ABSTRACT
Despite important developments in teaching enhancement in the UK (e.g. Higher Education Academy, Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning), there has been little research into the implications of widening participation and increasing student diversity for classroom practice. Indeed, in their review of the impact of widening participation, Gorard et al. (2006) found little evidence that teaching methods had been adapted to meet the changes in the composition of the student population. Lectures remain a key mode of knowledge transmission (Lammers and Murphy 2002) and there remains a dependency on the teacher as authority within many of the teaching strategies used by university teachers. Set within this context, our aim was to work alongside university teachers in an old and a new university to explore the ways in which university teachers have reframed their understandings and practices in response to greater student diversity in the classroom. Additionally we aimed to facilitate the development of strategies to improve academic engagement, to create inclusive learning environments and to inform policy and practice in university teaching.
