By Patrick Rosenkranz, Degree Programme Director, Psychology
Teaching in the School of Psychology is guided by empirical research in a number of ways: first and foremost, the design of the programme is research-led ( Healey and Jenkins, 2009): the syllabus of the modules incorporates both the foundations of the field as well as up-to date developments that include current research problems and practices. Continue reading “Research-led teaching in Psychology”
How considering inclusive learning can help change your mind-set.
Dr Jhoram Funtanares Nufable, Associate Professor, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed) shares his thoughts on the Inclusive Learning session delivered at this year’s Learning and Teaching Conference. This session was led by Dr Ruth Graham, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Sandy Alden, Team Leader, Disability and Specialist Learning, Student Wellbeing Service.
Inclusive learning interests me a lot to a personal level as I have a child who struggles with learning and has some developmental delay. As parents, we surely want the best for our children. We would support them as much as we can and would really appreciate if teachers would be more sensitive to their needs. Continue reading “Inclusive Learning: Conference Guest Blog”
Last year we decided to open the great big can of worms that was our School’s Undergraduate Blackboard site.
Dental Sciences was one of the first schools to adopt Blackboard some 15 years ago and was perhaps a lesson in how not to structure it. We just had one very large community with all the learning material from our 5-year non-modular course crammed inside. Continue reading “Guest Blog: School of Dental Sciences Blackboard update”
NCL London’s Paul Fleet, Vanessa Varvas and Claire Twyman look back on the last year…
Newcastle University London is coming to the end of its formative and founding year. It has an excellent number of Pathway students who have completed their studies and are ready to progress onto its Marketing, Management, Finance & Accounting UG and PG programmes; whilst its current PGTs are now in ‘dissertation mode’ after being immersed in the industry of business through their studies.
Included in this core phrase of the campus are industry guest speakers on a Masterclass series, the students going out into the City in work-based projects (such as the Spitalfield’s Market Challenge), and students being involved in similarly immersive events back at the mothership (such as the Gain A Global Advantage day at NUBS).
Not content with just with industry immersion, the Campus is bringing in ideas of innovation to its learning and teaching.
These include specific speakers from the City of London being part of the delivery within the modules so that the students experience a healthy balance of research-informed theory into practice during their lectures and seminars; the Campus moving in 2016/17 to an all online assessment and feedback process; boosting the technology of ReCap to capture three streams (slides, audio, and presenter/whiteboard) for the benefit of post-lecture revision; the linking of translation students at Newcastle with business students at London so both can role play elements of their future careers in a multi-lingual business negotiation meeting, and… if all goes to plan the installation of a Decision Theatre (think IMAX for Education) so that there can be simultaneous cross-campus delivery of equivalent/complementary modules.
The next academic cycle will see Pathway, UG, PGT, PGR (including PhD) all happening at the Campus, and, at the point of writing this, the firm acceptances at NCL-LDN look to exceed the set UG target.
Further, where these potential students are coming from is not just an international market and nor is it in competition with Newcastle itself. Analysis has shown that potential students in the overwhelming majority (96%) apply to one campus or the other, and those that apply for NCL-LDN have Firm and Insurance choices with Queen Mary, University of London, City University (CASS Business School), Royal Holloway, University of London, University of Surrey, Coventry University, King’s College London, LSE, University of Reading, UCL and University of Exeter rather than Newcastle.
This all makes for good news for those units and staff who are looking to have an involvement with NCL-LDN.
The Campus is strong in its beliefs and presence (it is not a flying faculty in retreat like some across the sector); has administrative, professional support and academic staff with a can-do mind set; has established itself as a point of the North in the South for meetings, conferences, policy events, and so on breaking the London-centric barriers; and it firmly upholds the governance, community and civic ethos of Newcastle University.
The University will undergo QAA Higher Education Review in the week commencing 18 April 2016. Higher Education Review (HE Review) is the process of review for all higher education institutions in the UK.
The University last underwent review by QAA in December 2009 according to the QAA’s Institutional audit process.
The overall aim of HE Review is to inform students and the wider public as to whether an institution:
HE Review considers these key issues through a review process in which review teams consider the academic quality and standards of an institution through the investigation of core structures, policies and processes for quality management, and the way in which an institution addresses these issues in relation to a specific theme which can vary from year to year.
To achieve these aims, QAA convenes a team of peer reviewers – staff and students from other providers.
Review teams are asked to make judgements on these four key issues, and will also identify features of good practice, affirm developments or plans already in progress and make recommendations for action.
What will this involve?
The substantive element of the review process is a week-long visit to the institution which allows the review team to meet with staff and students (and other stakeholders where appropriate) and to scrutinise further information.
During the visit will include contact with staff, particularly those with institutional and faculty responsibilities for quality assurance. Review team meetings with staff will also involve a sample of colleagues working at academic unit level, including those with direct responsibility for educational partnerships such as representatives of partner institutions or staff at overseas campuses, and other academic and professional service staff with responsibility for supporting learning, teaching and the student experience.
The review team may also ask to meet with recent graduates, external examiners and employers.
They will certainly want to meet with a small sample of students (for example up to 30-40 across two or three meetings is typical), to find out their views of the learning experience they receive at Newcastle.
The University is also required to submit a Self-Evaluation Document (SED) which must be received by QAA by 25 January 2016.
The SED has three main functions:
We will be required to provide a significant amount of supporting documentation to illustrate and substantiate the narrative within the SED. This allows the team to test whether what our SED says we do, is what we do in practice and assess how effective it is.
Review teams also have the right to request additional documentation. Experience of HE Review at other universities indicates that significant amounts of additional documentation are typically required by review teams.
It is therefore possible that any documentation relating to the quality management of the areas under review might be requested, including those held by academic units and faculties.
What will the team be looking for?
Higher Education Review has a core element and a thematic element.
The core element focuses on academic standards, quality of learning opportunities, information, and enhancement.
The thematic element focuses on an area which is regarded as particularly worthy of further analysis or enhancement. Themes, which change periodically, are chosen by the Higher Education Review Group – which includes representatives of HEFCE, Universities UK, GuildHE and the Association of Colleges. The University is required to explore one of these themes.
Following discussions involving a number of colleagues including representatives of NUSU, the PVC Learning and Teaching recommended to ULTSEC on 14 January that the University should select the theme of Student Employability for the review in 2016.
This theme is the logical choice for the University, as it would allow special emphasis to be given to the work that has been undertaking to develop students’ employability and entrepreneurial skills, and to give a detailed picture in our submission of how the University has made further progress since the good practice commendation received by the University in this area in the last QAA audit in 2009.
Who will this involve?
A Higher Education Review Steering Group, chaired by the PVC Learning and Teaching, is overseeing the production of the Self-Evaluation Document and supporting documentation, which is being coordinated by staff in the Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS).
When will it start?
In terms of other principal stages in the University’s preparation for the review, in mid-late October 2015 the QAA will inform the University of the size and membership of the review team. In early December 2015, a preparatory meeting with QAA will take place, the main purpose of which is to discuss the information to be provided to QAA and will therefore include those most immediately involved with the production of the SED and the student submission, and with responsibility for the operational arrangements for the review.
Around one month before the review visit, the QAA will inform the University of the duration of the review visit, the team’s main lines of enquiry, who the team wishes to meet, and any further requests for documentary evidence.
So what’s the point?
The review culminates in the publication of a report containing the judgements and other findings. The University is obliged to produce and publish an action plan in consultation with students, describing how it intends to respond to those findings.
