If you would like to find out more about using Numbas, or are having problems, then you can reach the Mathematics & Statistics e-learning unit at the role account numbas@ncl.ac.uk.
Teaching Large Classes Giulia Forsythe CC-BY-SA https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/8261536706
How can you engage large student cohorts in the classroom/lecture theatre?
And how could you maintain those connections when the lecture is over?
How do you make meaningful connections with all your students?
Aimed at academic and professional services staff these practical workshops draw on examples of effective practice from within the University and from outside. Ranging from using technology effectively, and utilising basic acting techniques, to creating accessible materials for everyone, we share ideas and tips you can take away and try with your large groups tomorrow.
You can attend all three, or choose the ones that best meet your needs
Creating connections: Managing large groups in the lecture theatre
Tuesday 9th May 12.00-14.00, G.07 Daysh Building
In this workshop we share tips and tricks for how we can effectively manage large groups in the lecture theatre, You’ll be able to try out some techniques for yourself in this interactive session, with case studies from colleagues from across the University and some practical exercises ranging from maintaining audience attention and using lecture theatre technology to how to stop your voice giving out as term progresses.
Staying connected: Facilitating large groups outside of the lecture theatre
Tuesday 19th September 12.00-14.00, Herschel Learning Lab, Herschel Building
The recent NUSU report on the Teaching Excellence Awards contained some gems of information from students, one of which was that they really value the activities before and after a lecture. But how do you build meaningful activities and maintain attention outside of the lecture theatre? This workshop looks at ‘the lecture sandwich’ where we share tips and get some hands on experience of using Blackboard, ReCap discussion boards etc to help build collaborative learning before and after the lecture. We also look at boundary setting and expectation management with email and in discussion boards.
Connecting everyone
Date tbc (pending timetabling)
Drawing on inclusive learning principles this cluster based hands on workshop focuses on learning for all and reaching everyone on your large group. We share tips on using multiple communication channels, and how using module handbooks, reading lists, well structured documents effectively can help get to hard to reach students.
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!
The 2nd NUTELA Peer Recognition Awards took place on Friday. These awards are designed to recognise University staff who go above and beyond the call of duty to help their colleagues, schools and units to adopt forms of technology-enhanced learning (TEL).
Staff were asked to nominate someone who had helped them understand the purpose of a specific learning technology, or someone who has been instrumental in progressing TEL initiatives.
Congratulations to Jerry Hagon and Tracey Connell for winning the awards.
Both have both been integral to helping other staff to adopt innovative technologies in their teaching. The award was presented by Professor Philip Bradley, Chair of eLSI, and the winners will be invited to the Vice-Chancellor’s Celebrating Success event.
Full list of winners and nominees
Winner – Jerry Hagon – (School of Chemistry)
Winner – Tracey Connell – (FMS Graduate School)
Nominations:
Anthony Stafford
Graeme Tait
Ruth Valentine
Alex Inskip
John Moss
Nuala Davies*
Graeme Redshaw-Boxwell*
Marc Bennet*
* NUTELA Steering Group members are not eligible for prizes since they are involved in the judging process. However, some were nominated and they are recognised here.
The PRES is the only UK higher education sector-wide survey to gain insight from postgraduate research students about their learning and supervision experience.
What is it?
The survey is designed to capture the opinion of any research student on a doctoral or research master’s course.
It focusses on students’ experiences of;
supervision
resources
research community
progress and assessment
skills and professional development
It also considers students’ motivations for taking their chosen programme.
Why is it important?
The survey presents an opportunity for students to Shape the student experience: the feedback we receive is valuable in helping to enhance the postgraduate research experience at Newcastle.
How is it completed?
The PRES is an online survey and can be completed on a mobile device. Eligible students will receive an email with a link to complete the survey.
Incentives
All students who complete the survey are entered into a prize draw (see terms and conditions);
1st Place prize: 9.7-inch iPad Pro (one available to win)
2nd Place prizes: iPad mini 4 (two available to win)
3rd Place prizes: £20 Amazon gift card (20 available to win)
Further details and support can be found on the LTDS webages. If you have any specific questions please contact LTDS@ncl.ac.uk
NUTELA’s annual Peer Recognition awards will be presented on Friday 24th March, 3-5pm, History Room, Students’ Union.
The awards recognise staff who go above and beyond the call of duty to help their colleagues, schools and units to adopt forms of technology-enhanced learning (TEL).
