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Meet the Teams: Educational Governance Team

The Educational Governance Team in LTDS

We are (front row left to right) Laura Johnstone, Jolein De Ridder, Janice Trewick, Jack Ennis, (left to right back row) Gilly Box, Sarah Levison, Liz Turnbull.

Some examples of the things the team lead on;

  • Responding to the student voice, surveys, student representation and so on.
  • Training in EvaSys for Surveys or the External Examiner system.
  • Development of new programmes, Degree Apprenticeships or Educational Partnerships.
  • Developing and maintaining the many policy, process, guidance documents and forms in the Quality Standards Handbook – adding to these as the University moves forward (e.g. incorporating Degree Apprenticeships).
  • Support of various committees; University Education Committee, Taught Programme Sub-Committee, INTO Strategy Group and Cross-Faculty Education Committee.
  • Monitoring and review processes such as Learning and Teaching Review, Annual Monitoring and Review.
  • Governance structures such as Board of Studies activity or supporting your Student Staff Committees.
  • Collation of key programme information such as accreditation information, management of programmes on SAP, the MOFs system and Module Catalogue.

Some random examples of things you maybe didn’t know the team did; Continue reading “Meet the Teams: Educational Governance Team”

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Accessibility Stocking Fillers

Do you want to find out how to make your content accessible for everyone?

In our latest 3Ps we covered a range of accessibility tools and tips to ensure that we can quickly and easily make new and existing materials accessible to everyone.

In the session we covered three topics:

  • How to use styles, colours, alt text to create accessible content.
  • Tools available to students and staff so make content accessible and support the
  • Some of the frustrations staff and students might experience and how to overcome them.

If you weren’t able to attend the session you can have a go and test your accessibility knowledge with the Accessibility Checking Activities.

Resources

Microsoft Office

The Microsoft Office Accessibility Center is a great place to look for handy guides on producing accessible Office documents with out of the box accessible templates. Microsoft Office is available for free to all staff and students and has some great Microsoft Accessibility Features built in.

Adobe Acrobat PDFs

Staff and Students have access to Adobe Acrobat Pro from University Machines. Acrobat has a built in PDF Accessibility Checker which can automatically fix issues with your PDFs and also advise you on why certain elements aren’t accessible.

Video Captions

The session focused mainly of text and images but if you’d like to find out more about creating accessible audio and video content you check out our blog post on creating captions.

On Campus

For disabled users accessing IT services on campus we offer specialist software and hardware available to staff and students via our Easy Access Accessibility Service.

Printable Checklists

Download and print copies of our A4 checklists for Word, Powerpoint, PDFs and Blackboard and keep them with you for quick reference.

What support is available?

The Student Health and Wellbeing Service provides information, advice and guidance on a wide range of student support issues, helping students to maximise their potential whilst at university.

If you have any queries about creating accessible content get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to offer advice and guidance – contact LTDS@ncl.ac.uk

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Peer Mentoring Thank You Event 2018

Group of mentors

Peer Mentoring Thank You Event 2018

Peer mentors from across the University gathered at the Lindisfarne Room on Monday 26 November 2018 to celebrate another successful year of the peer mentoring scheme.

Peer Mentors and Staff Coordinators were invited to this celebration as a thank you from the University following another excellent start to the academic year with new students being supported and encouraged as they started their journey on their chosen programme of study and made the transition into Higher Education. These students (the mentees) were invited to provide their opinion of the scheme and to share the many benefits they had experienced as a result of having a peer mentor:

“Explained clearly what it was like from a student perspective and what I should expect to know and learn and how to do so.”

Continue reading “Peer Mentoring Thank You Event 2018”

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Advance HE Subject Networks Engagement Events

Advance HE are holding a series of engagement events to help shape the way they can support Subject Networks, a method of sharing ideas and best practice . These are being developed as a result of a recent consultation and Advance HE are hoping to engage with staff from a range of institutions to ensure that they meet the needs of modern day HE.

As we are an institutional member of Advance HE, attendance at these events is free for Newcastle University staff.

