AQD Learning and Teaching Newsletter (December 2016)

LEARNING & TEACHING

December 2016

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

NEWSLETTER

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) NSS success strategies Embedding employability Case studies of practice: Understanding feedback; Transition support; Student participation Celebrating HEA Fellowship Preparing for validation

Cover image: ‘Heather’ © Catherine Singleton - https://flic.kr/p/bojei5

Learning & Tea

Rosy Crehan

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, University of Cumbria

NEWSLETTER

W

December 2016

elcome to the Autumn/ Winter 2016 edition of the University of Cumbria’s Learning & Teaching News.

Additionally, this section introduces the new national Teaching Excellence Framework and the impact that this will have at the University in the coming months and years. In learning partnerships, section 2, we bring you two articles celebrating our integrated approach to employability.

For our second edition of 2016 we are continuing to focus upon the achievements across the University related to the Learning, Teaching & Assessment Strategy.

Section 3 presents recent action research outcomes from participants on our PGCert Learning and Teaching for Higher Education. Topics as varied as supporting students through transition, engaging students in active learning and enabling students to understand and act on their feedback.

You’ll find that the newsletter is structured around the 6 strategy statements and highlights the best practice examples and experiences of colleagues across the institution.

This is a snapshot of the research that has been undertaken and we intend to present more detailed case studies and examples on the iLEAD website in the coming months.

The first section, putting students at the heart of learning, highlights the successful practice relating to the NSS from various programmes across the institution. Each of these programmes has developed an innovative and individualised approach to providing an excellent student experience.

Once again, we’re taking the opportunity to introduce new members of staff, firstly to welcome them to our community, but also to highlight the high quality staff that we’re recruiting to deliver our programmes. Additionally, in section 5 you can read about our recent

2 Background image: ‘Green & Red Decay’ © Gareth Jones https://flic.kr/p/aChwqo

Welcome and Introduction

aching

4

reaccreditation success with the Higher Education Academy, newly approved Fellows and Senior Fellows, and our Fellowship Celebration Event in October 2016.

In our final substantive section, the Rehab team from Health, Psychology and Social Studies talk about their developmental approach to the revalidation of their portfolio of programmes.

As this Learning Teaching and Assessment Strategy draws to a close the University is preparing to develop a new LTA Strategy for 2017-22.

Using a co-creation approach all University stakeholders are invited to join the conversation via workshops in January and February. Academic Board will be considering the finalised strategy in April 2017. More information about how you can be involved will be circulated in the coming weeks.

StudentLearning at the Heart

12

Learning Partnerships

16

Innovative Approaches in Learning Teaching & Assessment

24

Staff Recruitment

26

Staff Development

30

Review and Enhancement

34

Meet the Team

36

AQD News

Rosy Crehan Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, University of Cumbria

3

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

T

..................................................................................................................................

Jess Robinson

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Director of AQD

he Government is introducing a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) which aims to recognise and reward excellent learning and teaching.

The TEF is seen as a way of: a. Better informing students’ choices about what and where to study b. Raising esteem for teaching c. Recognising and rewarding excellent teaching d. Better meeting the needs of employers, business, industry and the professions

4 Background image: ‘A Little Hazy’ © Andrew Birch https://flic.kr/p/bYJKEd

The TEF will cover undergraduate provision at levels 4, 5 and 6 but postgraduate provision may be introduced in future years.

All modes of delivery, including full and part-time and distance, work-based and blended learning are in scope.

For franchised provision, the quality of provision will be assessed at the provider that delivers the teaching (for providers with HE provision that is designated for student support purposes).

The table below provides timings for the TEF in years one to four.

The University is eligible for TEF Year One, through having achieved a successful Quality Assurance Agency review outcome.

Student Learning at the Heart

TEF Year Two The University will be making an application for Year Two of the TEF. In Year Two, TEF awards of Bronze, Silver

and Gold will be made. Awards will be valid for three years and providers achieving an outcome of Bronze, Silver or Gold in Year Two may apply the full

inflationary uplift to tuition fees from September 2018.

In future years Bronze outcomes will only enable a 50% inflationary uplift to be applied.

The Assessment Criteria for TEF Year Two are summarised on the left.

The decision on TEF awards will be made by a panel of external assessors.

Assessors will review metrics on the University‘s performance in the National Student Survey alongside retention and employability data.

Additionally the University will submit a ‘Provider Submission’ to HEFCE, making the case for teaching excellence.

A draft of the Provider Submission will be made available for consultation later in December.

TEF results will be published by HEFCE in May 2017 and will be made available on the UCAS website and Unistats.

We are intending to develop a staffnet page to provide further information on the TEF as it develops and to provide some FAQs. In the meantime if you have any queries about the University’s TEF submission please contact your Head of Department or contact me directly.

Jess Robinson Director of AQD

5

LTA Strategy in Radiation Protection (RP) Programmes

T

he 2015-16 Academic Year was a good year for the RP Programmes since it saw the first 5 graduates (Cohort 1) from the BSc (Hons) in Radiation Protection in July 2016 – the first such graduates in the UK.

Alan Marsh FHEA

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

SL and Programme Lead for RP

..................................................................................................................................

6 Background image: ‘Devine Inspiration’ © Josh Cowan https://flic.kr/p/gFD68w

To mark this auspicious occasion one of the invited guests was Prof. Peter Cole, President of the Society for Radiological Protection, who amongst others was instrumental in helping to start the RP Programmes back in September 2011.

The students, all employees of Sellafield Limited, graduated following 4½ years of part-time study having to juggle a delicate balance of home-life, work and studying; along the way they, and 8 other Sellafield colleagues, obtained their Foundation (FdSc) Degrees in RP graduating in July 2014.

From left: Gayle Faragher Allison Hollerin Prof. Peter Cole Joy Hetherington David Denwood and Stuart Cameron (insert)

Student Learning at the Heart Highlighting the NSS

The RP programmes are delivered parttime via a flexible distributed learning methodology, with a key feature that the students are able to continue in their work place whilst studying. The workplace formed part of their learning environment. By producing a work-place log/portfolio of evidence supporting the information gained from lectures and practicals in the classroom, during the week long face-to-face modules, students were given the ability to critically review, consolidate and extend a systematic and coherent body of knowledge. They also applied subject specific, cognitive and transferable skills and problem solving strategies to a range of situations to enable them to solve complex problems.

The modules and classroom sessions have always featured a range of learning and teaching activities and assessment measures which ensures that the overall academic experience is inclusive and caters for different learning styles.

The success of this approach is seen in the good performance of many of the students across all levels of the programmes.

This success, brought about by small incremental changes in many areas over the years (a bit like the UK cycling team approach/strategy), has resulted in 2015/16 NSS scores exceeding past year’s scores.

