Author: nkmc3

Posted on

The Innovation Fund – One Year On

One year on from her Innovation Fund win, Biology’s Alison Graham is handing over the reins of a very successful PG demonstrators training programme to other colleagues.
The Innovation Fund is administered by ULTSEC (the University’s Learning and Teaching Student Experience Committee) to support schemes which represent new or innovative approaches to teaching and learning in the University.
In particular, it hopes to financially support schemes which can be taken up by faculties and schools across the University.
Alison’s idea has already been picked up by other Schools in the University and Alison feels that it has brought a great deal to both UG and PG students in the School of Biology.

‘We realised several years ago that there was a real need for consistency in the standards of our demonstrators, all of whom had very varied experience and skill sets.

‘This was something the PGs themselves had pointed out and it was something that was coming across in the feedback from our UG students who felt that the standards of their practicals were dictated largely by the abilities of their PG demonstrator.
‘They also did not seem to know what the demonstrators did or that they were research students in the School so we wanted to find a way to introduce them.’
Alison applied to the University’s Innovation Fund for funding to run a programme which aimed to ‘to engender a more productive learning environment for undergraduate and postgraduate students alike.’
The team began by arranging an informal workshop to introduce PG Demonstrators to new UG students.
‘We had them come in and do some very basic experiments – one of their favourites is using paintbrushes to tickle the feet of stick insects and measuring how many feet they will take off the ground at once!

PG demos
PG Demonstrators talk to new undergraduates their own work in the workshops

‘So we had them doing that and then had each demonstrator take some time to tell the new students about their own research.

‘This gave the UG students a sense of the PG’s place in the school, an insight into their own future career paths and a sense of who each demonstrator was.

‘Both groups responded really positively and it’s now not unusual to hear the UG students asking how someone’s research is going, making everyone feel like part of a research community.’ The workshop will run again this year.
Alison said: ‘We’ve also completely changed how demonstrators can sign up for modules and how they can let lecturers know what their particular skills are, which is making planning this year’s practicals very much easier.
‘It’s really been a huge success, making PGs more comfortable with their teaching and with their marking and UGs more familiar and confident with those demonstrating in their practicals.
‘It’s been a real win-win!’

Do you have a great idea to put forward to the ULTSEC Innovation Fund?

The call for applications for the 2015/16 fund is open now!
Or if you have an example of really effective teaching practice in your School do get in touch with Katherine.cooper@ncl.ac.uk.

Posted on

What else can you do with e-portfolio?

E-portfolio is not just for helping to manage personal tutor groups and keeping track of supervisions.

Did you know you can also use it for assignments?

Graeme Redshaw-Boxwell explains: ‘You can use it to set up supervision groups for classes you teach.

‘the students would use the blog and link evidence against particular competencies (including the GSF).

‘They can also use tags to filter the blog posts and export as a rich text document so that you can mark them.’

This is an easy and informal way of assessing how students interact and gaining a sense of how much they understand outside more formal assessment techniques.

Graeme’s running lots of workshops over the summer so you can either refresh your knowledge of using e-portfolio for supervision and personal tutoring or think about new ways of using it for assignments.

Workshops will take place:

Mon 29th June

10am – Supervision Groups

2pm – Supervision Groups

Wed 1st July

10am Supervision Groups

14.00 Supervision Groups

Mon 13th July

14.00 Personal  Tutoring

Thurs 16th July

14.00 Personal Tutoring

Friday 17th July

10.00am Assignments

Tuesday 21st July

2.00pm Assignments

Thursday 23rd July

10.00am Assignments

You can sign  up here.

 

 

Posted on

Having problems viewing the blog?

Some people appear to be having problems with viewing the blog.

This is due to a centralised policy applied by Newcastle University’s IT Service that forces any intranet site viewed through Internet Explorer to be displayed using “Compatibility Mode”.

This will render any site as if you were using Internet Explorer 6 or 7, which is why you are unable to see some parts of the blog or get an error message.

IT Servicedesk responded, “Internet Explorer is going to be rolled relatively soon and then SAP will support the relevant sites in standards mode, at that point that flag will be flipped.”

