Welcome to the seventh edition of Compass, the University of Greenwich’s learning and 

teaching journal. This edition marks a significant development in the journal’s evolution as it 

is our first fully online publication. We believe that our online journal will be not only more 

environmentally friendly, but also more readable, more accessible, and more visible to the 

higher education learning and teaching community. It is through the hard work of Gillian 

Keyms, Simon Walker and Jad Orlinska that this online plan for Compass has come to 

fruition. 

This edition brings together opinion pieces and case studies based on presentations and 

workshops delivered at the University of Greenwich’s 2012 summer conferences. The 

conferences offered colleagues from inside and outside the University an opportunity to 

discuss and debate learning and teaching issues. We see this edition of the journal as a 

means of taking those discussions forwards.  

The fifth annual learning and teaching conference, SHIFT, took place on 3 July 2012. It was 

entitled Inspiring Teachers: Learning and Leading in Academic Practice. The conference 

began with a master class in threshold concepts by Professor Ray Land from Durham 

University, which developed ideas seeded during his keynote in the 2011 learning and 

teaching conference. The conference closed with a dynamic (late night for the presenter) 

video conference keynote from Andrew Douch, a practising teacher from Australia, who won 

the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teacher award in 2008. Six papers in this edition come 

from the SHIFT conference. 

 Patrick Ainley’s (School of Education) Opinion Piece offers a critical review of Stefan 

Collini’s recent book What are Universities For ? Patrick argues that education is 

never for its own sake – it is much more important than that. 

 While Patrick provided a book review (note future editions of Compass will have a 

separate book review section), Noel-Ann Bradshaw (School of Computing and 

Mathematical Science) and Karen Richardson (IT and Library Services)’s Case Study 

shows how a book review assignment encouraged mathematics students to read 

more. 

 My own Opinion Piece (Karen Smith, Educational Development Unit) shows how my 

experience of presenting at the SHIFT conference in the novel Pecha Kucha format 

led me to introduce a Pecha Kucha assignment into the University of Greenwich’s 

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. 

 Muhammad Ali Imran (University of Surrey) and Kamrad Arshad (School of 

Engineering)’s Case Study also describes the introduction of innovative learning 

approaches. They outline the use of flipped classroom and just-in-time teaching 

techniques to enhance learning amongst postgraduate engineering students. 

 Jane Stokes (School of Health and Social Care) and Keena Cummins (independent 

speech and language therapist) share their experiences of using videos with speech 

therapy students in order to enhance their students’ reflective practice and 

subsequent professional development. 



 Finally, Ray Stoneham and Matt Pritchard (School of Computing and Mathematical 

Sciences) ask through their Opinion Piece whether students actually read or access 

online feedback. They offer areas for future research and development. 

The tenth e-learning conference, APT, took place on 4 July 2012. It was entitled 

Employer Engagement in a Digital Age and it welcomed delegates from across the UK. It 

was opened with a keynote by education consultant Marcus Orlovksy and closed with a 

panel discussion around the theme: ‘in a digital age, how and what should universities be 

teaching’. Four papers from this conference appear in this edition. 

 Within their Opinion Piece, Sheila McNeill (JISC) and Bill Johnston (Strathclyde 

University) propose a framework for the strategic development of a digital 

university within the modern age. They map ideas for Greenwich Connect 

initiative to the framework. 

 Linda Bennett (Gold Leaf Consultancy)’s Case Study reports on the introduction 

of electronic textbooks at the University of Plymouth, offering staff and student 

views of working with electronic resources as part of a first year Psychology 

programme. 

 Julie Laxton (University of Leeds), Paul Dagg, Janet Hargreaves, Duane 
Laverick, and Carrie Mitchell (University of Huddersfield) provide a Case Study 
that describes a collaborative project between staff and students to develop a 
freely available self-assessment tool to rate students’ preparedness to enter 
professional practice. 

 Ian Carruthers-Jones (Business School) describes the introduction of a mobile-

device-enabled (iPAD) blended learning environment to support part-time 

professional postgraduate students on a Human Resource Management 

programme. The intervention had a positive impact on student learning. 

The articles in this edition of Compass cover a range of learning, teaching and 

assessment issues. Hopefully, there will be something of interest to all readers. We 

hope to see you at the 2013 conferences. The APT conference, Next Generation 

Learning Spaces and Work Places, will take place on 2 July 2013 

(http://tinyurl.com/apt2013). The SHIFT conference, Sharing Practice, Developing 

Community, will take place on 3 July 2013 (http://tinyurl.com/shift2013).  

Dr Karen Smith, Managing Editor 

  

http://tinyurl.com/apt2013
http://tinyurl.com/shift2013