Some of the improvements have included more emphasis on:• Provision of high quality, detailed feedback to students on their performance in exams and assignments • Use of Skype tutorial sessions outside the week long taught modules • Introduction of a Mentoring scheme in conjunction with their Employers • More detailed feedback from students on individual modules, along with ‘What went well for you’ and ‘What could be improved’ feedback at the end of each module • Most importantly – listening to the students and where appropriate introducing changes based on their feedback The above, together with better informed teaching staff, after PgC programmes, FHEA achievement, involvement in L&T Fest etc. have resulted in greatly improved Student Satisfaction Scores in the latest NSS – up from 69% in 2014-15 to 90% in 2015-16, with mean scores improving from 3.1 to 4.4 (compared to 80% for UoC overall, with a mean score of 4.0).

The challenge for the RP team is to maintain, and possibly improve, this level of education in the future.

Alan Marsh, FHEA Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead for RP

7

NSS Success in Film & TV David Thompson

NSS success in English

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

David Thompson FHEA Programme Leader, Film & TV Dr Penny Bradshaw SL in English and Course Leader for BA English

Dr Penny Bradshaw

W

..................................................................................................................................

e have a holistic approach to our teaching in Film and TV and are proud that we produce industry ready graduates.

All of our staff come from industry so we feel we have an understanding of, and how to strike the right balance between, theoretical and practical teaching.

We’re also flexible. Each academic year is different and requires slightly more or less of (for example) transmission or apprentice style teaching. Some days when things aren’t working, aren’t flowing so well, we are willing to change preplanned lectures to suit the mood of the day. This is very similar to the creative process of the film and television industry, where briefs and projects can change day to day, hour to hour. We employ and embed that flexibility in our own teaching.

8 Background image: ‘Rain as Usual’ © Gillie Rhodes https://flic.kr/p/dk9smD

What we would like to improve moving forward, are students transferable and core skills. Whilst there are solid research based skills currently, we would like to see more students continuing their education and engaging in research. This is now possible through our newly started MA in Creative Practice, as well as possible developing links with the likes of NFTS (National Film and Television School).

One thing that we are certainly learning from engaging with the wider university, is to ensure all different types of students learning styles are catered for. Whilst we are pleased with our NSS results, a cursory look countrywide on Film and TV production courses will allude to the fact that assessment and feedback are frequently low scorers.

We need to ensure we remain vigilant with our standards and continue to prioritise prompt feedback, which is clear to the point and usable for the modern student.

David Thompson, FHEA Programme Leader, Film & TV

Student Learning at the Heart Highlighting the NSS

T

hree years ago, after achieving 100% overall satisfaction in the 2013 NSS for BA English, the team was asked to share its ideas in Connect. We came up with some short ‘NSS proverbs’.

The team has gone on to achieve 100% satisfaction in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and our BA in English and Creative Writing has also achieved 100% overall satisfaction in 2015 and 2016.

Perhaps more importantly, we now achieve significant results in graduate employability; despite entry standards and student spend being some of the lowest in the country, and staff-student ratios being some of the highest. The most recent figures place our graduates earning more than the national average for the subject.

We must be doing something right!

Our last major revalidation (2011) proved absolutely crucial in terms of allowing us to move from being nationally excellent

in organisation and management and student support to nationally excellent in all areas. Programme design has been key to our success: our two programmes were written to play to our distinctive scholarship, cultural networks, and location, rather than be pale imitations of other universities’ and were written as coherent wholes rather than collections of pre-existing modules. In both cases we developed a curriculum which was closely informed by scholarly research as well as by a commitment to enhancing student employability.

So here are our updated NSS proverbs: •

Give the students a degree they can’t get anywhere else

•

Share your enthusiasm for your subject

•

Build students’ confidence in your expertise as educators, scholars and managers of their learning

•

Keep your door (and your inbox) open for students. Do what you can as quickly as you can when a student contacts you

•

Keep it real, i.e., face to face

•

Keep it personal, from assessment feedback to advice for the future

•

Make sure students know the point of what they are doing - how it all fits together as a degree and for life after graduating.

Dr Penny Bradshaw Senior Lecturer in English and Course Leader for BA English

9

NSS success in Working with Children & Families in Carlisle

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Karen Lockney FHEA SL, Department of Health, Psychology and Social Studies, Dr Kaz Stuart SFHEA PL, Youth and Community Work

Karen Lockney

NSS success in Youth and Community Work & Working with Children and Families in Lancaster Dr Kaz Stuart

T

We looked at NSS statements and talked these through, looking at what they are really asking and thinking about how judgements are applied. Allowing them to feel listened to felt at the heart of this.

The team has been responding to a considerable increase in student numbers which was exciting, but also challenging.

Fortunately, new staff were recruited and as a relatively new team, we’ve been working together to bring about the kind of improvements we would like to see.

We have looked for opportunities to provide creative and/or social off campus activities – a trip to the Seven Stories in Newcastle; volunteering at the National Trust children’s festival at Wray Castle.

..................................................................................................................................

he WCF team at Fusehill Street was delighted to see a significant increase in our NSS score for 2016 (96% overall satisfaction). It’s tricky to pinpoint exactly what enabled this; probably it is down to a combination of factors.

In order to promote engagement with the NSS explicitly, we held sessions at the start of each semester with Year 2 and 3 – asking for their feedback about what was going well and what they wanted to see improve further. Students wrote ‘headline’ feedback on luggage tags which we attached to a suitcase to symbolise the journey we were taking together.

10 Background image: ‘heather’ © Fiona and Neil https://flic.kr/p/5vP6TL

We have strengthened our monitoring systems for students, with clear PT arrangements, year group leads, short weekly staff meetings (plus occasional longer meetings) to communicate our knowledge of students with each other.

Mhairi, our administrator is also fantastic in helping us keep systems (such as registers) ticking along.

As we move forward there is still a lot of work to do – revalidating a course that reflects our commitment to social justice and to creative teaching and learning.

Karen Lockney, FHEA Senior Lecturer (Working with Children and Families), Department of Health, Psychology and Social Studies

Student Learning at the Heart Highlighting the NSS

learning (Biggs, 2001)

T

he Youth and Community Work team and the Working with Children and Families team in Lancaster have been developing a range of initiatives to support our students to succeed.

We have a range of extra curricula enhancement opportunities: •

Seminars with a key speaker and time for debate and workshop activities around the themes of contemporary issues, best practice and research and evidence

•

Film club – screening of a film pertinent to issues faced by children, young people and families followed by a critical discussion based on the contemporary issue raised, best practice and research and evidence.

We are actively working with LiSS to provide bespoke support to our students specifically to achieve well in experiential and applied assessment tasks as well as general support with academic skills.

