Proceedings of the Lancaster University Education Conference
The Proceedings of the Lancaster University Education Conference hosts the abstracts and revised short papers of the Lancaster University Education Conference.
Welcome to the Proceedings of the Lancaster University Education Conference 2025
We are delighted to present the 2025 Proceedings of the Lancaster University Education Conference. Now in its sixth year, the conference continues to provide a vibrant and collaborative space for colleagues across the University and its regional and international partnerships to share practice, challenge assumptions, and deepen conversations about teaching, learning and educational development. This is the second edition of the proceedings, following on from the inaugural proceedings last year (Barber et al., 2024).
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Brett Bligh, Caroline Briggs, Catherine Barber, Dr Amanda Chapman (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Using digital tools: Inclusive assessment as learning
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Faye Tucker, Elizabeth Walkden (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Using imagination for inclusive teaching and learning
This short paper explores the transformative role of imagination in fostering inclusive teaching and learning within higher education. Drawing on practical examples from marketing education, it illustrates how imaginative pedagogies—such as storytelling, role-play, and scenario-based learning—can enhance student engagement, critical thinking, and professional identity. By integrating imaginative strategies with inclusive principles, educators can create dynamic, student-centered environments that accommodate diverse learning needs and prepare students for real-world challenges. The paper highlights how imaginative assessment, particularly through reflective and narrative formats making use of actual job adverts, supports deeper learning and empowers students to connect theory with practice in meaningful ways.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Emre Tarim (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Crafting inclusion through creative practice: Decolonising using zines
Zines are entwined with a long history of socio-political activism. They represent a subversive symbol of anti-institution publishing which offers a material means to combat dominant cultures. Centring the human creative input, zines embody a do-it-yourself, non-specialist, self-expressive and accessible form informed by passion over profit. In doing so, they foster a non-hierarchical, creative space for facilitating the production of knowledge. In relation to higher education and pedagogy, zines are slowly becoming a mainstay of decolonised curriculum design initiatives. They allow for a move away from more “traditional” forms of teaching and assessment and are becoming an innovative means to explore the co-creation of learning. In addition, zines have begun to be integrated into the university canon through the development and design of zine libraries. This workshop offers staff and students an opportunity to explore the potential of zines to decolonise the curriculum and make teaching, learning and research practices more inclusive. It will begin with a short introduction to the decolonial relevance of zines and zine making as a practice. Participants will then be given the opportunity (online or in-person) to create a single-page zine exploring the topic: “Decolonising My Curriculum or Research.” Tools will be provided during the session i.e., writing provocations, cut and paste materials, and previous examples, to facilitate and inspire creativity. These single-page zines will then be added, with permission from participants, into a collaborative zine project about university staff and students’ perceptions of decolonisation within their respective fields.
Copyright (c) 2025 Meg Ritchie, Dr Sunita Abraham (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Inclusive spaces: Re-imagining critical pedagogy as an experiential approach within the neoliberal university
In this paper, I explore the potential of critical pedagogy as an experiential approach within the neoliberal university to support inclusivity. I argue that the university is neoliberal in its promotion of individual and self-interested self-gain at the expense of a more democratic and collective understanding of success. Critical pedagogy is founded on principles of democratic ways of working for social justice, and I argue that operationalised through active experiential learning, it can be used to support students to develop the skills to be democratic and inclusive both in the classroom and beyond.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jane Pye (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Immersive inclusivity: AI-enhanced virtual reality for language and cultures learning
Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a transformative tool, offering significant potential to enhance inclusivity. This paper examines the integration of VR and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in language and cultures learning, focusing on its application in fostering an inclusive and immersive educational experience. It presents AI-driven VR scenarios that transform language learning into an inclusive, immersive experience. The Unity-based experience enabled real-time spoken interaction by combining OpenAI’s Audio Transcriptions API (Whisper-1), the GPT-4o dialogue model, and AWS Polly for text-to-speech. A case study has been conducted with Spanish B2-level students who engaged in a VR job interview simulation within the Data Immersion Suite. This platform provided an interactive environment for students to practice real-world communication while receiving peer feedback. Given that higher-level language acquisition demands not only grammatical accuracy but also real-world communicative competence, VR offers a dynamic solution by simulating authentic interactions in a low-pressure setting. The combination of VR and AI created a customisable and accessible learning platform, accommodating varied learning paces and reducing social anxiety. The effectiveness of VR and AI as tools for inclusive, immersive learning is further supported by existing research indicating that multisensory engagement enhances retention (Shadiev et al., 2021). These pedagogical innovative sessions provide valuable insights for developing innovative and inclusive approaches aligning with contemporary pedagogical demands while increasing the appeal of our academic offerings in the context of CTP.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Alícia Moreno Giménez, Dr Raeesa Parker (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Learning online: What does digital academic engagement look like