If you want to view the blog in Internet Explorer you can disable this setting by following these steps in the browser:

Tools -> Compatibility View Settings, then uncheck ‘Display intranet sites in Compatibility View’

Compatibility

Or you could use a different browser to Internet Explorer.

 

Posted on

Learning and Teaching Conference 2014

Learning and Teaching Conference 2014, 18th-19th June 2014

Group Work

Our annual Learning and Teaching Conference was on 18th-19th June 2014.  The conference theme was ‘Learning, Teaching and the Student Experience’.

The main purpose of the Conference, hosted by Suzanne Cholerton (PVC Learning and Teaching), is working with staff to enhance the student learning experience. All staff at Newcastle University were invited to take part in the Conference, students presented on their own as along side staff.

Most sessions were 20 minutes long, scheduled in themed 2 hour blocks of 4 to 6 sessions. There were refreshment breaks between blocks, and discussion time within blocks.

If you attended the conference this year please complete the feedback form if you have not already done so.

Colleagues were welcome to tweet about the Conference using the hashtag #ncllt. Please find links to the tweets below;

Day 1: https://storify.com/lyd_ncllt/day-1-newcastle-university-learning-and-teaching-c

Day 2: https://storify.com/lyd_ncllt/day-2-newcastle-university-learning-and-teaching-c

June 18th – Robert Boyle Lecture Theatre, Armstrong Building

9:00-11:00

Keynote

 

Growth

 Suzanne Cholerton

Introduction by Suzanne Cholerton

Raising the Bar  – implications for Learning, Teaching and the Student Experience The session will set Newcastle University’s Raising the Bar initiative in the context of the broader, strategic HE environment, with particular emphasis on our ambitions to grow and the implications for learning, teaching and the student experience.

 

Bev Robinson (workshop)

The Learning process- how do we create the right environment?

 Focusing on the Raising the Bar initiative, this workshop aims to generate 10 key principles to develop suitable learning spaces. We will explore innovative practices and how the academic and student community can work with ESS and ISS to help design the type of spaces required.

Presentation

Spaces session doc
11:00-13:00

Transitions into, during and beyond university study

 Laura Heels (Transition Officer, School of Computing Science), with Lindsay Marshall and Marie Devlin

It’s the transition that is troublesome.

This presentation introduces  our new Transition Officer and outlines the activities and processes she has implemented to help first year Computing Science students with their academic and pastoral issues.Presentation

 

Ann Musk, Jen Stewart, Laura Fletcher

Building Bridges: Successful Transition and Innovative Practice.

A workshop to explore the transitional challenges faced by current and prospective students and the innovations, which can empower students whilst supporting retention and achievement. Presentation

 

Sandra Salin and Damien Hall

Better French Living Through Independent Learning.

The main objectives of this project funded by the Innovation Fund are:

  • to collaborate with NU students in the development of online resources which will be specifically designed to help other students prepare for a placement in a francophone country.
  • to pilot an initiative that will integrate French Linguistics into French Language learning and teaching. Presentation

 

Dawn Jones

Helping students to succeed.

The presentation will address the challenges students face and the strategies used to try to enable students to understand what it is we require in order for them to succeed. Presentation
Lunch/Posters

 

 History Room, Students’ Union

Sue Thorpe- Poster

Iain Keenan- Poster

Alison Clapp- Poster
14:00-16:00

Students’ professional development & career planning

 Phil Ansell

Enhancing the Employability of Stage 2 Maths & Stats students through the School of Maths & Stats Careers Management Skills Award.

The School of Maths & Stats Careers Management Skills Award is for Stage 2 students who have taken part in non-compulsory (but timetabled) events and activities. We will describe the development of the award, what we have learned, what was successful and what we will change in the future. Presentation

 

Bryan Burford

Two approaches to developing medical student preparedness.

Graduating medical students must be ready to be core members of the healthcare workforce. Two recent projects looked at the contributions of clinical placements and simulated practice to developing preparedness.Presentation

Tom Hill and Jessica Strudwick

Enhancing skills in analysis and resolution of complex issues of relevance to Food and Human Nutrition.

This presentation will discuss the experiences gained from attending a major international symposium on “Dietary Guidelines: Scientific substantiation and public health impact” which took place at The Royal Society of Medicine earlier in the year.

