Humanities Teaching and Learning Blog
This blog is to share good practice (things that worked for you), thoughts (ideas, inspiration, plans), learning (conference experiences, trying out new skills), and opportunities to connect (with other educators at Manchester and in other universities/contexts, students, wider communities).
AIED 2025: Rethinking AI’s Role – From Answer Engine to Socratic Tutor
Haleema Sadia, Lecturer in Education, shares her experience attending the Artificial Intelligence in Education Conference (AIED 2025) and explores how educators are using AI to deepen student reasoning, leading to more thoughtful learning practices.
The Use of Personas
Iria Lopez introduces us to the concept of personas: fictional, yet realistic, character profiles created from research to represent groups of people who share similar behaviours, goals, and needs.
Exploring the Academic Rep learning doughnut
Professor Sarah Dyer introduces us to the concept of a “learning doughnut”: a teaching and learning tool which helps us to define levels of challenge when stepping out of our comfort zone.
Mini-cases for enhancing comprehension of complex topics
Marianna Rolbina describes how she tackles the problem of students struggling to bring together different elements into the final assignment by using mini-cases, leading to better results in the final assignment and higher student satisfaction.
Reflection on participation in the Student Engagement Workshop
A student reflects on a Student Engagement workshop focusing on student feedback.
Making Feedback Collection More Representative: SCL’s Human-Centred Design Tool for Collecting Feedback
Student Rep Soumya Mati took part in a hands-on workshop to test two human-centred design tools – ‘Student Needs Statement Cards’ and ‘Empathy Map’.
Walking in students’ shoes: weaving stories where human-centred design meets student voice
Empathy is what helps us understand and care for others, it happens when we check on a peer who seems quiet or help a colleague who’s having a tough day. These small moments of kindness can create real and positive change in the lives of those around us. What does it...
From Listening to Action: How the Student Change Lab Designs with Student Voice
Let's start with a few questions. When was the last time you felt excited by or frustrated with your university experience? What does a day in the university look like for you? What brought you here? What motivates you in your work or studies? What challenges did...
Bridging Academic Excellence with Real-World Practice: The Manchester Museum Collaboration
University of Manchester Marketing students are collaborating with the Manchester Museum on a live project aimed at enhancing audience engagement and community outreach for the museum. Dr Zhiteng Feng (AMBS) shares how this project helps students develop critical skills and provides valuable real-world experience, boosting their confidence and employability.
ELSTIS24: Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship, University of St. Andrews, July 2024
The 2024 iteration of the annual ESLTIS conference was hosted by the University of St. Andrews with a broad theme of ‘Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship.’ In reality, the two days of the conference covered a wide range of issues both from the...
A picture paints a thousand words?
Jenni Rose (AMBS) explores the power of drawing for personal and professional development.
Learning, Connecting, and Innovating: Reflections from the 7th ESLTIS Conference
Kenneth Atuma, Lecturer in Library and Archives Studies, Institute for Cultural Practice, shares his reflections on the 7th Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship (ESLTIS) Conference, which was themed “What Comes Next for Higher Education?”
Reflections on the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) Conference 2024
Rebecca Oldfield attended the 2024 Association for Learning Technology (ALT) conference held in Manchester. ALT’s Annual Conference is the UK’s foremost conference for professionals working with Learning Technologies.
Transformative Pedagogy? Creating online and blended learning spaces for Leaders in the Global Development Sphere
Shirley Jenner, Natalie Cunningham and Jaco Renken attended a Symposium, a Manchester-Melbourne University Partnership Panel Event and the Development Studies Association of Australia (DSAA) Conference in Melbourne this summer.
Think Outside the Box: Co-Creating Student-Centered Support Services and User Experience for Canvas
Chiachi Ming, Research Associate on our Student-centred design project, reports upon working with the Library’s student team to explore how students can feed-forward in the design of their virtual learning environment.
Reflections on the ESLTIS 2024 Conference: A Journey in Educational Innovation
Haleema Sadia Mian shares her experience of participating in the “Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship” (ESLTIS 2024) conference.
‘Real enough’: Testing and refining ideas about how we support staff in the move to using Canvas.
In this blog, Sarah Dyer and Lauren Starr describes a recent workshop held as part of Project Shift. Project Shift is a co-design project where the Humanities eLearning team are working with academics and professional services colleagues to create the support that will be offered in the move to using Canvas as our Central Learning Environment (CLE).
Sparking meaningful conversations for student engagement: Visualising the journey of learning design
Chiachi Ming is a service designer who has joined the University’s Faculty of Humanities to work on our ‘Student-centred design’ project, exploring the potential of human-centred design in Higher Education. In this blog she reflects of the power of visualisation in articulating and creating student learning journeys.
Reflecting on the ESLTIS24 Conference: Developing Educator Identities and Building Academic Communities
In a beautiful town surrounded by lush green countryside, golf courses, and tranquil seas, I recently spent a couple of days that left me both intellectually enriched and personally inspired. Hosted by St. Andrews University, the 7th edition of the Enhancing Student...
Exploring New Developments in Student Surveys and Campus Design in Vienna
Read about Andrew Gunn’s insights from his visit to the EUROSTUDENT conference in Vienna, and see his stunning photos of the innovative campus of The Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU).
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