We have also developed a team assessment strategy which aims to: •

Improve student learning

•

Desire to promote deep not surface

•

Enhance student satisfaction

•

Increase confidence in academic standards

•

Ensure we assess in line with best practice for the 21st century

•

Assess in a consistent approach

•

To encourage students active engagement with feedback

•

To ensure all protocols conform to academic regulations

•

Ensure assessment and marking are sustainable

These aims are consistent with the HEA Transforming Assessment in HE (2015).

To further support our students, we have developed rubrics to make the marking criteria clear and a coordinated assessment calendar ensure a variety of appropriate and timely assessments.

A professional skill essential for practitioners is group work and as such a number of modules include both formative and summative group work.

This is supported by the module tutor and the group mark allocated based on individual, peer and tutor assessment.

Our team meets twice monthly to consider any student issues and ways of enhancing experience and achievement.

Dr Kaz Stuart, SFHEA Principal Lecturer, Youth and Community Work, Working with Children and Families and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

11

Careers & Employability

S

The 96.9% view from Ambleside, Carlisle, Lancaster & London

Fiona Boyle FHEA

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Employability Manager

..................................................................................................................................

till in Fusehill Street, now a fully-fledged member of UoC after a year in post, my employability view is developing in all corners of UoC as an exciting challenge in a turbulent environment!

During summer 2016, UoC achieved 96.9% in the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education Survey (DLHE). A cause for celebration as we reached the dizzy heights of second place in the league table. Clearly this result means we can put our feet up….

Of course, this is not the full story, as with disappointing Careers scores in

some areas of the NSS and the potential impact of TEF metrics, we need to

12 Background image: ‘Soft Focus on Leaves’ © Jill Catley https://flic.kr/p/8JH4yD

consider how our employability offer is perceived, received and taken up by our students.

The Careers and Employability Service contributes to employability and employment outcomes through face-to-face and on-line contact: 1:1 student appointments; in-programme workshops; employability conferences; bespoke events; drop-ins; and, our rapidly expanding Career Ahead Employability Award.

Over the last year, we have progressed initiatives to expand our student offer, with fruitful collaborations with academic, professional services and UCSU staff to deliver in-, co- and extracurricular activity.

One example of collaborative partnership is with the Institute of Education. In 2016-17, a series of activities has been planned; we have already delivered undergraduate education employability conferences in Carlisle and Lancaster (keynote speakers, workshops and an employer fair) and embedded Career Ahead Bronze Award across courses on all

Learning Partnerships

sites. Forthcoming events include: an employer fair for PGCE students; Career Ahead Gold Award (practice interviews with employers); and, workshop support for alumni still seeking employment.

I have seen how working in partnership produces improved student engagement with employability as well as demonstrating what we can offer and how we can support staff in and around the curriculum. I look forward to working with ‘new’ and ‘old’ colleagues in my rapidly evolving second year in post.

For further details, please contact: Fiona.Boyle2@cumbria.ac.uk Fiona Boyle, FHEA Employability Manager

SAVE THE DATE

Learning and Teaching Fest 17 Tuesday 20th June Fusehill Street campus

More details available on iLEAD

in the New Year

Launch of new website to support learning and teaching iLEAD (Innovation in Learning Enhancement and Development) has recently been launched to bring together resources and information on various aspects of Learning Enhancement and Academic Development. It also acts as a platform for sharing innovative approaches and good practice in Learning and Teaching from across the University of Cumbria.

This is hosted on WordPress so allows sharing of our good practice beyond the UoC. The site will provide information and resources relevant to those involved in teaching and supporting learning, including programme design and professional development.

A main feature of the web space is ‘iLEAD by example’. This will showcase innovative approaches and good practice in Learning and Teaching, alongside highlighting relevant resources and publications to help you address an area of development in your practice.

We are currently looking for case studies from across the university to add to this. This could be a very brief overview of something you have tried in your learning and teaching practice, or a more detailed overview of research you have undertaken to enhance your practice.

The format is flexible, and could be a written case study or video summary.

Do get in touch if you have something to add. ruth.mewis@cumbria.ac.uk https://ilead.cumbria.ac.uk/

13

Lois Mansfield

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

PL Science, Natural Resources & Outdoor Studies

Embedding Employability in Tutorials

P

..................................................................................................................................

oor attendance at tutorials? Low retention between years 1 and 2?

Tail off in lectures post February?

Do these challenges sound familiar to you?

Over the last few years the Outdoor team in the Department of Science, Natural Resources & Outdoor Studies have tried a number of ways to address these issues, but it became apparent that we needed a completely different approach than the traditional ‘hunt down the offenders’ or offer a Student Progress Review. Running parallel to this was a complaint by a third year student that we provided no employability opportunities, which was probably the most bizarre comment I’ve heard from an Outdoor student in ten years of being the Principal Lecturer for Outdoor.

Of all the programmes I’ve worked on and led, and staff I’ve line managed, the

14 Background image: ‘Crofton Bottom Lock’ © Gillie Rhodes https://flic.kr/p/dk9smD

Outdoor provision is first and foremost geared to employment in the Outdoor Industry beyond all others. It suggested to me, that we needed a more holistic approach to these topics, as I believe they are all interrelated, for surely at the end of the day we are here to educate students to graduate level to help them enter the professions in which they want to work?

So I started from the premise of the following: Good attendance > progression > good retention > successful graduation > employment We discussed these issues at our team Away Days in June and from this devised a system of structured stepped tutorials with an employability agenda running parallel from the moment students walk in the door to the moment they leave.

We brainstormed what students regularly talked about in tutorials (those that did turn up to tutorials!), what we felt was important and we set a range of objectives to address by tutorial which covered learning, assessment and employability.

Fiona Boyle and Julie Palmer from LiSS also attended and were able to ensure

Learning Partnerships

simultaneously we grasped everything there was on offer centrally in terms of student activities and staff support.

The system also accommodated transition up through the years focusing on imminent employment in the final year (Table 1).

Table 1: Personal tutor system

Within this scheme we took account of the new Personal Tutorial guidelines issued by Alyson Dickson and took advice from Jess Robinson, Caron Jackson and Esther Jubb. These proved lively meetings and we all came out with a better understanding of tutorials, staff, university and student expectations.

This allowed us to devise a series of standardised proformas for each staff member to use as a student progresses Figure 1: Example of a tutorial proforma

which provided prompts of key topics and opportunity for qualitative comments, an example is shown is Figure 1.

The great beauty of these is that they can be adapted to suit unique aspects of different programmes. Students also receive a paper copy explaining the system, which lodges on our Outdoor Students blackboard site along with blank versions of all the proformas.

Completed ones are held electronically by a Programme Admin team, this helps with reference writing later on too!

As noted above, we were also keen to fit employability into the tutorial system. So for each cohort, we have devised a series of key departmental and university activities in which students may engage (Table 2).

