All change for the LTDS website!

Posted on 15 December, 2015 by Susanne

An improved and revised LTDS website goes live on 16 December 2015 at www.ncl.ac.uk/ltds. This replaces the old Quilt website and reflects a focussing of direction for the service and more streamlined communication of what we do and how we can help staff in learning and teaching at Newcastle University. We hope that the changes we have made will make it easier to find the things you need related to learning and teaching development and teaching quality assurance at Newcastle University.

Alongside the revision of the website, we have launched a Learning and Teaching Development blog, https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/ltdev covering:

news in learning and teaching from around the University, including teaching quality assurance
theme based collections of case studies of good practice from academic and support staff – available at http://teaching.ncl.ac.uk/casestudies/
reports from learning and teaching related projects including Innovation Award holders
changes and rapid updates to learning and teaching services supported by LTDS (Blackboard, ReCap, ePortfolio, etc)
hints and tips, tricks and tools covering all aspects of LTDS areas of responsibility

This blog is linked to Twitter – follow us @ncllt – and both are linked back to the LTDS website.

Both the website and the blog will highlight areas drawn from a new collection of good practice, which is actively being managed and added to regularly. If you know of areas of interest or innovation in learning and teaching please let us know by emailing a new generic email address ltds@ncl.ac.uk.

These redesigned and new web based support services are intended to supplement and complement current areas of support provided from the Learning and Teaching Development Service.

We have worked closely with NUIT to put automatic redirects in place, so that, as far as possible, existing links to LTDS/QuILT content will still work. We have concentrated on links likely to appear in student handbooks and the most visited sections and pages of the old website.

We appreciate feedback on the changes we have made and look forward to receiving it via ltds@ncl.ac.uk – this will be monitored especially closely as the website changes are made and in the months immediately afterwards. This generic email address does not replace the individual email addresses of individual members of LTDS staff, but using it will ensure that if an individual is unavailable, someone else is able to pick up your query in a timely fashion.

Sue Gill, Learning and Teaching Development Service

L&T seminar: Team Based Learning: First attempts – what did we learn?

Posted on 11 December, 2015 by Susanne

When: 18th February, 12:30 to 13:30

Where: Ridley 2, Seminar Room 1.57

Dr Alan Green, Sunderland University

The Sunderland pharmacy degree had not used the team based learning (TBL) approach prior to the 2014-2015 academic year. The degree is mainly taught by lectures, seminars, problem based learning, simulation, laboratory and placement activities. Following the 2014 TBL conference in Bradford we were keen to trial using TBL. A small number of sessions were developed (5 x 2hours) for the 1st and 2nd year students. It was important to ensure that other academics supported the teaching style and that from a student’s perspective they gained from the experience.

The initial response to the TBL style from the students measured by a ratified TBL questionnaire was positive and provides a good basis to introduce more TBL into the programme in the future. Informally, academic feedback overall was positive. There are a number of practical and logistical issues relating to the running of sessions, which we have improved upon throughout the 1st year of delivery. TBL will be of great benefit to the students as they are actively taking part and applying their knowledge to different tasks and scenarios.

L&T seminar: Enhancing teaching and learning (and careers) in the sciences through scholarly activity

Posted on 11 December, 2015 by Susanne

When: 21st January, 2016, 12:30 to 13:30

Where: Ridley 2, Seminar Room 1.55

David Read, University of Southampton

In the ever-changing world of UK higher education, the enhancement of teaching and learning has never been more important. University teachers face a range of challenges which include the communication of difficult concepts, and how best to deliver the sheer volume of content covered in a typical degree course. While developments in learning technology bring opportunities, they also present further challenges in terms of both physical and pedagogical implementation. Fortunately, there is a huge body of evidence in the form of scholarly publications and pedagogic research which provides support for those striving to provide the best possible learning experience for their students. Those who innovate in their own teaching can then contribute to the body of evidence by evaluating the impact of their work and sharing it with the wider community via conference presentations and publications of their own.

This talk will outline the role of scholarly activity in the enhancement of teaching and learning in chemistry at the University of Southampton in the context of the career journey of the presenter, who has moved from educational innovator, to evaluative practitioner and now, potentially, to pedagogic researcher. The talk will also showcase the teaching innovations behind the story, illustrating the role of the literature in informing their design and implementation, and the evaluation and dissemination that followed.

Introducing the School of Biomedical Sciences

Posted on 11 December, 2015 by Susanne

The School of Biomedical Sciences offers a range of 3 year BSc undergraduate bioscience degree programmes, with a focus on human health and disease. Currently these include Biomedical Sciences, BMS with Industrial Placement, Biochemistry, Biomedical Genetics, Physiological Science, Pharmacology, BMS with Microbiology and Exercise Biomedicine. We also offer 4 year MSci programmes in Biomedical Sciences, Biochemistry and Biomedical Genetics. We have just over 1000 students registered in the school, approximately 20% of whom are international students.

The BSc Biomedical Sciences programme is also delivered at the NuMed campus in Malaysia; this programme was established by Nick Morris and is now being led by Chris Baldwin. The NuMed students take Stage 1 and 2 at the Malaysia campus and then come to Newcastle for their final year. The first Stage 3 NuMed cohort arrived in Newcastle this semester and will graduate in 2016.

