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Hear academics and university leaders reflect on their professional journeys and address some of the biggest questions facing higher education today. The Campus podcast gets under the skin of the issues and individuals defining the future of teaching, research, EDI, digital transformation and sustainability in the academy. Test

Building emotional resilience in students is a key goal

Building emotional resilience is not creating a generation of ‘snowflakes’

Many students arrive at university adept at navigating challenging situations. Julia Downes explains how to leverage and add to these skills for positive and validating results

Julia Downes

The Open University

First generation student worried by the college applications process

How to ensure college admissions are equitable and accessible

As a first-generation college student, Aimee Huffstetler knows how daunting the application process can be. Now working in enrolment, she shares advice on what higher education administrators can do to ensure more equitable and accessible admissions

Aimee Huffstetler

Gwynedd Mercy University

How campus layout influences social ties and research exchange

Shorter distances between departments and offices can boost communication and exchange. But proximity is not the only way that campus design influences interactions among the university community

Andres Sevtsuk

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Digital exclusion often strikes early for university students

Digital exclusion hits students hardest at the start of their journey

VLEs, intranets, sports and social apps – the digital ecosystem at university is vast. We must induct students into it quickly and carefully to prevent them falling behind

Claire Smith

University of Sussex

Student diaries as a tool to improve the university experience

Do you really know what your students experience during their studies? It is more complex than many surveys suggest. Using student diaries may support deeper understanding to improve student experiences, as Dan Herbert explains

Dan Herbert

University of Birmingham

Gender-specific health issues need to be tackled in academia

Breaking barriers for women: closing the gender health gap in academia

In the final part of their ‘breaking barriers for women’ series, eight female academics propose ways to tackle the stigma and career deficits caused by women’s health issues

Nicola Hemmings , Ellie Harrison , Jo L. Fothergill

University of Sheffield, University of Liverpool

Tips for organising and optimising your inbox and messaging apps

We all suffer from communication overload in both our work and personal lives. Ingrid Benavides and Anahí Molina provide simple tips to make messages less overwhelming

Ingrid Benavides , Gloria Anahí Molina Barrón

Monterrey Institute of Technology

The magic motivation fairy does not exist for academics

Bad news, kids (and academics): the magical motivation fairy doesn’t exist

Motivation for tricky tasks doesn’t just appear magically, but with these psychological tricks you can get yourself and your career moving, says Hugh Kearns

Hugh Kearns

Flinders University

Course module design and structure for beginners

Building an online course from scratch can seem overwhelming. Here, Jamie Gilbert Mikell shares basic guidelines for beginners to create streamlined and user-friendly online modules

Jamie Gilbert Mikell

Athens State University

Illustration of person pulling a Covid-19 virus

Coping with long Covid: 10 strategies for academics

Long Covid would hit anyone hard, no matter their job – but academia’s culture of high stress, high workloads and high expectations makes the impact greater still. Here, Kerstin Sailer offers advice for scholars living with the condition’s often debilitating symptoms

Kerstin Sailer

UCL

Illustration of young woman with pile of papers, laptop and timer

Ask for help: a survival guide for inexperienced academics

Research and teaching are two sides of the knowledge coin: creation and dissemination. How do young scholars learn to balance these fundamental roles?

M. C. Zhang, Aliana Leong

Macau University of Science and Technology

Peer mentoring at university can make a difference to student confidence

As a black, female student, I wish I’d had a peer-mentoring scheme

Asking more experienced students to volunteer to help first-years navigate their university journey can make all the difference in terms of belonging and confidence

Bernadine Idowu

University of West London

Female student reading a book in the university library

How I train students in strategic and reflective academic reading

Seven steps that guide students to become effective academic readers during their university studies, by Adrian Man Ho Lam

Adrian Man-Ho Lam

The University of Hong Kong

Failure is crucial in academia, science and research

Failure can feel hot and shameful, but we must normalise it

Failure is essential in research, so we need to reframe it into an opportunity for learning, says Emma Williams

Emma Williams

EJW Solutions

For the common good: why we need ecological universities

Higher education has become too aligned to specific economic interests and needs to be redirected to focus on regenerative values for the common good, argue Richard Hil, Kristen Lyons and Fern Thompsett

Richard Hil, Kristen Lyons, Fern Thompsett

Griffith University, Southern Cross University, The University of Queensland , Columbia University

Tame the to-do list and manage an academic workload

Reduce procrastination, forget multitasking and get the to-do list done. From delegating to prioritising urgent versus important tasks, here are six practical ways to balance teaching, research and service for university faculty

Kaihan Yang , Ben K. Goh

Macau University of Science and Technology

Strengthen research capacity: how do we do it?

