Unfortunately, for many students, this is not the case: in fact, you may have to start thinking about tax sooner than you’d like. Getting your head around the ins-and-outs of tax, national insurance, and what you’ll need to pay, when, can be pretty complicated – so we’ve compiled this guide to help you get started.

When will I need to pay tax as a student?

For the vast majority of students, working alongside their courses is a necessity. If you fall into that bracket – assuming that your earnings are sufficiently high – you’ll be liable to pay some tax. However, the good news is that every UK citizen gets a ‘personal allowance’: an amount of income that is not subject to tax.

For the 2017-2018 tax year, the personal allowance has been set at £11,500 (meaning that you could earn up to £11,500 before you pay a penny). After you cross this threshold, the amount you pay depends on your earnings. You pay 20% for any amount earned between £11,501 – £45,000; and if you happen to earn anything above this amount – less likely if you’re a student, but not impossible! – you will pay tax at a rate of 40%.

If you work for a company, your employer will probably take taxes from your wages via the PAYE (‘Pay As You Earn’) scheme. Now, this is where it can get a bit tricky for students – because though some students will work throughout the year, most will work a greater number of hours during the holidays. However, the way that PAYE works is that it averages out your tax over the year, meaning that even if you have a temporary job for just one month, you will be taxed on that single pay cheque as if you will be earning that amount every month for the rest of the year.

Because the PAYE scheme works best when you are receiving income from an employer on a regular basis, it can mean that you end up overpaying tax if you’re a student, and as such will need to claim this back. It’s up to you to sort this – HMRC won’t necessarily be knocking on your door with a refund offer – and you only have four years in which you can claim, so do be sure to keep an eye on this.

A few other things to bear in mind when it comes to student taxes:

• If you’re self-employed, it’s down to you to register for self-assessment with HMRC and report your income to them on a yearly basis. You’ll then be asked to pay tax if you’ve earned more than the personal allowance amount for that year.
• Not all of the money you receive will be subject to tax – student loans, sponsorship and grants are not taxable.

 How to Work Out How Much Tax You Owe

As mentioned above, there’s a good chance that you could end up overpaying tax if your working hours change throughout the year. With this in mind, it’s sensible to have an idea of how much tax you should be paying overall. For students, the calculation should be relatively simple:

• Write down your total income number – everything you’ve earned during a tax year (which runs from 6^th April one year to 5^th April the next).
• Take off any allowances (such as personal allowance).
• You’ll be left with a figure that equates to your taxable income.
• Use the tax rates that apply to you to calculate what your liability is (e.g. 20%, 40%, etc., as explained in the previous section).
• Take off any tax already deducted (such as the amount that would have been taken at source via PAYE – this will be stated clearly on your pay cheques).
• The amount that is left is the tax you owe, or which is owed to you.
• As an example: if you live in England and earned £250 a week during 2016-17, your total yearly income will have been £13,000. By subtracting your personal allowance (which was set at £11,000 for that tax year), you are left with your taxable income (£13,000 – £11,000 = £2,000). This falls into the 20% tax bracket, so multiply £2,000 by 0.2 to work out your liability (£400). The final step is to deduct any monies already paid for that tax year, which would provide you with a final figure. For example, if you happened to have paid £500 tax already, your final figure would be -£100, meaning that you would be due a £100 refund. By contrast, if you hadn’t yet paid any tax on the £13,000 you earned during that year, you would be required to cough up £400 at some point in the near future.

A Note on National Insurance

In the UK, if you are a student aged 16 or above and earn over £157 per week, you’ll also be liable to pay national insurance. These payments represent contributions to state benefits (such as the NHS and the state pension). For earnings between £157 – £866 per week, a contribution of 12% is due. Any earnings over that amount are charged at an additional 2%.

 Most students in full-time education will be required to pay national insurance contributions, whether they are employed or self-employed. This also applies to postgraduate students who are paid for teaching, as well as placement students who earn money during work experience.

This blog is part of a series on how to handle taxes as a student or entrepreneur. Do be sure to check back regularly for more updates and handy hints from the Crowdfund Campus team!

University can provide a perfect springboard for testing skills and business plans. A melting pot of ideas, like-minded peers and inspiring experts, a university campus offers boundless resources and diversity. So don’t limit your time as a student to essay-writing, revising, and partying (or sleeping in…!) – follow these four steps and really make the most of your university experience.

