Five creative steps to better education

How does Uppsala University work to increase the quality of education? This is what the project, Creative Education Development at Uppsala University, KrUUt/CrED, has looked into over the last three years.

For example, a panel of international experts have reviewed the educational development work on several levels - from initiatives on an institutional level to support functions on a central level. The initiatives have now been collected in a bank of experience where teachers and students can draw inspiration. Here are a few examples…

1. Students guide newcomers

More and more students at the university are newcomers with no previous experience of academic studies. Many of the university's courses in e.g. history, economics, languages and physics have therefore started a mentor program, where students who have already taken a course act as mentors to new students on the course. The aim is to foster the meeting with the university and strengthen the newcomers' study and learning techniques.

An important point, according to the students themselves, is that mentoring sessions may be perceived as more prestigeless than teacher led discussion seminars and more students thus have a voice. The basic idea of the project is that when students take responsibility for their own and others' learning the quality of education increases.

“Through preparing questions and participating in the new students’ discussions as a mentor even I gain a broader perspective and better understanding,” says history student and mentor Ottilia Eriksson.

2. Emergency training saves lives

Interdisciplinary collaboration is becoming increasingly important in modern health care. However, it is often only out in the hospitals that doctors and nurses start to cooperate. Uppsala University has therefore implemented joint exercise in emergency care for all medical and nursing students on their final semester.

The location is the Clinical Training Centre at the University Hospital. The room is equipped as an emergency room, the patient is a human-sized doll, and students have fifteen minutes to jointly solve simulated yet serious patient scenarios.

“Our ambition is for everything to be as close to reality as possible. Admittedly, this teaching is both expensive and time consuming, but we know that both students and patients benefit from it,” says teacher Martin Wohlin.

3. Well-being for all

How students understand and feel involved in the academic environment at university is of great importance for the credits awarded in the future. Therefore, the faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology has started introduction activities, with the aim of making the first year a positive experience for all students. An important part of this are the introductory courses which introduce new students to everything from academic quarters, campuses and lecture halls to academic culture and traditions. In addition, practical training in study techniques and discussion seminars on intended learning outcomes are available. The project has been successful. Particularly successful is the introduction to the natural sciences and technology base year, which is now inspiring similar efforts at several other universities.

“A key success factor is that we do not just focus on the new students, but also on ourselves and our approach,” says the director of studies Staffan Andersson.

4. Research from the front row

In the Faculty of Arts, students on a master’s level may actively and from close quarters see how research is planned, organized and implemented. Seven interdisciplinary research nodes have been created where students are included together with researchers from several institutions. Students participate on the same terms as other researchers in the group and therefore participate not only in lectures and tutor meetings, but also at work meetings and conferences. They should also clearly contribute to the research with their degree project.

“Students receive a unique competency that they will not only benefit from if they choose to continue research after the higher education qualification. Experience of project management and collaboration with others are skills that are also needed in professional life in general,” says faculty programme director Oskar Pettersson.

5. Move the classroom online

In the education programme’s preschool and primary school courses teaching has moved onto the web, in the form of a virtual classroom where each student has a separate digital presentation area. Students show, using texts, images and videos, how they have solved tasks that teachers have set. In the digital classroom, fellow students and teachers can follow each other's work. The method does not replace reading lists, lectures and exams, but gives great added value to the learning experience itself.

“Open and unpretentious learning occurs, where students help to improve each other, by giving a boost, offering feedback and ideas,” says project manager Måns Hansson.

The idea is also that the students, future teachers, take the working method with them out to the schools.

“When you do not only look to the final result of a task, but also see how the student has arrived at his or her result, you can make fair assessments.”