In this second part of a two-part special, Karishma Patel (Teaching Fellow in Economics, Aston University) reflects on the recent Aston University Learning and Teaching Festival, held on campus on 1st April 2025. The festival brought together staff and students to share ideas, explore innovative practice, and discuss some of the key challenges in higher education today.

In this episode, the focus is on the themes of Belonging and Community, and Student Partnership and Co-Creation.

We hear from those who chaired some of these sessions: Sunday Blake (Policy Manager, GuildHE), Gareth Woods (Associate Dean Education and Student Experience,College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University), and Stephen Rooney (Learning Development Adviser, Library and Learning Services, Aston University). We also hear from a brilliant group of Aston Students’ Unioncommittee members: Taher Gadiwala (Vice President Communities), Sayeed Farooq (Vice President Student Activities), Karina Jutlla (Vice President Welfare), Juan Carlos Garcia Belza (President), and Afia Amanoullah (Vice PresidentEducation).

This episode explores what meaningful student partnership can look like in practice, how small actions can make a big difference to students’ sense of belonging, and the importance of seeing the academic and wider student experiences as one.

In this first of a two-part special, Karishma Patel (Teaching Fellow in Economics, Aston University) reflects on the recent Aston University Learning and Teaching Festival, held oncampus on 1st April 2025. The festival brought together staff and students to share ideas, explore innovative practice, and discuss some of the key challenges in higher education today.

In this episode, the focus is on the themes of Digital and AI in Learning and Teaching, and Assessment and Feedback.

We hear from keynote speakers Francis Goodburn (Founding Headteacher, Aston University Mathematics School) and Professor Naomi Winstone (Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Surrey). We also hear from two of Aston’s Associate Deans for Education and Student Experience, Paul Jones (College of Business and Social Sciences) and Saira Hussain (School of Optometry). Finally, we hear some reflections from Robbie Love (Senior Lecturer in Communication and Culture, Aston University).

The episode explores a range of insights from the evolving role of the lecturer in an AI-driven world to how we can enhance student engagement with feedback. Join Karishma as she reflects on all the great discussions that happened across the day.

In this episode, Karishma Patel (Aston University) invites Erkan Demirbas, Davina Bird, Jane Charlesworth, and Abdul Haque from the University of Lincoln to share insights into their project, which focuses on creating analogy-based cartoons to enhance teaching in economics, statistics,and finance. James Burlison, a student at the University of Lincoln, also joins the discussion to share his views on the innovation. They talk about how they came up with the ideas for the cartoons, how students were involved in the creative process, and how they have been using these cartoons in their teaching.