Shape your skills

Before starting a business, it’s essential to nail down your strengths and weaknesses – you can’t be a good boss without self-awareness. If you’re particularly skilled in a certain area, you’ll want to devise a business plan that leverages this talent. For instance, if you’re a computer whizz but not so good with people, you’ll want to capitalise on this asset, whilst also considering the possibility of partnering with someone else who can handle the sales and personnel side.

Nothing is set in stone, though. Being a student offers a great opportunity to analyse yourself and improve any weak areas. Find it difficult to speak in front of people? Join a debating society. Lousy at time management? Use your university work schedule to devise rigorous time plans for yourself and figure out how to apply these to your future career (do you need to set yourself strict deadlines? Put a colour-coded calendar on the wall? Have online reminders popping up on your computer screen every so often?). College life isn’t only about working on your degree – it’s about working on yourself.

Hone your concept

Your idea doesn’t have to be brand new or radical to succeed – but it does need to be solid. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there a demand for your service or product – and who needs it?
• Do you have an identifiable USP?
• Who are your competitors?
• Have you considered any limitations carefully?

If your concept isn’t particularly innovative, try and think of a little twist that might give it the edge – an element that will distinguish it from the competition. Something as small as a discount system or an inviting marketing strategy (an active blog or social media page, for instance) can be enough to help you pull ahead from the crowd, but you need to think about and consolidate these ideas now. Don’t leave it until just before your launch date!

Perfect your business plan

Think of a business plan like a map: it gets you from A to B, setting out your business goals and explaining – in detail – how you intend to achieve them. This document will not only be useful for you and your team, but also can be a powerful tool when it comes to attracting investors, so it pays to spend real time on development. Consult fellow students and business societies, and ask teachers in the enterprise department for their advice, too; your business plan needs to be free of mistakes, tightly written, and reinforced by considered reasoning and research.

Create a collaborative network

Being a young entrepreneur can feel lonely – but it doesn’t have to, particularly at university. This is the perfect place to team up with like-minded people: people who share your ideas and passion, and can also fill any gaps in your skillset. If you form a solid team, you’ll not only gain valuable support, but also you’ll be able to divide up tasks and make the whole process seem more manageable.

Don’t only seek out peers, though. Starting a business whilst studying can seem daunting, but never forget that there are likely to be many experts (lecturers, teachers, and even PhD students) on the same campus who will be willing to help you. They may be busy with their own projects and research, but a carefully-worded email or request for a few minutes of their time, during which you explain your passion for your project and your willingness to learn, may inspire them to act as your mentor. At the very least, they may be able to look over your business plan and give you an honest opinion – which, at the earlier stages of business development, would be invaluable.

Are you a budding student entrepreneur who wishes there was more enterprise-related activity at your university? Crowdfund Campus might be able to help. Our innovative business simulation, Sandpit, can act as a catalyst for on-campus enterprise – and it’s great fun, too! Contact us today to learn more.

But in the context of enterprise education, trying to come up with the ‘next big thing’ in a classroom, under time constraints, is nigh on impossible – an unrealistic exercise in an artificial arena.

Every business has to stem from something, but that something is unlikely to be the big idea. On the contrary, working backwards to find a solution to a problem, and turning that solution into a business, is more likely to lead to long-term success and a business people buy into.

Problem, not Product

Customers don’t buy products. They buy solutions to problems. Think about it: a hoover cleans a house in a fraction of the time it takes to sweep; a waterproof jacket saves you getting soaked through to the skin; a sun hat protects you from heatstroke. Teaching the entrepreneurs of tomorrow that they need to create a genius new product is therefore counter-intuitive: what our students need to understand is that entrepreneurship is about problems, not products.

When students think products first, they struggle. Ideas are implausible. The audience isn’t there. But if they start their entrepreneurial journey with a problem and focus on seeking a solution, they are more likely to have their eureka moment: to find a business they want to build.

Problem Solving in the Classroom

Creativity plays a critical role in entrepreneurship, but educators need to harness this correctly in the classroom. By replacing ideas generation exercises with problem solving, students will find themselves focusing on the strategies for long-term success, rather than fretting over finding ‘the big idea’.

According to Dr Sidney J. Parnes and Alex Osborn, there are six stages to the creative problem-solving process:

1. Objective Finding

What?  Identifying an issue that needs to be solved.

