University Teaching Practice Research Articles

Promoting the Application of Metaverse Technology in Practical Teaching for University: An Identification and Evaluation of Barriers

This study aims to explore the barrier hindering the application of the metaverse in practical teaching in universities. Based on socio-cultural theory, utilizing the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, this study systematically identified 22 specific barriers distributed across five levels: individual, interpersonal, institutional, societal, and sustainability, which construct a comprehensive barrier system. The findings reveal intricate interactions among various levels, with sustainability emerging as the critical category significantly influenced by both institutional and societal levels. On the individual level, resistance to change stands out as a major challenge. On the interpersonal level, lack of trust is a key factor leading to poor communication and collaboration difficulties. On the societal level, enhancing social presence may help reduce cultural biases and strengthen cross-cultural understanding. This study provides targeted improvement directions for enhancing the application effectiveness of the metaverse in practical teaching, promoting the sustainable development of the metaverse in universities.

What’s Your Problem? Writing Effective Research Questions for Quality Publications

Research questions play a central role in papers, indicating the phenomenon or problem that is being addressed, and clearly stating what is being investigated. Indeed, the presence of research questions within a research article is an established quality indicator, and research questions form the basis of determining hypotheses, methodology, methods, and how interpretations and analysis of outcomes are undertaken. Given the key purpose of a research article is to communicate the phenomenon or problem that is being addressed, research questions play a central role in clearly stating what is being investigated. The Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) seeks to publish high quality research papers which offer impactful guidance for teaching and learning practice in higher education. In this editorial, we explore what research questions are, how they are used, their key characteristics, different types of questions, and how to write them. We also make practical recommendations for authors, reviewers, and editors in how to use research questions, what to look out for when reviewing manuscripts and making decisions, and how to best support authors in producing quality publications by ensuring impactful research questions are included.

The background and experience of neuroscience teachers in Australian universities: A cross-sectional survey.

Neuroscience is an academic discipline taught within a broad range of university degrees and programs. The expertise and experience of neuroscience teaching staff contribute to the student's learning experience and knowledge acquisition. We undertook a survey to characterize the neuroscience teaching workforce and practices in Australian universities, and to investigate access to and deficiencies in neuroscience teaching resources and training. Two hundred neuroscience teaching staff completed our anonymous online survey. The responses indicated that neuroscience is primarily being delivered by highly qualified (86% with doctoral degrees, 27% with formal qualifications in tertiary teaching), research-active (45% were recently primary supervisors of research students) teaching academics with secure employment (77% in full-time continuing positions). There were more females (61.5%) than males (38.5%) in the sample and most respondents taught neuroscience to students enrolled in a range of degrees/programs. Most survey respondents could access an anatomy laboratory for teaching (87%) but access to specialised online resources, such as augmented reality presentations, customised game-based learning approaches, and/or online brain atlases, was limited. Most survey respondents reported they would benefit from increased access to neuroscience teaching resources and/or peer-tested teaching materials (80%), an informal network of Australian neuroscience teaching peers (64%), and/or training workshops on neuroscience teaching (59%). Approximately half of survey respondents supported the creation of national guidelines for neuroscience teaching curricula. The survey results identify specific gaps in teacher training and resources and inform the development of strategies to support tertiary teachers of neuroscience and student learning.

Acute Effects of Exercise Breaks on Attention and Working Memory During a University Lecture: A Group-Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: This study investigated the acute effects of exercise breaks on attention and working memory during lectures among third-year physical therapy students.Material and Methods: In total 65 participants were randomly assigned to exercise breaks (N=22), game breaks (N=21), and no breaks (N=22). The lecture was divided into two parts. Participants watched each part of a 50-minute computer-based video lecture. The present study examined the heart rate, perception, attention, and working memory impact of 5-minute breaks. The exercise breaks group performed a series of callisthenic exercises, the game breaks group played a computer game, and the no breaks group watched the entire lecture continuously without breaks. The differences in means for variables among each group were compared using a 3x2 repeated measure Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA).Results: Exercise breaks during lectures facilitated a positive impact on the modulation of shifting working memory in comparison to game breaks and non-exercise breaks (p-value<0.05). Significant pre-test to post-test in shifting working memory improvements were found in the exercise breaks group (F(2,62)=4.266, p-value=0.018). The variation in mean shifting working memory was 12.1 percent of the effect (np2=0.121). This improvement aligned with better learning results, especially when assessed for immediate outcomes. Conclusion: Exercise breaks during academic lectures demonstrated a statistically significant impact on shifting working memory. Consequently, further investigations are required to explore the enduring impacts of exercise breaks on cognitive functions in the long term. Additionally, determining the optimal duration of exercise breaks and lecture lengths is essential for guiding university teaching practices.

