Blended learning

We have developed resources that support planning blended learning at the course and session levels.

Course planner (Word doc)

Session planner (Word doc)

Microsoft Office 365 is available to all staff and students at LSE and contains some very powerful tools to support teaching and learning. Using Office 365 to support learning and teaching considers a range of teaching and learning activities and the Office 365 tools that can be used to support them. 

Examples of teaching and learning activities

Each example includes guidance, including short videos, on how the activities can be structured so that students can engage with them in advance, during and after a face-to-face session.

• Using OneNote to support debates and discussions
• Using Sway to improve student engagement with presentations
• Using Word to support peer feedback
• Using Forms for student reflection and self-evaluation

You will find further examples of teaching and learning activities, with lessons plans and resources, on the Teaching and Learning Activities topic page. 

The Educate for Impact pillar of the LSE 2030 Strategy commits to working in “partnership with our students to find innovative ways of learning, creating and collaborating, supporting them to better understand and shape our rapidly changing world.”

The following suggestions for engaging students as partners come from across the LSE staff and student community and are informed by sector-wide practice:

• Identify opportunities for students to be active participants in teaching and learning by preparing and delivering parts of classes and seminars to their peers, the co-creation of resources or increasing their engagement with research and inquiry.

Establish early and informal opportunities for students to provide feedback about how they are experiencing different types of resources and approaches to teaching. This could take the form of a short survey or poll at the end of a lecture / seminar via a platform for providing in-the-moment feedback e.g. Unitu (for departments who have opted to take part in the pilot) or a well-promoted online feedback form. We have developed reuseable templates using the Forms app, which is part of Office 365 for the following student feedback activities: 

Stop, start, continue                                         

One minute paper                                             

Three open-ended questions

When you click on any of the links to the templates above you will see the message ‘Duplicate this form and start to use it as your own’. Once you have duplicated the template you will be able to edit it if you chose to. Your copy will then be saved in your My Forms app, which can be accessed via forms.office.com. To share with your students, click on the ‘share’ button and use the ‘send and collect responses’ option.

• Draw on some of the student-led research and recommendations from the LSE Change Makers programme to -                             2020/21: - Reduce some of the challenges associated with studying online for international postgraduate students or students who speak English as a second language; think about which aspects of online learning it might be beneficial to continue as part of a blended approach.                                        2019/20:Enhance participation in classes and seminars and help students navigate language barriers in your physical and/or virtual classroom.

You can find research into other areas of the LSE student experience in the Change Makers research gallery).

• Make space for students to shape their learning environment by framing the class/seminar as a co-constructed space, in which students ultimately share a degree of responsibility for the learning that happens in any class.  
• Share some decision-making powerwith your students. This could be through the articulation of a specific learning goal, or proposed class plan, and then empowering students to negotiate on different elements (e.g. question selection, activity type, the amount of time spent on each activity, etc.).

If you have any questions or further suggestions about engaging students as partners, please contact Lydia Halls, Student Partnership Coordinator in the Eden Centre: l.halls@lse.ac.uk

Each academic department at the LSE has its own dedicated Eden Centre departmental advisers, who have a wide range of expertise and are available to work with colleagues on any teaching or learning related matter.