building on what we’ve learnt from remote and blended learning

Conversations about Risk and Disaster Reduction Podcast

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THE TEAM

Staff lead: Joanna Faure Walker

Student leads: Rebekah Yore, Candice Oreal

DEPARTMENT

Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction

WHAT HAPPENED?

We worked together as a team to design and co-create the beginnings of a podcast around disaster themes that could be run in the future as an Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction podcast. The project included considering how series and episodes could be structured and what topics could be covered. We recorded a pilot episode, including two members of the team, and then a focus group was led by the other team member among current students for feedback about structure, style and content, as well as being used as an opportunity to receive further ideas. Following from the feedback (which was useful and much appreciated), we then proceeded to make some minor amendments to the pilot and record further episodes. We now have a few episodes ready and a plan for the details of the rest of the first season, as well as some exciting ideas for following seasons. Having a staff, PhD student, and masters student work together allowed us to think carefully about different audiences and aims, and to recognise strengths across the team. I hope to have many opportunities to work with the whole team again.

WHAT ADVICE OR ENCOURAGEMENT WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE THINKING OF DOING A CHANGEMAKERS PROJECT?

Ensure to have a conversation at the beginning about why everyone is participating and what they would like to get out of it. We did this in the first meeting and allowed us to tailor activities and assign tasks in a way to help different team members get the experience in the areas wanted and help them develop the desired skills. Do be realistic about how much can be achieved in the time – it can be tempting to be overly ambitious. Think about what the legacy of the project will be and how to ensure that occurs.

Testing the use of spatially explicit online platforms for the delivery of computer-based practicals

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THE TEAM

Staff lead: Max Reuter
Student leads: Lilly Bartsch, Makarim Omar
DEPARTMENT
Genetics, Evolution and Environment
WHAT HAPPENED?
This project explored new ways of using online technology to teach statistics at UCL. Specifically we were aiming to improve the delivery of practical computer session accompanying the undergraduate module Computational Biology (BIOL0029), a statistics course for second and third year Biosciences students. An important part of the module are weekly coding practicals where students apply newly learned coding techniques under the guidance of PGTAs. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, practicals were converted from two-hour in-person sessions in a cluster room to one-hour online tutorials. Student feedback has deemed these tutorials less effective and inclusive; the condensed format prevented students from working at their own pace and the online delivery did not allow for interaction among and between students and PGTAs. Here, we built on recent developments in pedagogy (McClure and Williams 2021) and test a novel approach to delivering online practicals, based on the spatially explicit online platform Gather.town. This platform replicates the interactions of in-person sessions, by letting participants control avatars in a virtual space and allowing voice and video interactions between individuals that are ‘physically’ close on the online map. We recruited paid volunteers who had previously taken the online version of BIOL0029, either this or last year, to run two trial sessions that replicated real-world computer practicals. Analysis of questionnaire responses from the participants indicated that the Gather.town practicals were very well received by students across a range of statistical aptitudes. Participants appreciated the engaging and intuitive interface and the possibility to more easily interact informally and privately with their peers and the PGTAs. As a consequence, Gather.town was much preferred to alternative online platforms, such as Teams or Zoom. Face-to-face teaching was however still the preferred way of delivery. Our trials suggest that spatially explicit online platforms provide a promising solution to delivering effective tutorials where face-to-face teaching is not feasible, e.g. under the constraints of social distancing and/or limited room capacity. The platforms help learning by allowing students to have the more natural interactions among peers and with the teaching staff that are lost in standard online settings. While our test sessions have taught us valuable lessons that we can use to improve the use of Gather.town and similar systems, the lacking implementation of a full range of accessibility features remains a hurdle to implementation in a real-life teaching setting.

WHAT ADVICE OR ENCOURAGEMENT WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE THINKING OF DOING A CHANGEMAKERS PROJECT?

The staff-student collaboration was the highlight of this project, and I would recommend the ChangeMakers scheme for this opportunity.