The Influence of Interactive Technology of Contemporary Classroom Software on University Teaching Practice

Contemporary classroom interactive software technology greatly impacts university practical education. This study adopts the research method of literature review and case analysis. Through extensive collection and analysis of domestic and foreign literature on classroom interactive software technology in higher education, it deeply understands its development history, functional characteristics, and current situation. Secondly, combined with specific teaching cases, this paper analyzes the use effect of these software technologies in the actual teaching process, the feedback of students, and the challenges faced and the basis. This article also explores how these interactive technologies will impact practical university education and how they have changed the learning environment. Through research, we also find that classroom interactive software technology is indeed helpful to improve teaching effect. Still, software technology needs to be used rationally, pay attention to balance, and ensure effective combination. Meanwhile, teachers also need to receive more professional training to ensure that they master relevant operational skills and teaching design principles.

Ambassadors of professional development in teaching and learning in STEM higher education

Abstract In STEM higher education, lecturers need to assist learners in constructing understanding of complex scientific concepts by employing relevant teaching methods, tools, and technologies. A continuous professional development (CPD) of academic teaching staff in teaching and learning is indispensable to keep up with the development of STEM. Using a cascade-like approach in continuous professional development in teaching and learning, where lecturers are involved bottom-up as CPD-Ambassadors, makes it possible to address relevant STEM-specific teaching and learning issues and continuously improve teaching practice. At three international STEM-CPD Summer Schools for CPD-Ambassadors, the CPD-Ambassadors developed fifty CPD-User cases about organising professional development in teaching and learning at their own higher education institutions and promoting the importance of CPD in their local context. The analysis of the CPD-User cases shows that the most frequently addressed teaching competencies and attitudes foster student-centred teaching approaches based on constructivist educational views. A relationship is found with previously defined generally important teaching competences and attitudes for higher STEM education. The results indicate that a cascade-like, discipline oriented continuous professional development approach through CPD-Ambassadors is a promising approach in improving university teaching practice.

A tale of two centres: A cross-institutional peer review of integrated assessment use in direct entry programs

Direct Entry Programs (DEPs) at Australian universities are designed to enhance students’ English language and academic skills, with the primary goals of preparing and assuring students’ readiness for university studies. Given that university tasks often require the integration of language skills (e.g., writing assignments using information from lectures, articles, and textbooks), this paper proposes the use of integrated assessment tasks in DEPs to increase the authenticity in their assessment approach by using tasks that replicate actual university learning, teaching, and assessment practices. To encourage the shift from standard practice of separate skills testing to integrated assessment, we present key findings of a literature review in integrated assessment use in language programs and show how integrated assessment is implemented in two institutions in Sydney, Australia. The paper also highlights advantages of cross-institutional peer review and proposes an argument-based validity framework for test design that language centres can use to guide good practice.

Teaching and catholic identity: Wisdom and sound critical thinking

This article aims to reflect on the teaching practices in universities of Catholic inspiration. Our study argues that the university should be a place for cultivating wisdom, not merely for transmitting specialized knowledge. This thesis is grounded in the idea that universities are engaged in a systematic pursuit of truth in its various forms. While primarily theoretical, our research is also informed by recent studies on the development of critical thinking within the academic environment. The connection between truth and wisdom suggests that ongoing engagement with reality deepens our understanding of the relationships among things, enabling us to distinguish between means and ends, and what is appropriate from what is not. Wisdom involves understanding the meaning of things and placing them in their proper context—an outlook that universities should foster in students. Although phronesis, the practical dimension of wisdom, cannot be directly taught, a high-quality university education can bridge the gap between theory and daily life. This connection is reflected in the promotion of a sound critical mindset, where the professor’s primary goal is to stimulate active learning. This can be achieved through diverse methods and creative teaching approaches. In a Catholic university, the search for truth is intrinsically linked to intellectual development and community service, guiding individuals closer to God, the source of all wisdom.

