Anna K. Wood

Although research into differences in how university teachers conceive of teaching has yielded valuable pedagogical insights, important questions remain about the interrelationship between conceptions and practices and the influence of contemporary teaching-learning environments. Focusing specifically on the context of large-class STEMM teaching, this study investigated the conceptions of sixteen STEMM lecturers, adopting a phenomenographic, interview-based methodology. Four conceptions were differentiated: large-class STEMM teaching as presentation; as guided learning and individual reflection; as active participation in a community of learning; and as the promotion of metacognition beyond the curriculum. These conceptions were further dissected in terms of three dimensions of variation comprising interactivity, the role of students, and aims of large STEMM classes. The findings also showed that the teachers' conceptions needed to be understood in relation both to contextual factors and to the extent to which they felt different strategies were accomplishable in particular settings.

Lectures are the backbone of undergraduate physics education and are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. This means it is important that they provide the best possible educational experience for our students. A lecture can be defined as the gathering of students (typically in large numbers) in the same place and at the same time, for a teaching event led by an expert in the subject of study. However, the exact form that a lecture takes can vary widely. It may consist primarily of a didactic monologue from the lecturer, or it may involve students doing substantial amounts of discussing and problem solving, and anything in between. This variation has been accelerated in recent decades with the use of technology offering easy access to new pedagogies, together with the introduction of flipped and active learning approaches. In this article, I will first review the evidence for what makes teaching lectures effective from the field of physics education research. I will then focus on three key elements of a lecture which should be considered in order to optimise the learning and engagement of students: interactions between teacher and students, interactions between the students in small groups and the student experience of the lecture.

In this paper, physics students’ experiences of a flipped, active learning physics class are explored through the lens of transactional distance theory (TDT). Transactional distance (TD) is the psychological and communicative distance that may arise between students and their teacher in learning environments such as large classes. TD has been shown to have a negative impact on students’ satisfaction, engagement, and learning outcomes, yet there is lack of research on how pedagogical approaches, such as the flipped classroom and active learning, may ameliorate the impacts of TD. In this paper, I use a qualitative methodology to gain an in-depth understanding of the ways in which a flipped class can impact the experience of transactional distance for first year physics students. Eleven students took part in semi-structured interviews about their experience of the class, from which three themes were developed: (a) creating connections; (b) stimulating engagement; and (c) supporting responsiveness. These themes are interpreted through the lens of TDT to understand the ways in which the flipped class and active learning pedagogics reduced students’ experience of TD. This gives new insights into students’ experiences of small group discussions, pre-class quizzes, and in-class ‘clicker’ questions. The implications for the pedagogical design of flipped classes will be discussed.

Teachers’ beliefs are an important factor affecting teaching practice and understanding them is critical for planning successful professional development support. However, relatively little research on conceptions has focussed on the teaching of large classes, despite the fact that large classes are central to STEM teaching provision in higher education. There has also been a lack of research investigating the nature of those beliefs, such as how they change and how context dependent they are. This study explores teachers’ conceptions of teaching large STEM classes from two perspectives. Firstly, sixteen STEM lecturers were interviewed about their experiences of teaching a large class using a phenomenographic approach through which four conceptions of teaching were identified: 1) Teaching as presentation 2) Teaching as guided learning and individual reflection 3) Teaching as active participation in the learning community 4) Teaching as promoting metacognition beyond the curriculum. Three dimensions of variation describe the differences between these conceptions: interactivity, the role of students, and the aim of the class. A secondary analysis of the interview data showed that teachers’ conceptions are context dependent, that they may hold multiple conceptions at the same time, and they can be aware of higher conceptions without adhering to them themselves.

This study explored the way in which detailed data about how time is spent on classroom activities, generated by the FILL+ tool (Framework for Interactive Learning in Lectures), can stimulate professional conversations about teaching practices and aid reflection for STEMM lecturers. The lecturers felt that personalised data provided an unbiased view of the lecture, overcoming the difficulty of relying on their memory alone. They indicated that this approach would help them to reflect on their teaching, particularly when the data was surprising, and many felt that it would encourage them to make changes to their teaching practice.

This study explored the way in which detailed data about how time is spent on classroom activities, generated by the FILL+ tool (Framework for Interactive Learning in Lectures), can stimulate professional conversations about teaching practices and aid reflection for STEMM lecturers. The lecturers felt that personalised data provided an unbiased view of the lecture, overcoming the difficultly of relying on their memory alone. They indicated that this approach would help them to reflect on their teaching, particularly when the data was surprising, and many felt that it would encourage them to make changes to their teaching practice.

We describe the design and evaluation of an innovative course for beginning undergraduate mathematics students. The course is delivered almost entirely online, making extensive use of computer-aided assessment to provide students with practice problems. We outline various ideas from education research that informed the design of the course, and describe how these are put into practice. We present quantitative evaluation of the impact on students' subsequent performance (N = 1401), as well as qualitative analysis of interviews with a sample of 14 students who took the course. We find evidence that the course has helped to reduce an attainment gap among incoming students, and suggest that the design ideas could be applied more widely to other courses.

While it is increasingly common for live lectures to be recorded and made available online, there has been little exploration of how lecture capture usage fits within the wider context of digital resources available to students. Here the authors report on in-depth semi-structured interviews with first-year students taking both flipped and non-flipped classes in mathematics and physics at the University of Edinburgh. Through thematic analysis two conceptual themes emerged: (a) Supporting learning in live lectures and (b) Self-customisation of learning. Students saw lecture capture as just one of a number of digital resources available to them, and their choice of resource depended on resource affordances, the way in which information was presented in lectures and their beliefs about learning. Digital resources seemed to support learning in lectures through reducing the multi-tasking involved in note-taking and by providing a safety net for missed notes. Implications for teaching practice are discussed.

This paper presents findings from a study into the value of lecture captures for online postgraduate courses. There has been little scrutiny of the role of on-campus lecture capture in online courses. We addressed this gap by exploring online distance learning students’ perceptions of lecture captures through the lens of the community of inquiry framework. We found that students were enthusiastic about campus lecture captures due to their naturalistic lecturing style and the opportunity to learn vicariously. However, students also expressed preferences for video material that was produced specifically for online audiences. Overall, we found that lecture captures do not contribute to the creation of a community of inquiry as there is no substantial increase in cognitive, social, or teaching presence for online students. We suggest greater consideration of the role of vicarious learning in online education and the tendency to perceive campus-based education as more authentic.

This paper presents findings from a study into the value of lecture captures foronline distance learning courses. Although recording on-campus lectures for on-campus students is increasingly common, there has been little scrutiny of the roleof lecture capture in online courses. We address this gap by exploring onlinedistance learning students’ perceptions of two types of recorded media; video-to-camera lectures and lecture captures through the lens of the Community ofInquiry (COI) Framework. The study concluded that lecture captures do notcontribute to the creation of a COI as they do not substantially increase cognitive,social or teaching presence. However, students were enthusiastic about lecturecaptures due to the naturalistic lecturing style and the opportunity to learnvicariously. We suggest that these findings should prompt greater considerationof the role of vicarious learning in online education and the tendency to perceivecampus-based education as being more ‘authentic’.