Teaching Innovation Awards are one way the University recognises, celebrates and promotes excellence in learning and teaching. These awards are open to all of our learning and teaching community, and we actively welcome applications from students, academic and learning support staff.

Awards will open 9th December 2024

Deadline 5th March 2025

Within the Teaching Innovation Awards (TIAs) there are five sub-categories of awards: 

Teaching Innovation Award (TIA)

Teaching Innovation Award (TIA) is our long-standing award for funding and recognition to support your innovative learning and teaching related project, this funding may be used to buy equipment or resources or attendance at an event or conference for example.

Student Education Research Placement TIA

Student Education Research Placement TIA are a sub-category to fund awards that would like a summer student placement to support their project.

Inclusivity in TIA

Inclusivity in TIA funds innovative applications in the area of inclusivity in learning and teaching.

STEMLab TIA

STEMLab TIA was introduced with the opening of the STEMLab facility. These should be practice-based projects aimed at facilitating new developments, grounded in innovative teaching practice, in the use of STEMLab to improve the student learning experience.

DigiLab TIA

The DigiLab TIA has been introduced to facilitate new developments, grounded in innovative teaching practice, in the use of the new DigiLab equipment to improve the student learning experience.

Information on how to apply

All subcategories require the same application form, guidance may differ between the categories so please consult this to inform your application. The STEMLab, DIGI Lab and Student Education Research Placement TIAs will have a process of recruitment for the student summer placements after projects have been awarded.

Tens of thousands of pounds have been awarded over the years to fund new initiatives and pedagogic research projects contributing directly to the quality of our teaching and learning at Loughborough. Each Teaching Innovation Award and Inclusivity in Teaching Innovation Award is up to a maximum of £2500. The Scheme is managed and administered by Organisational Development.

Applications are invited from students, academic staff and learning support staff.

Guidance and Forms

Previous Winners

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2024

Award Recipient  Department  Project Title
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Firat Batmaz, Dr Sean Mitchell & Dr Gary Storey School of Science & Sports Technology Institute Enhancing Learning Through AI-Powered Feedback on Learn Quiz
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Nikki Clark SDCA and ABCE ‘Taking Design to the People’: A collaborative approach to empower students to become facilitators of vibrant and inclusive communities through localised public showcasing of their creative and practical talents.
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Elaine Conway Loughborough Business School Using games to support the teaching of business and organisational metrics
Teaching Innovation Award Dr. Marianna Joy Coulentianos SDCA Exploring the Climate Fresk model of sustainability education for and by students
Teaching Innovation Award
Dr Fred Dalmasso, Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts &
Karen Sung, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Digital Creativity Lab)
SDCA Storytelling for the Digital Futures: innovative teaching of Digital Storytelling to Design and Creative Art students using Virtual Reality technology.
Student Education Research
James Fleming,
Peter Hubbard & Tim Harrison.
Wolfson School of MEME Virtual laboratories for problem-based learning in control engineering
Inclusivity in Teaching
Emily Hansell & Dr Asya Barutcu
SSEHS The Track to Unlocking Potential: Enhancing the Transition of International Students on Vocational/Practitioner-Focused Sports Science Programmes
STEMLab Teaching Innovation Award Dr Imogen Heaton, Richard Harland & Dr Tom Claxton School of Science Concept, synthesis, analysis; linking chemistry students labs through the redesign of computation, synthetic and instrumentation labs.
Student Education Research Dr Laura Justham Wolfson School of MEME Developing tools to support Neurodivergent Students during group project work.
DIGI Lab Teaching Innovation Award Prof. Steven Kenny AACME 3D Visualization of Engineering and Scientific Structures
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Ola Krukowska-Burke and Dr Laura Jenkins SSEHS It’s not only what you say, but also how you say it – exploring the effectiveness of various modes of feedback for written assignments.
Student Education Research Dr Matt McCullock and Dr Laura Crawford SSH Demystifying the hidden curriculum at Loughborough University (LU)
Teaching Innovation Award Professor K. Morrison School of Science Embedding open-source patterning of microelectronics in teaching labs
DIGI Lab Teaching Innovation Award
Dr Andrea Paoli & Dr Pedro Ferreira
Wolfson School of MEME RERLab – Remote Educational Robotics Lab
Teaching Innovation Award
Dr Helena Pimlott-Wilson
SSH Bridging the Gap: Degree skills applied in the workplace
DIGI Lab Teaching Innovation Award
Prof Valerie Pinfield, Dr Dan Butcher & Dr Bjorn Cleton
AACME Digiflow: enhancing fluid mechanics learning by digital visualisation technologies
DIGI Lab Teaching Innovation Award
Dr Elizabeth Ratcliffe &
Professor Valerie Pinfield
AACME/ Cross school Developing Digilabs in the Bio-curriculum; SimBioLab
DIGI Lab Teaching Innovation Award
Mr John Warren
SSEHS DIGI Labs Virtual Anatomy
DIGI Lab Teaching Innovation Award
Mhairi Morris
SSEHS The Power of Play: Elevating Bioscience Education Through Gamification 

