outside world, they need to be resilient and agile. Here’s how AI avatars could help

Yvonne Kong-Ho

Singapore Institute of Technology

Students in class watching a teacher, among them one raises her hand to answer a question

Impactful lessons begin and end with clarity

Common in primary and secondary teaching, starter and plenary activities can get students interested and build knowledge. Paul Demetriou explains how to use them in university teaching

Paul Demetriou

New City College

Move beyond one-size-fits-all education for international students

Build a more inclusive and linguistically sensitive learning environment for global students with these tips

Anthony Manning

Arden University

A student and teacher sitting at a desk discussing an assignment

Simple ways to support students with ADHD

What you should know about how students with ADHD learn and how to take a strengths-based approach

Karen Costa

Lesley University

Female lecturer addresses a group of students

Why universities need shared conversations about ‘good’ teaching

Good teaching cannot be owned or defined by any one person or group, writes David Mather. He calls for more open discussion and exploration of what constitutes quality teaching

David Mather

The University of Portsmouth

The case for the omnichannel AI assistant

A virtual assistant can make learning seamless, ubiquitous and scalable while addressing common faculty concerns regarding AI integration. Here’s how

Wai Chi Rodney Chu, Charles Woo

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Group of multiracial university students in a tutorial

A million more teachers: building human-centric skills in small-group teaching

Small-group discussions and one-to-ones can expand students’ capacity to act, think and communicate, writes Alastair Bonnett. Here, he offers a model for shifting university teaching from macro to micro

Alastair Bonnett

Newcastle University

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