Direct instruction or active learning? The spectrum of first-year university teaching practices

ABSTRACT This study aims to gain a better understanding of the practices of first-year university teachers by considering the distinction between direct instruction and active learning. It is based on the responses of 356 teachers to questions relating to three areas of teaching practice: preparation, implementation and use of digital technology. Principal component analysis reveals a continuous spectrum of varied practices, distinguished by a combination of more or less frequent use of direct instruction and active learning. Cluster analysis was used to identify practice profiles by considering each of the three practice areas separately. This analysis reveals that teachers whose preparation corresponds to active learning methods rely more on teaching resources, but also on their expertise in the subject. The profiles of teaching implementation show a division between direct instruction and active learning methods, with specific profiles associated with either the use of flipped classrooms or serious games. It appears that the teachers who make the most use of digital technology to get their students active are also those who use it most to deliver content. Results also show that the majority of teachers are involved in a transition to active learning, but that half still alternate it with direct instruction.

Promotion Strategy of Multimedia Network Teaching Platform in College Physical Education Teaching

At present, the development of distance education is being vigorously promoted all over the world, and the lifelong, globalised and highly efficient nature of education is driving its rapid development in the world. Because there are different ways to achieve this, so, according to the characteristics of physical education discipline, this article on how to promote multimedia network teaching platform in university physical education teaching, using multimedia network teaching platform, to achieve the complementarity of modern teaching and traditional teaching. The article analyses the theory and development background of multimedia network teaching, and analyses its application in university physical education teaching, and gives a detailed introduction to the use and planning of each module. On this basis, it discusses the design principles of the multimedia network teaching platform for physical education majors, and gives an overall framework and model of functional modules. This study has good implications for university physical education teaching practices.

Editorial: Two Decades of Open Access, Practice-Led Learning and Teaching Research

The rate of survival of community-led open access journals are not well known or documented, but the resourcing challenges of journals that rely on institutional goodwill to fund platforms and volunteer editors and reviewers is real. The constraints of these systems – diamond open access – often lead to sporadic publication cycles, inconsistencies in publishing quality, and can struggle to achieve high impact factors. The Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice has been no exception to the perils of balancing volunteer and paid commitments and finding money when institutions change their financial commitments to those enterprises. In the JUTLP context, we are equally challenged by a second force; the pursuit of practice-led research. Practice papers, in my experience, tend to have higher rates of reading and applicability to direct change in the way universities and educators engage in learning and teaching, but lead to less research onflows. Despite these forces, the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice continues to provide scholarly leadership to researchers and practitioners and this has been well recognised through metrics as well as evidence of genuine impact. This Two Decade review is an entry into allowing members of our academic community to be evaluative of our publishing practices and help ask the question of what should continue, and what ought to change, over the next decade of JUTLP. Most importantly, this issue is a celebratory note of the endurance and persistence of the journal’s academic community and not least to the close to 100 editors who have supported the last 20 years of open publishing.

Educational Leadership: A Fifteen Year Bibliometric Review

Exploring educational leadership is crucial for shaping the future of higher education, influencing students, educators, and institutional dynamics. This thorough review is conducted by analyzing 36 research articles published in the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) from 2008 to 2022. The study underscores the urgent need for a nuanced understanding of diverse leadership practices within the ever-changing educational landscape. While the majority of studies in JUTLP focused on women's leadership, it became evident that other aspects of educational leadership are yet to be explored in the journal’s domain. The analysis also highlights significant gaps in the existing literature, emphasizing the necessity for more comprehensive studies that encompass broader societal contexts and global perspectives. The prevalence of qualitative methodologies in the analyzed articles indicates a preference for profound qualitative insights into leadership dynamics within academia, particularly in this journal. Key findings pinpoint critical areas for future exploration. With the spotlight on women's leadership, the study identifies gaps in research published In JUTLP related to diversity in leadership roles, international comparative studies, crisis management strategies, and the effective integration of technology in education. A particularly notable gap revolves around understanding the impact of educational leadership on sessional staff, urging institutions to empower this essential segment of academia. Additionally, the study offers strategic guidance for the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP), steering future research endeavors towards more inclusive, diverse, and globally relevant studies within the domain of educational leadership.