Student habits of engagement across hybrid learning models appears to be a critical and global challenge. Previous attempts to analyse student behaviour focus on survey data and student opinion. These are valuable tools and have allowed us to interrogate the trend of declining engagement and attendance in recent years. We will present our early observations on the patterns of digital and physical engagement for a first-year, undergraduate biosciences cohort and how these patterns relate to the attainment metrics for the same cohort. In previous studies students have ranked lecture capture as a highly desirable tool for accessibility and engagement. From our early observations it appears that in person and digital engagement trends seem to correlate and that lecture capture alone is not acting as a suitable alternative to in person lectures.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Andrew Lewis, Dr Emma Shawcross, Lisa Wang, Tim Ellis (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Promoting inclusive Assessment in Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) training
The Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) requires trainees to develop advanced research skills alongside clinical competencies. To complete the 3-year full-time programme, trainees must successfully produce and defend a doctoral thesis as their final summative assessment. To support this, the Thesis Preparation Assignment (TPA) was previously introduced as a summative Year 1 assessment, aimed at helping trainees critically synthesise literature to justify their planned research. While aligned with programme-level learning outcomes (e.g., critically appraising evidence, planning independent research), the TPA posed significant challenges, including high failure rates and redundancy with subsequent tasks (e.g., preparing a thesis proposal and a research protocol). These issues disproportionately affected trainees with less prior research experience and created barriers to progression, undermining inclusivity. This paper focuses on how the TPA has been transformed into a formative assessment to promote inclusivity in the DClinPsy programme, designed to scaffold trainees to refine their work progressively while building confidence and gaining research independence. Preliminary feedback suggest that this approach reduces barriers to making progress with thesis research while maintaining alignment with programme-level learning outcomes. Importantly, it ensures that formative assessment acts as a meaningful bridge toward successful completion of the summative doctoral thesis.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Buket Kara, Dr Suzanne Hodge (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Let them use GenAI: A manifesto for teaching with Generative AI, not policing it
This paper presents a manifesto for teaching with Generative AI (GenAI) in higher education, not policing it. Drawing on three years of practitioner experience across undergraduate and postgraduate courses, it explores how tools like GPT-4, Gemini, and Copilot were meaningfully integrated into assessments, labs, and class activities. Using an action research approach, the study captures how students transitioned from passive AI use to more reflective, critical engagement when guided by structured prompts and ethical reflection. Supported by recent literature, including Holmes (2023) and UNESCO (2023), the paper emphasizes the need for AI literacy, inclusive access, and educator readiness. Key findings show improved student metacognition, ethical awareness, and academic integrity, particularly when GenAI was framed as a thinking tool rather than a shortcut. The educator’s role is redefined—from content gatekeeper to learning facilitator—highlighting the urgent need for institutional policies and support. Ultimately, GenAI can raise educational standards if we teach students how to use it well.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Sami S. H. Hajjaj (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Integrating real-world social design projects into graphic design higher education
This paper explores the pedagogical benefits of engaging graphic design students in real-world social design projects which are integrated within module delivery. Students worked on a creative project with an external third sector organisation and used a range of strategies to co-design zines with stakeholders. Data was collected through short evaluative surveys with the students and organisational staff at the conclusion of the project. The findings reveal the wide-ranging benefits of this activity which include developments in self-empowerment, personal growth, heightened confidence and increased perceived agency and aspirations in participants. It also exposed some of the potential challenges in social design projects such as increased timescales and greater logistical, facilitation and resource commitments.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jenna Gardner (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Climate fiction for inclusive pedagogy in Politics
Research indicates that climate fiction can help readers grasp the fragility of human societies and vulnerable ecosystems, while also de-mystifying the abstractions of climatology and generating alternative climate imaginaries and futures (e.g. Schneider-Mayerson 2018; Death 2022; Hulme 2021). But how can climate fiction enrich students’ pedagogical experiences in an inclusive manner? This paper presents three distinct perspectives: that of the lecturer, and one each from two Politics students who read and discussed a climate fiction short story. These three perspectives suggest that climate fiction can break down complex, multifaceted issues, enable critical thinking and facilitate inclusive curriculum design by amplifying under-recognised forms of knowledge and experience. The paper concludes by reflecting on how to best embed climate fiction into environmental politics teaching.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Matilda Fitzmaurice, Millie Banister, Adam Parker-Rich (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Student perceptions of live-subtitles during in-person lectures: A pilot study