In this respect we are very fortunate in Outdoors in that employers desire ‘National Governing Body Awards’ (NGBs) and thus this provides a clear set of CPD courses to run parallel to our degrees.

Nevertheless, these require certain technical competencies in various outdoor adventure pursuits supported

by UPK derived in part from our degree programmes, some of which our students are not quite ready to be assessed on.

In response we have Upskill sessions on Wednesday afternoons, run by our two Grade 6 Outdoor Demonstrators who support the practical elements of our main programmes.

Table 2: Employability activities

Whilst it is early days, we have only been running the system since September, already we have seen increased student engagement in them asking for tutorials rather than being dragged to them!

Of course, it’s not all been plain sailing, some students refuse to engage, but as we all know HE is a two-way street, those that do attend will hopefully enhance their degree and job prospects, those that do not ...

The other issue we have is that tutorials remain blocked for entry onto the timetable. We believe this is a major issue that needs to be addressed, for if it’s on the timetable, students feel more obliged to attend as it looks more formal. Or am I very old fashioned? I’ll let you know next year.

You can also view this article, including full sized tables, on the iLEAD website:

If you would like to see the entire set of documents please contact Lois at lois.mansfield@cumbria.ac.uk Lois Mansfield Principal Lecturer Natural Resources & Outdoor Studies

15

Celebrating Innovation: Learning & Teaching Fest

T

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Learning & Teaching Fest

..................................................................................................................................

he Learning and Teaching Fest is an annual event which provides an opportunity to promote and share innovative approaches and good practice in learning, teaching and assessment and to exchange ideas.

All members of staff involved in learning and teaching are invited to get involved, by either presenting a workshop or poster or attending on the day.

This year’s Learning and Teaching Fest was held on Thursday 30th June 2016 at our Fusehill Street campus. The theme of this year’s Fest was “Engaging Students in Learning” a topic which covered a broad spectrum of practice and allowed us to showcase some of the best and most original practice at UoC and our partner Institutions.

Over 100 delegates attended the conference. Sessions included three

16 Background image: ‘Winter Water’ © Ryan Swindell https://flic.kr/p/5VRaKZ

keynotes, 25 parallel sessions, as well as multiple posters on display throughout the day.

The morning keynote, ‘Pedagogy as Commodification: engaging students as co-producers or consumers?’ was given by Dr Patricia Cartney, from the University of Manchester. This keynote challenged us to consider how to engage students as co-producers of higher education.

Chris Barlow, winner of the University of Cumbria Most Creative Teaching Award at the UCSU Success Awards 2016, provided an engaging overview of his approach to ensuring students are engaged and being offered the learning experience they deserve that contributes to their overall achievement.

The afternoon keynote was given by Ellie Russell, National Union of Students,

Innovative Approaches in L, T & A

and explored ‘Student engagement: the never ending story’. This talk considered the meaning of the term student engagement, what it could look like in practice and what it should produce.

Click here for videos of the keynotes (available to view on StaffNet).

The sessions provided opportunity for colleagues to showcase their innovative approaches to learning, teaching and assessment, and included sessions on: • Experiential Learning within UCSU: Unexplored Territory?

• From individual to group sessions: Exploring the PT process at UoC • Dream Teams: Using Creative approaches to improve the performance of project teams

• TEOS - a Trans cultural education • PASS: Enhancing the student experience and creating communities of practice.

Some comments from the conference: “The programme was interesting and thought provoking.”

“Great to connect with others and

spend a day exploring teaching and learning.”

“Excellent variety of work - so difficult to choose between the workshops!”

“Have taken away a learning point from everything attended. Excellent day thank you.”

“Well organised, glad I attended.”

SAVE THE DATE

Learning and Teaching Fest 17 Tuesday 20th June Fusehill Street campus

More details available on iLEAD

in the New Year

17

Case Study: Enhancing Understanding

Lynn Sutcliffe FHEA

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

SL Nursing, Health & Professional Practice

of Feedback ..................................................................................................................................

Q. What was the problem/challenge you were trying to address?

be enriched through a tutor facilitated interactive teaching session.

I moved from my clinical role as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner to join the Advanced Practice team here at UoC in March 2015, delivering the programme via the distance learning route.

This was undertaken during the student induction with facilitated discussion around critical thinking and analysis, examining the students’ understanding of feedback and its relevance to learning and improved academic writing.

Through anecdotal observation of my student groups and discussions with my colleagues, I had noticed that there was a great deal of variance in the level of engagement and quality of peer feedback amongst our postgraduate students within the Blackboard VLE. Influencing advanced clinical practice students’ perceptions in the value of formative feedback to improve their academic writing became something I wanted to explore further. In order to help inform my practice, I adopted an action research approach.

Q. What did you do/implement?

I designed a small scale action research (AR) study to examine if the perceived value of formative feedback by M-level advanced clinical practice students could

18 Background image: ‘Conkers’ © MaxDavies https://flic.kr/p/7aBQnK

Three examples of anonymous academic writing were provided, independently moderated to represent a fail, a good pass and a first according to the university level 7 grade descriptors. Working in pairs, the students were given time to read each example and assess them against the university grade descriptors.

A tutor facilitated discussion followed for those students to provide pertinent feedback and, more importantly, to justify their judgments.

Eight students from the Spring cohort agreed to participate. Both quantitative and qualitative data was gathered using two cycles of anonymous surveys; at an initial point during the in-class induction and later during the first two weeks of module delivery. All eight students

Innovative approaches in L, T & A

contributed to the initial anonymous quantitative survey during induction, with five going on to complete the follow up survey.

Analysis of both data sets suggest that the intervention had a positive impact on the students’ understanding of what constitutes useful feedback.

Whilst it did not improve their confidence in providing feedback on their peers written work, it appears to have raised their appreciation of the positive impact that good quality feedback can have and diminished the notion of feedback as an overly negative tool.

The AR approach helped me inform my practice but also highlighted areas worthy of further investigation.

Q. Have you adapted/changed anything subsequently?

My presentation and interactive session has become a regular feature for the Induction for MSc AP students. The interactive session has evolved and the successive cohorts still continue to surprise me through their debate in justifying the marks they attribute to the academic work they assess; especially when they realise they have been marking their tutor’s work.

Interestingly, the research identified that the same concerns that undergraduates have expressed around quality of feedback, credibility of the source and student confidence in their own skills of critical analysis were still a feature.

Q. What is the evidence on the impact of students and their learning?

Q. What advice would you give to others looking to implement something similar?

Q. What do you plan to do next?

As an early career researcher, undertaking the AR made me question some of the preconceived ideas I had around student engagement and the use of formative feedback as a tool for learning.

These are graduate professionals or have undertaken recent level 6 study in meeting one of our criteria to study advanced practice so I did not expect that their concerns would echo findings identified by others in research with undergraduates.

