Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the BERA (British Educational Research Association) Annual Conference in Leeds.  I was fortunate enough to have a presentation accepted: “Digital Capabilities and Expectations of Prospective Students:  Preparing Higher Education for Learning and Teaching of the Future”, and received a teacher bursary award from BERA to attend.

Several Newcastle University ECLS colleagues attended as did FMS’s Jo Matthan who presented “Developing the learning and teaching of practical clinical skills using video playback technology to enhance the student experience and incorporate self-assessment into the feedback process”.

It was a three-day conference including three keynote presentations: “Education in Conflict: Redefining the Contours of Change”, “Education for ‘Political Generosity’:  The role of schools in supporting young people’s understanding of politically complex societies” and “Teacherbot: Interventions in Automated Teaching”.  Reflecting on these speakers and reading through the abstracts, it became clear the role of the school, teachers and education as an agent of social change is paramount.

It is always interesting to attend non-medical/clinical conferences.  Delegates came from all over Europe and from secondary/primary schools FE and F/E.  BERA’s vision is to promote the development of a world-class education system based on high quality educational research.  It seeks to counter-balance the politicisation of education by carefully presenting the findings of the best independent and critical research, through its projects and publications.  This was clear by the varied presentations, posters and special interest group meetings.  Lots of sponsors and exhibitors were present and with over 1000 delegates, it was a stimulating and active environment.

I have the abstract book and links to the keynote speakers if anybody is interested.  Next year, the conference will be in Sussex.  If any FMS staff are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of current policies and practices, and also generating fresh thinking and bringing a humanising influence to bear on proposals for reform, it is a fantastic opportunity to look at education at a slightly different angle than traditional medical/clinical education.

Dr Laura Delgaty, School of Medical Education

NSS results have a significant impact on an institution’s reputation, and this will escalate with the introduction of the TES. Although many universities are shown to give satisfaction across most categories the scores for “Feedback and Assessment” are markedly lower.  Much research has been carried out into feedback, but there is little evidence to explain this dissatisfaction. In an attempt to uncover underlying causes I am carrying out a study to investigate “First-Year Students’ Perceptions of Feedback”, to find out their expectations.

The first stage of the study was to find out what Newcastle students think feedback is, what they perceive it should be and how this relates to their previous experiences and general ‘contentment’. Enlisting the help of a student interviewer through the Newcastle Work Experience Scheme, 15 student to student interviews were conducted to build up a thematic understanding of the subject. From these themes a questionnaire of 37 questions was constructed, piloted, modified and distributed.

We got 110 responses (approximately 33% response rate). Initial analysis suggests the university feedback experience is very different to their previous experience of feedback, and although some understand the pedagogical and pragmatic reasons they are not left ‘satisfied’.

I’ve recently presented these initial findings at the Oxford University Press Bioscience Education Summit.  Although the focus to date has been students at Newcastle University, we’re set to roll out this study to include other North East institutions.

Dr Damian Parry, School of Biomedical Sciences

The EquATE programme was not something I had heard of until I got an e-mail earlier this year asking if I would be interested in taking part.  Once I had read the flyer though there were a number of reasons why I was interested in taking part in this course.  I found it interesting as the course was sold as an opportunity to network with other academic staff throughout the university.  I thought participation in such network would be useful because it looked like it would build on some of the work I’ve done on my education master’s course.  One module on that course was about becoming a ‘networked practitioner’ so I thought could utilise some of what I learnt there within the EquATE network, and maybe work on a project in that area.

Some of the themes mentioned in the EquATE flyer were are also of interest, such as technology.  Part of my aims in my role in the school are to add more online and technology based content to the teaching that I do, so I thought being on this course and in this network would aid that objective as well.  Finally, I thought the course would be really helpful as part developing my pedagogical research through providing me with reserved time to develop this research.

Since being on the course it has been good to meet new people and discuss ideas around education and research in education.  After the initial introductory session we were straight into planning and discussing projects with an aim to get some initial planning and research done ready to present a poster to the group early in the new year.  It has been great to be able to have time to sit down to discuss and develop a project.  The main challenge though has been to find something that will start to generate useful information in a short time frame.

As it happens the project I am working on is in the field of becoming a networked practitioner.  Having an online presence as an academic is becoming increasingly important for dissemination of work, improving impact, and career progression.  I am therefore working with Sarah Lockey and Sonia Bussey on a project to look at what extent academics in Newcastle are utilising online networks and social media and their academic/research career.  The project hopes to establish if staff are aware of and use online networking in their practice and to see if they understand what alternative impact metrics are (termed ‘altmetrics’), such as online article views, social media mentions, publication downloads etc., and how/if they can be utilised to further career progression.

Dr Paul Hubbard, School of Medical Education

Fantastic news that the following projects have been funded by the Faculty via the ERDP.

