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The Top Tools for Learning 2018 list was compiled by Jane Hart at the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies from the results of the 12th Annual Digital Learning Tools Survey, and released on 24 September 2018

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Here are the Top 100 Tools for learning generated from the 17th Annual Tools for Learning survey. There were a total of 2,022 votes and this year there were more votes from the education sector than last year, which is why many of the educational tools have regained lost ground on this year's list. New tools on the list are shaded yellow in the table below, and tools returning to the list are shaded green. The big news for this year is that ChatGPT has jumped straight into the chart in the No 4 place. 2023 is the year that AI has finally taken off. For a categorisation of the tools (both as a list and in graphical format), take a look at By Category

To work through the list tool by tool, start with YouTube and follow the link at the top right of each page.

Total Page Visits: 921732 - Today Page Visits: 295

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Top 100 Tools for Learning 2023 – Results of the 17th Annual Survey published 4 September 2023

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Here are the Top 100 Tools for learning generated from the 17th Annual Tools for Learning survey. There were a total of 2,022 votes and this year there were more votes from the education sector than last year, which is why many of the educational tools have regained lost ground on this year’s list. New tools on the list are shaded yellow in the table below, and tools returning to the list are shaded green. The big news for this year is that ChatGPT has jumped straight into the chart in the No 4 place. 2023 is the year that AI has finally taken off. For a categorisation of the tools (both as a list and in graphical format), take a look at By Category

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This link takes you to another Padlet which contains some examples of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) tools that span the six types of learning identified by Diana Laurillard (2002).

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The teaching strategies here focus on enhancing student engagement within large lecture halls. The Top Trump card deck was produced by Dr Ian Turner, Senior Lecturer in Biological and Forensic Science at the University of Derby and HEA National Teaching Fellow (2014).

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Describes the range of methods used to teach large groups usually over thirty or forty students.

This threshold number is dependent upon discipline and organisation however with economies of scale being an influencing factor in curriculum design academics are continuing to see their group sizes increase. Large group teaching methods might include the traditional lecture format a combination of large group interaction with facilitated small group work blended or online teaching using collaborative technology.

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Describes the range of methods used to teach large groups usually over thirty or forty students. This threshold number is dependent upon discipline and organisation however with economies of scale being an influencing factor in curriculum design academics are continuing to see their group sizes increase.

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How a blended learning approach supported the learning and management of a large and diverse group of learners - HEA Annual Conference 2017 - Generation TEF: Teaching in the spotlight

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This session will explore the problem of teaching large groups of students with diverse starting points and learning styles. This problem was identified in the foundation year for engineering degrees, which has a large and increasing class size (73-150 in two years) from a range of academic backgrounds which feed into a very broad range of subject areas Online learning activities were developed to support the students' learning in a large module within a Foundation Engineering Degree module. These will be discussed in terms of the impact on student attainment and active management of their own learning.

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How a blended learning approach supported the learning and management of a large and diverse group of learners - HEA Annual Conference 2017 - Generation TEF: Teaching in the spotlight

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This session will explore the problem of teaching large groups of students with diverse starting points and learning styles. This problem was identified in the foundation year for engineering degrees, which has a large and increasing class size (73-150 in two years) from a range of academic backgrounds which feed into a very broad range of subject areas Online learning activities were developed to support the students' learning in a large module within a Foundation Engineering Degree module.

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Engage your students in dialogic, feedforward feedback. 

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Engage your students in dialogic, feedforward feedback. 

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More workshops on this to come from Rhian Ellis and Suzie Pugh from SALT - see SALT upcoming events on our website. You may wish to consult the material on this Padlet before coming along and learning more.

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Attend the 7 Characteristics of a Good Undergraduate Teacher Seminars and workshops.....

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Attend the 7 Characteristics of a Good Undergraduate Teacher Seminars and workshops.....

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The seminars and workshops are now underway..see the first one from Richard Cobley and Karen Enser, on 'Lightboard in Engineering', and learn how it could be used in any field to achieve Chickering and Gamson's principles.

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At this time of year many academic colleagues are fine-tuning their modules - developing their teaching materials and tools and putting the finishing touches to the learning resources they will be using to support their students. It's a busy time of year during which the focus on preparing to teach and the start of the new academic year can fully absorb both our attention and our energies. This is entirely understandable. However, its also a good time of year to take stock, to reflect on how you 'feel' about yourself as a professional educator, and to think about how you are going to develop yourself. In other words, it's a good time to take a little 'you' time - to think about yourself and your own needs as a teacher. Aiming to be a student-centred practitioner, or one who embraces cutting-edge approaches to teaching and supporting learning is a laudable aim, but it is not a goal that one normally achieves by single-mindedly focusing on our students. This may sound counter-intuitive, but its true. In order to maintain a dynamic, creative and enthusiastic approach to student-centred teaching we need to also set aside some time to reflect on our performance, to think about our own professional development needs, and - perhaps - to 'refresh' our engagement with the research discourse on student-centred pedagogies. Taking time to think about you and your needs is NOT selfish - rather, it is in the best interests of your students, since if you are clear about your own needs, and address them, your students will be the beneficiaries.