Anecdotally I have noticed an improved level of engagement and quality of peer feedback amongst students.

This small scale study has motivated me to consider either a follow up study on those cohort members from the original work or to rerun the study with a larger cohort student participation.

Lynn Sutcliffe, FHEA Senior Lecturer, Nursing, Health & Professional Practice

19

Case Study:

Louise Stewart FHEA

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Student Transition Advisor, Academic Services & Retention Team, Library & Student Services (LiSS)

The Impact of Targeted Intervention and Goal Setting on Attendance

M

..................................................................................................................................

y role, supporting students studying on the foundation year of four year undergraduate degrees is varied. Alongside academic support I aim to aid students in transition from further education into higher education, encouraging them to take ownership of their learning and encourage high attendance and engagement.

On analysis of attendance results it became apparent that some students were failing to attend. Attainment for some was satisfactory with the occasional late submission and work which did not always reflect best efforts. Sound familiar?

These phenomena are not isolated to foundation students, we see this lack of engagement and motivation at all levels

20 Background image: ‘Misty Morning’ © Markus Trienke https://flic.kr/p/FUuEeY

throughout the university and we need to question what we can do to encourage greater autonomy and a desire to achieve as highly as possible.

In response to this problem, I devised a piece of action research to explore how targeted intervention and goal setting would impact on attendance. Moore, Armstrong and Pearson (2008) argue that whilst the link between lecture attendance and academic achievement is not necessarily causal, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that attendance contributes to academic attainment. This is particularly important for students who find independent study challenging; students from non-traditional entry routes may struggle more with the university environment or lack the skills required for independent study (Caruth, 2014).

The action research considered goal setting theory and its use in an educational setting with the popular “S.M.A.R.T” model being implemented.

During session one, the participants were introduced to S.M.A.R.T goal theory and set a target. The participants were invited to meet with me on three further occasions over the course of a month. The opportunity to review

Innovative approaches in L, T & A

and amend the goal was offered, particularly as students received data from assessments. Additionally, within the sessions, mindset theory (Dweck, 2012) was explored in the context of time management, perceived effort, stopping negative thoughts and distraction avoidance tactics according to participant need.

could share it with friends, the right friends, then I could get that support.”

Setting S.M.A.R.T goals appeared to have had an overwhelmingly positive effect on the participants in the study.

Whilst it may not have improved

Qualitative data was collected through interview and all but one student felt that the intervention had an impact on their motivation to study: “Ever since setting the target my time management has really improved. I could never achieve the grade that I wanted if I stayed the way I was” “I think my motivation to learn has certainly increased by setting a SMART target” Interestingly, it became clear that accountability became an overarching theme: “Sharing my goal made it feel more real. If you share it with someone else you don’t want to let them down either!

You want to show someone else you are capable of doing better.”

“I think it worked coz I shared it with someone. I felt that if I don’t turn up it looks bad on me rather than just me knowing.”

“If I didn’t tell anyone else it wouldn’t be as effective. If I’m only letting myself down then I’m not really bothered. I

attendance to a great extent, it empowered students to take a more active role in their study and in some instances improved confidence in the ability to succeed. It could be argued that the S.M.A.R.T system was not, however, the most appropriate tool, lending itself to performance goals and a fixed mindset with the motivational limitations that can cause setback (Dweck, 2012). Additionally it is worth considering that the effectiveness of the intervention was based more on the interaction between staff and student rather than the S.M.A.R.T system. For Level 3 students, and indeed all students, the need for staffstudent interaction is a vital element for success.

in semester one, where a longer programme of mindset and motivational interventions can be delivered. Further research projects into mindset and mental toughness are also planned for the coming year.

It is clear that students feel they need further support with learning how to learn independently. Through discussion with the students it seems they feel they lack some of the necessary skills to work effectively in an independent setting and very few have been offered the space to practice this in their previous educational setting. It is no wonder, therefore, that so many of our students struggle with something which we may feel is intuitive.

Whilst we must break the cycle of “spoon-feeding” and promote effective independent thought it is clear that we as an institution have a responsibility to support students in developing those skills. Not only that, but I believe in the ever changing landscape of higher education we must make it a priority. It would be interesting to hear about the best practice of others, and how our support services can compliment best practice in academic teams.

Louise Stewart, FHEA Student Transition Advisor, Academic Services & Retention Team, Library & Student Services (LiSS)

Based on student feedback the intervention will run again but

21

Psychology & Social Studies

Philippa Laskey FHEA

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Research and Teaching Assistant, Health,

Improving Student Participation During Statistics Lectures

S

..................................................................................................................................

tatistics is a notoriously challenging subject to teach. However, it is equally challenging to be a student trying to learn statistical techniques for the first time.

It was this issue that I was trying to address when designing the following intervention.

is traditionally a module that students struggle with. Students often don’t expect to be learning statistics on a psychology degree!

The Student Response System After reading around the topic of student engagement I decided to develop a simple student response system (SRS).

I implemented it in a level four revision session with a group of 13 students.

It involved a set of coloured cards that corresponded to a PowerPoint presentation.

Confronted with Silence I had identified a problem with student engagement within a statistics module I taught in the 2015-16 academic year.

I would start the lectures with a small revision task, but unfortunately students were very reluctant to answer the questions.

I realised that they didn’t feel confident enough in their own knowledge, and were uncomfortable feeding back in front of the whole group. This module forms part of the applied psychology programme, and

22 Background image: ‘Frost’ © Tusela https://flic.kr/p/5H3PAb

The presentation had a series of multiple choice questions, where the answers were colour-coded. The students were asked to read the question carefully and hold up the card they thought matched the

Innovative approaches in L, T & A

correct answer. The student response system worked well, with all students participating in the revision session.

Student Feedback After the lecture, I asked the students to fill in a questionnaire about how they found the SRS. I identified four main themes from the answers the students provided. Firstly, students highlighted that the SRS helped to build their confidence when answering questions: “Everybody could get involved without feeling under pressure. Much better than waiting for someone to answer.”

The second theme that emerged, was how useful the system was in supporting their learning: “…getting involved will help me to remember the information.”

The students also talked about how fun and interactive the SRS was: “…increased learning and interaction with both students and lecturer.”

Finally, they mentioned that the system was easy to use and understand: “I felt the coloured cards worked well.

They were easy to use…”

from all the students who were asked to evaluate it. In addition to this, I found it a very enjoyable session to teach and I was pleased to see that all the students were taking part!

Lessons Learnt The main positive outcome of this intervention is that the students felt confident enough to answer questions in the lecture. It has also given me new ways of teaching, what is usually, quite a dry subject!

I would encourage anyone to try this type of SRS; it’s engaging for students and relieved a lot of the anxiety they felt about answering questions in class.

What’s Next?

