Open Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The main reason for establishing this journal is that we feel too many journals inhibit submission due to their overly strict rules for submissions; where form prevents content from being shared. Our ethos is to ensure that your voice is heard. We want to capture the rich contexts, experiences, and voices from colleagues across the sector. We encourage all types of writing from more traditional educational inquiries, to working-out-loud papers and provocations.
This Winter issue brings you 12 articles, with contributions by authors from across the UK, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway. The articles cover a range of topics – from students’ sense of belonging to artist-teacher identity, student evaluations of teaching, registered reports, competencies required for science communication graduates, ways that staff can support student neurodivergence and mental health, and implications of open educational resources (OERs) and artificial intelligence for higher education. A strong theme recurring in this issue is online learning, and how educators have evolved their practice post-pandemic, with a view to using learning technologies in transformative ways to engage learners and support relationship building and inclusion, as well as building capability within the institution and wider tertiary education sector.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Vicki Dale, Matthew Barr, Mark Charters, Nathalie Tasler https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Reviewer acknowledgements for oSoTL 5(1), Winter 2025.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Matthew Barr, Mark Charters, Vicki Dale, Nathalie Tasler https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Registered replication reports in the classroom
Background: Registered Reports are an emerging publication format, which emphasizes methodological rigor over results. The research protocol, including methodology and planned analyses, is peer-reviewed and provisionally accepted before the study is conducted and thus regardless of the results. Integrating this format into education allows one to teach research skills when data collection is infeasible. Objective: To reflect on the implementation of Registered Reports for replication research in an undergraduate psychology methods course. Method: A five-week course was conducted where students developed Stage 1 Registered Reports proposing to replicate published findings. Afterwards, the students collectively reflected on the merits of Registered Reports in education through a series of consensus meetings held during a Paper-in-a-Day (PiaD) workshop, which also served as a collaborative writing activity for this paper. PiaD workshops are intensive, collaborative sessions where non-academics work together to conceptualize, draft, and often complete a research paper within a single day. Results: The students indicated that Registered Reports scaffolded their research skills, enhanced their motivation, and instilled open science values in them. They also reported gaining practical insights into reproducible research practices but worried about the necessary support to continue applying them and expressed concerns about public pre-registration, citing fears of criticism. Conclusion: Registered Reports are valuable for teaching research methods, particularly in courses where data collection is impractical. However, institutional support and curriculum-wide integration are essential to sustain the benefits they provide. Teaching Implications: Instructors should leverage the full feedback opportunities of Registered Reports and be mindful of the hidden costs of engaging students in open science practices. PIAD workshops can be explored as standalone educational activities.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Steven Verheyen, Lea Baumann, Timothy Chomicz, Alex Gordzievskaia , Renée Gouw, Florence Jacquorie, Katharina Kappel, Hanna Karasek, Lucie Sophie Kloss, Hannah Klug, Jule Joy Koye, Eva-Lotte Martini, Clara Marie Schaake, Ela Senbak, Jenny X. Shu, Deniz Sidi, Maria Barbara Smorczewska, Marios Srouzi, Yoana Staykova, Júlia Štefunková, Laura-Sophie Teichert, Adarshni Thakoerdin, Fréderique Eva Tienhoven, Claudia Torres Pérez, Minh Tran https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Acknowledgements: oSoTL 4(2) Ukraine special issue
Acknowledgements for the Ukraine special issue, oSoTL 4(2): “Tempus fugit, Academia sempiternal”
Авторське право (c) 2025 Nathalie Tasler, Vicki Dale, Matthew Barr https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper describes the immediate experiences of a lecturer who, with her family, was displaced during the war. After finding safety outside of Ukraine, teaching resumed via Zoom. The teacher created a purposefully ‘safe’ space online for students to participate.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Oksana Kharchenko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper presents a literary journey through poetry, philosophy, literature, and one academic’s experience of losing colleagues and students in the war. Yet, the author finishes on a hopeful note.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Ludmila Kiselova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper presents a chronological account of one academic and her family’s experiences of the war, and the importance of finding solace in books to create a sense of normality. The author also reflects on ‘push and pull’ factors in relation to migration and living outside of Ukraine during the ongoing conflict.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Anna Prokhorova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper represents the autobiographical reflections of an individual academic, and how her career aspirations, Covid, and war impacted on her and her family’s evolving identity.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Galyna Solovei https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Ukraine special issue part 3: Mixed narratives
This third section of the special edition presents ‘mixed narratives’; academics revealing their experiences of teaching and living during wartime. Authors are cited in relation to finding beauty in the darkest places, and liken themselves to the Japanese art of Kintsugi.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Katharine Terrell https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper is a poetry submission.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Viktoria Tretinichenko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Tooth Fairy and other words of love—reflections
This paper shows the juxtraposition between wartime realities and trying to maintain a sense of normality for the family.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Larysa Bachynska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper illustrates the author’s own personal grief at family loss and learning to adjust to wartime tragedy. It ends with hope for the future.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Hanna Volkova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper shares ‘in time’ experiences as the war started in the Ukraine and finishes with a hopeful fairytale that the author has written.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Khlobistov Ievgen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Ukraine special issue part 2: Autobiographical narratives
This second section showcases four academics whose writings can be thought of like diaries, describing their personal experiences of the war. Just as in the previous section, they are all struck by a sudden change – and yet also with life continuing.
