Starting this September, Newcastle University is working with Advance HE to offer onlineExternal Examiner Training. The training will run over two months and is aimed at aspiring, new, or experienced examiners. It will support you to:
understand the role of the external examiner as articulated in the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, and be confident to undertake it;
develop a deeper understanding of the nature of academic standards and professional judgement, and explore the implications for external examining;
use evidence-informed approaches to contribute to impartial, transparent judgements on academic standards and the enhancement of student learning.
Participation in the course can be used as evidence towards gaining (Senior or Principal) Fellowship of the HEA.
The course begins on Monday 13 September 2021. You will be guided to complete five units over two months. Each unit takes 2-3 hours to complete, and on the whole there are 4 hours of online contact with the team.
As the 2021 academic year is coming to an end, Newcastle University Technology Enhanced Learning Advocates (NUTELA) brought together a panel of colleagues to share:
Reflections on moving so swiftly to online teaching
Rethinking delivery with some examples
Re-purposing digital content for a blended approach
From practical tips on encouraging student participation to wider discussions around creating student connections, here are the highlights from the session.
How would you approach a flipped classroom?
Dr Ahmed Kharrufa, School of Computing describes how he successfully incorporated videos, reading materials, live sessions and practical activities into a relaxed weekly timeline.
Director of Digital Education Dr David Grundy gives an overview of the Canvas features he used to help students navigate through their course and shares some of the innovative new digital projects recently funded in the Business School.
As a guest lecturer on over 40 different modules, librarian Emily Dott brought a different perspective to the panel discussion. Sharing how a non-synchronous approach works for the library team, Emily reflects on what worked as well as the elements of synchronous sessions that aren’t as easy to replicate.
Integrating digital skills into courses can be challenging but is now more important than ever. Dr James Stanfield from the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, shares how the new module ‘Adventures in Digital Learning’ successfully addresses aspects of digital literacy. He also details how blogging can be a useful tool for reflective practice and shares ideas for increasing student connections next year.
If students could tell their lecturers one thing what would it be?
Dr Brook Galna shares some insights from Sport and Exercise Science students. From positive feedback about short, interactive lecture content to issues around access to technology, student reflections will have a real impact on next year’s teaching.
Find out more about NUTELA
NUTELA are group of academics, professional service staff and technicians, who care about improving learning and teaching at Newcastle University.
We have termly sessions focussing on technology in teaching. They’ve been a bit different this year but usually involve some pizza, pop and a chance to practice.
Microsoft Team
Join the NUTELA Team to continue the conversation about using technology in your teaching. The Team includes resources, upcoming events and the chance to connect with colleagues across the University. NUTELA advocates are also on hand to answer any NUTELA related questions you might have.
We’re keen to make sure our postgraduate taught students have the best possible experience while studying with us. To do this, we need to know what they think works well and what we could do better.
The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is the student’s chance to tell us about their experience as a taught postgraduate student at Newcastle University.
The PTES launched in April and students will have already received an invitation from JISC to take part in the survey and also a further email on behalf of studentsurveys@newcastle.ac.uk with a personal link to the survey. To date, 13% of taught postgraduate students at Newcastle University have taken part in the survey.
The survey will close on 17 June, 2021, and is anonymous and will only take around 15 minutes to complete.
A team of academic and professional services colleagues have successfully applied to take part in this year’s Learning Design Bootcamp.
Introduced in 2019, the bootcamp is a fantastic opportunity for teams to work with experienced colleagues from other institutions to design and develop modules of their choice.
The successful Newcastle University team are based in the School of Modern Languages and the Learning and Teaching Development Service, bringing lots of ideas and expertise to the process. The team will benefit from a range of workshops, the chance to connect with a community of practitioners and access to their own mentor and coach.
The bootcamp will support teams with the implementation of online/blended learning covering 4 key aspects of learning design:
Student journey
Learning Design
Evaluation
Quality
Nuala Davis, Learning Enhancement and Technology Projects Adviser is part of the successful team and has shared how it is going so far:
“Even though we are now less than half-way through the Bootcamp we already have lots to reflect on and bring forward into our practice. It’s giving us the opportunity to learn more about module design in the context of a real project.”
An educational experience supported and enhanced by technology is a key theme in our Education Strategy and taking part in the programme offers a unique opportunity to develop confidence in broadening the choice of learning design approaches adopted by academic and professional services colleagues.
Following the bootcamp, the team will have lots of knowledge to share, so look out for some case studies, events and our own internal bootcamp. If you are interested in finding out more, get in touch with LTDS@ncl.ac.uk
Join us for our next NUTELA (Newcastle University Technology Enhanced Learning Advocates) events . Sessions run on May 10 and 11 – please sign up for any you like below.
Learning Analytics
Monday 10 May, 10:00-11:00
Do you know how analytics might help you in your teaching?
