Deploying action research methods this article investigates how students perceive and use attention in undergraduate dance training classes. A main aim of this research has been to develop strategies for encouraging agency in young dancers' attentional choices in order to facilitate confident navigation of the bricolage approaches that make up…

Most of the current literature on the experiences of Chinese international students tends to adopt a deficit-based approach, focusing on the weaknesses, problems, and challenges Chinese students face while studying overseas. In other words, they tend to focus on struggling Chinese students, "problem" Chinese students, and Chinese…

In this article, I use arts methods to explore the concept 'intercultural mindfulness' as performed in students' meaning-making about their intercultural experience at a UK university. The findings identify some less discussed qualities for mindfulness such as affective openness, embodied openness, and ethical-oriented openness, generosity,…

Developing assessment and feedback strategies to assist students with progression and graduation is a key focus for many higher education institutions. However, student engagement with feedback is often poor and they can find it difficult to act upon; often stating the feedback is generic or of insufficient quality for improvement. Here, I present…

The approach that students take in their studies at university is critical not only for their academic success but is equally important in life-long learning for their career and professional development. Cognitive science has demonstrated that retesting oneself on material when learning enhances and promotes greater retention of knowledge…

The approach that students take in their studies at university is critical not only for their academic success but is equally important in life-long learning for their career and professional development. Heutagogy is the study of self-determined learning and it is important that we appraise how students in higher education are developing their…

Purpose: Massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide an innovative educational technology, which has become widely used for distance learning by independent learners. However, there has been little work so far to study the effects of using MOOCs as part of a blended classroom approach in which learning activities take place both online and in a…

Employability is a complex, contested concept which has tended to be considered in terms of a dominant discourse of skills. This article argues that employability needs to be thought of more holistically, as ongoing, life-long, situated learning, whilst acknowledging that the contested language of skills and the need to demonstrate competency…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the evaluation of a universal, mental well-being and mindfulness programme in a UK graduate entry medical school. Design/methodology/approach: Mixed methods used in the paper were the measurement of mental well-being and mindfulness in two cohorts at three time points over 15 months; descriptive,…

This research paper explores the processes and outcomes of a peer review system which was introduced to 74 first-year students on a BA Education programme in 2016-17. In this one-year action research study, students completed a series of tasks linked to both their academic work and professional teaching placements. The scaffolded nature of these…

Independent learning in massive open online courses (MOOCs) requires considerable effort from the learners themselves. Blended-learning has been recognised to foster independent learning among undergraduate students. With the popularity of the blended-learning approach to teach in traditional educational settings, little has been mentioned on how…

Integrated test tasks, such as listening-to-speak or reading-to-write, are increasingly used in second language assessment despite relatively limited empirical insights into what they assess. Most research on integrated tasks has primarily focused on the productive skills involved; studies exploring the receptive skills mostly investigated tasks…

A stated ambition for universities is to help all students develop meaningful career trajectories and make positive contributions to local, national and global communities. To achieve this ambition, universities need to reflect in depth on how approaches to assessment help develop global talent. The present article explores, from a…

Given the increasingly prominent position of digital technologies in the Higher Education classroom, this paper takes a concurrent triangulation mixed method approach to explore the ways in which blogging might be used to support student learning through a large MA dissertation module, comprising students from five courses. Taking as it impetuous…

Since 2010, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, has offered an MSc in studies in mindfulness degree programme within its School of Education. The programme has attracted over 200 students from multiple professional contexts, providing the authors with the opportunity to gather and analyse demographic data, as well as data regarding student…