Hopefully, by now you'll have taken some kind of break or vacation during the summer period. Some academics struggle to do so, but it's crucial to use these periods away from the hurly burly of university or college life to reflect and to take stock. We all need to re-charge our batteries. Those who fail to do so may pay the price later in the academic year in the form of exhaustion and declining motivation. 'Burn-out' probably beckons for those who repeatedly fail to get away for a week or two during less busy periods in the academic year (and the latter now varies dramatically for academic colleagues working on different programmes or in different roles). All work and no play .... Taking time-out to reflect is as important for you as it is for your students to occasionally reflect on their own learning. Most universities and colleges have formal appraisal systems in place these days. These vary both in terms of process and timing, but create an opportunity for reflection - for thinking about what has gone well, what hasn't, and about goals for the future and professional development priorities. Its probably not too controversial to say that academics embrace appraisal systems with widely varying levels of enthusiasm - some take full advantage of the opportunity afforded to become a better professional, some do not. So the first thing I'd advise is to use the appraisal system in your own institution as a mechanism for driving your own professional skills and development - again your students will benefit. Most higher education institutions also provide a range of continuing professional opportunities - either via some kind of staff development unit, or via bought-in CPD provision (or both). Check out the staff development unit's webpages and/or their brochure now, and plan-out the events, workshops, activities and other CPD opportunities you can take advantage of. Normally these are free to the staff member concerned, so don't look a gift horse in the mouth - again your students will benefit from the skills, new teaching tools, ideas or innovations that stem from your engagement with CPD. Remember, it's not just you who benefits since CPD often translate into innovation in the classroom and an improved student experience. If you've taken on a new role in your Department or Faculty - such as a leadership role or coordinating role - check-out what training is available to support you in that role. In my own university, there is a comprehensive set of CPD opportunities focused, for example, on the needs of course leaders. Similar CPD events and workshops may be provided for those who have your role or job. Or opportunities may exist outside your institution - provided by external bodies such as the Higher Education Academy (HEA), by SEDA or others. Have a chat with your line manager about them. In my own experience colleagues will often fund attendance at such events if the value of doing so is transparent, especially if students are likely to benefit immediately or further down the line.

Remember too that you work within a large organisation in which there are dozens, hundreds or even thousands of staff employed in specialised learning support roles in a variety of central professional services. These staff are experts just like you - except their expertise is in a different aspect of the learning process. Take time before the start of the new academic year - or in the first couple of weeks of the latter - to learn more about the kinds of support provided by these professional services. If you've been a member of staff for some years already don't allow your length of service to result in complacency - the range of services, support and resources on offer will probably change in minor or major ways each year, so you will need to re-familiarise yourself in order to be able to guide and advise your own students and refer them, when necessary, to the right service. I used to take time each year in September to explore the Library both physically and online so I was sure I was up to speed on key changes - this always, without exception, paid dividends for me and my students. You may find that a host of new online learning resources have been made available - these might help you to develop your own teaching, as well as providing a new resource for your students to utilise. As professionals we need to ensure that we update ourselves on the often subtle ways in which the professional work environment changes - regardless of whether the changes are physical (e.g. new buildings coming online), procedural (new processes being introduced), pedagogical (e.g. a new lecture capture system) or regulatory (changes to key policies, codes of practice or regulations). IT services and other services like student services or estates normally publish detailed information on their own web pages or in e-newsletters, blogs etc, so take advantage of the (relative) calm before the storm during the early autumn to get to grips with what's changed. Not only will you feel better-informed, but you'll be in a much better position to ensure that your students are well-informed too - that's a crucial element in the student-centred approach
15 Top Tips for Student-Centred Teaching
Dr Adam Longcroft spent more than 20 years teaching undergraduate and post-graduate students at the University of East Anglia in the fields of landscape archaeology, history, education and professional studies before joining Anglia Ruskin University as the new Deputy Head of Anglia Learning & Teaching in August this year. He served as UEA's Academic Director for Taught Programmes for 5 years - a role in which he had a major influence over the University's approach to teaching and learning and enhancing the student experience. In his new role Adam is focused on enhancing the provision of continuing professional development for academic colleagues at ARU. Adam won an individual award for teaching excellence in history from the HEA in 2005, and is both a National Teaching Fellow (2007) and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2015).
We invite you to join the discussion using the comment box below in response to Adam's questions.