The School comprises 12 members of academic staff, 10 administrative staff and 5 technical staff. This teaching-focussed team manage the delivery of the undergraduate degree programmes and provide dedicated support to students throughout their studies. Teaching and personal tutoring for the programmes is delivered by academic staff from both the school and the research institutes. Research institute staff contribute significantly to our programmes delivering high quality research-led teaching, particularly in the honours years of the programme, and some are also involved as module leaders and members of the Board of Studies. The highlight of all our degree programmes is an individual 10 week full time research project; the majority of the students undertake their projects with a research team in one of the research institutes, although some undertake alternative projects, including an Experimental Design project, delivered by academic staff in the school, and Erasmus exchange projects in Europe, co-ordinated by Carys Watts.

School staff are actively involved in Educational Research projects, some of which have been developed through participation in the CASAP and EquATE programmes. For example:

Damian Parry, in collaboration with Dr Helen Hooper (Northumbria University), has been investigating students’ perception of scientists and has also recently begun a study of student perceptions of feedback, with the assistance of a Newcastle Work Experience student intern.
Geoff Bosson has introduced a practical skills test taken by all Stage 1 students and is investigating the extent to which engagement with the test develops student confidence and the role of emotional learning in this process.
Lindsey Ferrie has established a network of student Employability Ambassadors, who help to prepare fellow students for graduate employment. She has also developed a “Feedback Foghorn” delivered via e-portfolio and is investigating whether this mechanism encourages students to reflect on and engage with their feedback.
Carys Watts is developing training sessions to help students to communicate complex scientific information, generated during summer vacation research projects, to an audience of non-scientists and is exploring how students understand the concept of the “layperson” in this context.
Debbie Bevitt and Nick Morris are working with two student interns, Bronte Elliott and Kate Johnson, and Dr Sue Thorpe (School of Psychology), to evaluate student use of social media during study, the extent to which they perceive this to be a distraction and how students self-manage their online activities to avoid distraction. This project is funded by a ULTSEC Innovation fund grant.

Dr Debbie Bevitt, Head of School of Biomedical Sciences

Faculty Learning and Teaching Forum

Posted on 11 December, 2015 by Susanne

I attended the 2^nd FMS Learning and Teaching Forum on 2^nd December 2015. As someone who hasn’t found their “pedagogic niche” it was very interesting to see what kind of research is happening in the faculty. It was quite nice to see these work in progress studies rather than the finished product as it made for some interesting discussion following each talk. I will not summarise all of the talks as I know a number of these are summarised in a previous ERDP newsletter but will talk through my highlights and the themes I felt ran through the session. One of the talks that I thoroughly enjoyed was that of the “Context café”, this is a very interesting idea that I would like to incorporate into my teaching.

Context café: Challenging the basic sciences ‘learn and forget’ culture

This idea was generated to try and combat the “why do I need to know this?” culture that is seen in the clinical sciences. The idea involves running a group style café in the first week of term. Each table has a facilitator and a number of students. The facilitator presents the students with a question and an outline of the modules of the dentistry course. The first group to the table has to choose which modules they think they will gain the necessary knowledge to answer the question posed. E.g. “You are completing oral surgery and your patient begins bleeding profusely. Where will you get the knowledge required to deal with this situation as a practising dentist?” This forces the students to think about what knowledge they will need to acquire in both the pre-clinical and clinical years of their dentistry degree. The students then rotate around all the different tables and by the end of the session should have figured out that they actually need all of the modules in order obtain enough knowledge to deal with that clinical scenario. This process should hopefully give the students the context to explain why they need to study certain content.

A number of the MBBS students complain of losing motivation in Phase 1 of our course (pre-clinical years). Their usual complaints include “not knowing why we need to know this stuff” and “I just want to skip to the clinical years”. The context café may be an ideal way to try and combat this issue.

Common theme: Student use of technology

I think the use of technology by our students is a common theme that ran throughout the forum. This came up in a number of different instances, the first in using digital storytelling as a method to teach our medical students about core conditions they may not encounter in Medical School. A separate study investigated the use of social media by our students. Specifically, to look at the self-awareness of our students in relation to their social media use and the impact this could have on their concentration. This research really brings home the idea that although social media/technology can be used in effective ways to help students learn but in certain situations it can be detrimental to learning. Following the presentation of data on the reading habits of psychology students, there was some discussion as to what constituted “reading”. Would this include online resources, social media and other types of reading that deviate from physical text books? Even when we think we can assess something as simple as reading, technology needs to be considered!

Taken together, I think this shows how important technology is to our students now but also how important technology will become to our students. Assessing the role of technology in student learning is of the utmost importance. This applies to both our current students but also our prospective students. This is the subject of Dr Laura Delgaty’s project on “Investigating the digital capabilities and expectations of prospective students”. This study involved asking schoolgoing children about their experiences of technology in their learning. Initial data from this study has shown there are considerable differences in the opinions of these prospective students on their use of technology and their best learning environments. Specifically this difference in opinion seems to be dependent on their gender and socioeconomic background. I think this project will generate some very interesting data that we need to consider when planning our future teaching and when choosing if we will use technology to supplement that teaching.

Dr Eimear Fagan, School of Medical Education

EquATE: experiences so far

Posted on 11 December, 2015 by Susanne

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

ERDP Development Grants funded in October call

Posted on 10 December, 2015 by Susanne

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.

Age Friendly Universities Conference presentation

Posted on 10 December, 2015 by Susanne

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 artist inside us all

Posted on 10 December, 2015 by Susanne

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

New publication: Virtual courses: enhancing a curriculum

Posted on 10 December, 2015 by Susanne

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