by Dr Joe Barton, Newcastle University Students’ Union
Dr Joe Barton is the Representation & Research Coordinator at Newcastle University Students’ Union (NUSU). His main responsibilities are providing training and support to Academic Student Reps, assisting NUSU’s Education Officer with initiatives to improve the learning experience of students and reporting on student opinion to the University through analysing surveys, running focus groups and writing reports.Continue reading “Learning and Teaching Conference 2018: Newcastle University Students’ Union Workshop”
The arrival of the Teaching Excellence Framework with a core criteria of ‘Student Outcomes and Learning Gain’ has fuelled the ongoing debate about what learning gain actually means, and how it can be measured.
The Learning and Teaching Conference 2018 theme has been announced: Education for Life: celebrating partnership, encouraging innovation.
This one-day event will take place Wednesday 21 March 2018, 9am-5.30pm. Read more about the conference theme, find full details of the event and register on the conference webpage.
Call for submissions: extended deadline Friday 19 January 2018
Proposals are welcomed from academic staff, students and Professional Services staff, for individual or collaborative submissions. Further information about the conference theme Education for Life: celebrating partnership, encouraging innovation is available on the conference webpage.
Session formats
All sessions will have a member of LTDS staff allocated to help in advance of the event, who will also be in the session on the day.
Workshops (45 or 60 minutes)
A hands on session to solve a problem, practice something new, showcase a method. Learning by doing. Choose a flat teaching space arranged cabaret style, or a PC cluster.
Presentations (15 minutes)
These sessions will be chaired by a member of academic staff, and wherever possible grouped into themed sessions to enable a short panel discussion and Q&A at the end.
Lightning talks (3 minutes)
A speedy way to introduce a new idea, share an approach, or ask a question. Grouped in themed sessions wherever possible. A chance to meet people doing similar things to you. Several lightning talks will be followed by a Q&A session. You can choose whether or not to use audio visual aids, or you could submit a 3 minute video!
Posters
Posters will be on display all day in the Boiler House. Poster presenters should be available by their poster to answer questions during the lunch break. Delegates will vote on their favourite and a prize will be awarded.
All submissions will be reviewed by the Learning and Teaching Conference Programme Committee, and session allocations will be confirmed by Wednesday 31 January 2018. We will wherever possible try to accommodate your preferred session, however you may be allocated a different session format, at the discretion of the committee.
In 2017 the Newcastle University annual Learning and Teaching Conference took place on 27 March 2017.
Conference theme: Reimagining Teaching Excellence
Newcastle’s commitment to excellent teaching is at the heart of our University mission, and is crucial to our aim of providing an educational experience that challenges and supports our students to fulfil their potential. At a time when external agencies are seeking to define this for us, it is more important than ever that we have a clear understanding of what we as an academic community understand by learninhe phrase ‘teaching excellence’.
Teaching excellence was therefore the focus of the 2017 Conference and the programme for the day provided an opportunity to:
hear an external view point on teaching excellence from keynote speaker Paul Blackmore – Professor of Higher Education at The Policy Institute, King’s College London
hear about what our staff and students view as teaching excellence
see examples of teaching practice and innovation from across the institution
contribute to how the University will pursue excellence in learning and teaching in the future through a session on the development of our new University Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Strategy.
Resources From The Day
Introduction Presentation from Professor Suzanne Cholerton
Newcastle Educators Group – Dr Vanessa Armstrong (Biomedical Sciences), Dr Sara Marsham (Marine Science & Technology) and Dr JC Penet (Modern Languages)
Mrs Ulrike Thomas – Research Associate, Education Communication and Language Sciences) PowerPoint slides
Dr Ellen Tullo – Lecturer, Biomedical Sciences PowerPoint slides
Professor TT Arvind – Professor of Law, Newcastle Law School PowerPoint slides
Dr James Stanfield – Lecturer, Education Communication and Language Sciences Website
Miss Katie Wray – Lecturer, SAgE Faculty Office PowerPoint slides
The annual Learning & Teaching Conference for staff at Newcastle University took place on Monday 27 March 2017. Celebrating learning and teaching at Newcastle University, it was organised by ourselves on behalf of the Pro Vice Chancellor for Learning and Teaching, Professor Suzanne Cholerton.
This year’s theme was Reimagining Teaching Excellence, and the day was spread over two venues: the Lindisfarne Room in the Kings Road Centre and the Herschel Learning Lab, with lunch and an engaging poster session in the foyer of the Herschel Building.
We started with a short introduction from Suzanne Cholerton who thanked everyone for their contributions to making the student learning experience and Newcastle’s teaching reputation so good, before introducing our keynote speaker, Professor Paul Blackmore from the Policy Institute, Kings College London.
