Talis Elevate Contributor of the Month

Ian Robson, Northumbria University

Tell us how you are using Elevate

I am new to Elevate and am piloting its use with a group of second year undergraduate students on Northumbria Universities’ Childhood and Early Years Studies programme. I wanted to respond to student concerns about engaging with reading, especially reading online. In particular, students told me that they felt intimidated when approaching a new topic, and often reading reinforced these feelings. I was looking for something to help with their engagement, interaction, and critically reflective thinking as part of an overall pedagogical strategy. That’s where Elevate came in.

What Impact has Talis Elevate had on your students?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the feedback students have given me as we have reflected on using Elevate together. One of the key points of feedback so far has been that students really like seeing others’ comments. They tell me that seeing comments in context helped them understand content and gave them a starting point for discussion and inquiry. We are planning a full review towards the end of the module!

Can you give one piece of advice for someone using Talis Elevate

From the experience so far, I would encourage tutors to carefully integrate selected content relevant to the learning objectives for that week. Students tell me that when they see face to face sessions, online lectures, and asynchronous teaching and learning connect, this is very powerful. Elevate can do this and much more when used purposefully.

If you would like to be featured as a Talis Elevate contributor, please let us know by emailing kayleigh.jane@talis.com, we look forward to hearing from you.