 

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2023

Award Recipient  Department  Project Title
Teaching Innovation Award Paul Fleming, Scott Fernie, Matt Frost, Tom Dijkstra, Tim Marjoribanks ABCE Student Assessment Mapping
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Alessandro Palmeri, Dr Mariateresa Lombardo, Dr Mohamed Shaheen, Mr Benjamin Pearson ABCE Bridging Structural Forms, Computer Analyses, and Experimental Testing
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Chris Parker, Dr Ian Jones (Department of Mathematics Education, School of Science) Dr Matt Smith (School of Design and Creative Arts) SDCA IDEA: Improving Design students’ Empathy Application (IDEA)
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Roger Newport, Professor Sandie Dann, Dr Vivien Chow, Dr Sian Williams, Anna Leather SSEHS Cross-University Public & Community Engagement Postgraduate Short Course
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Hilary McDermott, Dr David Maidment, Team- Mr Jawad Bokhari, Part A Student Rep Mr James Cooper, Part A Student Rep Miss Jiya Neol, Part A Student Rep SSEHS ‘What to Know Before You Go: A digital information resource to support the transition to University and enhance belonging’’
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Richard Hodgkins, Dr Allan Watson, Ms Sharon Walker SSH Lboro Low-Carbon Careers Forum
Teaching Innovation Award Dr Matt Long SSH The use of appropriate humour to trigger psychological reversals in students in order to enhance learning. 
Inclusivity in Teaching Dr Amy Jones SSEHS A pilot investigating the use of real-time English subtitles and individual student first-language subtitles
Student Education Research Placement Dr. Sara Saravi, Dr. Parisa Derakhshan, Dr. Hossein Nevisi, Dr. Bjorn Cleton, Dr. Firat Batmaz Science Trial of AI-assistant for providing additional support to students 
Student Education Research Placement Professor Karen Coopman, Dr Paul Cunningham,  Dr Katryna Kalawsky AACME Embedding EDI considerations into research projects
Student Education Research Placement Dr Thomas Steffen, Dr Byron Mason, Dr Dan O'Boy, Dr Simon Tuplin AACME Teaching Sustainable Automotive Engineering using an Electric Vehicle
STEMLab Innovation Award Dr Peter Hubbard Wolfson STEM TIA – Digital Twins in Designing Automatic Systems
STEMLab Innovation Award Dr Daniel Butcher, Dr Duncan Walker, Dr Rebecca Grant, Dr Huayong Zhao, Mr Conor Crickmore AACME   Student-led labs - Improving opportunity for experiential learning in STEM
STEMLab Innovation Award Dr Ian McPherson, Dr Imogen Heaton, Dr Simon Kondrat Science Bringing Energy Storage Research into Second Year Chemistry Labs

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2022

Award

Recipient

Department

Project Title

Teaching Innovation Award

Dr Matt Sinclair 

Design and Creative Arts

3D Modelling in Virtual Reality   

Teaching Innovation Award

John Warren

School of Sport, Exercise, and Health Science

Effective flipped learning for practical laboratory

Teaching Innovation Award

Dr George Torrens

Design and Creative Arts

Supporting Design Students with A.P.U.S. 

