How colleges and universities are Enhancing Student Learning

Enhancing Student Learning

This award is given to an individual, team, or wider organisation to recognise an initiative that has improved the educational experiences of students and boosted their chances of success.

A total of six entries have been shortlisted for this award. Three are explored today, with an overview of the other three entries available tomorrow.

Dumfries & Galloway College – Immersive Learning in Early Years

In an effort to improve the real-world value of their programme, the college redesigned the NC in Childhood Practice with a focus on making the learning experience more immersive, relevant, and effective. The move was driven by “changes in learner readiness, evolving sector expectations, and a growing recognition that early years practitioners require a broader set of skills beyond traditional academic attainment”.

The transformation process led to a move away from established course structures which often involve students being progressed through a series of discrete, individual units that, for learners, do not necessarily feel well-connected.

The programme was instead rebuilt around “integrated professional learning themes”, each of which operates in four phases: Readiness to Learn; Knowledge Building; Embedding Knowledge; and Into Practice. This sequence takes students from the classroom, through a simulated nursery environment, and finally onto placements in the early years sector, allowing theory to be quickly applied “within meaningful, authentic contexts.”

The college believes that the approach is “particularly innovative” because “immersive learning is not an add‑on but the organising principle of the entire curriculum,” and that the integration of “knowledge, skills, and professional behaviours” helps to develop a “deeply authentic learning journey that strengthens the connection between education and employment.”

Feedback from local employers has suggested that students completing the new programme are better-prepared for the demands of the early years sector, while learners say that placements are now less daunting experiences for them.

A decrease in course withdrawals has also been identified. In the past, drop outs tended to peak after the first placement due to individuals feels underprepared and overwhelmed, but in 2025/26 there were no withdrawals at this stage of the course.

The college reports that the successful implementation of the new approach “has resulted in a coherent, streamlined curriculum that strengthens the link between classroom learning and professional practice, supporting improved learner progression and workforce readiness.”

Glasgow Clyde College - Harris Tweed Reimagined Fashion Project

When the Harris Tweed Authority returned garments originally created by students more than two decades ago, staff at Glasgow Clyde College recognised an opportunity to use the “unique moment of institutional heritage” as the catalyst for an ambitious, multi-disciplinary project.

The result was a programme that brought together nearly 100 students from across the college’s Fashion and Textile department, all with the goal of reimaging both the garments and the “iconic fabric” for modern audiences and users.

First, textile students produced embroidered panels exploring one of four themes – luxe, nature, logic, and discovery. Next, design students used those materials to develop new garment concepts. Once completed, these were passed to technology students who interpreted the new designed and created the garments. Throughout the processes, students in Fashion Communication documented the work in order to develop powerful promotional content.

According to the college, this “structured workflow” reflects “real industry practice” in a sector where “designers, technologists and communications specialists collaborate under deadlines to deliver a final product.”

As a result, students “developed a wide range of professional skills including research, design interpretation, technical construction, communication and project management”, all while learning to cope with strict deadlines and design constraints, and enhancing their understanding of the cultural heritage that exists within their industry.

The project will culminate in a final showcase and competition in June of this year, where the finished works will be presented. Winning designs will be exhibited at the Harris Tweed Authority’s visitor centre in Stornoway.

Heriot-Watt University – The Campbell Maths Gym

The ‘Maths Gym’ service provided by the university allows students to access tailored, expert support in order to enhance their skills in the areas of mathematics and statistics.

Having established the service in 2019/20 with a single staff member, Heriot-Watt then expanded the programme when four teaching assistants, as well as volunteer staff at the institution’s Dubai and Malaysia campuses, were brought on board.

During the Covid pandemic, Maths Gym offered online session on both a one-to-one and open, drop-in basis, and later included one-hour workshops on areas of mathematics that had been identified as being “problematic” for students.

Today, the team includes eight volunteers, ten teaching assistants, and two full-time members of staff covering the three campuses, with these individuals “representing a variety of departments and areas of expertise.”

The project is also an opportunity for “invaluable career development” for those delivering support sessions, especially teaching assistants, as the “range of topics brought by students” exposes them to “new areas of mathematics and enhances their technical knowledge.”

The university reports that Maths Gym helped to produce a “demonstrable increase in student grades”. At the Dubai campus, for example, average marks in year 1 maths modules increasing from 72 percent to 86 percent in a single year. More broadly, the scheme is seen as having an “important role to play in the university-wide goals of increasing student retention and improving the student experience.”