Using students’ expertise in identifying extra educational resources to be incorporated into the teaching material to support student learning of advanced human genetics and statistics

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The team
Dr Elvira Mambetisaeva
Student leads: Laura Caton, Aanadita Kothurkar, Keerthana Sunilkumar, Tom Roberts.
Department
Genetics, Evolution and Environment
What happened?
The ChangeMakers project “Using students’ expertise in identifying extra educational resources to be incorporated into the teaching material to support student learning of advanced human genetics and statistics” aims to enhance student learning of these subjects by complementing module teaching material with available on the Web short educational multimedia videos chosen by students. Some students find advanced human genetics and statistics difficult as they require competencies in mathematics and understanding complex concepts in genetics. This project tries to address this issue. Research shows that university students are increasingly using short educational videos available on the Web to meet their own learning needs. They help students quickly to recall prior knowledge or to close the knowledge gap they might have. In this project, the ChangeMakers partners Dr Elvira Mambetisaeva and four students from the MSc Genetics of Human Disease and the BSc Biological Sciences first identified the topics in human genetics and statistics that students find difficult drawing on their experiences of learning these subjects. Then, they gathered the list of links to educational videos and resources for identified topics using their perspectives of understanding how these resources were helpful in developing their own competencies. Finally, they divided the compiled resources into two groups: the first group of resources will supplement the reading list for students so that they can use it prior to starting their study of these subjects. The second group of resources will be incorporated into the module Moodle resources along with lecturers’ material to be used by students during their study. The list of identified educational resources is in the process of evaluation by current MSc Genetics of Human Disease students. In addition, module organisers will go through the list of suggested links before incorporating them into module resources.
What advice or encouragement would you give to someone thinking of doing a ChangeMakers project?
(A) Identify an area where students’ perspectives and experiences can change students learning to be better and (B) identify student partners who are enthusiastic and wants to work in a partnership with you.
A clear understanding of the goal of your project by all partners is very important for the success of the project.

Exploring podcasts as an educational tool for Neuroscience students

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The team
Martina Wicklein (staff lead)
Miriam Jansen (student lead)
Ferran Junoy, Aiste Viduolyte, Evan Moffitt, Maria Gonzalez-Gancedo (support students)
Department
Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology (NPP)
What happened?
As students, we spend most of our time staring at a screen or flipping through a textbook. The little time we have left is spent on commutes, grocery shopping, and gym sessions. The goal of this project was to test out an alternative studying method – podcasts – that students can use to learn whenever and wherever they want. To reach this goal, we developed Brains Discussing Brains: an educational podcast covering undergraduate-level neuroscience through faculty interviews and scripted segments. Although the podcast is still in its infancy, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. By analysing student and staff feedback, we’re figuring out the optimal formula for the podcast in an educational context. We’re varying episode length, content, interview to segment ratio, topics covered, and more. In spite of the strides that still need to be made, it’s clear that the flexibility and (most importantly) fun that podcasts offer make them great candidates for supplemental or student-led study materials. They can be listened to when you wouldn’t normally be able to study (such as walking to class), but if done right, it barely feels like studying at all. Give the first episodes of Brains Discussing Brains a listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!
What advice or encouragement would you give to someone thinking of doing a ChangeMakers project?
Don’t be afraid to delegate and form a team for the tasks ahead. Since it’s your project, it’s easy to feel as if it’s thus your responsibility to get everything done. I would argue that’s not the case at all! Forming a team to help you bring your idea to fruition will open up your project to new opinions and perspectives and make sure you’re not putting all the workload on yourself. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people you don’t know to join the team: create an open application if you can.

Code Camp Rebooted: an interactive training and self-testing environment for first-time

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The team
Staff/Lead: Dr. Jonathan Readers
Students: Peijun Xie, Sangbin Lee, Elika Sinha.
Department
Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis
What happened?
We tried to deploy a dynamic, engaging remote learning and self-testing environment that empowers students to acquire the fundamentals of programming in Python at their own pace outside of formally timetabled activities. First, we evaluated existing materials via a student-led consultation process; We made a questionnaire to collect students opinions about code camp, and then, based on the questionnaire, we organised 2 workshops to collect students suggestions about Code Camp. Second, our three try to map out the content, examples, forms, videos based on the suggestions we collected. Then, in the next step, we will draft examples, problems, questions, and answers for use in an online platform; We will also try to deliver at least three dynamic online lessons using the selected learning platform. We will then evaluate the impact on incoming student confidence and capabilities in order to undertake iterative improvement on an ongoing basis in the future.
What advice or encouragement would you give to someone thinking of doing a ChangeMakers project?
When you try to generate a project, try to think about how more people can benefit from your project.

