Electrical Engineering and Electronics Away Day 3 Oct 2012

Education Development DivisionJanet Strivens, Stuart McGugan, Dan Roberts

Teaching mixed abilities

What ‘mixed abilities’?

Most obvious:- Language problems of international/Chinese

students- Maths weaknesses of UK students

But all classes are ‘mixed ability’:- Some students take longer to grasp an idea- Some may have missed a specific prior topic- Some may be ill, distracted…….

Two common strategies

Flexible delivery:• Make lectures available online• Encourage students to access recorded lectures on

the same topic from other institutions• Add links/further resources to recorded lecturesPeer learning:• Make use of formal groupwork with pre-selected

groups• Encourage informal peer-group learning

Flexible delivery – what to consider

• Will students attend lectures?• Will students feel neglected?• How easy is it to record a lecture and put into

VITAL?• Will students pick up misapprehensions?• Can opportunities be built in for students to

check their own understanding?• What does the evidence say?

Peer learning – what to consider

• How much briefing do students need to work successfully in groups (and who does this and when?)

• How can groups be monitored to check they are functioning well?

• Do students understand the difference between collaborative learning and collusion? Do staff? Who explains this? When?

• What does the evidence say?