Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: A journey through wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff

Inaugural lecture: Professor Ian Turner

I would like to open my class and invite you to become one of my students for an evening. I would like to share with you some reflections on my own pedagogy, as illustrated through a series of examples and case studies from my career to date.

The practice of teaching, often based on theories of learning, is called pedagogy. The pedagogy adopted by individual educators is variable and heavily influenced by their subject, their environment and most importantly their students.

I would like to begin by talking about the importance of entertainment to pedagogy. Drawing on my learnings from pantomime, public speakers and pop culture! I will show how entertainment, fun and even playfulness are fundamentally important to the overall effective learning and teaching experience.

I will engage you in some active learning, a type of pedagogy that directly involves the student in the learning experience, it asks them to do something and think about it. I will use the specific example of using games in higher education (game-based learning). I will illustrate the impact of games in a range of situations, from climate change to compulsory education, and show you how and why they should be a fundamental part of the higher education teaching experience.

Finally, I would like to consider the future and the impact pedagogy could have on individuals, institutions and society. Do not worry, there is no homework associated with this class!

Professor Ian Turner

Professor Ian Turner was educated at the University of Warwick, Kings College London and the University of Nottingham where he gained a PhD in Biophysics in 2005. His research focuses on all aspects of pedagogy especially around the topics of gamification, game based learning, as well as innovative and creative learning, teaching and assessment.

Ian's work across the University supports individuals, teams, departments and colleges with their learning, teaching and assessment activities.