Covid-cohort study – a survey of student performance and requirements in physics and maths after lockdown

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The team
Anasuya Aruliah and Mark Fuller (co-leads, academic and outreach respectively) Osnat Katz (PhD student); Francesca Waines (Y3 Astrophysics student); Rania Shafiq (Y3 Physics student)
Department
Physics and Astronomy
What happened?
UCL have a commitment to Widening Participation. The undergraduate cohorts entering UCL in 2020 and 2021 have experienced moderate to severe disruptions in their A level teaching due to the covid-19 pandemic. These are our current Year 2 and Year 1 undergraduates, respectively. Our small team is following these two cohorts to understand the consequences of this disruption by running staff and student surveys and focus groups. The goal is to advise the Department of Physics & Astronomy how to support and retain struggling students so that they achieve their true potential.
What advice or encouragement would you give to someone thinking of doing a ChangeMakers project?
Planning is important, and gathering a committed and enthusiastic team.

Creativity vs Consistency: Evaluating the student online learning experience in MAPS

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The team

Staff: Richard Osborne, Sophia Macblain

Students: Baljeet Kaur, Zuzanna Kocjan, Surrabhi Luthra, Noella Kalasa, Shim Shim, Mark Rassam, Kate Trollope, Anita Allikmets, Raj Ramani, Jiguang Yu

Department

MAPS faculty office

What happened?
One of the consequences of the global pandemic that began in March 2020 was a huge increase in use of the centrally managed Moodle Virtual Learning Environment at UCL. Realising this early on, the Digital Education team responsible for supporting the VLE acted rapidly to produce extra guidance and support so that new content could be produced to a high standard. However, this was very much a self-service model, as the number of support staff available to help adapt existing content fell far short of providing one-to-one assistance. The sheer volume of new content that was required, under very short timescales, combined with a wide level of digital literacy across the academic population, naturally led in turn to a wide range in quality in terms of the content that was created. Subsequent student surveys, run not only in the MAPS faculty but also across UCL – and indeed the wider sector – revealed the impact of this wide range in quality in terms of the student experience. Whilst individual modules were often in themselves internally consistent, and potentially even very creative, students tended to have a wider ‘diet’ of modules than individual staff perceived, hence they had to contend with a wide range of course design choices, approaches to organization, and activity types, to name but three elements of online course creation. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the student experience of online learning by analysing all currently running modules in the MAPS faculty, utilising a simplified version of the guidance on good practice created by Digital Education. The overall objective was twofold: to reveal the extent of good practice across the faculty, and to focus support services where they were most needed. Early analysis has been promising, revealing some excellent organising of student activities, clear contact and communications, and detailed assessment information; but it has also revealed some areas where key information is absent, occasional pages which are too long and badly organised, and some missing “Have your say” sections, meaning students have no way to offer their own module evaluations. Future work is now planned to celebrate the good work that has been achieved and start to address obvious shortcomings where they have been identified.
What advice or encouragement would you give to someone thinking of doing a ChangeMakers project?
Give yourself plenty of time to plan events and structure your project well ahead of time. Personally, I found the three stages of the project in the application form (1. Preparing, 2. Undertaking, 3. Identifying / Sharing) very useful in terms of shaping what I hoped to achieve, especially when used alongside the UCL calendar.

Gendered self-perception and implicit gender bias in virtual reality

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The team

Project lead: Mx Lucile Bottein, staff co-lead: Dr Aneesha Singh, PhD student Miss Leya George

Department
UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC)
What happened?
Virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly used beyond the world of gaming; it is taking on an educational role in some cases, and may in the future facilitate remote working and learning (especially considering the rise of hybrid teaching/working with COVID). However, this may have harmful effects if not accompanied by rigorous and critical research. Specifically, using VR often involves the embodiment of an avatar, and the perceived identity of this avatar can have positive and/or negative effects on the cognition of the person embodying it. Our project aims to investigate how embodying female avatars might adversely impact implicit gender bias depending on how objectified this avatar is. Findings can indicate avenues of progress for the use of VR in educational/interventional contexts.
What advice or encouragement would you give to someone thinking of doing a ChangeMakers project?
Changemakers is a fantastic avenue to fund but also to support and organize your project. They have a large number of valuable resources and speaking with the team is always a delight. A successful project depends on many factors, one of which is a clear timeline (which accounts for the many delays and hiccups you will meet).