Belonging in Higher Education: A Twenty Year Systematic Review

Belonging is more than just a buzzword; it is a critical factor that affects students’ academic engagement, motivation, persistence, and overall achievement, especially considering the diversity of students in educational settings. The goal of this paper is to dissect the complexities of belonging, examining its various determinants, the diverse impacts it has on student university populations, and the range of strategies that effectively nurture this sense of belonging. We conducted literature search in August 2023 using the Web of Science database, focusing exclusively on publications from the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice. We used a combination of keywords like ‘belonging’, ‘university belonging’, ‘social belonging’, and other related terms, ensuring a comprehensive collection of relevant studies. A total of 133 articles were identified, with 77 selected for detailed full-text review. The final selection process resulted in 33 articles for the systematic review. Key results from our review indicate that belonging in higher education involves four main themes: connectedness to peers, staff, and the institution; feeling safe and part of the community; being valued and accepted; and embracing diversity and inclusion. These themes reflect a holistic understanding of belonging as a multi-dimensional concept, significantly influenced by institution-wide approaches, inclusive environments, educator practices, and quality relationships. The variation of belonging experiences identifies key challenges such as exclusion of diverse groups, lack of connection opportunities, and insufficient support relationships. Effective strategies for fostering belonging include targeting multiple system levels, building relationships, employing diverse educator practices, leveraging technology and creating inclusive environments.

Applying an Academic Literacies Lens to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): A Scoping Review

Scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is central to improving teaching, enhancing students’ learning experiences and ensuring practice is evidence-based. This study explores the insights gained by applying an academic literacies lens to the results of professional development initiatives (programmes, schemes, etc.,) designed to enhance features of faculty colleagues’ SoTL skills. A scoping review was conducted on Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) papers published from 2004-2023. Developing teaching practice is a central theme of JUTLP and the papers published across this timeframe provide a rich source from which to explore initial insights as a first step to potentially deeper explorations. The review identified four themes emerging from the qualitative data captured across the review sample: meaning-making together; journey of becoming; flattening of power; and context-specific identities. The analysis points to reasons why collaborative meaning-making opportunities are so valued within professional development initiatives. The academic literacies lens highlights issues of discourse, power, epistemology and identity, and consequently illuminates these collaborative moments as spaces that provide a knowledge and identity-based anchor for colleagues. This lens also stresses the destabilising and emotive nature of ‘becoming’ a pedagogic scholar. Implications of the findings are considered from an academic development perspective. Discussion centres particularly on how academic developers may work to support rather than jeopardise colleagues’ future SoTL trajectories.

Leadership, Learning and Teaching Practice in Higher Education: A 2016-2023 Bibliometric Review

The Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) has now published its twentieth annual volume, maintaining a record of publication for two decades now. This year, on the occasion of the journal’s 20th annual volume, we seek to identify the distinctive contributions and influence of JUTLP as a research journal and how that influence has changed over time. This review has two broad purposes. First, it intends to empirically document the scholarly publications that has accumulated in JUTLP over its two decades of publication. Second, we seek to identify the noteworthy contributions that JUTLP has made to the field of leadership, teaching and learning practice in the higher education environment. This review is based on the analysis of 403 articles published in JUTLP between 2016 and 2023. Bibliographic data (e.g., authors, title, abstract, keywords, citations) in these articles were analysed using a bibliometric analysis method comprising of descriptive statistics, document citation and co-citation analysis, author co-citation analysis and keyword analysis. The review yields an empirically grounded findings on JUTLP ‘corpus of knowledge’ that provides useful indications and recommendations for the journal’s future development.