 

Gigi Herbert & Salome Bolton

To Boldly Go: roundtable reflections on engaging students with (personal) enterprise.

Roundtable presenters will discuss key areas of practice in cultivating enterprising skills and behaviours and reflect on some of the tensions and contradictions involved in the context of assessed modules.
Twilight session HERB.1 Red & Blue Zone PC 104 Herschel Building
16:00-17:30

App Swap

 Graeme Boxwell and Marc Bennett

Learning and Teaching App Swap Event

Is your mobile device improving your learning and teaching? Would you like it to? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then this is the event for you.

We will be demonstrating some L & T apps, and would also like you to show your favourites at this interactive app swap. Bring your device and learn what apps are out there to support your teaching. The apps demonstrated will be usable on Apple or Android devices.

Day 2 of Learning & Teaching Conference

June 19th – History Room, Students’ Union

 

9:00-11:00

Students as partners

 Glenn Hurst

NPCEC: Postgraduate Innovation in Research and Professional Development.

The Northern Postgraduate Chemical Engineering Conference (NPCEC) received national attention in Summer 2013 for being the first event to serve as a platform for postgraduates to present their research in a prestigious yet supportive environment. This presentation outlines the positive impact and skills developed this conference had from the point of view of presenters, audience and organisers; all of whom were postgraduates. Presentation

 

Colin Bryson

Creating partnership opportunities in the curriculum

In Combined Honours we have co-designed modules with students that enable them to really take ownership – through projects they choose – many of which enhance the student experience more broadly.Presentation

 

 

Aimee Cook

Herbal Magic: Cross campus collaboration, outreach and the student experience:

Hear more about Herbal Magic, an outreach project involving the Library, AFRD and Newcastle students. Student involvement helped turn this successful project into an unusual example of collaboration, with real impact and benefits for all involved. Presentation

 

Dr Gill Vance

Student Involvement in Medical Education Research.

This presentation shares a number of strategies that we use to involve medical students in medical education research. These include optional rotations in medical education research and a research advisory group, comprising students from all years of the MBBS programme.Presentation
11:00-13:00

Innovative approaches to learning & teaching

 Mark Backhouse, Michael Fitzpatrick, Jocelyn Selwyn-Gotha, Ayat Bashir (Stage 4 MBBS), Rachael Allen (Professional Artist, Gateshead), Iain D Keenan (School of Medical Sciences Education Development) (Presentation)

Transdiscipline student partner approaches for evidence-based development and evaluation of a novel cyclical ORDER (observe-reflect-draw-edit-repeat) artistic learning technique in anatomy education.

Medical and artist partners have developed ORDER to increase the variety of anatomy learning methods. Our data from a mixed-method evaluation shows ORDER can enhance student learning, engagement and experience. Presentation

Innovative Approaches to Learning & Teaching

Patrick Rosenkranz, Amy Fielden, Efstathia Tzemou

Teaching psychological research methods through a pragmatic and programmatic approach.

In this talk we will present our experience and evaluation of the first delivery of a revised research methods module in psychology.  We will focus on the students’ perception and explore how the module can support the development of psychological literacy.Presentation

 

Venda Pollock

Creative Difference: Feedback and Assessment in Fine Art.

This presentation investigates the Open Studios feedback and assessment model in Fine Art, looking at the role of feedback within the learning environment of the studio. Presentation

 

Brian Lunn

Improving feedback for students: Less effort for a greater return

The greatest potential benefit from assessment is from constructive feedback. We have developed a system that  automatically generates meaningful feedback without requiring significant time investment by academic staff. Presentation.

 

Rebecca Wassall and Divya Vedapuri

Time to listen – embedding patient feedback in student assessment (phase 1 pilot)

Patient experience is fundamental to providing high quality care. The outcomes of this pilot provide learning opportunities for student dentists, teaching staff and the NWE placement student. Presentation

 
Lunch Martin Luther King Room, Students Union
14:00-16:00

Technology-enhanced learning

 Feng Hao

Enhancing teaching and learning with electronic voting

I will present a smart phone based Verifiable Classroom Voting system (https://evoting.ncl.ac.uk), which was developed at the School of Computing Science, trialled in real classroom teaching with positive student feedback and is being made available to all schools in Newcastle University. Presentation Blog

 

James Gerrard and Emma Gooch

Getting the Romans online: e-learning, student engagement and contextual knowledge in the humanities.Getting the Romans online

This presentation explores a recent initiative by Archaeology to augment student learning through the provision of additional Blackboard based resources, which allow undergraduates to develop their contextual knowledge base. Presentation.

 

Antony Mullen

An Evaluation of ePortfolio for Personal Tutoring.

This presentation shares the findings of the investigation into ePortfolio’s efficacy as a personal tutoring tool, covering tutors’ views and best practice. Presentation

 

Chris Thomson

Title: Teaching and Training Online – learning from the Netskills experience

Abstract: Jisc Netskills, based in Computer Sciences, has been successfully running full day online workshops for several years now. This presentation describes how Netskills runs a typical online workshop in a way that ensures an engaging and interactive experience and details some of the lessons we have learnt in a way that can help anyone considering using tools like Adobe Connect or Blackboard Collaborate for their own teaching practice. Presentation

 
Twilight session HERB.1 Red & Blue Zone PC 104 Herschel Building
16:00-17:30

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)

 Mike Cameron and Nuala Davis

What can we learn from MOOCs?

What are the lessons learnt so far from developing ‘Massive Open Online Courses’ for the FutureLearn social learning platform? How can we apply these lessons to distance and campus based education?
Posted on

Previous ULTSEC Innovation Fund Winners 2014-15

Past years’ awards

2014-15 Awards

In 2014-15 the following awards were made:

  • 7 Responsive Projects, each for up to £2,500
  • 5 Strategic Projects, each for up to £10,000

Details of all the projects can be found in the 2014/15 list of funded projects.

2014 Awards: Strengthening the relationship between research and teaching, Diversifying our portfolio of programmes, and Assessment and feedback.

In 2014 the panel funded 14 projects, each for up to £5k. Six projects were funded under the priority theme ofAssessment and feedback.  Five projects were funded under the priority theme of Diversifying our portfolio of programmes.  Three projects were funded under the priority themes Strengthening the relationship between research and teaching. Relevant resources are:

  • the 2014 list of funded projects – congratulations to all the award winners
  • guidance notes for applicants, including suggestions for projects aligned with each of the priority themes
  • resources from the Innovation Fund dissemination and welcome event on 9th December 2013 which included presentations from a number of Innovation Fund 2013 project teams. Here is the running order for the event and here is the ReCap recording (the recording lets you navigate between presentations). The table below has links to speakers’ slides and other materials
  • this short video for applicants, talking through the application process and judging criteria.
Chris Phillips and Simon Pallett (Introduction to the Innovation Fund): slides Laura Greaves and Ellen Tullo: slides
Rene Koglbauer and Paul Miller: slides, school visit news article Jarka Glassey, Katie Wray and Jess Jung: slides
Lynne Rawles, Alison Clapp and Laura Delgaty:slides Michelle Robson/Kate Aitchison and Marie Devlin: slides
Lindsey Ferrie and Simon Cotterill: slides Jean-Christophe Penet: slides
Kathryn Hollingsworth: slides John Lockey, Didier Talamona, Kenny Dalgarno: slides
Lee Fawcett: slides, ACC1012/3 course website Sara Marsham, Alison Graham, Jon Goss and Christie Harner: slides, Assessment & Student Dialogue event resources
Storify archive of tweets from the event

Posted on

Learning and Teaching Conference 2013

The annual Learning and Teaching Conference took place on 24th-25th June 2013.

This Conference was hosted by Suzanne Cholerton, PVC Learning and Teaching. It celebrated the many learning and teaching successes which have further improved the learning experience of our students, sharing these examples across NU. The overall theme of the conference was ‘Meeting needs and fulfilling expectations’ and the conference had a particular focus on both assessment & feedback and retention through student engagement. Each day the morning sessions focussed on presentations and debate with the afternoon sessions focusing on interactive, participative masterclasses led by colleagues and students, offering the opportunity to consider in more detail how their experience and ideas can be put into practice in your learning and teaching practice.

Colleagues tweeted about the Conference using the hashtag #ncltl: click here for a Storify archive of their tweets. Click here for general information about using twitter and hashtags.

Links to ReCap recordings are included where possible. Network connectivity issues meant not all sessions could be recorded.

Conference programme, Monday 24th June.

9.00-9.15 Welcome by PVC Learning and Teaching (The Venue, NUSU Building) 

Suzanne Cholerton introduced the Conference theme of ‘Meeting Needs and Fulfilling Expectations’. Slides

9.15 – 11.00 – Transitions to Higher Education (The Venue, NUSU Building) 

Presentations on supporting key aspects of students’ transitions to HE including threshold concepts, writing skills and confidence

  • Jane Webster (VC’s Distinguished Teacher Award holder). This contribution discussed WriteRight: a writing skills programme developed by Archaeology. WriteRight helps students to recognise and correct common grammatical and stylistic errors, and to structure and proofread their written work effectively. Prezi 1Handout 1 – Prezi 2 Handout 2 – Prezi 3 Handout 3
  • Lisa McKenna and Paula Sinclair. Threshold concepts in EAP: Switching the focus from traditional language teaching to academic literacy development with an emphasis on the critical reading of authentic texts. Slides
  • Daniel Ashall. Highlights and recommendations from a student-led review of current induction processes at NU. Slides
  • Keith Howlett and Keerthi Rajendran. An engaging introduction to computing: Making our students think for themselves. Slides
  • Jean Hall (VC’s Distinguished Teacher Award). Integrating Stage 1 students into University life. Slides

Helen Rogerson poster presentation11.15 – 1.00 – Technology in Support of Learning and Teaching (The Venue, NUSU Building)

Presentations on staff practice in using a range of eLearning tools including GradeMark, WebPA and Adobe Connect

  • Alison Graham, Christie Harner, Sara Marsham and Jon Goss. Using GradeMark to improve feedback and involve students in the marking process. We discussed our experiences of using GradeMark to provide electronic feedback on coursework submissions, including the benefits and challenges from the perspective of both the marker and the student.Slides
  • Tom Joyce (VC’s Distinguished Teacher Award holder and NTFs), Nuala Davis and Clare Hopkins. Our presentation gave an account of the use of an online peer assessment tool (Web-PA) as a means of facilitating students working as part of Engineering Teams (5 students) in two modules during Stage 1 in the School of Mechanical and Systems Engineering in giving narrative formative feedback to their peers. The use of Web-PA as a means of both identifying and addressing team difficulties was be described and an outline of the technical use of Web-PA in practice was given. Slides
  • Alan Boddy and Stephanie Veuger. We discussed how an elearning module was redeveloped to provide supported open learning through modified learning methods that lead to better engagement of students in shared activities. Slides
  • Sam Ducker and Lynne Rawles. Using Adobe Connect to encourage collaboration within a fully distance, eLearning Programme – Our experiences and students’ perceptions. Slides
  • Jean-Christophe Penet and Jos Harrison. The Stage 1 French e-Portfolio Project – Meeting students’ linguistic needs/expectations whilst fostering employability awareness. Slides
  • Poster presentation by Helen Rogerson (BDDS Student) with Janice Ellis, Simon Cotterill, John Peterson, and Mark Thomason. Curriculum Mapping: Linking transferable graduate skills into a dynamic map of the dental curriculum. Poster Simon Cotterill’s blog post

1.45 – 3.00 – Workshop – Skype, Connect and Lync:  Online collaboration tools in Learning and Teaching. (Hershel PC Cluster 172) 

Lynne Rawles, Sam Ducker, Nuala Davis. There are many tools that enable video conversations between individuals and groups. Using Adobe Connect, Skype and Lync we will give some tips on preparing interactive sessions and identify questions you need to ask in order to make good choices of software tools. The session offered opportunities to participate in one or more online meetings. This workshop was presented in partnership with UNITE.

Please note that this session was oversubscribed. We plan to repeat the session at a later date to allow everyone interested the opportunity to attend.

3.15 – 4.30 – Workshop – The Google alternative: integrating tailored subject information into teaching (Herschel PC Cluster 172) 

Moira Bent (NTFs) and Louise Gordon. Finding high quality, reliable information is a key part of a successful learning experience, but students are often misled by Google and other search engines into believing that all information is the same. The Library’s tailored subject guides bring together key resources and support materials at School, course or module level and offer opportunities for students to develop their information literacy skills by interacting both within a class and independently. The workshop explored ways in which library and academic staff can collaborate to create bespoke subject information hubs to enhance student learning. Slides Handout

4.30 – 6.00 – NUTS Forum event (The Venue, NUSU Building) 

Official launch of the Newcastle University Teaching and Scholarship Forum. The NUTS Forum is an opportunity for all colleagues interested in teaching and scholarship to meet and share good practice across disciplines within the University. The Forum aims to enhance communication and collaboration between staff focused on teaching and scholarship from Teaching Fellows up to Senior Lecturers and Professors. The Forum hold regular, informal meetings to allow colleagues to share and discuss their work related to teaching and scholarship activities. Each Faculty has a NUTS representative who is keen to engage with colleagues within their disciplines. The event is being held so you can meet your Faculty representative and for them to find out what you would like from the Forum and how you would like to get involved, so come along and say hello. Slides

 

Conference programme, Tuesday 25th June.

9.15 – 11.00 – Where next for the postgraduate student experience? (The Venue, NUSU Building) 

A panel discussion chaired by Ella Ritchie, with panel members including Katherine Brown (Student Rep, History Classics and Archaeology); Iain Wheeldon (ICCHS), Bryn Jones (PG Dean), Stephen Grinsell (INTO). Briefing document.


11.15 – 1.00 – Classroom Interactions (The Venue, NUSU Building) 

Presentations showcasing innovative practice in facilitating interaction in taught sessions, including Pecha Kucha, enquiry-based learning strategies and more

1.45 – 3.00 – Supporting student communication: working together to promote the importance of an effective student representation system (History Room, NUSU Building)

Workshop led by Katherine Brown (History, Classics and Archaeology Student Rep) with George Watkins (NUSU Representation and Democracy Coordinator). This workshop was presented in partnership with NUSU and introduced the importance of effective student communication within the student representation system at Newcastle University, and developed ideas through discussion as to how by working together the communication can be better supported. Discussion included: developing a culture of feedback; more effective communication in meetings; more effective student interaction with the cohort and within schools. Slides

3.15 – 4.30 – Workshop: Evaluating the use of Personal Capture software (PCap) for assessment and feedback (Herschel PC Cluster 172) 

Alison Clapp, Lynne Rawles, Laura Delgaty. This workshop introduced ReCap Personal Capture software.  Participants were given the opportunity to create a recording, edit it and investigate the feedback functionality offered by the software. This workshop was presented in partnership with UNITE and the ReCap Steering Group.

Please note that this session was oversubscribed. We plan to repeat the session at a later date to allow everyone interested the opportunity to attend.

Workshop facilitation

Posted on

Previous ULTSEC innovation Award Winners 2013-14

2013 Awards: Assessment and Feedback & Retention through Student Engagement

In 2013 the panel funded 15 projects, each for up to £5k. Ten projects were funded under the priority theme ofAssessment and feedback.  Three projects were funded under the priority theme of Retention through student engagement.  Two projects were funded outside these priority themes. Relevant resources are:

  • the list of funded projects – congratulations to all the award winners
  • the 2013 call for proposals document with more information on the two priority themes
  • resources from the Innovation Fund dissemination and welcome event on 14th December 2012 which included presentations from the Innovation Fund 2012 project teams. Click here for the running order for the event. The table below has links to speakers’ slides; please note that for some recordings you may need to swap between the ‘slides’ and ‘screen’ tabs in the ReCap viewer.
Suzanne Cholerton (introduction to the Innovation Fund): slides; ReCap recording Franck Michel: slides; ReCap recording
Andy Lovatt and Jon Goss: slides; ReCap recording Feng Hao and Jeff Yan: slides; ReCap recording
Sarah Lickess, David Kennedy, Andy James, Richard Price, Roger Searle, Katriona Watson and Dianorah Smith: slides; ReCap recording Rachel Hammersley and Sara Bird: slides; ReCap recording
Tom Snell and Andrew Grenfell: ReCap recording Graham Long and David Walker: ReCap recording
Anselma Gallinat and Geoff Payne: slides;ReCap recording Georgina Carr and Debbie Bevitt: slides; ReCap recording
Jennifer Richards and Jane Nolan: slides; ReCap recording Neveen Hamza and Adam Sharr: ReCap recording
Alex Ho-Cheong Leung and Martha Young-Scholten:slides; ReCap recording Barbara Phillips-Kerr and Stephanie Barton: slides;ReCap recording
Valerie Pellatt and Chia-Ying Yang: slides;ReCap recording Peter Garson, Matt Bentley and Sara Marsham:slides; ReCap recording; Placement supervisor handbook; Student placement module handbook
Nuria Lopez: slides; ReCap recording Caspar Hewett, Jon Pugh, Andy Large and Alison Williams: slides; ReCap recording
Alison Williams and Simon Tate: slides Grace Barker, Colin Bryson and Jane Webster:slides; ReCap recording
Posted on

Previous ULTSEC Innovation Award Winners 2012-13

2012 Awards: Coherent Curriculum and Access to HE

In 2012 the panel funded 17 projects, each for up to £5k to support the development of learning and teaching activities.  By funding twice as many projects as in previous years it was intended to offer additional institutional support for work done in preparation for 2012.

Four projects were funded under the priority theme of Access to HE.  Thirteen projects were funded under the priority theme of Coherent Curriculum. Relevant resources are:

  • the list of funded projects – congratulations to all the award winners
  • the 2012 call for proposals document with more information on the two priority themes
  • the ReCap recording of the dissemination and welcome event (December 2011) with project updates from the 2011 Innovation Fund project teams. Their slides are also available:
Suzanne Cholerton: introduction Moira Bent: project update
Alison Clapp: project update Rachel Lofthouse: project update
Phil Ansell: project update Grace Cooper: project update
Lindsey Ferrie: project update Simon Cotterill: project update

Mei-Yen Chan (Food and Human Nutrition) and her students have set up a project using Facebook to help BSc students on the Singapore and Newcastle campuses to interact with each other. Their project update is presented as a video interview.

The following list of project outputs will be updated as projects progress. Outputs so far are:

Posted on

Learning and Teaching Conference 2012

The 2012 Teaching and Learning Conference used the five Coherent Curriculum themes as its starting point.  These themes are:

"Speaking as a new member of staff, this event has been very timely! Interested and engaging presenters, key topics and good opportunity to ask questions. Well organised event. Many thanks!"

  1. Assessment and feedback
  2. Research-informed teaching
  3. Student skills and employability
  4. Student Engagement
  5. Student Induction

The Conference recognised and shared work across the institution in preparation for the Newcastle Offer commitments as we move towards 2012/13. Scroll down this page for ReCap recordings, slides, contact information and other resources from the event.

Wednesday 4th July 2012Click here to view the synopses for this day
Using Social media in your teaching: what works and what do we need to do to maximise the benefits for student learning?ReCap recording

Coherent Curriculum theme: student engagement

This session was about the specific use of social media in teaching. The University’s general guidelines for the use of social media are available online.
Jonathan Galloway (Law) – slides
Sue Dobson and David Peck (NUBS) – slides
Franck Michel (Modern Languages) and Helen Lowther (QuILT) – slides
Mei-Yen Chan (Food and Human Nutrition) and her students have set up a project using Facebook to help BSc students on the Singapore and Newcastle campuses to interact with each other. Their video interview is now available online – technical delays prevented us showing this at the Conference.
Round table discussion: Research-informed teaching. ReCap recording

A multi-stranded definition of what research-informed teaching at Newcastle University is, and what this looks like in practice, was out for consultation at the time of this session.  This was an opportunity to discuss each strand in its own right, and together as a multi-stranded definition.  Are these principles clear?  Do they allow for the breadth of practice at NU?  Round table discussion: Research-informed teaching.