Inclusivity in Teaching

Dr Anthony Papathomas 

School of Sport, Exercise, and Health Science

iREAD: Creating an immersive core reading experience through pedagogically enhanced PDFs

Inclusivity in Teaching

Dr Christopher Wilson, Dr Allyson King, Dr Amanda Berry

School of Business and Economics

A Peer Match-Up Service to Boost Student Interaction, Inclusion and Well-Being 

Student Education Research Placement

Dr Nicola Jennings

School of Science

A gamification approach to teaching referencing skills: “The Ref-Buddy” 

Student Education Research Placement

Dr Stuart Cockbill

Design and Creative Arts

Developing a programme design ‘Playbook’ using a Service Design & Design Futures Approach

Student Education Research Placement

Dr Hossein Nevisi, Dr Sara Saravi, Dr Parisa Derakhshan

School of Science

Piloting AI approaches within the Learning and Teaching space 

Student Education Research Placement

Dr Jonathan Wagner

AACME / AAE and Materials departments

Multi-criteria decision making for 21st century chemical engineering design 

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2021

Award

Recipient

Department

Project Title

Teaching Innovation Award

Dr Jessica Noske-Turner, Professor Jo Tacchi, Graham Hitchen

Loughborough University London, Institute for Media and Creative Industries

Pedagogy of the Pod: Using student podcasts as creative assessment in media and communication graduate programmes  

Teaching Innovation Award

Dr Christopher J. Parker, Dr Val Mitchell

Design and Creative Arts

IDEATE: Improvisation Design Education pedagogy

Teaching Innovation Award

Dr Catherine Rees, Andy Bayley, Alex Marlowe

School of Design and Creative Arts/School of Business and Economics/LSU

Developing Professional Presentation Skills for SBE undergraduates: Integrating Drama and Business.

Teaching Innovation Award

Dr Fran Azpitarte, Dr Adrian Leguina, Dr Laura Houldcroft, Harry Mistry

School of Social Sciences and Humanities (Social Policy Studies) and School of Sport, Exercise, and Health Science

We are not scared of numbers:Experiences of recent alumni developing a growth mindset towards quantitative methods in social and behavioural sciences

Inclusivity in Teaching

Dr Kerri Akiwowo; Mr Kit Neale; Dr Chetna Prajapati

Design and Creative Design: Textiles

Diverse Voices in Textiles

Inclusivity in Teaching

Dr. Saul Albert and Dr. Jessica Robles

SSH

EMCA4RJ (Ethnomethodology & Conversation Analysis for Racial Justice) Teaching Corpus

STEMLab Innovation Award

Professor Steve Christie

Science/Chemistry

Virtual Reality in Chemistry delivery within STEMLab

STEMLab Innovation Award

Dr Sheryl Williams, Dr Ben Clark and Dr Alford Chauraya

Wolfson School

Transforming existing ELVIS-II based laboratory equipment in STEMLab for use in blended learning activities.

Student Education Research Placement

Dr Fiona Hatton, Professor Lisa Jackson, Aisha Benachour

AACME / AAE and Materials departments

Inclusive problem-based flipped learning for Induction Days

Student Education Research Placement

Professor Adrian Spencer and Carl Eberlein

AAE

Compressible Flow Teaching Apps

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2020

Recipient

Department

Project Title

Marie Hanlon, Nicola Jennings, Nick Bostock, Surya Mahdi, James Moran, Lee Barnett

Science, Academic Language Support Service, LUL, CAP

Training students in assessment processes with a Personal Review Portfolio (PReP)

Caroline Lowery, Lisa Brooks-Lewis, Veronica Moore

IT Services, Student Wellbeing and Inclusion

Student perspectives on Learning Analytics and its use to support their learning

Paul Fleming, Chris Goodier, David Allinson, Matyas Gutai

ABCE

ABCE Part A Extended Induction for Engagement and Inclusivity

Sarah Bugby, Glyn Spencer, James Moran

Science/Physics, CAP

STEMLab CSI

Ian Jones, Rupal Mandania

Science/MEC, SBE

Sustainable Automated Assessment of Quantitative Modules Across the University

 Marco Discacciati

Science/ Mathematics

Computer Skills Builder: Enhancing Employability Through Digital Fluency

Andrew Kingsnorth, Dale Esliger, Nicola Paine, Lauren Sherar

SSEHS

Embedding employability skills in the Exercise as Medicine curriculum through active experimentation: the Health Assessment Service

