Previous themes

Embedding effective and inclusive active learning into teaching and curriculum design, which engages, motivates and supports all students in their learning is an important University of Bristol strategic aim. 

Active learning is fundamentally about student engagement and participation. It involves students going beyond passive listening in lectures or ‘sitting back and being fed information’ to ‘learning by doing’ and being agents of their own learning, for example through discussion, problem solving, role-play, and creating something new (Gibbs, 1988; Kolb, 2015).   
 
Active learning is also more than a series of activities within a lecture or class. A key implication of active learning approaches is that by engaging students more deeply in learning through activity in class, there is less room to cover content, which requires rethinking the curriculum design of a whole unit or programme. Key approaches to curriculum design include: flipped learning (where students engage with material ahead of class, freeing the class up for activity); problem-based learning (where students engage, often in groups, in solving broad and open-ended problems over a series of sessions); and applied projects (e.g. dissertation and research projects, community and employer projects). 

Current activities

BILT’s involvement with this theme included:

• Funding of 7 Education Development Projects
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow (Elliot Green) in the theme area 
• Show, Tell and Talk workshops

Resources and guidance

• Our case studies on problem based learning, authentic learning and research-rich teaching contain great examples of active learning ideas in use in Bristol.

Generative AI is reshaping how knowledge is created, shared, and applied — and with it, how we understand originality, authorship, and critical thinking. It is not just a new tool: it challenges how we teach, learn, and define expertise within disciplines. To prepare students for their futures, we need to design learning experiences that build on strong foundations in critical thinking, ethical reasoning and discipline-specific knowledge, enabling students to engage meaningfully and independently with AI technologies.

Current activities

BILT’s involvement with this theme included:

• Funding of 5 Education Development Projects
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow (Gaurav Saxena) in the theme area 
• Show, Tell and Talk workshops

Resources and guidance

• Our guide to AI and assessment
• Recent Student Voice on AI in Education at the University of Bristol (PDF, 321kB)

Inclusive or ‘designed for all’ assessment aims to enable all students, whatever their characteristics or background to engage in and demonstrate their learning. The university’s assessment strategy attention to design as a central component of inclusivity. Traditionally, discussions of inclusivity have centred around adjustments, such as extra time, provided for students to level the playing field and ensure equitable access to assessments. Such adjustments are often made at the individual level when students present with evidence for needing them. They typically have no impact on the design of the assessment itself.  The university’s strategic approach emphasises that inclusivity should be integral to an assessment and not simply a post hoc adjustment made for access purposes.  

Current activities

BILT’s involvement with this theme included:

• Funding of 5 Education Development Projects
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow (Pratham Gupta) in the theme area 
• Show, Tell and Talk workshops

“Active learning engages students in the process of learning through activities and/or discussion in class, as opposed to passively listening to an expert. It emphasizes higher-order thinking and often involves group work” (Freeman et al., 2014).

Research has shown the value of active learning for student engagement, improving achievement especially of under-represented groups (Inside Higher Ed, 2022), prompting student agency (Harris et al, 2020), and providing the conditions for sense of belonging.

Active learning can also promote the development of skills for life, work and citizenship, and in the classroom can involve working in diverse groups on community and global issues (Pasquerella 2022).

All of these elements of active learning, strongly reflect the University’s vision for education through helping develop inclusive learning environments which: support all students to reach their potential; make students feel known, valued and belonging to a community; engage students in developing skills for a changing world.

BILT’s involvement with this theme included:

• Funding of 13 Education Development Projects
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow (Kat Rooney) in the theme area 
• Show, Tell and Talk workshops

Resources and guidance

• Our case studies on problem based learning, authentic learning and research-rich teaching contain great examples of active learning ideas in use in Bristol.

Integral to the University’s assessment strategy is the principle of designing assessment across a programme that invites students to exercise their agency in making choices and being creative. This is important in terms of offering students both authentic and inclusive ways of demonstrating their learning.

BILT’s involvement with this theme included:

• Funding of 5 Education Development Projects
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow (Miyambo Kabwe) in the theme area 
• Show, Tell and Talk workshops

Resources and guidance

• Our case studies focused on assessment and feedback contain great examples of agency and choice in assessment in use in Bristol.

AI is developing at pace, and the education sector faces a choice of how to engage with it. A full understanding of the risks and opportunities for teaching, learning and assessment - from the perspective of both teachers and learners - is essential for developing practice and for policy making that will maintain fairness without ignoring this important area of technological advancement. 

BILT’s involvement with this theme included:

• Funding of 5 Education Development Projects
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow (Esther Ng) in the theme area 
• Show, Tell and Talk workshops

Resources and guidance

• Our guide to AI and assessment

AI is here to stay and the education sector faces a choice of how to engage with it. A full understanding of the risks and opportunities - from the perspective of both teachers and learners - is essential for policy making that will maintain fairness without ignoring this important area of technological advancement. 