I will be running the same module after Christmas and I hope to incorporate what I have learnt from this intervention into my teaching. I also believe this system could be used in other modules. For example, students could be presented with a case study that requires a decision to be made.

They would then choose from a selection of possible actions and discuss with their peers the reasoning behind their choice.

I see this kind of SRS as a way of moving away from the traditional transmission based lecture style, and towards a more interactive way of teaching.

Philippa Laskey, FHEA Research and Teaching Assistant, Health, Psychology & Social Studies

The SRS received positive feedback

23

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Kelly Fielden Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, Health, Psychology & Social Studies Dr Davina Hill Lecturer in Zoology, Science

Kelly Fielden New Staff Profile ..................................................................................................................................

I joined the University of Cumbria as a Lecturer in Occupational Therapy in December 2015.

healthcare, and am excited about having the opportunity to help educate future occupational therapists.

My first day was the day the university was closed due to flooding. I spent my first day at my kitchen table completing online training!

I like to use an eclectic approach to teaching, providing students with both theoretical knowledge and practical opportunities. I utilise case studies and examples from clinical practice to try and bring my teaching to life. I’m passionate about paediatric occupational therapy practice and can talk for hours on the subject!

I was born and brought up in Australia before moving to the UK in 2008. I have a Bachelor of Applied Science from the Queensland University of Technology and a Masters in Occupational Therapy from the University of Sydney in Australia.

I became a qualified Occupational Therapist in 2006. I began my paediatric occupational therapy career soon after graduating and have remained working in paediatrics for most of my professional career until my appointment at the University of Cumbria.

Immediately before beginning this post, I worked as a paediatric occupational therapist for the NHS Scotland in Dumfries, providing community based occupational therapy for children and young people aged 0-19 years.

I‘m passionate about ensuring people from all walks of life experience the best

24 Background image: ‘Winter Panorama’ © Alex Burkhardt https://flic.kr/p/DkNSLx

I’m looking forward to further developing my teaching skills and learning new ways of teaching that I perhaps have not considered before.

In particular, I’m excited to learn about incorporating more technology to assist my teaching so that I have additional “tools in my toolkit”. Working alongside my colleagues, I’m looking forward to incorporating additional practical skill sessions through the year as programme enhancements in order to expose students to a more practical side of occupational therapy.

Kelly Fielden Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, Health, Psychology and Social Studies

Recruiting High Quality Staff

Dr Davina Hill New Staff Profile .............................................................................................................................................................................

I joined the University of Cumbria in August 2016 as Lecturer in Zoology, a field that deals with all aspects of animal life from why ants form cooperative societies to how lions digest their prey.

My interest in animals began at an early age, growing up on a small livestock farm in the Peak District, a haven for wildlife. Completing an MSc in Ecology (2002-03) opened the door to field positions in Costa Rica, Bolivia and Greece, and a PhD in avian behavioural ecology at the University of Glasgow (2005-09).

My research since then has focussed on improving our understanding of social and reproductive behaviour in small mammals (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg), and helping dairy farming adapt to our changing climate (Scotland’s Rural College, Edinburgh).

My varied background has provided a solid foundation for teaching ecological theory and practice. I have been developing modules and courses in research methods and statistical analysis for more than five years,

including a residential workshop for PhD students on behalf of the British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) since 2013.

I developed lectures on undergraduate Zoology modules in South Africa (201112) and am Guest Lecturer on the MSc Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law course at the University of Glasgow (2012-present).

I particularly enjoy helping students bring research ideas to fruition while supervising undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations. At the University of Cumbria, I lead or contribute to a range of modules on research methods, evolution, ecology, physiology and wildlife monitoring, and am excited to return to Africa to help teach a field course in The Gambia in spring.

My teaching method involves: fostering a friendly environment where all students feel confident and motivated to keep asking questions and finding ways to break complex material down into a series of simple steps, checking understanding at each.

These two actions have been central to my success in teaching statistics, a subject that many life sciences students find challenging.

I have recently started studying for a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching for Higher Education at the University of Cumbria, and am looking forward to exploring new ideas and techniques to improve my practice.

Dr Davina Hill Lecturer in Zoology, Science

I am passionate about finding ways to make my teaching relevant and engaging by employing varied activities, examples based on my own experience and an experiential approach to learning that encourages students to reflect and think critically.

25

Recognition of Learning & Teaching

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Recognition of Learning & Teaching

..................................................................................................................................

Routes to HEA Fellowship HEA (Higher Education Academy) Fellowship gives recognition of a commitment to professionalism in teaching and learning in higher education.

Fellowship is awarded to those who have met the appropriate standards under the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) and is awarded depending on your level of knowledge end experience in four categories: Associate Fellow (AFHEA), Fellow (FHEA), Senior Fellow (SFHEA) and Principal Fellow (PFHEA).

The UoC aims to have all staff involved in teaching and the support of learning recognised as at least Fellows of the HEA and offers two routes to this: 1. CPD route. This involves completion of a webfolio of reflective practice to demonstrate you meet the standards of the UKPSF. This is suitable for staff with experience in L&T and predominately looking to gain Senior Fellowship.

2. PGCert route. This involves undertaking the PCCert L&T in HE and is a requirement for new staff

26 Background image: ‘Winter’ © Lifes a Montage https://flic.kr/p/98yzmr

with less than three years teaching experience. It leads to Fellowship status.

Updated CPD route The CPD route has recently been reaccredited by the HEA and is fully aligned to the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). The scheme has been updated to better align with the direct application route. Colleagues are supported to compile a Professional Portfolio to show how their work demonstrates and embeds all the dimensions of the UKPSF. Through an internal peer review assessment process of your completed portfolio you will gain national recognition as Associate Fellow (Descriptor 1), Fellow (Descriptor 2) or Senior Fellow (Descriptor 3).

Resources are available to help colleagues complete their submission. Please see the PebblePad webfolio for details (you’ll need to login to PebblePad first). The next submission date is the 6th of March 2017.

If you’d like to know more about the UKPSF and gaining HEA Fellowship, please get in contact AQD@cumbria.ac.uk

Staff Development

Celebrating success: Recent HEA Fellowships awarded We are delighted to announce the following colleagues were awarded fellowship of the HEA at the last panel meeting.

Many congratulations to all!

