When teaching isn’t learning: Why communities like I-TELL matter

There is a famous exercise that new teachers are often asked to complete. They are given the first four lines of the Lewis Carroll poem ‘Jabberwocky’ and asked to read it through, as they will be asked some questions about it.

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
     Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
     And the mome raths outgrabe."

(Carroll 1872)

The questions that follow are as follows:

1. What did the slithy toves do?

2. Describe the borogoves.

3. Did the mome raths outgrabe? Yes or no.

Everyone scores full marks in this test, and on the surface, it appears that a remarkable feat of teaching has taken place. The students have read the passage, answered the questions correctly, and demonstrated that they can extract information from the text. However, the problem is obvious. While teaching has undoubtedly taken place, it is highly questionable whether any real learning has occurred. The students can repeat the words from the poem, but they have no idea what the words actually mean. They have demonstrated recall but not understanding. The exercise neatly illustrates an uncomfortable truth about education: it is possible to design teaching that produces correct answers without necessarily producing meaningful learning.

In many ways, this simple classroom example captures a challenge at the heart of modern universities. If we accept a key purpose of a university is to generate new knowledge through research and transmit existing knowledge then we must accept that whilst research remains at the heart of much of what we do, the purpose of this blog is to explore the second, sometimes neglected, part of that mission. In other words, how do we ensure that knowledge is not simply presented, but genuinely transmitted to those attending the institution.

It is in this environment that I-TELL came into being on 1 July 2024. Based within the Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University, it sought to bring educators out of the shadows and into mainstream conversations and ensure that the learning taking place was of the highest possible standard. I-TELL, which is short for Innovation and Teaching Excellence Learning Lab had five objectives at the start:

1. Pathway parity:
   Within the British higher education sector, a tendency has emerged in the last decade for two career pathways to be present. The traditional research pathway has been joined by an educational pathway. I-TELL’s objective from the start has been to elevate the education pathway to ensure parity and visibility, hence giving colleagues a clear home, voice, and community within the Faculty.

2. Amplify university wide teaching and learning structures:
   By creating something that is faculty specific, we are able to extend the reach of university-wide initiatives and schemes, e.g. by promoting and re-running workshops for broader engagement. In common with many organisations of its size, the university operates in silos and being faculty specific, I-TELL can draw people into central events who would overwise have given them a miss.

3. Faculty alignment with strategy:
   I-TELL helps oversee and deliver programmes that address university strategic priorities while keeping them grounded in disciplinary needs. Hence ensuring that education is at the heart of the faculty.

4. Disciplinary context:
   I-TELL helps to anchor teaching and learning innovation in a Business and Law context, creating opportunities for projects, leadership roles, dissemination, and discipline-rooted events.

5. Sector linkages:
   By establishing connections with Business and Law networks, such as The Chartered Association of Business Schools, Advance HE and other I-TELL equivalent groups (e.g. I-LEAD, SEBE, SCiLAB) the aim is to share practice, gain inspiration, and enhance sector presence.

However, it is the ‘I’ of I-TELL that maybe frames its work most. Let’s return to our teacher training student. Another lesson they are likely to be taught is about resources and how they can contribute to the learning of the class. For some older teachers the Banda machines brought back memories of copying and avoiding inhaling too much of the noxious fumes, whilst for others it is the Overhead Projector or OHP that they relied on, something that has subsequently morphed into the now ubiquitous Powerpoint but the point is, our new teacher needs to be taught not only what is available now but what is coming next. That way they can be the leaders when it comes to teaching and learning and they can engage the next generation with resources that excite rather than soothe them.

I-TELL’s focus on innovation has helped attract people to the group and the first year saw over 150 people join, with more than double that number attending one or more of our I-TELL events events. 14 LEGO® Serious Play trainers were accredited, a special edition journal was published, and the LinkedIn page went from strength to strength. In addition, an inaugural online seminar series with the Open University and others took place, allowing I-TELL to take part in an externally focussed event, giving attendees the chance to collaborate externally and build networks.

However, it is important to reflect on the challenges of setting up such a network. The most obvious challenge is how to finance it all. In a time of shrinking budgets and multiple priorities, it can be difficult to justify expenditure, so the plan is to link events to faculty priorities and most importantly, improving the student experience through better teaching. Innovation in teaching ultimately requires one of the scarcest resources in academia: time - time to reflect, time to experiment, and time to learn from what works and what does not. There are also organisational considerations. Universities already host a number of teaching and learning structures, often centrally, and groups like I-TELL must complement rather than supersede them. In many ways, it acts as a gateway - connecting colleagues within the Faculty to wider, university-wide initiatives while ensuring that those conversations remain grounded in our disciplinary context.