A Decade of Social Media for Learning: A Systematic Review

Since the emergence of social media in the early 2000’s, innovative educators have sought ways to utilise, adapt, and maximise the opportunities for learning within social networking and collaborative online spaces. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyse the work published on social media for learning in the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) over the 20-year life of the journal to date. We summarise the current evidence on the use of social media for learning and document how the field has evolved and changed since its emergence as a pedagogical theme. We explore themes for the use of social media for learning, key challenges, how the use of social media has changed over time, and we look at specific types of papers that contribute to the original research on social media for learning. We achieved this through a systematic review 3-step process: 1) scoping and understanding the review context and research questions, 2) undertaking methods using an established approach for a systematic and quality assessment of the literature, and 3) undertaking a thorough thematic analysis of the empirical evidence from the systematic review papers to provide meaningful outcomes and recommendations. This robust approach resulted in the analysis of 11 papers and exploration of 4 key themes: Computer mediated communication, digital capabilities, and confidence, learning community, and social media pedagogy. Finally, we make recommendations that aim to benefit both editors and authors of JUTLP, and editors and authors more generally.

Disparities in teaching practice corrective feedback among university teaching practice assessors in Tanzania: Implications on pre-service professional practices

This study examines disparities in teaching practice corrective feedback among university assessors in the Tanzanian context: Implications on pre-service professional practices. A mixed-method research design was employed to bring together different strengths and non-overlapping weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative methods. The purposive sampling technique was used to get 120 undergraduate pre-service teachers from three colleges involved in the study. Questionnaire, interview and documentary reviews were used to collect data and analyzed descriptively to provide summaries in terms of numerical counts and frequencies. The study revealed that teaching practice assessors have conflicting suggestions and non-consensus in supporting pre-service teachers when dealing with similar issues. Conflicting suggestions might pose anomalies on the course of action to be undertaken by pre-service teachers who are trying to grow professionally. The study recommends the formulation of inter-institutional consensual supervisory guidelines that could inform synergy among university teaching practice assessors and supervisors.

The challenge of university teaching practices

This article seeks to analyze how higher education institutions assume and incorporate inclusion into institutional discourse and how teachers incorporate it into their daily pedagogical practices, amid paradoxes and lack of knowledge of the elements needed to build an inclusive education. In this sense, this article aims to generate a reflection on inclusive processes in higher education, as well as to report on experiences that have enabled teachers at the Faculty of Education - to approach, understand and assume the inclusive phenomenon and recognize differences in professional training processes. The basis of this article is the research entitled "Characterization of teaching practices in the Faculty of Education". This research experience is presented as a reflective practice of teachers, in which inclusion is an element that allows the transformation of the individual, teacher-student, in order to contribute to social transformation.

Editor-in-Chief: A Brief Reflection and a New Home

The Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) has had quite the adventure since it began in 2004. The editorial team has evolved significantly in the past five years to better reflect the developing post-COVID-19 environment, alongside the elevation in expected quality of manuscripts. This Editorial provides a brief account of almost five years as an editor in JUTLP and documents key information ready for a move out of the current system and into an Open Access Publishing Association-funded instance of Open Journal Systems. The purpose of this Editorial is to serve as a notice for our readers, authors, and community of our new home, but also to provide stock of the achievements and records of the Journal in years gone by to accompany the notes made by Percy and colleagues (2021). We remain excited about our future, and of the possibilities a new home affords. We encourage you to remain part of our journey in promoting and engaging with practice-led research in the university sector; an area that seems to be incredibly important for future university decision-making.

Innovative Practice of Multimodal Teaching Mode in English Education and Teaching Practice in Colleges and Universities in the New Media Era

Abstract Traditional English teaching methods are increasingly seen as outdated, failing to adequately develop students’ language abilities. This study introduces a multimodal teaching approach, evaluated through the innovative use of the sailfish optimization algorithm to gauge student attitudes towards this educational innovation. Additionally, the study leverages a genetically optimized CARMA algorithm to analyze academic achievement data, identifying optimal strategies for enhancing learning outcomes. Results indicate a significant improvement in students’ oral English skills, with approximately 70% reporting progress and 86 students endorsing the multimodal approach. Post-implementation test scores across five classes showed an impressive range of 85-97, with Classes A and B demonstrating significant score improvements (p-values of 0.021 and 0.014, respectively). The successful application of this novel teaching method in collegiate settings underscores its potential for broader adoption and highlights its relevance for modernizing educational practices across various subjects.