CPD route

PGCert completion

•

Shirley Bamigbade (NHPP) FHEA

•

Victoria Barbe (IoA) FHEA

•

Cathy Devine (M&SS) FHEA

•

Andrea Charters (AQD) FHEA

•

Tom Grimwood (HPSS) FHEA

•

Martina Cottam (IoE) FHEA

•

Kathryn Hoyle (M&SS) FHEA

•

Sandie Donnelly (LiSS) FHEA

•

Jamie McPhie (SNROS) FHEA

•

Michelle Entwistle (IoE) FHEA

•

Charles Sloane (M&SS) FHEA

•

Charlotte Hardacre (HPSS) FHEA

•

Anne Stride (NHPP) FHEA

•

Dean Harris (M&SS) FHEA

•

Liz West (IoE) FHEA

•

Edina Kulenovic (IoE) FHEA

•

Georgina Callister (HPSS) SFHEA

•

Philippa Laskey (HPSS) FHEA

•

Peter Crossley (HPSS) SFHEA

•

John Pearson (IoA) FHEA

•

Julie Foster (NHPP) SFHEA

•

Kelly Powell (IoE) FHEA

•

Tony Greenwood (BLPSS) SFHEA

•

Elizabeth Preston (HPSS) FHEA

•

Grace Hurford (BLPSS) SFHEA

•

Nicholas Robson (BLPSS) FHEA

•

Nadine Littler (NHPP) SFHEA

•

Bridget Rushton (BLPSS) FHEA

•

Ruth Mewis (AQD) SFHEA

•

Louise Stewart (LiSS) FHEA

•

Jacqui Percival (IoE) SFHEA

•

Linda Sutcliffe (NHPP) FHEA

•

Lindsay Poyner (IoE) SFHEA

•

David Thompson (IoA) FHEA

•

Georgia Prescott (IoE) SFHEA

•

Victoria Young (LiSS) FHEA

•

Kaz Stuart (HPSS) SFHEA

•

Nick Symonds (BLPSS) SFHEA

•

Mike Toyn (IoE) SFHEA

27

HEA Fellows Celebration Event

T

Tuesday 25 October 2016

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

HEA Fellows Celebration Event

..................................................................................................................................

his event, held on Tuesday 25 October, and hosted by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Julie Mennell, was an opportunity to celebrate colleagues involved in teaching and learning support who have been recognised as Fellows of the HEA.

28 Background image: ‘Misty Morning’ © Andi Campbell-Jones https://flic.kr/p/prCinh

Staff Development

Here at the University of Cumbria we have around 60% of our eligible staff recognised as Fellow, Senior Fellow or Principal Fellow of the HEA. This is a great achievement when compared to the national average of around 40%. Of course we want all staff involved in learning and teaching to be recognised to show our commitment to a high quality student learning experience.

Professor Stephanie Marshall, CEO of the HEA, attended as a guest speaker and outlined the work of the HEA and how the University of Cumbria are able to access various streams of support.

29

R

Preparing Early for Revalidation

Karen Morris FHEA

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Principal lecturer, Rehabilitation

..................................................................................................................................

ehabilitation (physiotherapy and occupational therapy) is part of the Health, Psychology and Social Studies department which was formed in September 2015.

I became the Principal Lecturer for the team in October. Health and social care programmes are facing huge challenges both in terms of what services look like and who provides them, but also from 2017 student fees will not be funded by the NHS.

Our four BSc (hons) and MSc preregistration programmes are due for revalidation in 2018. We have already started preparing for this. Undergraduate programme leads across the department have met to discuss common ground and another event for post graduate

30 Background image: ‘Decay’ © Colin Haycock https://flic.kr/p/doxjD5

programme leads is planned. The undergraduate programmes also share modules with pre-registration health and social care programmes and the content of these is being discussed.

I believe validation is an exciting time for a programme and time needs to be made to allow for creative and philosophical discussion before the hard grind of pulling the documents together.

It is our chance to make our programmes the most exciting in the country to attract the best students; and so our graduates are prepared for whatever health and social care looks like when the last cohort graduate in 2025.

We have strong programmes with excellent student and external examiner feedback, my aim is for great programmes to become exceptional ones. I have been working closely with AQD to begin to prepare the team for revalidation.

Before the teaching schedules for 201617 were drawn up, I dedicated 2 weeks to staff development to enable the team to develop new skills and confidence in applying them.

Robust Review & Enhancement

We had our first session critically examining our approach to assessment, focussing on ‘myth busting’ and how technology can make this easier for us – changes we can begin to introduce immediately to gradually increase our confidence in our technological skills to make best use of the resources available to us.

Feedback from the team was very positive and this has been used to design the dedicated staff development weeks. The focus for this first year of our validation journey is the underpinning ‘front end’ of the documents, leaving MDFs until next year.

We will be having time for discussing national and international policy directions with the chief executives of our professional bodies; educational theory and philosophy; technology updates; programme development; and personal action planning.

By taking this holistic approach to validation and programme development we believe that we can exploit the opportunities of the validation process and have the whole team invested in the success of the new programmes.

Karen Morris, FHEA Principal lecturer, Rehabilitation

Innovation in Learning Enhancement and Academic Development Professional Development Weeks AQD, in collaboration with colleagues across the university, are hosting a series of iLEAD professional development weeks.

These weeks of activities provide opportunity for all staff involved in teaching and learning support to access a range of professional development workshops.

Dates for these will be: • 16-20 January 2017 • 15-19 May 2017 • 11-15 September 2017 Workshops will be held throughout the week and across the campuses, with morning sessions running 10.00-12.00 and afternoon sessions 14.00-16.00.

There will also be a series of lunchtime webinars running 12.30-13.30, which you can access remotely.

These will be held alongside ‘drop-in’ sessions for you to meet with AQD colleagues and get answers to your learning technology and other learning and teaching questions.

Topics will include: • Best practice in assessment and feedback • Social media for academic purposes • Designing teaching for learning • Gathering evidence of practice against the UKPSF • Blackboard tests and quizzes • Turnitin essentials Please hold the dates in your diary! The full itinerary for January along with how to book, will be available shortly on iLEAD,

https://ilead.cumbria.ac.uk

If there are topics you would like to be covered in future iLEAD weeks, do get in touch, aqd@cumbria.ac.uk

31

Changes to Academic Regulations (2016-17) Summary Guides on Assessment Practice, External Examining, Staff Student Forums and more …

Caron Jackson

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Senior Policy Officer, AQD

..................................................................................................................................

Changes to Academic Regulations (2016-17)

same award subject to the approval by the Programme Leader.

A number of changes to the Academic Regulations were approved by Academic Board in June 2016. Key changes include:

New Appendix 1 to the Regulations – outlining variations to Academic Regulations which have been approved

by Academic Board.

[Reg A1.15] A new regulation on ‘Abnormal Circumstances’ to allow the Vice Chancellor to determine an appropriate course of action if abnormal circumstances prevail across the University which may affect due process from taking place in respect of assessment processes.

A move away from use of ‘intermediate’ award and replacing this with ‘exit’ award to give greater clarification and consistency in terminology.

[B2.1(7)] Clarification in regulation to show that students exiting with an Ordinary Degree would need a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6 in their profile.

[D3.1] Registration period for Masters awards is extended to 5 years.