Resilience through writing: How the ‘Along Came the War’ project emerged
This individual narrative reflects on the production and use of a website, ‘Along Came the War’, as a platform to support students’ creative writing for wellbeing and sense of community and connection.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Natalia Badior https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Teaching Gender Studies during the Russo-Ukrainian War
Being a refugee scholar in 2022-2024, I wanted to make Ukrainian democratic society more known from a global perspective and Ukrainian studies more visible in broader area studies. Informed solidarity and understanding are needed in this situation. It’s a very challenging task to work on gender equality implementation in your country when the major issue is surviving during the war. This paper analyses the personal experience of teaching gender sociology to both Ukrainian and international students. It reflects upon the challenges and opportunities of conducting research in Ukrainian society during the war as part of teaching. Useful resources on gender and war in Ukraine that appeared after the full-scale invasion, are overviewed. The agency of Ukrainian women who participate in the resistance is underlined.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Tamara Martsenyuk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Teaching environmental studies online during the war
This individual narrative focuses on the innovation of an environmental studies lecturer trying to teach in the field during air raids.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Iryna Vyshenska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This individual teachers’ narrative describes the advent of the Russia-Ukraine war, the emotional response at a time of displacement, and endeavouring to teach online.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Alla Shuhai https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper describes the realities of wartime, teaching about literature online, and extending care to students.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Roman Veretelynk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Ukraine special issue part 1: Teaching focused narratives
This paper introduces the first section of the special issue, focusing on teaching narratives. There is exploration of the move to online learning during wartime, which was partly enabled by the pivot to online during Covid. Drawing on the cited articles, there is also a focus on student wellbeing, and students as agents for change.
Guest editorial for the Ukraine special issue: ‘Tempus fugit, Academia sempiterna’
For many academics around the world, war is unimaginable. It happens to others, a brutal but distant reality that appears on our television screens, but not outside of our windows. For others, including (but not only) those in Ukraine, the reality of war is immediate, here and now, and yet, somehow, academic life persists. This very special issue of our journal came out of conversations with academic colleagues in Ukraine, who visited the University of Glasgow in August 2023 through an international collaboration grant.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Julie Hulme https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy: A source of national education, culture, and Ukraine’s future
This article outlines the history and culture of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA). It sets the context for this special journal issue and culminates in the phrase “Tempus fugit, Academia sempiterna”; time passes, but the academy is eternal.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Hanna Volkova, Alla Shuhai https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Bridging the gap: Implementing 360° virtual tours in research facilities – A pilot study
This paper reports on a pilot study exploring the use of immersive 360-degree videos within higher education biological science research facilities. Despite their potential to enhance teaching and learning, the adoption of such technologies has been limited, with most existing studies focusing on undergraduate teaching laboratories thereby confining their use to introductory science education. Expanding their application to specialised equipment in advanced laboratories, such as university research facilities, offers opportunities to improve student career readiness and extend the pedagogical value of research infrastructure. To address this gap, a pilot 360-degree virtual tour of the Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry Facility at the University of Leeds was developed using the ThingLink learning platform. The pilot aimed to explore the challenges of creating such a resource and to collect student feedback through surveys and focus group discussions. This paper discusses the development process, key lessons learned, and insights gained from student responses, which will inform the refinement of the virtual resource to better support student learning and foster the development of work-ready graduates.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Dimitra Mitsa, Sri Ranjani Ganji, Joanna Brown, Bradley Plows, Gemma Wildsmith https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Strategies for providing neurodivergent and mental health role models in higher education
The prevalence of students in higher education who are neurodivergent (ND) and/or have mental health (MH) challenges is increasing, creating an urgent need to find effective strategies to better support these students and maximise academic outcomes. Providing visible role models to students is one strategy that remains largely unexplored – particularly through making use of staff who are willing to disclose and/or share their own experiences. Three strategies have been used to promote the visibility of ND and MH role models to students at the University of Nottingham: 1. Panel events focused on either ND or MH, 2. Focus groups with ND students led by ND staff, and 3. ND staff experience poster campaign. Feedback from students who engaged with the initiatives demonstrates the value of these role model strategies for students, especially to those who can relate. There is benefit to students in staff being open about their own ND or MH challenges. Role model strategies can be an effective tool to enhance support and inclusivity for students experiencing ND and/or MH related challenges in higher education.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Natalie Mack, Jane Musson, Sabine Totemeyer, Patrick Brundell, Sean May https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Navigating creativity, technology, and human-centred learning: An open, collaborative education community reflection
