Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching

On 7^th October, at Temple Quarter, we asked students a very simple question: like it or hate it?

We put up seven posters, each showing a different teaching and learning approach, and gave students two kinds of dot stickers: green for like and red for dislike. Students could vote for as many of the approaches as they wanted and, along the way, tell us a little more about why.

Real-life Examples

This was by far the most popular topic: 39 likes and only 1 dislike.

Many students chose this as one of the first things they wanted to vote for. They told us that real-life examples could make ideas easier to understand by showing how something learned in class might translate into practice and where it might actually be used.

Interestingly, during one particularly busy period of voting, a single red dot quietly appeared among all the green ones.

Was that yours? Or, if you would also vote red, we would genuinely like to know why.

Practice-focused Sessions

Practice-focused sessions received the most consistent response of the whole activity: 24 likes and no dislikes.

Students seemed to value opportunities to work directly with what they were learning, rather than only hearing or reading about it. Practice can make abstract ideas feel more concrete and can give students a clearer sense of how knowledge might actually be applied.

Perhaps this is also part of why real-life examples were so popular: in both approaches, students were able to see more clearly what the knowledge they are learning actually does.

Time to Discuss Things with a Partner

Partner discussion received 20 likes and 11 dislikes, and it was one of the topics that generated some of the clearest differences of opinion.

Some students felt that having time to discuss something with another person helped them process what the lecturer had said, check their understanding and exchange different ideas.

Others were much less convinced. A few students told us quite directly that discussion did not necessarily give them any new information and could easily turn into chatting instead.

It revealed that although discussion is a very common classroom activity, simple creating time to talk does not necessarily mean that every student experiences that time as useful.

Working in a Group

Group work produced a similar, although slightly more positive, picture: 23 likes and 13 dislikes.

What was particularly noticeable was that students who disliked group work often disliked it quite strongly.

I was slightly surprised by the overall result. In previous conversations with international students, I have often heard reservations about group work, but during this activity, quite a few international students came to put a green dot on.

It was a useful reminder that preferences around group work not simply reflect broad categories of students. Previous learning experiences, the way a task is designed, individual study habits and simply how someone prefers to learn may all shape whether group work feels useful or frustrating.

Using Mentimeter

Mentimeter received 15 likes and 9 dislikes, meaning that positive responses slightly overweighted negative ones.

Digital tools are now increasingly common in courses, often as a way of making participation more varied or interactive. But these votes also suggest that introducing a digital tool does not automatically make an activity engaging for everyone.

Perhaps the more useful question is not just whether students like digital tools, but when and how they help students participate or understand something more clearly.

Engaging with Content Ahead of the Lecture

From here, the balance began to shift: 10 likes and 15 dislikes.

Some students saw this poster and placed a red sticker on it almost immediately and very decisively.

We did not ask every student to explain their vote, so it would be difficult to say exactly why. But it raised an interesting question: when does engaging with material before class feel like useful preparation, and when does it simply feel like additional work before the teaching has started?

It would be a good opportunity to think about how pre-session activities are designed and how clearly their purpose connects to what happens afterwards in class.

Less Content Delivered in the Classroom

This received the clearest negative response: 4 likes and 18 dislikes.

At the first glance, this might suggest that many students are reasonably happy with the amount of content they current receive, or perhaps, even that they would rather have more than less.

But it may also point to slightly different question. Rather than simply asking whether there should be more or less content, it may be more useful to ask what students want enough time to understand, practice, and discuss.

For everyone else: what would your votes looks like? Are there any of these approaches that you particularly like or dislike? Or is there something else in your everyday learning that you would immediately give a green – or red – sticker?