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This article explores how co-teaching within a higher education classroom environment can be used as a 'safe space' for students and tutors to develop their pedagogical skills through connections, conversation, peer learning and inclusivity. Offering the opportunity to provide a safe space for students and academics can prove to be a crucial experience to promote expressiveness, creativity and hone various communication skills. It allows students engage with their thoughts without fear of derision when discussing a topic that is new, or they are initially unsure of. This can evoke confidence to actively participate where in traditional circumstances they may abstain. Simultaneously, this method can be effectively used for academic tutors, particularly those new to the role, to practice new teaching techniques, activities or assessments with the full support of a secondary colleague to ensure that the required learning objectives are met. This reflective analysis addresses three essential aspects that enhance learning and make the co-teaching opportunity unique; how co-teaching offers support for additional non-specific learning objectives; the notion of the 'safe space'; and building relationships. These factors work together to reassess a sense of power sharing, and the development of a new culture. The notion of co-teaching may evoke different perspectives from varying standpoints, and also does have some potential drawbacks. Yet, by taking a fresh look at the method and the unique opportunities for learning that it brings, there lies a potential to reinvigorate the higher education classroom environment in the light of changing approaches to digital and non-classroom learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an insight into the use of poster presentations as a means of helping students prepare and develop their arguments for their final project work to be submitted for assessment. The five students, all from a Masters in Social Work course in Gothenburg, Sweden participated in an international conference in Bratislava, Slovakia. The use of poster presentations, understood in this paper from a constructionist theory of education perspective, also created the opportunities for building student’s self-confidence and helping them develop their own academic voice. Furthermore it is argued that this process helped scaffold their knowledge building before the final submission of their course work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the development of an instrument to explore the views of student teachers in Turkey towards using Facebook as a tool for teaching and learning. A five-point Likert-type scale was developed for a sample of 687 student teachers from various fields in Adiyaman, Mustafa Kemal, and Inonu Universities. The sample included 445 participants in the first application and 242 participants in the second. A literature review, students’ comments, and relevant Facebook research results were considered in order to establish the items for the scale. A comparative analysis of previous studies and instruments yielded an original 33-item pool, and experts’ judgments were consulted to confirm the content validity of the scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine the factor structure of the scale, revealing 17 items that could be grouped under three general factors. A Cronbach’s coefficient (α) was employed to determine the internal consistency coefficients for the whole scale and its subscales. Results indicate that this learning scale (FLTS) is a valid and reliable instrument to investigate the use of Facebook as a learning tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article focuses on introducing writing as a learning tool for qualifications where the curriculum consists of major and non-major modules. Employers seek graduate employees who are proficient in their reading and writing skills, yet they are constantly disappointed as higher education does not produce graduate employees with sufficient writing and communication skills. A variety of challenges exist for the facilitator, who needs to inspire students to be enthusiastic about learning and at the same time improve their writing skills. Challenges can include the variety of writing styles students possess and being able to accommodate them all while students are not prepared on a foundational level for higher education. These challenges must not burden the facilitator. Instead, one needs to consider the benefit that writing holds for various qualifications, such as Travel and Tourism, Marketing and Business Management. This article concludes by investigating four types of writing tools that can be used to improve the classroom experience in a two-fold manner. The first is to use alternative approaches to engage and reflect on the theory and the second is to encourage the improvement of writing as a skill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]