The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for practical teaching within the sciences. While many instructors adopted innovative alternatives to conventional practicals, many relied on digital approaches that did not give students hands-on experience. In this study we evaluate the use of 'at home' practical kits used in first year physics…

The Adult Participation in Learning Survey provides unique insights into adult learning across the UK. It adopts a deliberately broad definition of learning, reflecting the fact that learning is about much more than formal courses and qualifications. The 2024 survey shows just over one half (52%) of adults have taken part in learning in the last…

This study explored the effects of learning activities which encouraged positive crosslinguistic influence from L2 Spanish to L1 English grammar in young learners. The learners (N = 82) were studying Spanish as their compulsory foreign language at an English state primary school in the UK. As part of ten timetabled Spanish classes over a period of…

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…

The relationship between inquiry-based learning (IBL) and international students is of rising importance in the UK in the context of a growing focus on the connection between research and teaching and the increasing number of overseas students. This article explores this relationship, drawing on the findings of research undertaken in a Department…

In recent years a combination of ever more flexible and sophisticated Web technologies and an explosion in the quantity of online content has sparked learning technologists around the world to pursue the promise of the "reusable learning object" or RLO with the idea that RLOs could be reused in different educational contexts, thereby…

This self-study unit focuses on managing resources--materials, equipment, personnel, money, energy, time, and information. The material is designed primarily for those in a supervisory or junior management position working within their company's policies and systems. The unit may be of value to the small business proprietor, as an introduction to…