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Talking About… Learning & Teaching
Talking About…Learning & Teaching
College of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 2
- Teaching Excellence Framework Bookshelf
Teaching Excellence Framework Bookshelf
- Highlights from the Teaching Academy Blog
The teaching excellence framework will see the government monitoring and assessing the quality of teaching in England’s universities…
- Students the same but different? CLAD Funded Project - From Pizza to Perfection - A Fine Dining Approach to Assessment and Feedback: Reflections in the Birmingham / Nottingham Symposium on Assessment and Feedback
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Teaching excellence framework (TEF): everything you need to know
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/teaching-excellenceframework-tef-everything-you-need-to-know
The Conversation on Teaching Excellence Framework https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/teaching-excellence-framework
- Spotlight on Research Methods: Engaging 300 undergraduates with research methods - Death: Workshops for the Living CLAD Funded Project - Advanced Notice: Top Tips for Canvas Workshop & Resources - Learning and Teaching Bookshelf: e-Portfolios - Large Group Teaching - Professional Recognition for Teaching Opportunities
Talking About… Learning and Teaching is published twice a year and is edited by Danielle Hinton (CoSS Instructional Design Consultant). Contributions are welcomed at any time by email to d.m.hinton@bham.ac.uk .
College of Social Sciences
Vol 9 No 2, 2016
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Talking About…Learning & Teaching
Highlights from the Teaching Academy Blog Students the same but different?
Dr Dan Herbert, Senior Lecturer in Accounting & Director of Education, Business School Dr Nick Rowbottom, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, Business School
Last year my colleague Nick Rowbottom and I had a grant from CLAD to study the experiences of Access 2 Birmingham (A2B) students. The aim of the study was to carry out a series of semi-structured interviews around their experiences of the A2B scheme from the point of application right through to graduation and beyond. Our interest was in how students labelled with a ” widening participation” tag experienced university. Nick has written up the study and is in the process of getting it published. Read More here: https://teachingacademyblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/studentsthe-same-but-different/
From Pizza to Perfection - A Fine Dining Approach to Assessment and Feedback: Reflections in the Birmingham / Nottingham Symposium on Assessment and Feedback Sarah King, Programme Lead, PCAP and Beacon Professional Recognition Scheme, CLAD
We’ve all been there. In our house it’s usually Friday, after a long week at work, when the cupboards are almost bare and the on-line food shop isn’t arriving until the next day. We need a quick fix, something that will keep everyone happy without the need for negotiation, requires no preparation, can (if absolutely necessary) be eaten straight out of the packaging. Takeaway pizza has, without a doubt, saved us on more than one occasion. Compare this to a fine dining experience at a Michelin-starred restaurant where the whole process of cooking has been slowed, where the ingredients have been carefully chosen and then put together to create complex dishes that linger in the memory. The food is satisfying and nutritious, crafted with care and attention to bring the best out of the produce. What does this have to do with assessment I hear you ask? Read More here: https://teachingacademyblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/from-pizzato-perfection/
College of Social Sciences
Vol 9 No 2, 2016
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Talking About…Learning & Teaching
Spotlight on Research Methods: Engaging 300 undergraduates with research methods Dr Anke C. Büttner, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology
I was delighted and more than a little surprised to win an outstanding teaching award this year. I had always assumed that such awards would pass me by: I teach two compulsory 20-credit research methods and statistics modules to a cohort of about 300 second year psychology undergraduates, who – in their own words – often see research methods as a necessary evil. So why – this year of all years – did they appreciate my course? Teaching research methods is a notorious challenge, and many of the proposed suggestions about enhancing students’ engagement are to do with finding ways of making the experience relevant to the students. These are two principles that guide my practice, and I make use of various tools in putting them into action. One such tool is the use clickers to check understanding. This something that I have been doing for many years, but this year I also used the clickers to check confidence to encourage a dialogue and to chart before and after explanation increases in understanding and confidence. This provides students with a visual representation of their progress as a cohort, and it also provides them with an actual example of statistics which are relevant to them, and which they interpret not as an exercise but in an engaged context. Wherever possible, I let students choose the context in which they apply the techniques they need to learn. Thus practicals include opportunities to select additional variables to slot into the task at hand. For example, student groups choose a published questionnaire about a topic of direct interest to them and, after discussion with module staff to make sure that the proposed research is ethical and an explanation of why they wish to use the questionnaire, they can integrate it with the constraints of the practicals that ensure that learning outcomes are met. This enhances engagement and understanding, because the students are following their native interests but need to justify how these relate to the methods covered on their modules. However, the newest aspect of my modules, and maybe the one that tipped the scales into enjoyment for many of the students this year, is that I have changed the nature of the examples used in teaching research methods and statistics. This year the modules had a ‘positive psychology’ spin, integrating research about how to address some of the real life issues students face. These examples were included not only because they should be directly relevant and accessible to students, but also because they might provide some useful advice as an added bonus. Perhaps this means that the methods modules this year were a little less ‘necessary evil’ and a little more ‘incidental benefit’. If so, I hope that my next cohort enjoys their modules, too.