So, what will the future hold?

The first year of I-TELL was about establishing the community, sharing good practice, daring to innovate, and creating the momentum needed to rethink how we teach and how students learn. This second year is about beginning to see the impact of that work. The ambition was never simply to run events or create another network, but to influence teaching practice in meaningful ways—and those changes are now starting to emerge.

Across the Faculty, colleagues are experimenting with creative pedagogies, integrating new tools into their modules, and sharing ideas across departments. For example, colleagues trained in LEGO® Serious Play have begun using the method in teaching to help students reflect on workplace challenges and articulate complex ideas through model building and discussion. Other innovations are also emerging through pilot projects, such as the development of the “Manchester Metaverse”, an immersive digital environment designed to support new forms of teaching and student interaction. These initiatives may begin as small experiments, but they demonstrate how innovation can translate into richer and more engaging learning experiences for students.

The scale of engagement also reflects the appetite for this change. In its first year I-TELL grew to around 150 members, and that community has since expanded to 175 colleagues. Encouragingly, these initiatives are not confined to events or workshops; they are increasingly shaping what happens in classrooms, seminars, and assessments. This is where the real value of an education community like I-TELL lies. Its purpose is not simply to talk about innovation, but to enable it. When colleagues redesign sessions using creative approaches, trial new forms of assessment, or collaborate with industry partners on authentic projects, the ultimate beneficiaries are students. Even small changes in teaching practice can lead to richer discussions, more engaging learning activities, and a stronger connection between academic study and the world students will enter after graduation.

Across the higher education sector, there is a growing recognition that teaching can no longer be treated as the quiet companion to research. Universities are facing profound changes: artificial intelligence is reshaping how knowledge is accessed and produced, students are seeking more engaging and relevant learning experiences, and employers increasingly expect graduates to demonstrate practical skills as well as academic understanding. In this context, universities must create environments where educators feel able to experiment, test new ideas, and learn from one another.

At the same time, innovation in teaching is most powerful when it is rooted in disciplinary context. The challenges of educating future managers, entrepreneurs, accountants, and lawyers are not identical to those in other fields. In business and law education, teaching is often delivered at a scale and in formats distinctive to the discipline, with large and highly international cohorts, professionally oriented programmes, and curricula shaped by rapidly evolving regulatory, economic, and technological environments. The constraints imposed by scale, cohort diversity, and the need to balance academic depth with professional relevance must therefore be recognised when designing teaching and learning approaches. Beyond connecting theory with practice, business and law education must prepare students to navigate complex organisational settings, engage with ethical and regulatory challenges, and interact with professional and industry standards. These characteristics call for a community and an approach to teaching and learning that recognises the distinctive nature of the discipline and the contexts in which our graduates will operate. Faculty-based communities like I-TELL therefore complement university-wide teaching and learning initiatives by grounding pedagogical innovation in the realities of business and law education and the careers our students will pursue.

In many ways, this reflects a simple but powerful truth about education: teachers must remain learners themselves. As the philosopher John Dewey famously observed, “education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” His point was that learning is not simply something that prepares people for the future; it is an ongoing process through which individuals make sense of the world, test ideas, and develop through experience. If that is true for our students, it must also be true for us. The most effective educators are those who continually reflect on their practice, adapt to new challenges, and remain curious about how learning happens.

And this brings us back to our new teacher reading Jabberwocky. The lesson behind that exercise was that it is possible to create the appearance of teaching without genuine learning taking place. The challenge for modern universities is to ensure the opposite—that the teaching we design truly helps students understand, question, and apply knowledge in meaningful ways.

Teaching and learning groups like I-TELL play a small but important role in that wider effort. They create spaces where educators can share ideas, challenge assumptions, and experiment with new approaches. Ultimately, however, the goal is much broader than any single initiative. It is about building a culture in higher education where teaching is seen not as a routine activity, but as a creative and evolving practice.

Because if we expect our students to remain curious, adaptable, and open to new ideas, then we as educators must do the same.

Reference

Carroll, L. (1872) Through the Looking-Glass, London: Macmillan & Co.

Postscript:
If anyone is interested in launching an I-TELL equivalent group and would like to have more insights then please do feel free to contact the blog authors.

Contributors:

• Professor Peter Wolstencroft CMBE, I-TELL Co-Director & Professor of Business Education, Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University

• Dr Katharina De Vita CMBE, I-TELL Co-Director & Director of Education, Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University

• Dr Amanda Miller CMBE, I-TELL Scholarship Lead & Tourism Subject Lead, Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University

• Anna Hardy-Watmough CMBE, I-TELL Partnership Lead & Reader in Finance and Economics, Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University

On behalf of the I-TELL Committee