Ok, now I’ve hopefully got some attention … (honestly, this post doesn’t take too long to get to the ‘free stuff’ bit).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps one of less noticed, but still in some ways important, elements of the huge changes in the English higher education sector over the last four years has been the changes for some long-established sector agencies. QAA<\/a> lost what was in effect its role as the lead national agency in England for academic quality and standards, and has reinvented itself (including a very significant slimming down) as a membership organisation. The Higher Education Academy, Equality Challenge Unit and Leadership Foundation for Higher Education combined forces to become AdvanceHE<\/a>. The bit that\u2019s interesting is that having become a membership organisation there\u2019s been a bit of a shift in terms of the kind of things the Agency is doing. The five themes of the membership programme for 2021-22 (https:\/\/www.qaa.ac.uk\/membership\/what-we-are-delivering-for-members-in-2021-22<\/a> ) are: the future of digital and blended learning<\/a>; creating inclusive learning communities<\/a>; global engagement and TNE<\/a>; evaluation and data-based decision making<\/a>; and securing academic standards<\/a>. There are a small number of QAA resources we don\u2019t have access to (it\u2019s like a gym with levels of membership, and we didn\u2019t go for the maximalist option), but there\u2019s still a lot of valuable stuff up there that you can access for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (And while I’m talking about QAA, one of its best kept secrets, at least this side of Hadrian’s Wall, is the great work QAA Scotland has been doing for years under its Enhancement Themes banner. There’s lots of interesting and valuable material on this website – https:\/\/www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk\/<\/a>. The current Enhancement Theme is Resilient Learning Communities<\/a>, but past themes like Evidence for Enhancement<\/a> and Student Transitions<\/a> are well worth a look as well. And again, it’s all free). Ok, now I’ve hopefully got some attention … (honestly, this post doesn’t take too long to get to the ‘free stuff’ bit). Perhaps one of less noticed, but still in some ways important, elements of the huge changes in the English higher education sector over the last four years has been the changes for some … <\/p>\n
So what?
Good question. One of the things it has meant is that QAA and AdvanceHE have now put huge amounts of their resources behind what amounts to a paywall \u2013 if your university\u2019s not a member you\u2019re not getting in. The good news for Newcastle staff is that the University is a signed-up member of both QAA and AdvanceHE, so you can access both organisation\u2019s resources using your Newcastle email address.
So why would you sign up?
Well QAA\u2019s an interesting one. There\u2019s a range of membership services, including both resources (for example some Advice on Digital Assessment Security<\/a> written by a group that LTDS was a member of) and events (including a webinar in July at which LTDS presented<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So a lot of the kind of thing you might expect QAA to do, but quite a lot that might make you think \u2018I didn’t\u2019 know QAA were interested in that\u2019. Some of this is open access; other areas you\u2019ll need to register to get access to (but it doesn\u2019t take long \u2013 the form is at https:\/\/www.qaa.ac.uk\/\/en\/membership\/resources\/register<\/a> and all you need is your NU email address).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a similar deal with AdvanceHE. There\u2019s a huge amount of valuable material available (and their Knowledge Hub database<\/a> is a good way to access this), across lots of areas -including learning and teaching, but also around EDI as well as leadership and management. AdvanceHE\u2019s programme for 2021-22 is available at https:\/\/www.advance-he.ac.uk\/membership-2021-22\/member-benefits<\/a> .
Again all you need is your NU email address to access the site and its resources. One thing to look out for though is that while there\u2019s a lot of things you can access for free, there\u2019s also quite a bit of AdvanceHE activity (particularly events) that are chargeable. People at NU get a member\u2019s rate, but there\u2019s still a fee for quite a bit of what they\u2019re offering.
So there\u2019s a lot on offer. A lot of it supports areas that we\u2019re strongly committed to as a University and as individuals. It\u2019s worth a look. And (lots of it) is free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"