‘Clinical teaching styles and student satisfaction.’ Dr James Field & team.

‘A study visit to gather information about the methodology for developing software application to enhance the learning of tooth morphology for dental students.’ Dr Bana Abdulmohsen & team.

‘Identifying ways to enhance the active involvement of real patients in undergraduate medical education’
Dr Gill Vance & team.

‘Identification and evaluation of optimal strategies for delivery of learning and teaching through social media in order to maximise impacts on student learning, engagement and experience [includes study visits]’
Dr Iain Keenan & team.

‘An investigation into the value of PeerWise as an educational and development tool for medical students’ Dr Clare Guilding & team.

‘Developing the learning and teaching of practical clinical skills using desktop capture and video playback technology to enhance the student experience and incorporate self-assessment and peer assessment into the feedback process.’ Dr Jo Matthan & team.

‘Student Induction to the University – does it work?’ Dr Ruth Valentine, Dr Luisa Wakeling, Dr Alina Schartner  & team.

2-3rd November 2015, Dublin

Dr Ellen Tullo presented on a multidisciplinary module about ageing that involves older people and was able to exchange ideas with other other academics that use intergenerational learning as an approach.

Full abstract: As the numbers of older people in society increase, gaining an awareness of the needs of an ageing population is important for university students from all academic backgrounds. Using a multi-disciplinary approach to ageing, we developed a new teaching module (NU-AGE) aimed at undergraduate students from any academic background. In acknowledgement of the important role that members of the public can play in higher education, we recruited a team of older adults to help design and deliver the module. The NU-AGE curriculum was constructed through collaboration between students and members of the public to outline both the pertinent challenges facing an ageing society, and the positive aspects of ageing. The team of older adults helped us to develop and deliver a series of interactive teaching sessions for a cohort of undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds, designed to encourage inter-generational discussion and debate. Involvement of older adults throughout the development, delivery and evaluation stages of the NU-AGE module has proved to be feasible, and early analysis of evaluation data suggests that students and members of the public highly value the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas about the importance of ageing in society.

Dr Ellen Tullo, Biomedical Research Centre for Ageing and Chronic Disease

Dr Laura Greaves, Newcastle University Institute for Ageing

Dr Luisa Wakeling, School of Dental Sciences

The Rev Bryan Vernon presented a pre-conference workshop at AMEE in Glasgow in September on “The artist inside us all: creative tools for reflection on personal growth towards professionalism” with two Dutch colleagues – Veronica Selleger and Benno Bonke. This experiential workshop enabled participants to reflect on their own professional practice while using methods that they could adopt for facilitating reflection in their own contexts. Among other exercises participants were asked to select a postcard which touched them in some way, preferably in a way that highlighted something uncomfortable in professional or even personal life. Because such an exercise can feel voyeuristic on the part of the facilitators, I modelled this: there were three cards which I had not seen in advance and I chose one which evoked an occasion where I had felt very alone and empty when preparing to teach. We also used singing, polymer clay, drawing and poetry, and showed that these were very effective vehicles for helping people reflect in greater depth, while highlighting the importance of creating a space that feels safe. Feedback was excellent. “This MUST be offered again in future AMEE conferences”, said one comment.

The Rev Bryan Vernon, School of Medical Education

Bateman, H. L., Ellis, J. S. and Thomason, J. M. (2015), Virtual courses: enhancing a curriculum. European Journal of Dental Education. doi: 10.1111/eje.12170.

This article outlines one of the innovations the School of Dental Sciences have implemented to provide clear signposting for students and staff of key themes running throughout the undergraduate curriculum.

A virtual course incorporates elements from across the current programme which are related to a specific theme.  Examples of themes include ‘Working as a Dental Team’ and ‘Study Skills’.  Elements are incorporated from a range of academic and clinical courses and are repackaged to permit demonstration of where that specific theme is taught, experienced and assessed within the 5 year programme of study.

We believe use of these ‘virtual courses’ promote a range of benefits including enhancement of programme transparency, and in already comprehensive programmes, allows a response to new requirements and initiatives of external regulatory bodies without major curriculum restructuring.

Miss Heidi Bateman, School of Dental Sciences

Peter Donaldson , Ann Daly, Luca Ermini and Debra Bevitt August 2015: Genetics of Complex Disease.  This book is for the 3^rd (final) year Biomedical Science UG Degree and Biochemistry and Genetic in Medicine UG Degree modules (BMS3010, BGM3061) and the MRES module (MMB8014). Garland Science are a major publisher and part of the Taylor Francis Group. The Medical School has published many books with this publishing group authors of other books with Garland include: Tom Strachan, Lyle Armstrong, Patrick Chinnery and Judith Goodship.