Hilary McDermott, Emma Haycraft, Roger Newport, Owen Henderson (student)

SSEHS

Best practice for effective teaching; Development of new approaches and a model for enhanced programme delivery and management

John Warren

SSEHS

Training students in assessment processes with a Personal Review Portfolio (PReP)

Louise Nicholas, Sarah Bamforth

Social Sciences and Humanities CAP

Virtual(ly) Learning Environment: Integrating VR into teaching green issues

Tendai Dube, Sheryl Williams

Wolfson School

Evaluation of the effective use of an e-portfolio builder for Apprenticeship Programme

Teaching Innovation Awards Recipients 2019

Category

Recipient

Department

Project Title

TIA

Roberta Bernabei, Matt Hope

Arts and Centre for Academic Practice

Levelling the playing field: using ReView personal capture for students' presentations

TIA

Dr Thomas Thurnell-Read

Social Science

Using Video to Bring Real World Applications into the Classroom to Enhance Student Learning

TIA

Dr Ksenija Kuzmina, James Moran, Adam Adesina, Dr Thor Roser

Institute for Design Innovation and Centre for Academic Practice

Embedding ‘Reflection’ into Student’s Learning Journey

TIA

Professor Chris Keylock, Dr Tim Marjoribanks, Dr Rob Schmidt III, Dr Sergio Cavalaro, Dr Andrew Timmis

School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering

The Sustainable Built Environment in the Context of the Catchment: A Platform for Multidisciplinary, Enquiry-Based Learning

TIA

Dr Christopher Kay, Jenny Ardley

Social Science

The “virtual client”: Technology Enhanced Learning and its role in improving the student learning experience and educating for success

TIA

Dr Garrath Wilson, Dr Martin Maguire, Dr Firat Batmaz, Samantha Chester, James Moran

Design School, School of Science and Centre for Academic Practice

New Realities in HE Curriculum: a model for interdisciplinary design and creation in VR

Inclusivity TIA

Dr Clive Trusson, Dr Cheryl Travers

School of Business and Economics

Employability skills, work placements and career preparation: the learning and development experience of undergraduate students with autism spectrum conditions throughout their degree courses.

Inclusivity TIA

Jackie Hatfield, Tina Horsman

Student Services

Mobile LEGO® Serious Play® Lab: To support critical thinking, creativity, innovation and reflection

STEMLab TIA

Dr Sweta Ladwa, Dr Simon Cox, Monika Pietrzak, Dr Paul Roach

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

A Cross-Collaboration Development of Pre-Lab Online Resources for Biological Laboratory Teaching

STEMLab TIA

John Newton

Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering

Online Tutorials for STEMLab Laser and Foam CNC cutters

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2018

Recipient

Department

Project Title

Anje Conradie, Sandie Dann, Karligash Glass, Sarah Turner, Sian Williams

Science

Utilising tablets to enhance the lecture capture staff-student experience

CReW – Rachel Sandford, Oliver Hooper

SSEHS

Extension of the Critical Reading and Writing CReW Project

Amanda Harrington

SBE

Student engagement: Facilitating critical and criteria-based feedback in large cohorts to improve writing skills

Martin Foster

SSEHS

Developing real-world collaborative project management for digital citizens

Hilary McDermott, Julia Sargent (s), Emma Haycraft, Lee Barnett

SSEHS

Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and feedback

Firat Batmaz, Sandie Dann, Helen Willcock, Mike Walsh, Sarah Turner, Lee Barnet, Samantha Chester, Aaron Grimley

Science/AACME/CAP

STEMLab Virtual Reality – taking STEM teaching to the next level

Mark Everitt, Glyn Spencer, Shaun Atherton

Science

Revolutionising the Undergraduate Physics laboratory by realising the potential of STEM-Lab