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Jaime Benjamin, Dr Alice Rees, Emma Mills (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Spirals of inclusive curriculum design: Diversity of leadership, thinking and voice
This paper explores the development of an inclusive, employability-informed Level 5 common curriculum within the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Lancaster University. Drawing on Hui’s (2023) articulation of the need for spiralling processes of unlearning, redoing, and relearning, we describe how this project sought to reimagine curriculum design as an inclusive and recursive practice. We examine how intentional spaces were created to enable collaboration between academics, professional services staff, and students, challenging traditional hierarchies of expertise and authority. Through reflection on leadership, design processes, and student engagement, we offer insights into the messiness and opportunities with inclusive curriculum development. Our findings suggest that inclusion requires more than just content reform, it demands structural and methodological shifts that centre diverse voices and foster ongoing dialogue.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rachel Beauchamp, Dr Allison Hui, Dr Temidayo Eseonu (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Opening the doors of higher education to students with learning disabilities: Lessons from Lancaster University Ghana
There is a universal recognition of the right to education without conditions, regardless of the state of the beneficiary. Higher education institutions recently have embraced the idea of inclusive learning. Yet few have committed to restructuring educational systems to truly accommodate persons with learning disabilities. In this paper we attempt to share our experience in handling students with learning disabilities studying alongside mainstream students. The method is phenomenological, with authors sharing their experiences dealing with students who have cognitive diversity and learning disabilities. The findings show that given the opportunity, students with learning disabilities could achieve academic success alongside mainstream students. However, such success could only be attained through deliberate planning where the needs of disabled students are factored into curriculum designing with special facilities and offices dedicated to supporting the students. It is recommended that educational institutions and national accreditation authorities collaborate to create special dispensation for students with cognitive differences during curriculum design and accreditation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Francis Kwabena Atta, Edna Asante (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Inclusive Education: Practices and Challenges in a Transnational Educational Context
Transnational education (TNE) has become a major revolution in global higher education, allowing students to access degree programmes from institutions in other countries without physically crossing borders. With the rapid expansion of such opportunities worldwide, Africa has emerged as a significant hub. Between 1998 and 2021, the number of African students enrolled in degree programmes outside their home country increased by approximately 170%, highlighting the continent’s growing engagement with TNE. Lancaster University Ghana (LUG) is a prime example of this trend, offering Lancaster University UK degrees within Ghana. As the only British university campus in West Africa, LUG attracts a diverse student body from across the African continent. This diversity highlights the importance of inclusive education, ensuring that all students—regardless of cultural, linguistic, or educational background—can fully participate and excel. Inclusivity in this context is not only a pedagogical necessity but also a defining feature of successful transnational education, where different traditions of learning and ways of knowing must be respected and integrated. Drawing on Thomas and May’s (2010) four-pronged typology of student diversity, this study explores the teaching practices and challenges encountered by module leaders at LUG. The findings reveal that language barriers and differences in cultural background pose the most significant obstacles to inclusivity. However, module leaders adopt strategies such as encouraging classroom discussions, promoting peer consultations, and organising cultural or country exhibition days, all of which contribute to fostering a more inclusive learning environment. By foregrounding inclusivity, this study not only reflects the lived realities of teaching in a transnational context but also offers practical insights into how institutions like LUG can strengthen their inclusive practices, setting a model for other TNE providers in Africa and beyond.
Copyright (c) 2025 Irene Tiwaa Asare-Yeboa, Patrick Amfo Anim, Fredrick Boafo (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Welcome to the Inaugural Proceedings of the Lancaster University Education Conference
We are delighted to present the proceedings of the Lancaster University Education Conference for the first time. In this brief editorial, we introduce the Inaugural Proceedings.
Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Challenges and choices in student attendance
It has been identified that attendance at in-person teaching and learning events in Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) is in decline. This has been identified anecdotally by staff, through the disparity between visual attendance headcounts and online attendance recording, and student feedback. To better understand this trend, and the choices that students are making, this research project gathered data from Undergraduate and Postgraduate students across a sample of LUMS modules. This research aims to explore current levels of attendance, identify barriers to attendance, and investigate the reasons students choose to attend or not attend in-person sessions, including lectures, seminars, and tutorials. The primary aim of the research is to understand what factors inform students’ decisions to attend or not, to evaluate our assumptions about student attendance, and to identify factors that we may not have considered so that we can implement teaching and learning strategies and pedagogies that enhance the student experience and improve attainment.
