Statistics is a core subject in the psychology undergraduate curriculum and is often associated with increased anxiety among learners. The aim of this study was to identify factors relating to statistics anxiety, and specifically, how prior experiences in mathematics and A-Level science qualifications may influence students' perceptions as they…

From a series of listening exercises as part of the Race Equality Review (2021) at the University of Reading, it become clear that decolonising the curriculum is important to both students and staff. The aim of the decolonising the curriculum project was to create an effective resource to support colleagues to decolonise their curricula across a…

The pandemic resulted in many courses being shifted to online delivery, but some courses are designed as online courses from their conception. Courses intentionally designed for online delivery should be well-received by students, but it is not clear which aspects of courses students find particularly appealing and unappealing. We examined…

Drug and alcohol neonate simulators were used to highlight the effects of substance misuse on prenatal development within lifespan development modules to 61 Psychology undergraduates and 12 sixth-form Health and Social Care students. A mixed method approach was used considering both knowledge development and perceptions of experiential hands-on…

Academic achievement can be thought of as the extent to which learning has been accomplished. Previous work suggests that students' self-esteem is impacted by academic achievement, though it is not entirely clear why this is. The current study therefore explored this through interviewing eight psychology students from a Scottish university, before…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, students, and teachers of the developing countries had to shift from the face-to-face traditional classroom to an e-learning environment, which elicited various reactions to teaching and learning. I conducted this research to understand how students perceived online learning and to share my reflexive experiences about…

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shape and disrupt teaching provision in Higher Education, educators have responded with a swift pivot to online teaching for the 2020-2021 academic year. The debate surrounding the pedagogic utility of pre-recorded 'asynchronous' versus live 'synchronous' lecture modality continues to grow among teachers of…

In the UK, psychology degrees are designed to equip students with skills such as critical thinking, research methods, and analytical debate. Many of the key skills and subject-specific content that is taught in the first year of a psychology programme is also introduced in A-level and AS-level study of psychology. Therefore, one would expect…

Psychological literacy is a concept in psychology learning and teaching in Higher Education (HE) that considers how psychology students can intentionally apply psychological knowledge to personal, professional and societal goals. However, despite its prevalence among psychology Higher Education scholars and developers, it is unclear whether…

Undergraduate dissertation students' cognitive appraisal, coping styles and perceived stress were examined at three time points during their undergraduate dissertation projects (UDP), observing whether cognitive appraisal and coping styles predicted perceived stress and their temporal changes. Sixty-four dissertation students completed the…

We explored whether the academic grade a student sees influences how positively or negatively they interpret written assessment feedback. Specifically, an experimental design was used where N = 94 psychology students each read an identical passage of neutrally worded feedback. Depending upon which of three experimental conditions they had been…

Undergraduate student mental health and wellbeing is becoming an increasingly important topic. In particular, students from backgrounds that have been traditionally underrepresented in higher education may have increased difficulties during the transition to university. Therefore, 'Mind Your Mind', a pilot, three-part programme of workshops…

Statistics play an important role in psychology, but statistics modules are notoriously unpopular amongst psychology students. We examined attitudes toward statistics and attitudes toward the statistical software package R in both undergraduate and postgraduate students across the duration of a statistics module. Participants' responses were…

The Etherpad is an open source online editor providing the possibility for collaborative writing and discussions in real-time via a shared link. Previous research has shown that the use of technology in higher education can be effective and that online editors can facilitate collaborative learning. This article outlines the use of the Etherpad in…

It is becoming clear that in the 21st century, a focus on skill development in education is necessary to complement the curriculum, particularly with regards to creative problem solving. The emerging Pedagogy of Play seems to provide a framework to facilitate this but is not easily applicable in the mainstream UK due to difficulties in empowering…