We live in a postdigital world - a messy and paradoxical condition of art and media after a series of digital technology revolutions (Anderson et al., 2014, cited in Jandrić et al., 2018). ‘Postdigital’ does not mean that we have moved beyond the influence of technology, but rather we exist in a digitally saturated landscape where it no longer makes sense to distinguish, say, between education and so-called Technology Enhanced Education. Technology is a fact of our educational lives. This paper examines the postdigital classroom as a dynamic space where technology is not merely adopted for its own sake but thoughtfully integrated to foster equitable, student-centred learning. Through provocative vignettes, the authors critically explore the interplay between digital tools and hands-on, embodied practices such as making, drawing, and play. They advocate for a reimagined postdigital classroom - one that is flexible, inclusive, and co-created by educators, technologists - and students. By striking a balance between technological innovation and human creativity, this vision moves beyond passive digital transformation toward a future where education is imaginative, adaptive, and deeply humane.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Sandra Abegglen, Tom Burns, Sandra Sinfield, Emma Gillaspy, Rachelle Emily Rawlinson, Alex Spiers, Marianthi Karatsiori, Anna Hunter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Want to create an effective e-learning resource? Our design principles and their application in a case study
In this work, we describe our approach to creating new e-learning materials. This first required the development a set of design principles followed by working in partnership with our students to create and evaluate the e-resources. These design principles were designed to give the student partner a useful framework within which to work yet, at the same time, providing freedom for inclusion of their personal creativity and authenticity in the resource development. Here we: describe our design principles and rationales for their use; introduce a case study trialling this methodology for course enhancement through the development of an online support resource; and evaluate student feedback on the approach taken. Evaluation data from this case-study shows that this approach has a positive impact on the student learning experience and has generated an appetite from the student body for more e-learning support created using our design approach.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Dr. Smita Odedra, Dr. Linnea Soler https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Connection online: Best practice in synchronous online learning
This paper describes a research project that was conducted from 2022-4 to develop guidance for best pedagogical practice in synchronous online learning. It followed experiences during COVID-19 of barriers to relational learning online and learning cultures that fostered disconnected rather than relational learning opportunities. Action research methodology was used with a group of educators and a group of students and best practice guidance subsequently developed. Key themes are presented which were: creating an online culture, curriculum design, facilitating student engagement, and digital inequalities. Recommendations arising from these themes are discussed and what is necessary for students, educators and higher education leaders to facilitate the most relational and inclusive synchronous online education. It is concluded that digital programmes can incorporate more relational learning opportunities through synchronous online sessions if this is supported through university structures and priorities and educators are supported to design a curriculum that best facilitates these opportunities in the service of student engagement.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Gillian Proctor https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Studying digital metamorphosis in university pedagogy: A systematic review
Metamorphosis signifies a profound and progressive transformation in response to a changing environment. Transitioning to online learning enabled the continuity of education offerings during the recent pandemic, while disrupting university teaching. In that context, the aim of this paper is to understand digital metamorphosis in university pedagogy. We performed a systematic literature review which was driven by two seminal theoretical frameworks: Signature Pedagogies and Transformative learning. The selection criteria entailed peer-reviewed empirical journal articles published in educational technology journals with high impact factor articles published between 2020 and 2023 in English focusing on the intersection of emergency remote teaching and higher education. We analysed 23 articles by asking ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions applied to university teaching using the Signature Pedagogies framework. Furthermore, we analysed the answers to the ‘why’s’ by using the Transformative learning framework targeting the teachers’ viewpoint. Our findings indicate that the digital metamorphosis comprises three constituent elements: (1) introspect our values, beliefs and expectations as educators in relation to the use of learning technologies, (2) re-conceptualise faculty preparedness and competence to teach online and (3) understand digital transformation as opportunity for transformative learning for university teachers. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications that go beyond the pandemic context targeting a better ‘new normal’ in the post-pandemic era.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Anna Mavroudi, Rebekka Wagstaffe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Student perspectives on building belonging through inclusive teaching and learning practices and learning opportunities
Fostering a sense of belonging is a priority in higher education. We used a qualitative approach to investigate how teaching and learning practices in a science curriculum and co-curricular opportunities in a student’s journey influence their sense of belonging. We define co-curricular as opportunities where students can apply and develop the knowledge, skills and competencies acquired through their courses, such as paid placements, internships, and co-design curriculum initiatives. This study was conducted in partnership between staff and students, with co-created methodology and outputs. A thematic analysis of focus group data (N=23 students) identified three key areas which impact belonging: curriculum design which promotes diversity and adopts inclusive pedagogy and practice, designing inclusive co-curricular opportunities, and providing opportunities for students to build relationships and access appropriate levels of support in their learner journey. These findings provide nuanced insights into how belonging is experienced by students and, through the student voice, have enabled us to identify strategies both at the strategic and institutional level, as well as the curriculum level. These strategies can help foster a sense of belonging by adopting a holistic approach to students’ learning experience which is underpinned by principles of inclusivity, active and authentic learning, and student co-creation.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Stephanie McDonald, Gary Saunders, Alice Eley, George Parish, Kate Lister, Alexander Tansell, Katharine L Reid, Juliette Morgan, Lynette Carver https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
We wholeheartedly thank the following reviewers, who freely gave their time and expertise, supporting authors and adding value to the work of oSoTL.
Авторське право (c) 2025 Matthew Barr, Mark Charters; Vicki Dale; Nathalie Tasler https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0