What does ‘strengthen research capacity’ actually mean, and how can we do it?

Leaders of research consortia face a difficult task in carrying out research and improving research capacity, but embedding a specialist team to make recommendations provides great gains

Imelda Bates , Justin Pulford , Lorelei Silvester

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN)

Meaning making: how universities can boost the uptake of edtech among faculty

The key to promoting the uptake of new edtech tools and teaching innovation among faculty, based on research

Na Li, Xiaojun Zhang, Maria Limniou

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Many adjunct professors find themselves pulled in two different directions

Five steps to help adjunct professors prioritise competing workloads

Teaching at universities while also working in industry can require superhuman powers of organisation. Brooke Wilson offers pointers for staying on top of things

Brooke Wilson

Colorado State University Global

Considering a university merger? Here’s how to do it well

Assessing a merger’s viability, as well as prioritising trust, openness and maintaining organisational cultures are key to success, says Kayla Vasilko

Kayla Vasilko

Purdue University Northwest

University-edtech collaboration: how to leverage the best of both worlds

Seven lessons for managing successful university-edtech collaborations that result in innovative new programmes, shared by Mònica Casabayó

Mònica Casabayó

Esade

Covid should have taught us that campus needs to be a treasured space

If we’re to tempt stay-away students back to the physical campus, we must recognise that place and places matter following disasters, say Gemma Ahearne and Treasa Kearney

Gemma Ahearne, Treasa Kearney

University of Liverpool

How data from digital learning tools can refine teaching

Digital learning tools enable educators to quickly collect and analyse student performance data in order to refine their teaching, as Paul Moss explains

Paul Moss

The University of Adelaide

Bringing in alumni as guest tutors to teach and inspire students

Inviting alumni to contribute to a course can enrich the learning experience for current students. Ellie Devenish-Nelson and Sharron Ogle explain how

Ellie Devenish-Nelson , Sharron Ogle

The University of Edinburgh

How to negotiate the politics of mark agreement between tutors

James Derounian offers thoughts on how we can unravel the tangled and contested arena of mark negotiation between university tutors

James Derounian

University of Bolton

Cat in travel cage with plane in background

Zoom fatigue and other exhaustions of international academic life

For many scholars, a sustainable career means moving countries to follow jobs and opportunities. Here, Clare Griffin talks about the financial, mental and social costs of relocation and offers practical tips for coping

Clare Griffin

Indiana University Bloomington

The boundaries to set so your students don’t take over your life

As the role of university teacher evolves, a key workplace challenge is how to offer proximity without becoming a 24/7 bot service

Ingrid Benavides , Adela Vega

Monterrey Institute of Technology

Information overload for new university student

Five tips for showing compassion towards and supporting new students

The step up from secondary to tertiary education can be daunting. Katherine Mansfield explains how to arm your students with the knowledge they need to succeed

Katherine Mansfield

The University of Westminster

Dos and don’ts for dual teaching: support for lecturers in higher education

Dual teaching, when lecturers host a class with students attending in person and via a screen, requires careful planning to work well. Miriam Firth shares dos and don’ts based on first-hand experience

Miriam Firth

The University of Manchester

Classroom management techniques you don’t get taught

‘Fake it till you make it’ is a useful motto for new university teachers facing a classroom of antsy students for the first time. Here are seven basic skills to master

John Weldon

Victoria University

Woman taking part in an online teaching workshop

The practicalities of delivering a multi-institutional online workshop

Lessons from planning and delivering a multi-institutional online workshop for university teachers designed to find solutions to common educational challenges

Kelly Edmunds , Richard Bowater

The University of East Anglia

Planning and delivering a lesson in university

From planning to delivering lessons: getting the basics right

Nelly Ramirez Vásquez discusses the nuts and bolts of creating, teaching and overseeing high-quality lessons and courses for delivery online and in person

Nelly Ramirez Vásquez

Monterrey Institute of Technology

Linguistic racism in universities can have an adverse effect on mental health

Linguistic racism can take a high toll on international students

Even seemingly innocuous comments on the way that students use dominant local languages can have severe effects on mental health, says Sender Dovchin

