By Kate Richardson
We’re excited to introduce new Elevate guidance to help staff integrate digitally enabled teaching into their practice. These webpages offer practical support and insights for using digital technologies thoughtfully to enhance learning and teaching at Sheffield. It’s not just about adopting the latest tools but about critically exploring how and when digital strategies can enrich your students’ learning experience and provide a genuinely student-centred education.
What is Digitally Enabled Teaching?
Digitally enabled teaching combines pedagogical research with advancements in technology to improve the quality and inclusivity of teaching. It’s a critical, reflective approach that:
- Uses digital tools to enhance, not replace, traditional teaching methods.
- Focuses on the appropriateness of digital strategies, considering inclusivity and equity.
- Evaluates the impact of digital technologies on learning and assessment.
In their toolkit of the same name, JISC defines digital pedagogy as the study of how digital technologies can be used to best effect in teaching and learning. For us at Sheffield, this approach aligns with our commitment to a campus-based experience enhanced through the thoughtful use of digital tools.
Principles of Digital Education at Sheffield
Our focus is on creating a consistent and inclusive student-centred experience. This means raising the baseline of digital practice across the University while also fostering opportunities for innovation and excellence. By 2026, we envision a learning environment—whether physical or digital—built on sound pedagogic principles, tailored to meet disciplinary and individual needs, and delivered equitably and efficiently.
Examples of Digitally Enabled Teaching Strategies
Here are two examples of practical, tool-agnostic strategies for digitally enabled teaching:
Collaborative Problem-Solving with Online Whiteboards, such as Miro
Science teaching often involves problem-solving, where students work through calculations, hypotheses, or experiments. Online whiteboards can facilitate this process, allowing students to collaborate in real time during or outside of scheduled sessions. For instance:
- How it works: Pose a problem for students to solve collaboratively in small groups. Each group uses an online whiteboard to brainstorm, calculate, or create diagrams to work towards their solutions.
- Benefits: This approach allows students to visualise each other’s thinking, receive immediate feedback, and engage actively in problem-solving. It also works well in blended settings, with students participating from different locations.
Digital Storytelling with Multimedia Tools
Storytelling can be a powerful method for critical analysis and creativity in a range of disciplines. Digital tools can enhance this by enabling students to integrate text, images, and audio into their work. For example:
- How it works: Assign a reflective project where students analyse a theme, artist, or text by creating a multimedia presentation. Students curate relevant visuals, record short narratives, and combine these elements to present their interpretation.
- Benefits: This approach develops digital literacy while encouraging deeper engagement with course content. It’s adaptable for in-class presentations or online submissions.
How This Guidance Can Help
Our new guidance will help staff explore these kinds of strategies, offering practical advice for integrating digital technologies into their teaching. It will also provide support on:
- Choosing tools and approaches that are inclusive and scalable.
- Balancing the digital with the physical to enhance students’ campus-based experience.
- Sharing best practices across disciplines, enabling innovation and collaboration.
By embracing digitally enabled teaching, we are not just raising the baseline—we are creating opportunities to excel. Together, we can ensure that our teaching is driven by sound pedagogic values and responsive to the needs of our diverse student community.
Next Steps
We encourage you to explore this guidance and think critically about how digital strategies can support and enhance your practice. Whether you’re experimenting with a new tool, fine-tuning your current approach or supporting colleagues, thoughtful integration of digital approaches can help you design and deliver an innovative, student-centred education.
If you have any feedback or questions about the new guidance, please contact us at elevate@sheffield.ac.uk