Paul spoke eloquently about making curricular changes in higher education institutions and introduced us to examples from all over the world, including Melbourne Arizona State and Hong Kong Universities, whilst provoking questions about how such decisions are made, the associated risks, and how we know whether these interventions have been effective.
He went on to question Biggs’ ideas on constructive alignment, much quoted in educational development, and suggested these ideas were a good servant but a bad master for developing curricula. Asking what the real links are between research and teaching, he moved on to discuss the recent White Paper and the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
He also covered themes around commodity, interdisciplinarity, globalisation and networks. Professor Blackmore’s keynote was well received and set the scene well for challenging what teaching excellence is, and for taking risks when thinking about changing the curriculum.
Next, Sara Marsham, JC Penet and Vanessa Armstrong took the stage to talk about teaching excellence and the Newcastle Educators peer educator network. In an interactive session they asked us to share ideas of what teaching excellence is or could be, and made the point that the concept is very culturally bound.
The last session of the morning had everyone scribbling notes furiously as representatives past and present from the Newcastle University Student Union (NUSU) talked about the analysis they had done on the NUSU Teaching Excellence Awards, highlighting some of the report‘s findings. Students at Newcastle value an eclectic mix of learning and teaching approaches including blended learning, flipped classroom, TEL, and collaborative approaches to learning.
Our students see learning as incremental, and appreciate the intellectual generosity of their lecturers, their knowledge and expertise. They like lectures to be a conversation, through use of open discussion and participation in the learning process. This creates an atmosphere where students feel enabled to contribute and speak up, as well as opportunities to talk to staff informally.
The report highlights that what happens before, during and after the lecture are all important. This really highlighted how much students are engaged in thinking about good teaching. They really don’t see academic time as an unlimited, on-demand service.
At lunch the poster session took place and the audience was asked to vote for their favourite posters.
Professor Suzanne Cholerton (L) and Craig Smith (R) of Flint Spark Consulting led the first afternoon session.
For the afternoon sessions we moved from the Lindisfarne Room to the Herschel Learning Lab. A session using the facilities in the Herschel Learning Lab was facilitated by Craig Smith, who looked at developing the Newcastle University Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Strategy. Attendees contributed their ideas about the key factors that the new strategy should include, collaborating in group and utilising the room’s technology.
We attempted to use all of the affordances of the Herschel Learning Lab (HLL) in this highly engaging session (not least because of the omnipresence of Tina Turner!). Some colleagues who have successfully used the HLL then showed us how to use it properly.
Ulrike Thomas, Ellen Tullo, TT Arvind, James Stanfield, and Katie Wray were all familiar with the space and outlined how they had successfully used it with some diverse cohorts over very different courses, from all three Faculties. Ulrike reminded us that we can look at learning spaces in the teaching room finder.
TT suggested that planning how you were going to use the technologies in the HLL was essential to success, and by using the affordances of the space, the barriers between teaching and learning could be broken.
Linear and block teaching, group meetings, workshops, society meetings all worked well in the space said Katie Wray, but group work, collaboration using activities, engagement and video all worked particularly well. What worked less well? More than 20 groups, lectern based lectures, and the inflexibility of the space all posed challenges.
The resources from the day are available from the LTDS website. Don’t forget you can find many examples of effective learning and teaching practice on the case studies database.
Please comment on this post, or email ltds@ncl.ac.uk to let us know how we can make next year even better!
Our 12th annual Learning and Teaching Conference is only a month away and bookings are now open. You are welcome to attend for the whole day or the morning or afternoon.
The theme this year is Assessment and Feedback and we’re looking forward to a lively day of discussion and examples of interesting and effective practice. In particular we’ll be welcoming a panel of teachers to help us understand more about the assessment students undertake before they come to university.
Learning and Teaching Conference 2014, 18th-19th June 2014
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;
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.
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
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.
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
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.PresentationBlog
James Gerrard and Emma Gooch
Getting the Romans online: e-learning, student engagement and contextual knowledge in the humanities.
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?
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.
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 2Handout 2 – Prezi 3Handout 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
11.15 – 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. PosterSimon 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. SlidesHandout
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
Sandra Strigel. This presentation will outline how an Enquiry-based learning approach was employed to foster the questioning skills of a group of international pre-Masters students. A short introduction to the pedagogical framework will be provided and practical implementations discussed. SlidesReCap recording – please note that the sound in this recording is very quiet
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.
The 2012 Teaching and Learning Conference used the five Coherent Curriculum themes as its starting point. These themes are:
Assessment and feedback
Research-informed teaching
Student skills and employability
Student Engagement
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
11.15 – 1.00 – Technology in Support of Learning and Teaching (The Venue, NUSU Building)
