University Education Development Fund – Learning and Teaching @ Newcastle Blog

13 March, 20201 April, 2020

Examining Different Learners’ Development of Critical Learning Skills: University Education Development Fund

Dr Lana Liu, Newcastle University Business School and Dr Mei Lin, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences.

Critical thinking is one of the core skills for academic success but can be one of the biggest challenges for students studying one-year taught masters programmes.

Dr Lana Liu, Newcastle University Business School and Dr Mei Lin, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences set out to explore how critical thinking can be enhanced in their most recent project, funded by the University Education Development Fund:

Examining Different Learners’ Development of Critical Learning Skills in Postgraduate Taught Programmes: A Comparative Study in MSc Accounting, Finance and Strategic Investment and in MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL

This collaborative project is well underway with surveys and first round of interviews with postgraduate taught students nearly completed and evaluation of the transcripts about to begin. We caught up with Lana and Mei to find out more:

What motivated you to begin your project?

We teach on Masters courses in quite different subject areas. Over the years we both identified common challenges in terms of lack of critical thinking our students were demonstrating when they started their course. This may arise from our expectation, as we were assuming a high level of critical thinking skills because of our set entry criteria to masters programmes. However it became clear that not all students were working at the same level. This was evident from in class discussions, the questions students were asking and in some cases we directly asked students about their understanding of critical thinking at both the start and end of their course. This has led both of us to investigate underlying issues.

18 November, 20192 December, 2019

Transnational Educational Research Experience in TEL Project

By Bhavani Veasuvalingam, Newcastle Medicine Malaysia (NUMed).

Assessing Technologically enhanced learning (TEL) quality is a multifaceted method that, built on theoretical perspectives and on organised data collection, analysis and interpretation, leads to a decision that should promote a better understanding of quality of TEL and the enhancement of its quality (Casanova,2011). The Newcastle University’s education strategy attracts a great emphasis on bringing an educational experience supported and enhanced by technology. In this context, Newcastle University with its existing international branch campuses in Malaysia and Singapore triggers another element adding to TEL study, that is the transnational education.

Transnational education is defined as programmes located in a country other than the awarding institution (McBurnie and Ziguras, 2007, p.21). Newcastle Medicine Malaysia (NUMed) and Newcastle University Singapore (NUS) are international branch campuses who shares the same technologically enhanced learning tools from its parent institution and qualifications bear the name of the parent institution. Though branch campuses adopt much of its practices from its headquarters, the different location and the cultural differences may provide an added perspective to understanding TEL in higher education, considering globalization impacts every aspect of our lives. Mazzucato believes, local anchoring is crucial to obtain an in-depth knowledge of and this is important for our project TEL to gauge how globalized it has become.

6 March, 20196 March, 2019

University Education Development Fund: Apply for up to £10,000

Are you interested in funding to support new teaching and learning ideas?

Staff can apply for up to £10,000 through the University Education Development Fund to support collaborative projects which deliver a real benefit to students’ education at Newcastle University.

We got in touch with colleagues who have successfully applied to the fund to find out about their projects and experiences.

Dr Lana Liu, Newcastle University Business School worked with Dr. Mei Lin from the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences in a collaborative project: Enhancing critical moments in postgraduate taught programmes in Accounting and Finance and in Applied Linguistics and TESOL.

“[There was an] easy application process with workshops, which were worth attending, as they were very informative. These workshops also helped to reduce the mist about the funding process.

The feedback from the Panel was really useful and thought-provoking too.

We now believe that we are in a much better position for our research investigation in this project.”

Dr Lana Liu, Newcastle University Business School

Karolien Jordens, Institute of Cellular Medicine worked with colleagues across HaSS, SAgE and FMS to explore: Postgraduate Study in Newcastle: the inter-cultural experience (PG-Nice)

“The application process was quite straightforward. The funding helped us to get started with the practical side of our Student Experience research project. It gave us the opportunity to work with people from across the University and offer students the opportunity to get job experience while at the same time they’re part of a research project.”

Karolien Jordens, Institute of Cellular Medicine

There have been a wide variety of strategic projects funded from across both academic units and central services in the university.

Staff from branch campuses are also encouraged to apply.

You can read more about the full range of projects on the LTDS website.

Interested in applying?

If you have an idea or want to find out a bit more about the fund you can view full information, including details of the application process on the LTDS website. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 15 May 2019.

We also recommend that you sign up to either a workshop or a webinar to find out more about the fund and hear from past successful applicants:

University Education Development Fund Workshop, 25 March 2019, 12:00pm-1:00pm, BSTC 3.31, Bedson Building (Barbara Strang Teaching Centre)

University Education Development Fund (Webinar), 20 March 2019, 4:30pm-4:50pm

If you have any questions about the process or want to get some feedback about an idea please email:

educationdevfund@newcastle.ac.uk

2 October, 20182 October, 2018

Introducing the new University Education Development Fund

University Education Development Fund with a picture of Professor Suzanne Cholerton

Do you have an idea that could have an impact on students’ learning or teaching across the university?

Did you know that there is central funding available to support both local and institution-wide initiatives and projects?

The new University Education Development Fund offers a fantastic opportunity to propose and deliver projects with real benefit to students’ education at Newcastle University.

Envisioned and chaired by the PVC Education Prof Suzanne Cholerton this fund will support a wide range of projects from across all campuses and is open to all staff to apply.

Proposed projects must align with and further the aims and key themes of the Education Strategy.

Funding is available of: Continue reading “Introducing the new University Education Development Fund”