In chamber music, roles are often pre-determined even before performers meet for their first rehearsal. The string quartet has long been known for this, with the crown on the first violinist. Many quartets are named after this leader, and they disband when this one member leaves or dies. There’s even a name: the leader is the primarius. Even when some quartets break the mould and have rotating leadership, critics assume the first violinist is in charge. This poses a real problem in education if one student learns to lead while the rest exclusively learn to follow. This hierarchical vestige of a bygone era creates the challenge of democratising the collaborative process. This is where Miro comes in. The infinite zoom user interface, though seemingly chaotic and messy allows a space for participants to express themselves individually. The need to wait for their turn to speak is eliminated – an issue that still persists in other real-time formats like vertical text messaging applications.
Using white boards to engage students with employability skills
The Executive Summary of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education) indicated that even though Malaysia has made significant gains in risen global recognition, employers report that graduates lack the critical thinking, communication skills, and the language proficiency (especially in English) that are essential for success in the 21st century. (Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 2015). However, higher education institutions can help improve the employability skills among their students through effective teaching delivery, curriculum, and assessments (Abd Majid et al., 2020).
The impacts of text messaging on interpersonal communication skills among university students in Malaysia
With the widespread use of texting as a dominant communication tool, concerns have arisen about its potential consequences towards an individual’s interpersonal communication skills, particularly among university students. It has made it possible for university students to communicate without having to engage in face-to-face interactions. This research aims to examine the potential impact of text messaging on interpersonal communication skills among university students and mitigate its negative effects on the ability to social connection through face-to-face interactions. This chapter will cover the background of the problem, problem statement, research objectives, research questions and significance of the study. Besides, it will be examined in a quantitative research method. Data can be measured on the variables in the study and collected by applying self-data collection technique.
What students want: An exploration of the user experience of Moodle at Lancaster University
In June 2023, the Lancaster University Digital Learning Team (DLT) began a project to review the user experience of our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Moodle. This paper will review the findings and implications of the research into the student experience of Moodle.
Enhancing social-emotional learning at HEIs: Building skills ready to meet future job market needs
In today’s rapidly advancing digital society, driven by continuous technological progress, the job market increasingly demands individuals who are not only highly knowledgeable but also empathic, creative, and innovative Longmore et al. (2018). To respond these challenge Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) should do their best to prepare students (future employees) to new job standards. And those soft skills could be developed only with the help of social and emotional learning (SEL) tools.
Formative assessments: Perspectives of Law School students
This paper will examine the pedagogical importance of formative assessments in supporting law students’ learning today. To do so, it will examine the findings collected from a focus group discussion with law finalists, findings which will not only demonstrate the continued learning benefits of formatives, but how formatives can be more successfully incorporated into our learning environments. Accordingly, this paper seeks to affirm the pedagogical benefits of formatives from the law school perspective.
Upping the learning and downing the teaching: Using Digital Story Maps to elevate student engagement. A reflective piece
For some of us educators who have been around for a longer time, we never thought we would have to grapple with the reality of this phrase, where technology is influencing daily life in an ever-increasing extent. Familiar only with the adage of ‘chalk and talk’, we never imagined we would encounter the growing influence of digitalization in our everyday classroom practices. This phenomenon is especially due to the evolvement of students over the decades, where their educational needs and learning preferences have morphed into the perpetuity of using tech-based methods and devices.
Creative abilities as a way to adapt the student to an uncertain future
The Department of System Analysis and Management of the Faculty of Information Technologies of NTU "Dnipro Polytechnic" today is engaged in the training of specialists in system analysis and management. The main disciplines are related to the management of complex systems and the practical application of mathematical modeling in forecasting, design and management. Today, there is already a common understanding in the scientific community that education should prepare a future specialist for a job that does not yet exist and it is not yet possible to clearly define it, so it is not clear which skills should become the most important in curricula. The aim of the work is to formalize creative methods of training technical specialists as a foundation for the further development of education in the post-industrial era.