How?  A useful – and enjoyable – exercise to kickstart this is to ask your students to write down three customer segments they are members of (e.g. millennial, vegetarian, in full-time education) and three ‘passion’ segments of people they would like to work with (e.g. dancers, refugee children, the elderly). Of these six segments, they should then pick the three that excite them most. With their top three segments identified, each student should hypothesise three challenges each demographic might be facing now – for example, dancers might wonder how to ensure they get the right mix of nutrients in their meals, and those in full-time education might be working out how to make the most of the summer break on a budget. At the end of the exercise, each student will have nine potential problems to tackle – problems they are uniquely capable of working on because they either experience the issue themselves (as a member of the segment), or they feel passionate about helping the people who do.

2. Fact Finding

What?  Gathering information about the problem.

How?  Encourage students to question their classmates, and/or get out and about on campus. Ask them to gather data to answer a variety of questions: who and what is involved? Are there any presumptions or perceptions? What does/doesn’t happen? Crowdfund Campus’ Sandpit may also prove a useful way of testing what a target audience needs, wants and responds to.

3. Problem Finding

What?  Converting general issues into specific problems.

How?  Drill down into the detail by asking who, why, what, when, where, and how? Evaluate the data gathered and pose challenging questions that invite solutions. Open-ended questions generate lots of rich information and multiple possibilities, so encourage your class – perhaps in small groups – to grill each other in an open-ended format (i.e. there is no right or wrong answer!).

4. Ideas Finding

What ? Generating as many ideas as possible in light of the problems identified.

How?  Students need to shortlist their most promising ideas – with little to no restrictions. Collaborative classroom exercises such as brainwriting might be useful here in order to encourage creativity and originality.

5. Solution Finding

What?  Determining whether ideas can realistically be executed.

How?  Encourage students to think critically about their ideas and whether they can be successful. How will they work? Are the materials and technology available? Ultimately, they should end up with one solution that they think is promising and want to develop.

6. Acceptance Finding

What?  Planning how to take the solution forwards.

How?  From a starting point of nine problems, students will now have one idea that they think is actionable. Only now should they start developing several alternative action plans so that they keep working towards an accepted solution. Remember: this is still part of the problem-solving process, so hurdles are to be expected – but do not allow them to give into negativity. Problems are exposed to be solved, not to dishearten or heed progress.

Teaching a Lifelong Skill

When students are taught to think in terms of solutions, not ideas, they learn lifelong skills that will stand them in good stead – whether in the workplace or as an entrepreneur. Problem solving encourages students to be:

• More impactful – thinking problem first, not product.
• More creative – understanding how to use problems to generate ideas, rather than waiting for that light bulb moment.
• More empathetic – knowing how to successfully connect and collaborate with other people.

We are proud to offer support and innovative solutions to educators who want to ‘think outside the box’. Our live crowdfunding marketplace and simulated Sandpit platform encourage creative problem solving, as well as a plethora of learning benefits. Contact us today to learn more and book a free demonstration.

Today, we aim to inspire you to introduce collaboration to your classroom by presenting six methods that will foster an active learning environment for all – because education does not begin and end with a textbook or test.

Primary Level

Fishbowl

This strategy lets students practice being both a speaker and listener during a discussion – an important skill to master and a way to ensure they learn that the collaborative classroom is about two-way conversation.

Arrange the pupils’ desks into two circles, one inside the other. Pose a question to the children in the inner circle, allowing them to ask questions, express opinions, and share information. Ask the children in the outer circle to actively listen to the conversation and reflect on the ideas being presented, but do not invite them to join in: they must understand that their preliminary position is to observe. After a set time (or after the conversation comes to a natural conclusion), reverse the roles.

Physically moving the classroom around like this stimulates the children’s senses and provides structure for the session, whilst the defined ‘speaker’ and ‘listener’ positions help the pupils reflect on what a ‘good discussion’ looks like and ensures no-one feels left out.

Save the Last Word

This fun, visual ‘game’ compels all the class to participate – a great way to support shy students to share their ideas, and a means of encouraging the louder pupils to practice being quiet and contemplative.

Prepare a collection of posters, paintings and photographs that reflect the subject you are studying. Ask each pupil to select an image that stands out to them. On the back, get each child to write out why they selected this image, what they think it represents, and why they think it is important. Then divide the class into groups of three, labelling each pupil ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘3’. Invite the number 1s to show their chosen image to their group, and then ask numbers 2 and 3 to discuss this for a short period of time (with the number 1s listening but not participating). After several minutes, ask the number 1s to read out what they’ve written on the back of the image, thus giving them ‘the last word’. Repeat the process with pupils 2 and 3 as presenters.