James Flint

Wolfson

Learn or OneNote – which offers the best learning experience

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2017

Recipient

Department

Project Title

Simon Hogg, Mary Brewer, Lewis Wood

AACME/

AED/LSU

Developing Excellence in Independent Learning

TIA final report from Mary Brewer and Simon Hogg

Samantha Chester/ Sandie Dann, Firat Batmaz, Sean Slingsby, Lee Barnett

Chemistry/ Computer Science/ Science IT/ CAP

Virtual Reality in STEM Teaching

TIA report from Samantha Chester

Ian Jones

 MEC

Improving Assessment and Feedback Across Quantitative Modules

Jo Barnes, Victoria Haines

 LDS

Development of guidelines and tools for peer review assessment in group coursework

TIA final report form Jo Barnes Victoria Haines

Vicky Lofthouse, Val Mitchel, Erik Bohemia, Carolina Escobar Tello

 LDS/LUL

Building empathy and understanding to support the teaching of Chinese masters students

TIA final report form vicky lofthouse

Slide deck from Vicky Lofthouse 2017

Ksenia Chmutina, Lee Bosher, Rob Schmidt III, Jason Fricker (student)

CBE, Architecture

Disaster risk reduction is child’s play

TIA final report form Ksenia Chmutina

Richard Holdich

Chemical Engineering

Student Enhanced Visualisation of Engineering Processes through Virtual Reality

Nicola Jennings, Ben Buckley, Mike Cropper

Chemistry, Physics

Application of Academic Guidance Wheel in the Practical Assessment of STEM Undergraduates and Foundation Year Students.

Yvonne Cornejo

Language Centre

Creating student-led academic travel Vlogs to use as teaching material in Language classes

Rachel Sandford, Oliver Hooper (PGR)

SSEHS

The Critical Reading and Writing (CReW) Project

TIA final report form Rachel Sandford Oliver Hooper

Jamie Kenyon 

SSEHS

Integrating real-world practice in the Part A sport management curriculum

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2016

Recipient Department  Project Title
Jo Bullard/ Shung Hua Yang SPSGS/SCI Using Augmented Reality to Improve Geomorphological Understanding
Karisa Krcmar CDS

An exploration of the benefits of active learning strategies

TIA report form krcmar

Karisa Krcmar Journal of Neurodiversity Paper

Karisa krcmar Poster

Ella-Mae Hubbard/ Joshua Goodman WMME Understanding and exploiting threshold concepts
David Kerr/ Anthony Sutton WMME Remotely Accessed Laboratory Suite (RALS) using the Internet of Things
Sweta Ladwa SCI A 'Blueprint' for Peer-Based and Collaborative Learning in a Teaching Laboratory
Thomas Steffen AAE Gamification for Learning in Electrotechnology
Lauren Sherar SSEHS Physical activity and health of children
George Torrens/ Simon Downs LDS/AED Development of a multi-disciplinary, self-learning led resource for practice based students supporting training in research methods, design thinking & decision making
Marco Bohr/ Alexandre Christoyannopoulos AED/PHIR Developing and promoting learning and employability through blogging

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2015

Recipient Department  Project Title
Hilary McDermott, Ashley Casey, Lee Barnett and Said Ibeggazene SSEHS

Empowering students to develop a ‘user friendly’ framework for LEARN:

TIA Final Report Form McDermott Casey Barnett Taylor 

Harry Lane, Emma Giles, Emma Haycraft and Hilary McDermott SSEHS

Developing a common language: Enhancing communication and feedback:

TIA final report form Lane Giles Haycraft McDermott

Amanda Berry SBE

Video podcasts (Vodcasts) to support placement searching:

TIA final report form Amanda Berry

Mark Snape, Kelly Morrison and Michael Walsh EESE/SCI/LDS

Developing a student-led video library for undergraduate experimental labs:

TIA final report form proforma 2016 MW edit

Catherine Armstrong and Lauren Porter PHIR

Developing outreach and employability through innovative teaching: bringing together secondary school teachers and future teachers from the Loughborough undergraduate cohort:

TIA final report ArmstrongPorter

Ian Storer and Karl Hurn LDS Capturing and disseminating design expertise across large student cohorts
Lara Stocchi, Alex Wilson and Chris Wilson SBE

Using a Community of Practice to Enhance Learning and Teaching: 

TIAFinalReport WilsonComPractice

Lee Campbell AED

Skype’s the limit: Skype as a tool to enhance classroom engagement and build student enterprise opportunities:

TIA final report Lee Campbell

Simon Martin and Daniel O’Boy AACME Drop-in Labs: Exploring Engineering Concepts

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2014

The 2014 Teaching Innovation Awards attracted applications from across the University.

Six staff projects were awarded nearly £19,000 to proactively enhance student learning not only in their departments, but across the University. Some projects will support students at both Loughborough and Loughborough University in London, whilst others have even wider impact within schools, other universities and in industry.

Announcing the award winners at a lunch in their honour, Professor Morag Bell, Pro-Vice Chancellor Teaching said innovation in teaching was important for individual academics, for student learning and in Loughborough University’s reputation for excellence.  

The 2014 Teaching Innovation Award winners in alphabetical order are:

Dr Marcus Collins, Dr Catherine Armstrong, Dr Thoralf Klein and Dr Paul Maddrell

(Department of Politics, History and International Relations)

In writing their dissertation final year students often face their most challenging academic undertaking. At the same time, in preparing to become academics postgraduate researchers (PGRs) are increasingly recognising research alone is often not enough to progress. This project therefore brought together PGRs and final year History undergraduate students in an effort to facilitate both parties development. Current academics, Deena Ingham from CAP and Sammy Davis from the Students’ Union provided training in Peer Assisted Learning to nine PGRs from seven institutions. These PGRs then devised a one day workshop event attended by History undergraduates to aid them in the preparation and writing of their final year dissertation. Feedback from student attendees was extremely positive. In addition to the hands-on teaching experience the project afforded it has led to two paper proposals arising from the data produced.

Dr Mark Jepson, Dr Nicola Jennings and Dr Simon Hogg

(Department of Materials/Department of Chemistry) 

Mark, Nicola and Simon’s work has demonstrated the centrality of peer instruction in the process of flipping. Flipping refers to the practice of students ‘pre-learning’ to enable contact time to be used more effectively whilst peer instruction involves students facilitating one another’s learning during lectures. In such a configuration lecturers move away from ‘conveyers of knowledge’ towards facilitators whose skills and higher level of understanding students can draw upon.  Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive and attendance, despite the material being made available prior to the lecture, was found to be unaffected.

 ‌

Dr Vicky Lofthouse

(Loughborough Design School)

In collaboration with Mark Shayler at Ape Vicky has a developed, implemented and evaluated a carbon footprinting tool for use by design students. Adapting an existing open-sourced Excel-based tool developed by Ape ‘Dirty Carbon’ has been designed to meet the specific needs of designers. When tested by students the tool was found to outperform 'Sustainable Minds' (one of the market leaders) with respect to the needs of design students. The tool has been made freely available on the Design school website and was recently promoted at the Learn X Design conference in Chicago. The tool also forms a central part of a full teaching package alongside a dedicated lecture and workshop. Conversations regarding the tools wider use are ongoing with other academics within the sector.

 

Dr Jonathan Millett

(Department of Geography)

A key consideration for students undertaking their dissertation is their methodological approach. Failure to choose an appropriate approach can lead to later student difficulties. A vast quantity of information on research methodologies is already available to students – be it via textbooks, Google, journal papers or staffJonathan’s project looks to overcome this problem of information overload through the creation of a curated website where relevant information is collated and made easily accessible. Making such basic information available to students allows for contact time with tutors to become more focussed and supports students to work independently. Jonathan has thus far produced three guides and now intends to evaluate the material and investigate how best to deliver it to students. 