All are invited to join us to celebrate.
There will be pizza, pop and plonk and awards shall be presented by Professor Philip Bradley, Chair of eLSI (eLearning and Student Information Sub-Committee).
NUTELA (Newcastle University’s Technology Enhanced Learning Advocates) are a peer network of colleagues who promote the use of technology in teaching. The group’s focus is on providing practical, practitioner-informed support. They meet termly at lunch time events to share practice over pizza and pop.
The Higher Education Academy is pleased to announce a new round of funding for the 2017 Collaborative Awards for Teaching Excellence (CATE). These awards aim to celebrate collaborative learning and teaching initiatives that positively impact on the student experience in creative and innovative ways. Each award will recognise a team who have enabled a change in practice for colleagues or students at an institutional or discipline level.
Only one bid can go forward from each institution. To become the Newcastle University bid you are invited to put forward a draft claim (max 1000) and a draft of the dissemination and impact plan (max 2000 words). Please note you do not need to submit a draft of the Institutional statement of support.
The completed papers should be emailed to ltds@ncl.ac.ukno later than 9am Monday 20 March, please title your email “CATE Application”.
Applications will be considered by a panel comprising the PVC(L&T) Chair, the Head of LTDS, the FLTSEC chairs and the NUSU Education Officer. The panel will consider all applications received that week and you will notified of the outcome no later than Wednesday 29 March.
If you have questions or queries, please contact ltds@ncl.ac.uk
Nearly a month has passed since the launch of the NSS so we thought it would be helpful to share some good ideas from colleagues across the university who have achieved strong early response rates.
Identify Key Timetabled Sessions
The Dental School used a mock exam feedback session to run through the NSS information slides at the end. Why not go one step further and also leave time for students to complete the survey on their mobile devices?
Strategy and Planning
The School of Arts and Cultures devised a communication plan to keep their Media students aware of what was happening which included;
Welcome back emails at the start of Semester 2 highlighting actions already taken as a result of student feedback
A brief introduction to the NSS around the launch date to explain how it works and that they will be given time the following week to complete the survey
A detailed presentation one week after opening followed by time to complete the survey before main lecture started
Communication of response rates to students, thanking them and sending reminders if necessary
In the future it is envisaged that this strategy will be rolled out across other programmes in the School.
Promoting a strong student/staff partnership
Professor Janice Ellis from the Dental School told us; ‘…we have good Student/Staff committee structures and in the general we have tried to promote an environment in which students genuinely feel that their opinion is valued. This has been reflected recently in student comments at the Student Staff Committee’.
A key theme emerging is that Schools who promote an environment where students feel that their opinion is valued tend to achieve higher response rates.
This can be achieved by actively ‘closing the loop’ through demonstrating and communicating actions taken following Student Staff Committees, Module Evaluation and Stage Evaluation throughout all stages of degree programmes.
If you have any initiatives that you have introduced in house in an effort to boost response rates or encourage student engagement with the NSS and would like to share your ideas, then please contact the Learning and Teaching Development Service by emailing ltds@ncl.ac.uk
We are pleased to announce the release of new functionality that will allow you to create meeting slots with any group in the University. Meeting slots are a popular part of the tutoring functionality in ePortfolio that allows tutors to specify particular timeslots they are free, and tutees can then sign up to a slot.
In the version released today, you can use meeting slots with supervision groups, tutees, whole modules, and any other bespoke group of students or staff.
To access the new functionality, navigate to the Meetings section using the drop down menu at the top of the screen (9 dots icon). You will see a new section labelled “Slots”. By selecting this you will be taken through to the page where you set up the slots, but you will notice in the top right hand corner of the page the option to “Add people to Slot Group”.
Selecting this will bring up the a search tool that shows your tutees/supervisees on the right hand side, but also allows you to search for anyone in the University.
You can search by programme or module code, username, and by first or surname. If you search by module or programme code, there is an “Add All” button at the bottom of your search. This will add all students from the module / programme to your set of slots, allowing you to offer contact to a cohort of students in an organised manner.
If you are a user of supervision groups, you will see a new button on the Supervision Group page. This will allow you to create meeting slots for your supervision group.
Having selected the students that the slots are to be offered to, you will then pick the length of slot and times you’re available and the students selected will be sent a booking email.
If you would like some extra support with the use of meeting slots, please email ltds@newcastle.ac.uk.