Please find details of the events below. The links will take you directly to the Advance HE booking page: Continue reading “Advance HE Subject Networks Engagement Events”

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Call for proposals: SEDA Spring Conference 2019

Collaboration to support the student experience and progression

09 May 2019 – 10 May 2019
Location: Clayton Hotel, Belfast

Proposals are welcome in one or more of the following areas:

· Programme, module and learning design
· Course/programme assessment and feedback strategies
· ‘Students as partners’ and related ‘change agent’ initiatives
· Professional development for staff
· Learning and mobile technologies
· Digital capability and institutional support
· Curriculum leadership and staff roles
· Internationalisation
· Widening participation
· Induction and transitions
· Apprenticeships
· Inclusivity
· Wellbeing
· Learning development

Find out full information on the conference website.  Proposals should be submitted to office@seda.ac.uk by Monday 26 November 2018 at 5pm.

 

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The changing landscape of Higher Education: Learning and Teaching Conference 2019: Call for submissions open

Quayside

We are pleased to announce that the theme for the Learning and Teaching Conference 2019 is ‘The changing landscape of Higher Education’.

This one day event will be held on Wednesday 3 April 2019 and will explore:

  • How do we deliver our vision for a Newcastle education set out in the University Vision and Strategy, in a constantly changing higher education landscape?
  • How can we reflect these changes in the education experience?
  • How do these changes positively impact on teaching and the student experience?

This year’s conference will explore the landscape of change under 4 key themes:

  • Supporting all students to fulfil their potential: This will incorporate innovations and effective practice around equality, diversity and inclusion; international students, accessibility, student wellbeing and student voice
  • Education and research: How students benefit from studying in a research-intensive environment and professional practice
  • Employability and engagement: Working with students as partners, and with partners in business, industry in the public sector, to provide educational experiences that allow our students to succeed and thrive in the new world of work being created by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (including how these experiences support the social impact, both locally and globally, of the considerations of widening participation and outreach)
  • Technology enhanced learning: Using digital tools now and in the future to support flipped, blended and online learning and assessment and feedback

Further details about the conference  are available on the conference website and the we will continue to update this website with details of the keynote speakers and programme over the coming months.

Call for submissions

The call for submissions is now open and staff and students at all Newcastle University campuses are warmly invited to submit an abstract. The deadline for submissions is 11 January 2019 . Find out more and submit your abstract here.

Registration open

All staff and students are invited to attend this inspiring event. Please book your place now. We look forward to welcoming you on the day.

 

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Advance HE Membership Update: October 2018

The latest edition of the Advance HE update includes:

  • Information about Small Development Project grants and how to apply
  • The latest publication on guiding principles for teaching promotions
  • Thought pieces on employability, networking and leadership development
  • PRES Survey results
  • Information on Advance HE’s look at addressing subject challenges and how you can get involved
  • An Athena SWAN update
  • And dates for your diary

Newcastle University staff can view the newsletter here (log in needed).

Please get in touch with LTDS@ncl.ac.uk with any questions.

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Approaches and Tools for Internationalisation at Home

Image of Self Audit Tool document

By Sue Robson, Emerita Professor, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences

Internationalization has become a key strategic priority in higher education (HE), posing both critical challenges and development opportunities for universities. While many HE institutions have an internationalisation strategy, approaches to internationalisation vary enormously. The number of international students and staff on roll, and the number of ‘mobile’ students and staff engaged in international research and teaching collaborations are highly regarded and prestigious indicators of quality and prestige in higher education institutions (Wihlborg and Robson, 2017).

Increasingly, however, universities are seeking to develop more inclusive approaches that enable all students and staff -and particularly the non-mobile majority – to experience the underlying social, academic and intercultural learning benefits of an ‘internationalised university experience‘ (Robson, Almeida and Schartner, 2018). One of the developing areas of interest for research and practice into the internationalization of higher education is the concept of Internationalization at Home (Almeida et al., 2018). This was the focus for the Approaches and Tools for Internationalisation at Home (ATIAH) Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships Project. Internationalisation at Home is one of the Key Priority Areas of the European Commission’s Communication “European HE in the World”: ‘Promoting internationalisation at home and digital learning’ (COM/2013/499).

Continue reading “Approaches and Tools for Internationalisation at Home”

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Assessment and Feedback

Helen Webster

By Helen Webster, Head of the Writing Development Centre

“The structure doesn’t flow”

“You need to engage more critically with the literature”

“More detail and greater depth of discussion needed”

“Hard to follow – make sure your points are clearly expressed”

It’s frustrating both to give and receive feedback repeatedly on the same issues and not see any improvement. Feedback is highlighted in the NSS and NUSU campaigns so we know that students see it as a priority. We also know that academic staff don’t always feel that students are engaging with their feedback or even recognise it as such. Continue reading “Assessment and Feedback”