In this session you will find how you might use analytics in your course to support your practice. We will cover:
ReCap Analytics
Canvas New Analytics
You will also hear practical examples from colleagues who have already started using analytics.
Join the NUTELA Team to continue the conversation about using technology in your teaching. The Team includes resources, upcoming events and the chance to connect with colleagues across the University. NUTELA advocates are also on hand to answer any NUTELA related questions you might have.
With over 280 delegates, 12 lightning talk videos, 9 live sessions and some creative entries to the poster competition, our first online learning and teaching conference had something for everyone. Thank you to all colleagues and students for getting involved and sharing some of their teaching and learning successes and challenges from the past year.
You can find a number of resources from the week below and we look forward to seeing you all at the next event.
Introduction from the Vice-Chancellor
Professor Chris Day introduces the conference celebrating the many collaborative, creative and impactful approaches to teaching across the University. He also highlights the achievements of Professor Suzanne Cholerton, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Education, who is retiring this year.
Opening Keynote Address: Education for All?
Professor Sue Rigby, Vice-Chancellor, Bath Spa University
Professor Sue Rigby opened the event with her address intended to provoke, asking colleagues and students to think about some key questions:
Why doesn’t everyone thrive at University?
Attainment gap or awarding gap?
Thrive or strive: Is learning purposeful? Is it effective? Is it challenging? Is it engaging?
A diverse range of approaches to teaching and learning all covered in less then 7 minutes. With contributions from colleagues from Schools and Services across the University these are a great resource if you’re looking for some new ideas:
Closing Keynote address: Keynote Address: Powerful Learning for a Challenging World
Professor Dilly Fung, Pro-Director for Education, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Professor Dilly Fung closed the conference with an inspiring talk which looked at the relationship between education, research and public engagement through the lens of the Connected Curriculum framework.
Meet the researcher schemes, an interdisciplinary course for all first-year students and a degree showcase portfolio are all practical examples of ways that the Connected Curriculum can be achieved.
The talk ended with some questions and examples of work already happening in these areas as well as lots of new ideas to explore.
Professor Suzanne Cholerton, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Education
Professor Cholerton thanked all speakers, delegates and organisers for making this year’s conference happen in spite of the current circumstances.
This was Professor Cholerton’s last learning and teaching conference and during her time as PVC Education the conference has gone from strength to strength with increased numbers of colleagues and students presenting and attending each year. This is down to Professor Cholerton’s vision and leadership and we hope we can continue to make future conferences equally as successful.
Next years event
Planning will be underway soon and if you’d like to get involved in the programme committee we’d love to hear from you. Please email LTDS@ncl.ac.uk
There’s still time to apply to the University Education Development Fund which supports staff to undertake projects with real benefit to students’ education at Newcastle University.
Two strands of funding are available:
Up to £2,500 for projects focused within an individual academic unit, or across multiple areas through the Responsive strand.
Up to £10,000 for projects with collaboration across academic units through the Strategic strand.
Chaired by the PVC Education this fund support projects which further the aims and key themes of the Education Strategy and applications in the areas of UN Sustainable Development Goals and decolonising the curriculum agenda would be welcome.
Application deadline for 2020-21: Deadline extended to Wednesday 28 April, 17:00
At Newcastle University we are choosing new software for students to take digital exams. The exams will include auto-marked questions like multiple choice or fill in the blank, and written exams that you can take online. Students will be able to use the software on their own laptops, or use university computers.
The software we choose must be user friendly. That’s why we’re inviting students to volunteer for usability testing. Your input will be key in determining the software that students will use in the future at Newcastle.
What’s usability testing and how can I get involved?
Complete the testing online any time that suits you, between Monday 26 April 2021 and Friday 21 May 2021
You need a computer connected to the internet
You will be given login details, and a series of tasks to do in each system
When you finish the tasks in each system, complete a survey about how user friendly it is
You may need to install some software on your computer. You can uninstall it when you’ve finished testing
You will need to test up to 4 software systems. Testing each one will take approximately 1 hour, and you can split the time up however you want, to fit your schedule
Prize for winning design: Headphones (up to the value of £100)
Newcastle University Technology Enhanced Learning Advocates (NUTELA) are a group of academic and professional services staff who are passionate about promoting technology in teaching.
We are inviting students to help us design a new logo! Something simple yet eye-catching that we can include on our website and in presentations, social media, and other printed materials.
You can find out more about NUTELA and some of the events we run at go.ncl.ac.uk/nutela
What you need to know?
This competition is open to registered students across all Newcastle University campuses
The logo must be 100% original and clearly feature the name NUTELA
The logo must look good in colour and when printed in black and white
The logo can’t contain licenced or copyright material (other than those owned by Newcastle University)
The logo must be easily reproducible and scalable for large and small formatting The logo should indicate the group is part of Newcastle University