College of Social Sciences
Vol 9 No 2, 2016
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Talking About…Learning & Teaching
Death: Workshops for the Living
Dr Nicola Gale, Senior Lecturer in Health Sociology, School of Social Policy with Polly Wright, writer, dramatist and visiting ‘Literature in Medicine’ lecturer and Prof Jaana Erkkila, Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Lapland, Finland Death is relevant to all professional training, such as medicine, nursing, education, social work and law, as well as other disciplines, such as social sciences, cultural studies, history, literature or music that deal with death as a topic; however, it remains a stigmatized issue. Working collaboratively with students to jointly design creative resources to support learning about death may be a way to break through this stigma and produce meaningful learning experiences. This CLAD funded project has run 6 arts-based, co-design (ABCD) workshops with undergraduate and postgraduate students from different disciplines using literature and visual arts to promote discussion on issues such as assisted dying, approaches to palliative care, faith and beliefs surrounding death, environmental funeral procedures - as well as explorations of our own feelings about death, and how it shapes our approach to life. The primary aim of the project is to explore the feasibility of conducting arts-based, co-design (ABCD) workshops to learn about sensitive subjects. The project will focus on one topic (death and dying). We want to create a learning environment that encourages open discussion of a subject which is generally perceived to be taboo, but which touches us all, with a wide range of students for whom the subject may or may not be part of their future professional practice. The use of the ABCD method that we develop will allow them to explore their personal and emotional responses to the subject, with the intention not only of increasing empathy in some students’ professional behavior, but also equipping them to develop resources which will enhance the future learning of others. The project aims to (a) serve as a springboard to develop a proposed “Death Festival (for the Living)” at the university in early 2017, to showcase resources codesigned by students for future teaching and learning on the subject (b) identify transferable lessons about using co-designed, arts-based methods for teaching of other sensitive or challenging topics.
College of Social Sciences
Vol 9 No 2, 2016
Talking About…Learning & Teaching
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Advanced Notice: Top Tips for Canvas Workshop (Sept 2016) As we come to the end of the 3rd year of using Canvas it seems like a good time to capture the good ideas for its use that have developed and to share these. The Business School and CoSS TEL Hub are planning a workshop on Canvas use. The workshop will be open to all and seeks to share tips, tricks, innovations and even failures. So if you have developed a clever way to mark using Speedgrader, found a neat way to engage students in discussions, used some of the add-ons available, developed interactive teaching material or have any other useful ideas we’d love you to share them at the workshop. We hope that the workshop will help people make better use of the features available in Canvas both for their own benefit and that of students. We are especially interested in ideas that help improve student learning in an online environment. The workshop is open to all academic and professional services staff (date to be determined). Register for the workshop please by emailing Luke McFarlane.
Coming Soon: Online Resources to Support Blended, Online and Distance Learning Early September will see the release of a suite of online course resources by the University’s Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Hub. They are designed to be used as self-study or guided courses and/or just-in-time resources for academics, associate tutors, PGTAs and professional services. Initial topics include Online Marking in Canvas, Interactive Voting Tools, Quizzes in Canvas, Event Capture with Panopto and Building a Canvas Course.
CoSS Technology Enhanced Learning Team Kabir Ganguly (TEL Hub CoSS Partnership Manager) Email: k.ganguly@bham.ac.uk Tel: 48310 Danielle Hinton (CoSS Instructional Design Consultant) Email: d.m.hinton@bham.ac.uk Tel: 43468 Dee Partridge (CoSS TEL Developer) Email: D.PARTRIDGE@bham.ac.uk@bham.ac.uk Tel: 58251 Andy Wright (Instructional Designer & Team Manager – TILT BBS) Email: A.Wright.2@bham.ac.uk Tel: 58832 Andy Madin (TEL Developer – TILT BBS) Email: A.Madin@bham.ac.uk Tel: 43315 Stuart Duke (eLearning Support Officer) Email: S.D.DUKE@bham.ac.uk Tel: 58397 Previlla Devi (eLearning Support Officer) Email: P.DEVI@bham.ac.uk Tel: 44216 James Gormley (Technical Teaching Assistant – BBS) