The Education Incubator

As part of the University of Exeter’s ongoing commitment to international excellence, the Education Incubator is an investment in teaching innovation and collaboration. This research-led enhancement of teaching and learning aims to prepare students as well as possible in order to compete in the 21st Century workplace, with focuses on the current digital revolution. There are 13 projects across the university which are split into three main themes, Success for All, Using MOOCs to address Grand Challenges, and Learning Reimagined.

Success for All:

The Education Incubator helps University of Exeter inclusion, in supporting all students with opportunities to grow and develop. A variety of projects will work towards initiatives such as an accessible dashboard offering the use of analytics to interpret student performance in order to understand how best to work with students and offer support. Other projects include working on the role of personal academic tutors and their training, an Academic Tutor Group system to help students link their experiences to employability, and finding ways of placing academic support firmly within this digital century.

Using MOOCs to address Grand Challenges 

Our MOOCs’ (Massive Online Open Courses) distinctive learning environment has prompted global conversations regarding societal changes in which our students have been able to play an influential role. Our Climate Change MOOC was shortlisted in the global Reimagine Education Awards 2016.

Grand Challenges is an interdisciplinary, enquiry led learning experience which improves employability, but only relatively small numbers of students can take part. Our focus is to develop a module in which MOOC-based delivery of Grand Challenge Themes can be integrated into first and second year curriculums. Our three main projects concentrate on getting the conversation going around the problems of Sustainable Oceans, Circular Economy and the Many Faces of Chinese Culture.

Learning Reimagined:

Learning Reimagined looks at contact time, assessment and feedback. Here the two most significant influences are the MOOCs and computer games which work on a careful balance between challenge, reward and progress through an immersive environment with clearly set outcomes. The purpose of this theme therefore is to capitalise on the digital revolution in order to re-imagine on-campus learning and teaching. Projects include building on digital pedagogy in Mathematics, and Interactive Virtual Environments for Teaching Assessment.

Want to know more or get involved with a project? Click here.