Secondary Level

Sentence Stems

Collaboration doesn’t come easily to all students, and the job of the teacher, therefore, is to facilitate conversation amongst the whole class, helping all involved learn how to express themselves confidently. At secondary level, meaningful conversations can make learning more immediate, personal and emotive – but, very often, group activities are dominated by the strongest speakers or personalities. The use of sentence stems thus provides a structure for discussion and a specific language for all to share in. The result is that the entire class is engaged, with all students learning to analyse opposing perspectives, be accountable for their own positions, and adapt their thinking on the fly.

Example sentence stems – which the teacher might write on index cards for pupils to pick from randomly – include:

“Is it your position that…”

“I’m confused when you say x. Can you elaborate?”

“Is it fair to say you believe…”

“I see it differently because…”

“I agree with Y, but we also have to consider…”

Brainwriting

Brainstorming has long been considered the collaborative learning method of choice. However, brainstorming sessions often result in the most obvious ideas being discussed – and only by those who speak the loudest. Brainwriting, by contrast, separates the ideas-generation stage from the group discussion, encouraging the entire class to present their points of view and resulting in original, higher-level solutions.

Pose a question to your classroom and ask each student to consider it independently. Get them to write down their ideas on a sticky note and attach it to a wall. Do not include names or any identifying information; all the posts should be anonymous. Invite the class up to the wall and ask them to read and think silently about all the ideas generated. You can then facilitate the group discussion from a more level, and considered, playing field.

Higher Level

Live Collaboration

Students today rarely come to class with only a pen and paper. In their bags they are likely to have a smartphone, tablet, and/or laptop – and it’s up to educators to ensure these are used, not abused! By streamlining devices and systems to create an engaging and highly-customisable environment, students can take control of their education whilst also feeling like they’re working alongside others.

Two tools that we love at this level are Kramer and Kaltura. Kramer connects devices via one central control system, enabling classes to work together as a whole or be divided into groups. This live collaboration tool also allows files to be shared in real time, and turns any display into a whiteboard, as and when required – allowing for immediate engagement, reflection and discussion. Similarly, Kaltura creates a campus-wide management and delivery system that can store lectures, post assignments, and even prompt students to take tests. This allows the student to choose when and how they study, recognising that the lecture hall is not the holy grail for all.

Sandpit by Crowdfund Campus

Learners at this level don’t need such a clearly defined structure – what they require is stimulation. (Ever met a student who is wide awake at 9am? Thought not.) One of the best platforms for turning technology into a teaching mechanism is Sandpit: an online marketplace that allows students to engage with enterprise in a safe, simulated environment. By grouping students into teams, not only do they learn how to collaborate on – and share in – idea-development and problem-solving processes, but also they develop real-life leadership, management, and communication skills. This practical exercise can be mapped to the learning and assessment outcomes of your module, adding variety to theoretical teaching and assessment methods (and keeping students awake – at least until lunchtime!).

For tailored advice and assistance on implementing collaboration in your classroom, contact the Crowdfund Campus team today on +44 (0)7545 898120 or hello@crowdfundcampus.com. We would love to show you around the Sandpit and demonstrate why active learning is the greatest arsenal for today’s teachers.

It’s a classic picture of pedagogy – and one that is no longer relevant.

In 21^st century classrooms, collaboration is key. It adds much-needed variety to the traditional, lecture-based style of learning. Moreover, it opens channels of communication and cooperation between students and teachers, creating a culture that values every student’s strengths, and an environment in which everyone is encouraged to learn from each other.

If you are yet to introduce collaborative learning to your classroom, here are four ways in which it enhances education for all:

1. Shared knowledge

Traditional teachers follow one dominant model: a knowledge flow from pedagogue to pupil. However, collaborative teachers turn this on its head. They invite the students to bring their own strategies and experiences to the learning situation, creating a classroom which uses a language and ethos the learners best respond to. This does not undermine or supersede the vital knowledge the teacher has to impart, but it helps them engage and instruct their class in the most inclusive and empowering way. As a result, multiple perspectives and multiple potential solutions are offered by a class who are enriched by the experiences and knowledge around them.

