There are so many so-called special days now in our calendar (from Winnie the Pooh Day to National Answer your Cat’s Question Day – really?), you might be forgiven having missed this one. 11.1 or 11th of January is World …

‘Sketchnote Day’ – did this pass you by? Read more »

No doubt, information literacy matters tremendously in a higher education setting, amongst all the other types of literacies, of course, from academic to visual, digital to media. Years ago, when people still used dial-up internet access, I worked with a …

The Whakarare framework: how to evaluate information in a holistic Māori-informed way Read more »

Learning development in a creative faculty A faculty-based learning developer (LD) must accommodate the full range of subjects and types of learners in their specific contexts. The ‘design thinking’ (DT) five basic stages of ‘empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test’ that …

Thinking like a Designer Read more »

Many thanks to Zarah Vernham in the Department of Psychology for pulling together the most comprehensive list of support services we have been able to promote to date. Need urgent support? Shout Shout is a free, confidential, 24/7 text-messaging support …

Mental health and wellbeing resources for all occasions Read more »

Disclaimer While the University takes decolonisation seriously and is taking active steps to make its library collections and curricula more inclusive and representative of a wider range of authors who are women and/or representative of different ethnic and cultural perspectives, …

Decolonising higher education Read more »

I sometimes facilitate a workshop on study habits. Sounds boring? Hold on – believe me, it is intriguing and worth investigating. Like my online yoga teacher says, ‘Welcome to the mat.  You have invested in being here. Let’s do something.’ …

Do you notice your (study) habits? Read more »

Starting a new calendar year by thinking about how you learn is a good step. Warning – this post contains a lot of questions! I recently read an interesting article about being a self-directed distance learner. Studying this way clearly …

The M-word. Motivation? Mindset! Read more »

Last month, September 12th, saw an interesting one-day symposium taking place at CCI Eldon building titled ‘Storytelling in Learning Development’. It was organised by Learning Developers/ Academic Skills Tutors from two faculties as a regional symposium of their professional body …

Storytelling for grown-ups (in an academic setting) Read more »

Have you thought about the ‘new (academic) year – new you’ yet? I was reading the Metro paper the other day and an article by Susan Griffin on productivity caught my eye. Here is the resolutions list she devised: “Productivity …

We come up with New Year’s resolutions, why not for the new academic year, too? Read more »

Everyone loves a good life hack, particularly business leaders.  Any new gadget or way of working that promises to make what we did yesterday easier and faster so that we can do more tomorrow than today attract attention.  The challenge …

Productivity at a distance Read more »