 

Dr Abby Paterson, Prof. Richard Bibb and Mr James Lenard

(Loughborough Design School) 

Abby, Richard and James looked to evaluate the different types of communication methods employed to help students understand Computer Aided Design (CAD). Four communication methods were evaluated: text only; text with images; video without dialogue; and video with dialogue. Through task-analysis and use of eye-tracking software it was possible to ascertain which method students engaged with the most. It was also possible to discern where exactly students made mistakes, which parts of the task they struggled with and how quickly they completed the task. Text alone was found to be the worst form of communication as judged by the student participants with analysis of eye-tracking showing that students often glanced at and skim-read the instructions leading to misinterpretation. The fewest number of errors were made in the task using video without dialogue whilst a majority of participants reported text with pictures to be the easiest to follow.

 

Dr Sheryl Williams and Dr Richard Blanchard

(School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering) 

Sheryl and Richard have developed a remote access laboratory that allows students enrolled on Loughborough’s MSc in Renewable Energy by distance learning to perform experiments and download data remotely. Feedback has been positive, with students commenting on the value of using real equipment over simulation software. As the only remote lab of its kind in the world, Sheryl and Richard are currently seeking funding to develop two further new labs and encourage suggestions/enquiries about the labs possible applications in other disciplines.

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2013

Dr Eugenie Hunsicker and Dr Irene Biza

(Department of Mathematical Sciences/Maths Education Centre)

Eugenie and Irene’s project arose from a challenge commonly faced by teachers of statistics; namely, the identification of suitable datasets for use in teaching statistical methodologies. Not only can this process by time-consuming but the data which is available is often not suitable. An expansion of an Excel tool originally developed by students EDGE allows for the random generation of datasets, producing raw data which can be used across a variety of statistical tests taught at undergraduate level. The tools along with support materials and YouTube videos outlining the process of data generation can be accessed on http://edgestats.lboro.ac.uk/. In addition, a conference paper arising from the project was presented at the CERME 9 conference (Congress of European Research in Mathematics Education) in February 2015.

Ms Charlotte Davison and Dr Marcus Collins

(Department of Politics, History and International Relations) 

In 2013/14 Loughborough University admitted its first cohort of students onto its newly created single honours History programme. Led by Marcus, the programme team were keen to encourage students from the existing joint honours History provision to contribute in its design. Seven student researchers, ranging from first year students to alumni, were recruited to gauge student attitudes. Three types of data collection were deployed – questionnaires, surveys and focus groups – reaching over 250 students and generating 28 recommendations which were fed back to the programme team for their consideration. 

 ‌

Dr Karen Coopman

(Department of Chemical Engineering)

Each year 10 to 15 engineering and physical science students join the Centre for Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine. In order to work within the regenerative medicine field these students need a grounding in biology, an aspect of which is a practical training course in mammalian cell culture. Due to the difficulty in demonstrating such work and associated safety risks this requires 1-to-1 tuition with researchers working through the practical with a staff member or technician. Despite this, students report not feeling supported or fully understanding the material, having had little familiarity with it previously. To address this Karen has developed an online tutorial to facilitate students pre-learning before participation in the practical work. Consisting of a video demonstration, equipment glossary and a formative quiz the tutorial allows students to better understand the practical portion of the training as well targeting by tutors of areas where understanding may still be lacking.

 

Dr Mashhuda Glencross 

(Department of Computer Science)

 Through the development of a hybrid Massive Open Online Course (hMOOC) Mashhuda has combined traditional classroom-based teaching with an online platform. Adopting a flipped approach online resources are made available to students prior to the in-class session leaving contact time free to focus on coursework based tasks and the development of key skills. Google Groups allows for a discussion space for students and the use of Google Hangouts facilitates a range of guest lectures from international academics, partners in industry and employees of Google.  

 

 Dr Ella-Mae Hubbard and Prof. Carys Siemieniuch

(School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering)

Ella-Mae and Carys’ project emerged in order to address a perceived shortcoming in student project work. Whilst projects are designed to cover the manufacturing process from inception to completion validation and verification procedures often get side-lined at the expense of designing, building and testing. In response to this, Ella-Mae and Carys looked to develop a framework that allowed for engagement with these important procedures without having to first design and build the initial product. The result was a mixture of pre-produced hardware, software, concepts and different questions through which students could engage with system validation and verification techniques directly. Student input, funded by the Teaching Innovation Award, led to the additional development of a virtual test bench where students could test output that they had previously produced.