2. Shared responsibility

In a traditional teaching environment, the educator is largely – if not wholly – responsible for the methods of learning and the methods of assessment. By contrast, in a collaborative classroom, teachers invite their students to help set specific goals within the context of what is being taught. This helps provide a framework in which to engage all students and draw on all experiences, rather than simply playing into the hands of the pool of pupils who have the maturity and self-motivation to learn independently. By allowing students to take ownership of their education, they begin to understand that learning is for life, not simply school.

3. Shared facilitation

In a collaborative classroom, the teacher helps the students connect new knowledge to their own experiences, and figure out what to do when they are stuck. Teachers are encouraged to work with their pupils in order to create an environment which best facilitates opportunities for collaborative work and problem-based learning. This might include the rules the class deems appropriate for shared discussions – for example, valuing each other’s comments and arguing for/against ideas, rather than individuals. It may also include the set-up of the physical space – arranging the classroom so that all the students can see each other, and/or moving the teacher’s desk away from the front of the room to a less prominent space, for instance.

4. Shared opportunities

Although students are traditionally streamed according to their ability, collaborative learning promotes inclusion as an essential ingredient for all. Life beyond the classroom requires an understanding and appreciation of diverse perspectives, and so a collaborative classroom is one in which students are taught that everyone deserves the opportunity to make a contribution, and that every contribution is valuable. This in turn enriches the learning experience across the board, ensuring both the brightest pupils and the less able are able to share the perspectives, experiences and contexts that will improve the opportunities for all.

If you are an educator looking for a more enterprising way of engaging your students, Crowdfund Campus can help! Our simulated Sandpit and our live crowdfunding marketplace are both excellent collaborative platforms through which to nurture teamwork, creative problem-solving skills, and practice-based peer learning. Contact us today for further details (and to book a free demonstration).

The importance of enterprise education

Enterprise education has never been so vital. Enterprise-focused courses not only instil students with financial knowledge, but also hone organisational and problem-solving skills, giving insight on the application of such within the context of business. In short, enterprise education provides students with the expertise that they will need to be employees and potential employers. A vital toolkit, surely, within a post-Brexit era.

Enterprise education in secondary schools

The recent Ofsted report, ‘Getting ready for work’, strongly recommends that more must be done to make enterprise education – and work-related learning opportunities – available in secondary schools. Following on from Lord Young’s 2014 report, ‘Enterprise for All’, Ofsted visited 40 secondary schools in order to examine the accessibility and efficacy of enterprise education.

This report, published in November 2016, analyses the methods by which secondary schools are preparing young people for the professional world. It examines relationships with local businesses, promotion of apprenticeships, and the availability of enterprise education. Unfortunately, where previous Ofsted reports have identified a decent level of enterprise education in primary schools, this report concluded that there were serious gaps in secondary education. A focus on curriculum means that, for many pupils, examinations are the driving force – which leaves little room for a broader subject like enterprise education. This narrow focus has a detrimental effect on pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, in particular, as they do not have the kind of framework – either in terms of emotional or financial support – that would allow them to explore entrepreneurship independently; moreover, they do not have access to a bank of family contacts through which they could arrange suitable work experience.

Next steps

Chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw commented on the importance of schools ‘providing the right opportunities’ and ‘working effectively with local businesses to offer their pupils the chance to understand how businesses work.’ Pupils from all backgrounds should have ‘access to an education that prepares them well for the next stage of their lives, be that higher education, entering employment or setting up their own business.’ Ofsted makes various recommendations within the report, with particular emphasis given to re-visiting Lord Young’s 2014 report and promoting the importance of well-planned provision for enterprise education.

Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, argues that Ofsted are central to the ‘cultural shift within the education sector’ that must occur to develop better relationships between schools and employers, in order that suitable work-related learning opportunities are made available. Quite simply, ‘Ofsted should put less of a focus on exam results’, Mr Walker argues, and more emphasis on preparing pupils for the world of work and fostering enterprise skills.

One thing seems clear, however: if the UK economy continues to be driven by small start-ups (with 2016 reports showing that entrepreneurs provide a boost of £196 billion to the UK economy), we must give budding entrepreneurs every chance to succeed. Enterprise education – at an early age – may be crucial to that success.

Are you an educator struggling to introduce enterprise education into your classroom? Or perhaps you’re looking for a new tool to spark enthusiasm? Crowdfund Campus is here to help. From our live crowdfunding marketplace to our innovative Sandpit platform, we have everything you need to nurture and inspire student entrepreneurs. Contact us today to learn more and book your free demonstration.

