Welcome to the Science Digital Education team’s website! Here you’ll find insights, resources, and expert guidance on our projects within the Faculty of Science.
You’ll find our most recent posts below, but you can also use the menu at the top right of the page to browse through our projects by topic. Here you can find out about all the work we do, from developing new modules to creating engaging teaching resources, and much more.
The Science Digital Education team are a dedicated resource for the Faculty of Science. We are here to help staff in the Faculty to deliver high quality digital learning experiences for their students.
As a team we have a wide range of expertise in digital learning, teaching and assessment. We can help with the development of programmes of study, with the selection and implementation of digital learning tools, and with digital initiatives to enhance the student learning experience.
We work collaboratively with staff in similar roles in other Faculties, with Durham Centre for Academic Development (DCAD), and with digital learning colleagues at other institutions. This helps us to share best practice, ensure consistency and support the interdisciplinary objectives of the Faculty of Science. We welcome the opportunity to work with a wide range of stakeholders, and would be happy to hear from you about any projects, needs, or ideas you have for enhancing your teaching.
The Science Digital Education team offer a combination of educational and technical expertise that supports the University’s ambition to provide all our students with an engaging, innovative and high-quality learning experience. Here are some of the ways we can help:
Our projects begin with conversations about your educational goals and how digital tools can support them. Our experienced Digital Learning Developers offer insights, practical support, and skill development to ensure sustainable solutions. As your project evolves, we help refine processes, evaluate impact, and enhance teaching practices.
For some projects, we will create high-quality digital resources tailored to your educational objectives. Our expertise includes video production and editing, interactive resource development, learning and assessment design, and project management. Whether it’s an infographic or a full online program, we work closely with you to bring your ideas to life.
Our blog includes examples of projects we have worked on, case studies, news, tech reviews and insights into digital learning. Everything is categorised and tagged so you can find all the information you need. We’re always happy to chat with you too! Get in touch through our contact form or drop us a message at sde@durham.ac.uk
We continuously refine our work, using data and user feedback to measure impact and drive improvement. We stay up to date with the latest pedagogical research to inform and enhance our design decisions. Actively engaged in professional communities, we contribute to conferences and user groups, sharing our research, showcasing our projects, and learning from the wider digital learning community.
The beginning of April saw the arrival of the annual Blackboard Users Conference, hosted at Durham and bringing together participants from around the world. The conference covers a range of educational technology tools and use cases, and is distinctive because it is run by users, for users. This means that the sessions often have an […]
Why Accessibility Matters Accessible content benefits all students, not just those with disabilities. The principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) emphasise providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression to meet the diverse needs of learners (CAST, 2018). UDL encourages the creation of flexible learning environments where students can choose how they engage with […]
A rubric is a pre-defined set of statements, usually in a grid format, that describe levels of achievement against a set of criteria.
Rubrics are usually attached to assessment activities to support the marking process. Many staff use them to make marking easier and more efficient. Read on to find out how…
Unsure about the different tools available for peer review at Durham? This post provides some guidance on the available tools, including comparison tables for their functionality.
Scenario The Faculty of Science runs a Master of Data Science (MDS) Programme, taught face-to-face and on campus. In the future, the Faculty is seeking to move this to online only delivery, broadening the potential reach of the programme. As a step towards this, two of the key modules from the programme, Introduction to Statistics […]
Scenario Before starting to use microscopy equipment in the facility, students/staff need to understand the basic concepts of Bioimaging. Previously, training for this had been delivered in person, in groups of three or four people, with sessions repeated on request. For example, if a student would not be accessing the lab until later in the […]
