Using games to activate students in PBL: Reflections from a CPD workshop

Using games to activate students in PBL: Reflections from a CPD workshop

By Patrick Bijsmans & Anna Harris One of the key characteristics of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is its emphasis – or even dependence – on active student engagement. One way of activating students in such a context is the use of…

Learning while cleaning the house: Some reflections on using podcasts in teaching

Learning while cleaning the house: Some reflections on using podcasts in teaching

By Patrick Bijsmans & Andreea Nǎstase Podcasts are rapidly becoming an important medium, with over 400 million podcast listeners worldwide projected for this year. Search for “podcast higher education” in Spotify and you’ll find yourself scrolling for quite a while…

Role-play in PBL: Experiencing course content

Role-play in PBL: Experiencing course content

By Ragna Zeiss As a teacher, I am always keen to engage with new teaching and learning formats. While preparing for the Globalisation and Development (GDS) course ‘Science and Technology Studies for Development in a Global Context’, I encountered an…

What happens when a FASoS tutor suddenly becomes a student again?  Reflections from the other side of the lectern

What happens when a FASoS tutor suddenly becomes a student again? Reflections from the other side of the lectern

By Elsje Fourie This has been an upside-down year in all sorts of ways, and I’m no exception. After more than a decade on the other side of the classroom, I suddenly found myself cast in the role of a…

“In God we trust, all others must bring data”: Introducing BA DS students to quantitative data analyses, R programming and Big Data

“In God we trust, all others must bring data”: Introducing BA DS students to quantitative data analyses, R programming and Big Data

By Eliyahu Sapir & Thomas Frissen In January 2021, second-year BA Digital Society students followed an intensive introduction to big data analysis. Students were trained in quantitative data analyses and using R and RStudio in an earlier course. They employed…