Purpose: Proponents of micro-credentials envision them as vehicles for upskilling or re-skilling individuals. The study examines how integrating micro-credentials in the higher education ecosystem enhances employability. It aims to offer insights from the perspective of stakeholders who may benefit from these credentials at an institutional or…

Participation in authentic research in the field and online through Community and Citizen Science (CCS) has shown to bring learning benefits to volunteers. In online CCS, available platforms present distinct features, ranging from scaffolding the process of data collection, to supporting data analysis and enabling volunteers to initiate their own…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the perceptions of accountancy students on the use of technology, blended learning and flipped classroom in two emerging UK higher education institutions (HEIs). Design/methodology/approach: The primary data for the study were collected using a questionnaire survey and descriptively analysed. Findings: The…

The present study aimed to assess the impact of personality traits on student satisfaction with blended learning which many higher education institutions have adopted since the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Personality traits were assessed using the International Personality Item Pool and student satisfaction was recorded on a 7-point Likert scale.…

Although higher education has engaged in blended learning since the early 1990s and its benefits are well catalogued, research often focuses on individual programmes and less on how institutions envision and engage with it to enhance learning and teaching. This article provides a pre-COVID 19 pandemic snapshot of cross-institutional UK policy and…

Blended learning (BL) applications, which are defined as a combination of online and face-to-face education processes and created with the strongest aspects of various teaching approaches, have attracted increasing attention particularly in recent years with the effect of the pandemic. Although blended learning studies, which have a wide range of…

This study explores students' perceptions of blended learning and its impact on their sense of belonging at a post-92 UK university. A critical realist framework that considers the interlocking domains of subjective experience, objective events and observations, and the mechanisms and structures that underpin them is used to situate these…

The recent increase in the number of higher education institutions adopting block teaching has prompted questions about the appropriateness of assessment methods that were commonly used in a semesterised delivery model. This paper explores student and faculty perceptions of summative assessment methods in a block and blend mode of delivery at a…

Within the context of a dynamic higher education environment, demands for flexibility and technological advances present additional challenges for lecturers who are required to simultaneously develop their own praxis whilst encouraging students to engage with new and/or advanced digital tools. This paper focuses on a case study conducted at a…

This paper analyses student perceptions of Active Blended Learning (ABL) during the transition to an institutional pedagogy at the University of Northampton. In focus groups with 227 student participants across all four faculties, we explored factors mediating student engagement with ABL. Students expressed a preference for face to face teaching…

This study addresses the attitudes of academic staff towards a large-scale pedagogic shift to Active Blended Learning (ABL). Beliefs about the shift and how it is translated into practice are explored. Four main categories are derived: 'Active Innovators' who believe change is positive and apply it to their academic practice; 'Lagging Innovators'…

Purpose: Digital technologies can enable engagement online as well as in physical infrastructures like large lecture theatres. Avoiding a tech-first approach to curriculum design, this article reviews a key resource for the use of a pedagogy-first, co-design approach in a specific instance of developing curriculum for connected learning at scale.…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid seismic shift to online delivery in otherwise face-to-face higher education settings worldwide. This quantitative research study sought to investigate the effect of different delivery styles and assessment types on student outcomes. Specifically, grades achieved by first year undergraduate Biological Science…

Hybrid approaches to teaching, where there is a proportion of online (asynchronous or synchronous) teaching as well as face-to-face synchronous teaching, were adopted almost ubiquitously by UK higher education institutions throughout the 2020/2021 academic year amidst disruption caused by national and international COVID-19 restrictions. One…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how mixed-reality (MR) can be used to enhance inclusivity in synchronous working activities where groups of people may be present either face-to-face or online - focusing on blended learning in the higher education (HE) context. Design/methodology/approach: In a research methods module, 140 university…