Active lectures: Using reflective activities to enhance engagement and learning
This paper explores the use of active and reflective learning within UG and PGT modules, focusing on benefits gained using reflective activities within a traditional lecture-seminar format; a constraint many HE practitioners still have to work within. The place, and value, of instructor-led lectures in HE has been debated for many years now, and since Covid many have seen a fall in attendance rates and lack of engagement with these both in person and as resources supplied for hybrid, distance, or asynchronous learning, which seems to undermine their value further. I suggest here that large-class lectures can still be a valuable tool for effective learning and engagement when combined with an open and reflective approach, rather than being seen as a method for content transmission.
Effective ways of assessment in the AI era
The integration of deep learning and machine learning algorithms has resulted in the development of advanced AI systems, presenting significant challenges across various sectors, including education. The utilization of sophisticated AI technologies and software by educators and students from diverse backgrounds has transformed teaching and learning practices. These AI systems, powered by extensive datasets, demonstrate remarkable accuracy in learning and prediction, exemplified by tools like ChatGPT that can predict answers to complex queries. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the adoption of digital platforms for exam setting, introducing new modes of assessment. However, alongside the benefits, these advancements also raise concerns regarding the effective assessment of students in alignment with educational curricula. At Lancaster University Ghana, both students and lecturers utilize AI tools for teaching and learning purposes. The problem, however, is that sometimes these tools are unethically utilized by students for academic success, especially with tasks that students are required to research and produce, thereby making it difficult for students to be effectively assessed. This paper aims to explore strategies for the effective assessment of students in the AI era, addressing the challenges posed by AI technologies. A comprehensive review of relevant literature in higher education has been conducted, with the findings offering critical insights for educators in navigating these challenges.
Student agency in pedagogical change in transnational education in Africa
The aim of this study is to examine the role of students in pedagogical transformation in African based TNE programmes. The author reflects on his experiences working as a teacher in a TNE context in Ghana. These reflections are triangulated with students’ feedback and experiences of other TNE lecturers in Ghana. Analysis was done thematically. The study shows that African students and guardians have high hopes about TNE programmes. However, differences in pedagogic cultures between source and host countries sometimes affect desired outcomes. Therefore, institutions exporting education often undertake a transfer of student-centred learning approaches to the host institutions where students are already accustomed to teacher-centred learning cultures. However, student agency appears to be overlooked in the pedagogical change processes. The study outlines reasons why student agency is crucial in the success of pedagogical change in TNE in Africa and recommends approaches to incorporate students.
Enhancing independent learning in a transnational environment
In recent times there has been increased attention and concern for the need to inculcate the concept of independent learning in higher education institutions (HEI) (Abeyrathne and Ekanayeke, 2019; Ferris, 2021; Samah et al., 2021). According to Hockings et al. (2018), in the United Kingdom (UK) independent learning has now become a cornerstone in higher education because of the ‘massification’ of higher education. However, according to Learsk (2008) there are both opportunities and challenges that emerge in a transnational educational setting due to the intercultural engagements. These challenges and opportunities therefore determine the success of a curriculum in the TNE environment. In Ghana for instance, though the educational sector has seen some major reforms since 2004 advocating for a more learner-centred approach to teaching very little changes can be seen with respect to curriculum design and development as well as teaching practises that enhances independent learning (Acheampong, 2017). Enhancing independent learning in a Ghanaian TNE environment is therefore important because it is one of the major proponents of a learner-centred curriculum which provides students with a more interactive and engaging learning environment as compared to the usual Ghanaian teaching environment ultimately ensuring that these students have a access to quality education which is a major reason why some African students opt for TNE in their countries according to Owusu-Agyeman and Amoakohene, (2020). However, the pursuit of a leaner-centred environment in a TNE can present some challenges both for the teacher who might have had their entire educational journey in the Ghanaian context and is used to the transmission style as a learner and teacher which represented my personal challenge and the students who are used to a learning environment which is more teacher-centred therefore have never understood their role in enhancing their own learning experience. This paper aims to explore the factors that can enhance the concept of independent learning in a transnational environment focusing on effective feedback.
Bridging borders: Harmonizing curricula for equivalence in Transnational Education
Transnational education is increasingly pivotal as universities expand programs offshore through partnerships and international campuses, particularly in Africa. While this approach offers significant potential, it faces challenges in harmonizing curricula across diverse educational contexts to ensure a seamless learning experience. This study explores these challenges and opportunities, focusing on curriculum alignment using Lancaster University Ghana as a case study. Drawing on Waterval et al.'s (2015) framework, the study examines strategies to achieve curriculum equivalence and engages with broader debates on educational globalization. The findings highlight the importance of equitable learning opportunities and provide actionable insights for enhancing curriculum harmonization in transnational education.