Activities

BILT’s involvement with this theme included: 

• Funding an Associate Project focused on briefing senior management and on producing academic guidance on AI and assessment  
• Gathering student views on AI and assessment 
• Engaging the community with AI events and workshops 
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow exploring all aspects of designing for all including AI and assessment 
• Funding an Education Development Project which aim to deliver and evaluate an innovative teaching and learning project in the theme area 

Group assessment, including projects, dissertations and presentations, is important to developing team skills and working with large number of students, but is often problematic in terms of inclusivity and student preferences (including international student preferences). 

Activities

BILT’s involvement with this theme included:  

• Funding an Associate Project focused on producing guidance outlining how best to implement group assessment. 
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow exploring all aspects of designing for all  
• Funding 4 Education Development Projects which aim to deliver and evaluate an innovative teaching and learning project in the theme area 

At the heart of the University’s Assessment and Feedback Strategy is the principle of embedding inclusivity as part of the design of assessment across a programme. 

Activities 

BILT’s involvement with this theme included: 

• Funding an Associate Project focused on researching the student experience of assessment in terms of inclusivity, culminating in a report and the production of academic guidance 
• Funding 6 Education Development Projects which aim to deliver and evaluate an innovative teaching and learning project in the theme area 
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow exploring all aspects of designing for all

The University of Bristol is home to over 8,000 international students who represent more than 150 countries. How do we ensure they thrive in their learning? Part of the University’s mission is to develop its global engagement and provide a student-centred learning environment. An understanding of how our approach to teaching and assessment and the content of our curricula impacts the international student experience is key to achieving these goals. 

Activities:

BILT’s involvement with this theme included: 

• Funding an Associate project focused on gathering international student views on programme-focused experiences and research into approaches to supporting international students culminating in a report and the production of academic guidance 
• Funding 7 Education Development Projects which aim to deliver and evaluate an innovative teaching and learning project in the theme area 
• Engagement of a BILT Student Fellow in the theme area  

A key priority for BILT is to encourage the scholarship of learning and teaching and pedagogic research. A number of pedagogic research groups exist across the university offering various levels of support to current and potential pedagogic researchers. BILT aims to work with these groups to develop and improve support open to all staff. 

Current activities 

BILT’s involvement with this theme includes:  

• Funding an Associate Project focused on how we can encourage more collaborative and impactful pedagogic research and increase researcher support for all in sustainable ways, culminating in a report and the production of academic guidance
• Funding an Associate Project producing a scoping paper exploring ways in which the University could develop a peer-reviewed discussion paper series. 
• Funding an Associate Project developing a central web space for pedagogic researchers, offering advice and support, to include new and curated resources, and links to current research groups. This will involve working with current pedagogic research groups and other key actors. 

The broad theme involves developing approaches to assessment that: 

• help to develop integration across a programme, for example by bringing learning together across units;
• are designed to be flexible enough to allow students to bring their own experiences and interests to the assessment;
• are authentic in the sense that they encourage students to use their disciplinary knowledge and skills to respond to problems and challenges they will face in employment or in their lives as global citizens.
• assessment that promotes student agency across all years of a programme, including projects and research

This theme explores creative ways to incentivise and engage students with active learning methods in which they can express their individuality and agency.

This theme explores how we can design curricula and individual sessions to build students’ sense of belonging to their cohorts, the University and the broader civic community. It also includes how we can design our curricula to enable students to develop the skills to ensure balance and wellbeing in their own lives and to enable it in others. What kind of activities and engagement help include all students, help bring them together and improve their wellbeing?

Working with other key institutional actors to ensure: Academic staff have the guidance, inspiration and support they need in order to design effective, challenging, authentic and research-informed assessments for their students in a blended context.  Policy, institutional principles and processes support an improvement in the student experience of assessment.

Provide ongoing guidance and support for tackling the challenges and realising the opportunities of blended learning, in order to support the ambitions of the curriculum enhancement project.

Inform the future direction of the university in terms of flexible use of digital, blended and in-person modes of delivery.

Evaluate the use and support of hybrid teaching approaches in TB1 in order to provide further guidance to staff, inform improvements in hardware and software for 22-23, and to inform the university’s strategic position on the use of hybrid and hyflex approaches.

This theme considers how we can enhance the research basis of our education and the different ways in which students can learn through research. These include engaging students with the latest disciplinary content research in creative and active ways as well through activities and pedagogies that that develop student research skills . These may include refining and identifying research problems, conducting and producing research as well as the use of critical skills and reasoning to engage with existing research output.