[G4.7] A new regulation stating that, where approved at validation (eg PSRB requirement) a student who has failed may be permitted to re-register for the

32 Background image: ‘Autumn Colours’ © Papa Piper https://flic.kr/p/dofHgq

Appendix 3b ‘Marking & Moderation’ – change of terminology from ‘second marker’ to ‘moderator’; also greater clarification on the third marking process.

Appendix 3d ‘Malpractice’ – regulation on Minor Plagiarism now extended to enable some instances of plagiarism at levels 6 & 7 to be dealt with under minor procedures (ie first incident).

Appendix 3d ‘Malpractice’ – reduction in size of Malpractice Panel from 3 to 2.

Appendix 3e ‘Extenuating Circumstances’ – reduction in size of EC Panel from 3 to 2.

For full details on the changes please refer to the Summary of Changes to Academic Regulations on AQD Staffnet.

Robust Review & Enhancement

Summary Guides on Assessment Practice, External Examining, Staff Student Forums and more …

AQD and SAAS have worked together to provide a range of summary guides for staff. The updated versions are now available on AQD Staffnet here.

These guides provide helpful, and concise information on the following areas: •

Academic appeals

•

Academic malpractice

•

Annual monitoring (AER)

•

Extenuating circumstances and extensions

•

Intercalation

•

External examiners

•

Reassessment without attendance

•

Formal examinations and invigilations

•

Guide to the SLC process

•

Module assessment boards (MABs)

•

MAB briefings - FAQs

•

Protocols for Progamme-level Blackboard sites

•

Standard deviation

•

Staff-Student Forum Summary Guide

•

University assessment boards (UABs)

Caron Jackson

New LTA Strategy for UoC The current Learning, teaching and assessment strategy comes to an end in 2017.

As indicated in her staff briefings the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Julie Mennell, is keen that the new LTA strategy is co-created by key institutional stakeholders.

Academic Board in October requested the Learning and Teaching Committee develop the terms of reference for the LTA Strategy review and identify the approach to facilitating conversations with Staff, Students, Partners and other stakeholders that will shape the strategy’s development.

This work is now underway and we anticipate that focus groups, fora and workshops will be announced in the early 2017 to enable you to be engaged in this process.

Please keep an eye on Friday Global emails and other University communications channels.

Senior Policy Officer, AQD

33

Ceri MacDonald

Learning Technology Manager AQD

Ceri MacDonald Andy WHite FHEA

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. Š December 2016. All rights reserved

Senior Administrator, Collaborative Provision, AQD

..................................................................................................................................

34

My career at the University of Cumbria began in January 2001 as a part-time administrative assistant in the School Partnership Office within the Education Faculty.

Although it was a challenging role, I found a great personal satisfaction in helping students realise their dreams of becoming quality teachers. As my role evolved I took on more responsibility and became the Administrator for all Secondary placements and School Direct administration.

Prior to this I had worked in Sales and Marketing at a carpet manufacturing company based in Durban, South Africa my home town.

In December 2015 I joined the collaborative Provision Team based within the Academic Development and Quality Service and this has provided me with a fantastic opportunity to increase my knowledge and understanding of other departments within the University.

I quickly became aware of how much work, thought and planning went into

developing new programmes and the rigorous processes that the University uses to ensure the quality of its provision.

Although still new in my role I have been given the opportunity to work, as the Senior Quality Assurance Administrator, with some of the University’s external partnerships to develop their own provision, validated and quality assured by the University.

It is exciting to see how the University is helping communities by working with local colleges and organisations to provide and promote excellent and accessible higher education.

Ceri Macdonald Senior Administrator Collaborative Provision Academic Quality and Development

Meet the Team

Andy White

....................................................................................................................................

In my role as Learning Technology Manager I have “System Manager” responsibilities for the university’s core learning technology systems, including Blackboard, PebblePad and Turnitin.

Across the team we support the use of technology to enhance and enable learning; working closely with academic colleagues and programme teams.

Part of our role is to investigate new features, opportunities and integrations that could help improve the staff and student experience, and that make the most of the university’s investment in the online environment.

The “blend” between the physical and virtual environments is of particular interest; this approach could include options such as the “flipped classroom”.

I worked in industrial and commercial photography (i.e. anything but weddings & portraits!), before moving to Higher Education.

My degree was through the Open University. Many of the courses I took were computer-based; however, these were still pre-online days relying on Royal Mail and the telephone for content and communication.

By the time I was studying for my PgC, online environments were more established, with the course being a mixture of online and face-to-face. I returned to the Open University, and this time a fully-online course, for my MA (which is in Open and Distance Education).

Apart from the obvious subject-skills, these courses have been useful to me in other ways, including appreciation of the importance of high quality, accessible and engaging content alongside clear communication routes with peers and tutors for supporting those students who are using online resources whether on or off campus.

Andy White, FHEA Learning Technology Manager Academic Quality and Development

35

Heather Prince PFHEA

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved

Principal Lecturer & Associate Professor

Pedagogy in Practice Seminars

P

(PIPs)

..................................................................................................................................

IPs are a new series of seminars for staff to meet and share practice on teaching and learning themes faceto-face.

They take the form of a short presentation by the lead on a theme, followed by an opportunity for discussion. All staff who teach or support student learning have been welcomed and encouraged to share examples of successful practice as well as bringing descriptions of challenges to which they have found solutions, or those that are yet to be solved!

36 Background image: ‘Sun Spray’ © Marc Cooper https://flic.kr/p/CvSVFq

So far PIPs have been held at Carlisle (Fusehill Street) and Lancaster on ‘Engaging and motivating students’ and ‘Inspiring students’ respectively over one hour at lunchtime. These two seminars have been popular and have attracted a considerable number of registrations.

It would seem that staff really appreciate the opportunity to share practice, to discuss challenges but also to take away something new to try in their own work with students.

Some examples of feedback so far have been: “Good to have some time to think about the really important stuff”; “Yes it was great to take some time out to review how we teach and what we can do differently - although the hour was short it was packed full of helpful ideas and discussion.”

“I got a lot from it” “It was great to hear everyone’s ideas, and meet you all” and some emojis …

!

A further PIP was held in Ambleside on “Learning gain through intellectual stimulation” on 29 November, 12-1 and

News

we will continue the series with offers of leads on themes such as ‘Assessment beliefs’, ‘International curricula’ and ‘Writing exams for students’.

My reflection on PIPs: concerns about a more palatable acronym unfounded; take a risk, go on an adventure with teaching and learning; we need to share more by talking to each other.

PIPs will contrinue to be run regularly across the campuses. If you would like to lead one, please do get in touch. heather.prince@cumbria.ac.uk Heather Prince, PFHEA Principal Lecturer & Associate Professor

37

Cover image: ‘Heather’ © Catherine Singleton - https://flic.kr/p/bojei5

December 2016. 6th AQD Newsletter. © December 2016. All rights reserved