Sender Dovchin

Curtin University

Experiential education through a simulated summit to combat human trafficking

Advice on setting pedagogical goals and planning a simulated international summit to support experiential learning for remote students, by Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati

Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Why my hobbies make me a better scholar

Non-academic skills, both motor and cognitive, can enrich research capabilities in unexpected and often unexamined ways, writes Stephen W. Harmon

Stephen W. Harmon

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

Blocks for building a stronger student community

Block teaching can help rapidly establish bonds among students, and with their lecturers, which in turn maximises learning potential. Here, Sarah Jones offers insights from the 50-year history of block scheduling

Sarah Jones

De Montfort University

How professional practitioners help connect crime theory with real-world investigations

Bringing professional practitioners into classes to share real-world case studies helps students contextualise learning and see how theories play out in reality. Paul McFarlane explains how this works on his crime science courses

Paul McFarlane

UCL

How we can use AI to power career-driven lifelong learning

By using data from job postings, course catalogues and students’ CVs, AI can help people address skill gaps and plot their educational journeys

Teck-Hua Ho

National University of Singapore

Do we need to grade students’ presentation skills?

Presentation skills are considered essential by employers, but does this mean they should be graded at university? Marking can distract from the goal of improvement, and there are better ways to motivate students, says Axel Wieneke

Axel Wieneke

The University of Queensland

Kendrick Lamar's lyrics contain EDI lessons for higher education

Why higher education should take an EDI lesson from Kendrick Lamar

The Pulitzer-winning rapper’s disdain for performative activism contains lessons for universities who espouse their good intentions rather than enact change

JT Torres

Quinnipiac University

Diverse hands illustrating inclusive student-staff partnership concept

Student-staff partnerships: seven strategies for adopting inclusive practices

Student-staff partnerships can support skills development and enrich courses, as well as offer life-changing professional and academic opportunities for diverse students. Here, Madelaine-Marie Judd and Brooke Szücs encourage others to embrace this ethos

Madelaine-Marie Judd, Brooke Szücs

The University of Queensland

Relationship-building skills are transferable from the workplace to academia

Relationship-building: the key to effective teaching

Teaching in HE is daunting for new academics, but interpersonal skills honed in the workplace provide strong foundations, say Charles Marley and colleagues

Charles Marley

The University of Adelaide

Group of researchers collaborating on a project

Lessons from completing an award-winning knowledge transfer project

Eight key components of a successful knowledge transfer project (KTP), drawing from the experience of an award-winning initiative to develop an online teaching platform for primary care clinicians

Rachel McCrindle, Richard Mitchell, Yota Dimitriadi

University of Reading

Virtual reality has failed higher education

Virtual reality has failed education, so what should we do with it?

Getting VR right at a sophisticated level requires a hefty mix of hardware, pricey developers, rock-solid internet and suitable pedagogy – but there is a way forward

Malcolm Burt

Central Queensland University

Image of people learning from one another

Tactics to ensure students engage with and learn from feedback

Students often perceive feedback as criticism and fail to take on board the constructive guidance. Rebecca Lewis explains how she encourages student engagement with her feedback

Becky Lewis

The University of East Anglia

Digital Universities task force: upskilling the MENA region through online learning

Ahead of Digital Universities Week MENA, a task force of four higher education experts shared insights on how online learning could help meet the growing demand for key employability skills across the region

Miranda Prynne

Campus

Virtually friends: building bonds in a remote work environment

When Sandy Jones came into her first remote position in 2020, she made it her mission to develop closeness among members of her team – here’s what she did

Sandy Jones

Colorado State University Global

Advice for academics interested in working in the Netherlands

Ten tips for academics interested in relocating to work at a university in the Netherlands, by Tetyana Krupiy, who spent three years carrying out research in Tilburg

Tetyana (Tanya) Krupiy

Newcastle University

How to communicate the value of the arts and humanities to students

Classroom tips for debunking the arts and humanities employability myth

David Dodick offers practical pointers gleaned from a course he designed and taught aimed at communicating the value of arts and humanities degrees for various careers

David Dodick

University of California, Berkeley

Image of a new teacher celebrating the end of term

How to help students with widely varied prior education to thrive in first year

How can university educators ensure their first-year teaching caters to widely varying prior knowledge and skills among students? Bethan Gulliver explains a three-pronged approach

Bethan Gulliver

The University of East Anglia

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