1. What opportunities do you get to reflect on your own development? Is there space in the academic to do so? How do you create space?

2. How do you keep abreast of changes in your own institution so you can advise your own students effectively? Does your institution make this easy or hard?

3. What are your own experiences of engaging with CPD provided either internally or externally? Do these translate into changes in practice? What are the impacts on and benefits for your students?

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#15toptips for Student-Centred Teaching 12: Remember to think about you! Be kind to yourself, learn more about your university and engage with continuing professional development - your students will benefit

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At this time of year many academic colleagues are fine-tuning their modules - developing their teaching materials and tools and putting the finishing touches to the learning resources they will be using to support their students. It's a busy time of year during which the focus on preparing to teach and the start of the...

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SALT has undertaken an investigation of 2013/14 Academic Year module feedback comments left by students where modules were identified to be improving in relation to:

increase in 1st class marks, or

decrease in failure rates, or

the average module mark was above average for all modules in the selected level of study and department or

where a student's mark was above his/her average mark on all other modules

This resulted in the free text comments of over 200 modules being analysed. While the analysis did not identify clear evidence as to why these modules were seen to be improving, it was evident from reading and analysing the frequency of the comments and themes within the data that many of the comments relating to the question "What is the best thing about this module?" related to the lecturer; how they interact with the student cohort and the teaching methods and tools they employ.

Chickering and Gamson's Seven Principles of good practice in undergraduate education formed the basis for the coding of the free text comments as the 7 principles were inadvertently being referred to by the students within their responses. The top 10 referenced themes found in the comments related to What is the best thing about this module? are shown in the chart below, and 3 of Chickering and Gamson's seven principles are highlighted in red.

Even though students were not specifically asked what makes a good teacher, the results of the investigation when read in conjunction with Chickering and Gamson's Seven principles are excellent starting points to provide both an overview of good practice as well as an insight into the opinions of Swansea students as to what they perceive to be good teachers.

So what are Chickering and Gamson's Seven principles of Good Practice?

Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson published an article "The Seven Principles For Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" in 1987, and later in 1991 published a book titled "Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education". These Principles grew out of a review of 50 years of research on the way teachers teach and students learn supported by the American Association for Higher Education, the Education Commission of the States and The Johnson Foundation.
The Seven Principles are:

Encourage contact between students and faculty

Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students

Encourage active learning

Give prompt feedback

Emphasise time on task

Communicate high expectations

Respect diverse talents and ways of learning

The principles "are intended as guidelines for faculty members, students, and administrators ... to improve teaching and learning. These principles seem like good common sense, and they are - because many teachers and students have experienced them and because research supports them. They rest on 50 years of research on the way teachers teach and students learn, how students work and play with one another, and how students and faculty talk to each other." Chickering and Gamson, 1987, p. 1

The table below provides some ideas on how the principles could be implemented within your teaching.

Encourage contact between students and faculty
Contact in and out of the classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement

Encourage student contact before, during and after teaching sessions. Advertise office hours, virtual and in person.

Provide opportunities for discussion using discussion boards (virtual) or discussion groups, and be involved. Get research students involved to answer some questions that are raised.

Speak to your students, ask how they are doing.

Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students
Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort. Working with others and sharing ideas deepens understanding

Provide opportunities for collaboration using group work, group assignments, peer evaluation or discussion boards, debate, group presentations.

Encourage students to prepare for seminars, lab work, exams together.

Encourage active learning
Students must talk and write about what they are learning. Relate learning to experiences, reflect and apply it

Engage students during lectures using voting response systems, group questions, group discussion, presentations, problem solving.

Encourage self-evaluation and peer-review.

Use a range of communication tools and applications to provide opportunities to interact with content and each other.

Encourage the use of professional journals.

Give prompt feedback
Knowing what you know and don't know focuses learning. Students need appropriate timely feedback so they can reflect and act upon it

Respond to student queries and problems quickly.

Use rubrics for grading to standardise and provide prompt feedback.

Give focused attainable feedback on work early in the term.

Incorporate low stakes assessments/ quizzes to provide frequent feedback, progress and reflection on their learning.
Communicate regularly via email/VLE about various aspects of the module.

Emphasise time on task
Students need help in learning effective time management

Emphasise deadlines in the syllabus and provide reminders of up coming deadlines.

Break larger assignments into smaller more manageable pieces and deadlines. Outline, rough draft, 1st draft, final draft and final submission.