But the journey hasn’t been easy. Learning, by its very nature, is a personal, intimate, and nuanced activity. It’s an undertaking as old as time itself, modelled on tradition and resistant to change. It is also an investment of one’s time, one’s curiosity and, in today’s commercially-driven society, one’s money. Indeed, it is likely that the latter –the expectation that paying students will receive more than simply an ‘education’ – has had the biggest impact on the educational technology sector, helping ambitious edtech companies gain the attention of the world’s pre-eminent pedagogues.

Today, if you and your institution aren’t tying technology into your teaching techniques, then you’re doing something wrong. Here are five edtech companies who are leading the charge and changing the learning experience for the better:

ClassDojo

A communication app for the classroom, ClassDojo has a clear mission: to help every teacher create the best possible learning environment for their students. By opening channels between teachers, students, and their parents – allowing the former to create their own classroom culture, and the latter to have a unique window into their son or daughter’s day – ClassDojo brings the best ideas for education into both school and the home, creating a community that is engaged, valued, and eager to learn.

Actively used in 2/3 of US schools, and available in over 180 countries, ClassDojo is quickly changing how classrooms are run (over half a million of them, to be precise). Backed by a number of leading investors, the app is aiming to transform education from the ground up. Indeed, the ClassDojo team don’t believe change happens top-down; to really improve things, they want to work with the people on the ground, at the heart of education. The scores of teachers who have signed up to use the edtech app suggest its British-born founders have the right idea.

Kramer

Launched in 2015, Kramer enables highly-customisable live collaboration in order to create an engaging and interactive learning environment. All connected devices (laptop, tablet, mobile) are controlled by one central panel, giving teachers the ability to share files and documents in real time, turn displays into a whiteboard, stream HD videos, and even switch off the lights! Even better, Kramer allows the classroom lead to control what is shown on the main display versus what is shown on student’s own displays, meaning classes can either work together as a whole, or be divided into groups to work at their own pace – a great way of stimulating a classroom of mixed abilities.

Kaltura

Kaltura is a multimedia platform that enhances teaching through the medium of video. Widely used at major global universities including Yale, Stanford, and MIT, Kaltura is able to create campus-wide management and delivery systems that can store lectures, post assignments, and even prompt students to take a test.

Originally built to accommodate the complex and varied needs of media companies such as HBO and major corporations including Bank of America, Kaltura is able to bring all the latest learning trends to life: from blended learning and flipped classrooms, to distance lectures and BYOD. Kaltura also recognises that education should not be confined to a lecture hall at a specific time, and so hosts library video resources, channels for group collaboration, student generated content, and more, to stimulate learning at a time that best suits each individual.

Synap

When it comes to education, test-taking is (for many) a necessary evil. Even worse are the hours of revision required to be exam-ready. Fortunately, Synap – an edtech platform developed by James Gupta and Omair Vaiyani, medical students at the University of Leeds – aims to put an end to tedious note-taking and library cramming sessions.

Designed to help students at all levels learn more in less time, Synap uses powerful spaced repetition software to create a personalised learning plan for each user. Based on the famous Leitner System of memorisation, Synap learns what you’re studying and then presents you with Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs): a fun and challenging way of revising. The spaced repetition system remembers how you perform and prioritises which topics to send you each day, in order that your results improve organically over time.

As well as offering access to MCQs written by top educational providers, including the University of Oxford, Synap also allows users to collaborate and study together, a great tool for teachers who can create private classrooms via the platform and share quizzes with their students securely.

Sandpit by Crowdfund Campus

Mapped to the QAA guidance on Enterprise and Entrepreneurship – meaning it can be applied to any course in which students are generating ideas – Sandpit turns the classroom into a marketplace, allowing participants to test business ideas quickly and easily, and as part of their curriculum. Through simulations and a virtual currency, students test innovative ideas, practice selling, and learn how to pitch for investment, teaching them to think like entrepreneurs, customers, and investors in a safe environment.

Already an integral teaching tool at leading institutions including the University of Birmingham, Henley Business School (at the University of Reading), and University of the Arts London, Sandpit is a powerful way of bringing all components of the business-planning process together, integrating creative problem solving and e-learning alongside existing modules. This practice-led learning not only adds variety to assessment methods (and, typically, boosts module evaluation scores as a result), but also teaches skills relevant to contemporary society, helping students leapfrog the gulf between the ivory towers of education and the real world of business.