Coherent Curriculum theme: research-informed teaching
Simon Pallett, Undergraduate Dean of HaSS Faculty – notes
Armelle Tardiveau, Architecture, Planning & Landscape – slides
Lee Fawcett, Mathematics & Statistics
Grace Barker, (Combined Honours)/ Kathryn Dalziel (Combined Honours student)- YouTube clip
Lindsey Ferrie (Biomedical Sciences) and her students have made short videos showing the student experience of research-informed teaching. Their videos about the lab assistant scheme and research-informed teaching are now available online – technical delays prevented us showing this at the Conference.
Ethics: How do we introduce professional ethics into the curriculum and for what purpose?Coherent Curriculum theme: skills and employability
Sue Haile and Kea-Cheng Tan (CEAM) – slides (SH) / slides (KCT)
Sandra Salin (Modern Languages) – slides
Elaine Hall (Education)
Tom Bramald (Civil Engineering and Geosciences) – slides

 

Thursday 5th July 2012Click here to view the synopses for this day
Engaging students in taught sessions.This session highlighted ways in which staff actively involve students in taught sessions.

ReCap recording

Coherent Curriculum theme: student engagement
Georgina Carr (Biomedical Sciences) – slides
Katie Wray (SAgE) – slides
Colin Ashurst (NUBS) – slides
Peter Hoare (Chemistry)
Student representation: what Course Reps and Student-Staff Committees have achieved, and practical ways to work in partnership with them.Coherent Curriculum theme: student engagement

Click here for information on University policies and support for student representation.

The NUSU website includes information for staff involved in Staff Student Committees. Click the “information for staff” link on the right hand side.
Liam Dale (NUSU Education Officer) and George Watkins (NUSU Representation and Democracy Coordinator) –slides
Peer mentoring: different perspectives on establishing, embedding, and researching peer mentoring schemes.ReCap recordings

Coherent Curriculum themes: student induction; student engagement
Colin Bryson (Combined Honours) – slides
Patrick Rosenkranz (Psychology) – slides
David Walker (Politics) – slides
Grace Barker (Combined Honours)

 

Friday 6th July 2012Click here to view the synopses for this day
Interactive assessment and feedback. This session highlighted examples of how students are supported to be active participants in the assessment of and feedback processes around their work, including both course work and exams.ReCap recording

Coherent Curriculum themes: assessment and feedback; student engagement

For more information on different theories of learning and teaching click here.
Jessica Jung and Darrin Beattie(Careers Service) – slides
Kate Reader (City University and the Making Assessment Count Consortium) – slides – MapMyProgramme.com
Vicki Bruce (Psychology) – slides
Steve Herron (INTO NU)
Colin Murray (Law) – text
Debbie Bevitt (Biomedical Sciences) – slides
Keynote session: Updating our Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Strategy.Newcastle University’s mission is ‘to deliver teaching and facilitate learning of the highest quality’ and our existing LTSE Strategy sets out our aspirations to enrich students’ experience of higher education. This keynote session gave an opportunity to reflect on our existing LTSE Strategy and discuss how best to update it as we move towards 2012/13.
Suzanne Cholerton, PVC for Learning and Teaching – slides – keynote plenary
Post-keynote networking, discussion, and information session.An informal opportunity took place to discuss learning and teaching issues, and to find out more about current learning and teaching projects at Newcastle University including:

  • EquATE (Equal Acclaim for Teaching Excellence) posters of past projects
  • Teaching and Learning Spaces Steering Group
  • ePortfolio for UG and PGT students
  • ReCap lecture capture
  • Blackboard
  • Reward and recognition of achievement in teaching – Steve McHanwell
  • MSED (Medical Sciences Education Development) – IT teaching and support offered by Rebecca McCready http://fms-itskills.ncl.ac.uk
Posted on

Previous ULTSEC Innovation Fund Winners 2011-12

2011 Awards: Linking research and teaching

The priority theme for the 2011 Innovation Fund was linking research and teaching. Relevant resources are:

  • a summary of the funded projects, with contact details for the project leads – congratulations to all the award winners
  • the ReCap recording of the launch event (December 2010). The running order for the event includes timings to help navigate the ReCap recording.  It also has contact names and titles for the 2010 Innovation Projects
  • advice on support for publishing pedagogical research, included as the CfLaT team’s presentation in the same ReCap recording.

Contact for queries: innovfund@ncl.ac.uk