Underline the importance of regular work, self-pacing, planning and scheduling.

Meet with those falling behind, and refer to appropriate support programmes.

Communicate high expectations
Communicating high expectations is important for all students, it can act as motivation to make extra effort

Make detailed explanations and expectations in the syllabus at the beginning of the course.

Tell them you expect them to work hard.
Provide rubrics with assignment briefs so that they know what is expected of them.
Provide regular updates on how well the cohort is doing.

Make exemplar work available from previous years; this can motivate students to higher levels of attainment.

Respect diverse talents and ways of learning
Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them. What works for one may not work for another

Use a variety of methods when delivering teaching and making materials available. Incorporate a variety of activities into the course or module.

Vary assessment methods to enable students the opportunity to be assessed in ways that work for them and also to push others out of comfort zones.

Extra material or exercises for students who lack essential background knowledge or skills could be provided.

Additional Resources

Chickering, A., & Gamson, Z. (1987). " Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" (PDF). AAHE Bulletin. 3.

Research findings on the seven principles. In A.W. Chickering & Z.F. Gamson (Eds.) Applying the seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education (pp. 13-25). New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 47. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tl.v1991:47/issuetoc
An analysis of 13/14 module feedback: Identify trends within excellent and improving modules. SALT ELTA-ESSA Output - Excellence at Swansea. Award Winners 2016

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Can we define the characteristics of a good teacher?

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SALT has undertaken an investigation of 2013/14 Academic Year module feedback comments left by students where modules were identified to be improving in relation to: increase in 1st class marks, or decrease in failure rates, or the average module mark was above average for all modules in the selected level of study and department or where a student's mark was above his/her average mark on all other modules This resulted in the free text comments of over 200 modules being analysed.

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Tailoring your priorities across specific disciplines

Whether you're working with us across a range of disciplines or within a specific disciplinary area (Arts and Humanities, Health and Social Care, Social Sciences, STEM), we will shape our services to meet your needs, supporting you at an individual, departmental, faculty or institutional level.
Find out more

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Enhancing teaching and learning in higher education

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The quality of teaching in higher education has never been more important. This has created an opportunity to reflect in depth on multiple aspects of our current policy and practice. Both celebrating best practice and recognising opportunities for future development, but ultimately aspiring to achieve sustainable teaching excellence.

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How to teach: 13 top teaching tips for university lecturers

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Respondents to the 2017 THE Teaching Survey give their words of lecturing wisdom

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"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Laozi (4th century BC)
Even a single small change in your teaching practice can bring profound results. This is what the Make One Change project has been suggesting for the last 21 months, and our archive ( which can be accessed here) is a testament to that.

We are always keen to hear about any changes you have made and we'd love to share them through these pages.

There are two recent changes listed in the menu on the right of page ( Silent Seminars and Challenges) as well as a link to the archive.

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"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Laozi (4th century BC) Even a single small change in your teaching practice can bring profound results. This is what the Make One Change project has been suggesting for the last 21 months, and our archive ( which can be accessed here) is a testament to that.

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Give time for students to process your question and respond. At least 3 second.

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Check out where your room is - some may be harder to find than others.

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Timetabling, Learning Environments & Space Management

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Timetabling, Learning Environments & Space Management

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What's Canvas? Canvas replaced Blackboard as our VLE on August 1 2020.

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The Canvas Essentials series of courses has been designed as an introduction to Canvas, demonstrating how it can be used to support learning, teaching and assessment. This will enable you to raise your awareness of the different features and functionality available in Canvas, and begin to explore how it can be used to develop courses, whilst enhancing the student experience. The Canvas Essentials series is structured as a "course" in Canvas and includes an introduction and some pre-session work. Throughout the Canvas Essentials series, you are expected to engage in self-study, attend face-to-face sessions (when they are operational), engage with the community, build your course and provide feedback. The four key modules in Canvas Essentials are:

* Course Development
* Assessment & Feedback 1
* Assessment & Feedback 2
* Communication & Collaboration

More information on these modules is contained in the dropdown menus below to help you determine whether to undertake the whole Canvas Essentials course or the modules which are most relevant to you.

There are also 2 additional standalone courses available:

* Canvas Turnitin, and
* Canvas Studio

Information and links to these courses is also contained within the dropdown menus below.

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The Canvas Essentials series of courses has been designed as an introduction to Canvas, demonstrating how it can be used to support learning, teaching and assessment. This will enable you to raise your awareness of the different features and functionality available in Canvas, and begin to explore how it can be used to develop courses, whilst enhancing the student experience.

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Get to know a few first names of students and use them as 'anchors' in class