Visit to BU from Linkoping University in Sweden to Learn about TEL

This week the Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL) Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) theme, hosted a two day visit for ten senior academics from Linkoping University to share our ideas, progress and examples of good practice in TEL at BU. The visit was facilitated by the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education who are working with us on a project to enhance our TEL provision. Linkoping supports a large team of senior colleagues to undertake annual study visits and this year there were three groups, one visiting us, one going to University of Essex and one to Southampton Solent. They will then share the learning they did across the three HEIs and integrate it into their delivery plans for the next year.

It was an excellent visit and they were impressed by a number of projects they heard about including the CEL theme approach to meeting objectives from the BU2018 strategic plan, the iBU app for new students, the online case studies and ‘heart, head and hands’ approach to teaching about evidence based practice in HSC and the enthusiasm of the students they met along with John Gusman, SUVP from SUBU. It would appear that they have adopted a new E learning platform, having moved on from Black Board, and have an opt-in model to using technology in their teaching.  It seems certain that we can learn from them about how we might take our E learning platform forward in future and we feel a staff mobility fusion bid coming on to provide support for some interested volunteers to investigate further!

Professor B Gail Thomas, Director of CEL & Dr Geli Roushan, TEL Theme Leader