 

 

Lamplight Press

(School of the Arts, English & Drama)

Lamplight Press is a nonprofit, independent publisher based at Loughborough University. Student-led, it affords undergraduate students in Publishing, English, Creative Writing and Art & Illustration the opportunity to develop their skills in publishing, creative writing and graphic and web design. In 2013 Lamplight published two titles: The Maya: A Living Culture In The 21st Century by Ines Varela-Silva and You is for University, a collection of creative writing from students about university life compiled by Sophie-Louise Hyde.  

 

 Dr Andy Williams

(Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering) 

The first stage in a larger project Andy’s focus is three-fold; to better understand the characteristics of the feedback students receive, the way in which students respond to feedback and the ways in which it influences their learning. Andy has placed a mid-point in his Turbo Machinery module where students are provided with a range of different types of feedback (individual oral feedback; group oral feedback; individual written feedback; previous year’s group feedback and sectional grading, where grades are awarded for specific aspects of the project). Students are then asked to reflect on how these different methods of feedback may have influenced their project direction and final report. Preliminary data analysis has found a substantial amount of students do not appear to acknowledge the feedback they receive at all. Furthermore, where feedback was mentioned by students it concerned almost exclusively individual written feedback and to a much lesser extent individual oral feedback.

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2012

RecipientDepartment  Project Title 
Kevin Badni Design School Augmented Reality to aid complicated machine setups
Alexandre Christoyannopoulos School of Social, Political and Geographical Sciences Student Buddies: Developing a sustainable peer-mentoring scheme in Politics, History and International Relations
Presentation: Mentoring poster  ‌
Regina Frank School of Business & Economics Increasing student engagement and employability through use of online discussion groups  
Thomas Jun
Tom Page 
Design School Lego-based learning initiative for systems design and ergonomics teaching – efficiencies in teaching through the use of technology (Lego Mindstorms NXT: programmable robotics kit)
Presentation: Lego-based learning presentation 
Robert Knight School of Social, Political and Geographical Sciences Linking the local to the international: Embedding oral history and eyewitness accounts into the curriculum
Presentation: Robert Knight Cold War eyewitnesses 
Debra Lilley
Val Mitchell
Ian Storer
Design School Electronic group logbooks for Design students: Creating efficiencies in the assessment of visual coursework
Presentation: TIA_Lilley et alpptx 
Hilary McDermott
Fehmidah Munir
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences E-qual: Developing a reusable e-learning object for efficient teaching of qualitative coding
Presentation: Hilary McDERMOTT TIA E-Qual project 
Alistair Milne School of Business and Economics Using Learn Wikis for discussion and development of multifaceted topics by a large enrolment class
Presentation: Using Learn Wikis for discussion and development of 

Teaching Innovation Award Recipients 2011

Final reports for these projects can be found on Learn here

RecipientDepartment  Project Title 
Kevin Badni Design School Workshop app
Robert Harland
Emma Dresser
School of the Arts
Student Voice (LSU)
Feedback: facilitating reflection to promote learning
Amanda Harrington School of Business and Economics Voluntary self-managed study groups (SMSG’s): helping students to develop skills in team working and research for both university and work environments
Paul Hernandez-Martinez Mathematics Education Centre Engaging Materials Engineering students by teaching Mathematics in context
Elaine Hobby English and Drama It’s as easy as that: teaching library skills and plagiarism avoidance to new undergraduate students
Keith Pond School of Business and Economics Effective feedback for students in Web_pa – a systems upgrade to provide relevant feedback and development guidance relating to group working
Brian Reed
Sue Coates
WEDC (School of Civil and Building Engineering) Assessing the students’ experience of a pilot e-learning course
Carl Silvester
Dan Heath
School of the Arts CATS: Computer Aided Tutorial Support (Pilot)
Chris Szejnmann Politics, History and International Relations Transferable technology and interactive and learner-centred activities in the History programmes
Presentation: Learner-centred activities presentation