For personal advice on how to introduce edtech to your classroom, please call +44 (0)7545 898120 or email hello@crowdfundcampus.com. We would be delighted to show you around the Sandpit and demonstrate why this is the future of education.

For millennials – many of whom are university students – the use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram et al. is as familiar as breathing. Yet many academics are reluctant to embrace the trend, viewing social media as a frivolity rather than an aid to learning.

At Crowdfund Campus, we firmly believe that social media is a powerful tool for student engagement, and this blog aims to show you why. So, what are you waiting for? Energise your English class; brighten up biology; or mix it up in maths by testing out these savvy social media techniques:

 1. Take on Twitter

The short, pithy messages for which Twitter is known may not seem an obvious fit for higher education, but it can be a useful resource. It’s a great way to reach students who are keen social media users or who may not feel confident enough to speak out in the classroom. You can tweet links to materials and lecture recordings before and after class; disclose the handles of guest speakers and encourage students to pose questions prior to the session; and even live-tweet during lectures. Create a snappy hashtag for your course before it commences and tag each relevant tweet, and you’ll soon build up a valuable online learning resource that is both accessible and engaging.

Don’t assume that all students will be Twitter-savvy, however; though many students will be familiar with social media, using social media in an educational context may be completely new to them (which makes this technique all the more powerful when conducted correctly). Mature students may need some guidance, too. Provide some training at the start of the course – outlining how you intend to use social media and what to look out for, with suggestions of how they might interact in order to get the most out of the exercise – and you’ll also be providing your students with another vital skill: an insight into how to use social media strategically.

2. Spark interest with Snapchat

Snapchat, the photo and video messaging app, is another tool that may not seem an obvious choice for university lecturers – but which could have real benefits. Boasting over 100 million users, nearly 80% of which are college students, it can create a sense of immediacy and vitality within the classroom and on campus itself.  Lecturer Beryl Jones has seen great success when utilising the app to stimulate students in the large lecture halls of Kingston University; indeed, the results have been far beyond that which she expected. She comments:  “It’s meant the students are more actively engaged. What I hadn’t envisaged was them taking screenshots of my slides while in the lecture hall and annotating them before sending to me. They used this to address things they didn’t understand, as well as answering the questions I posed.”

Snapchat: perfect for a young audience.

Another interesting Snapchat feature is the ‘Geofilter’ element, which allows branded overlays to be added onto the video. Anyone can add the overlay, provided they’re within a certain radius – meaning that university branding (such as ‘University of Oxford’) can be applied by all Snapchat users. This is a powerful tool, for several reasons. First of all, it creates a sense of shared community culture, particularly if the faculty themselves use this feature and encourage students to do so; it allows ‘real’ images of campus life to be easily accessible, and provides an opportunity to see life at university from different perspectives (within the lecture hall; from the dorms; from a teacher’s office, for example); finally, it means that prospective students need only click on the name (i.e. ‘University of Oxford’) and they’ll view a collage of all Snapchats that have applied that particular Geofilter. A great enhancement to campus culture and student recruitment processes!

3. Inspire instant collaboration with Google Docs

Online resources like Google Docs are not social media platforms in the strictest sense; however, they incorporate a real-time, social element that gives them the potential to be extremely useful within the classroom.  The tracked editing and comments features allow students to collaborate with ease, provide instant feedback, and work in groups in their own time. It reduces the need for formal seminars and – by removing the watchful eye of the lecturer – fosters a sense of teamwork, openness and enhanced responsibility.

Such platforms are also increasingly important in the world of employment – due to the need to support remote working and international collaboration – and as such this technique offers valuable training for the workplace.

Final thought: listen and learn!

A 2015 report by Ofcom found that teenagers spend three and a half working days each week on social platforms. It seems obvious, therefore, that prospective students (and indeed alumni) will evaluate the value of a university – and the student journey – via social media. As such, the importance of social media as not only an engagement but also a research tool cannot be understated. The University of Cambridge, for example, reportedly manage hundreds of different social accounts, separately targeting a range of audiences from PhD students to affiliated organisations, in order to keep up to date with the varying needs of their community. As Head of Digital Communications, Barney Brown, explains, their focus is on: ‘asking questions, and gauging audience responses to different types of content.’

Social media provides a unique opportunity to see and be seen – embrace it!

The Crowdfund Campus team fully support the use of interactive, challenging means – like our Sandpit Tool – to stimulate students. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to learn more; we’d be delighted to work with you.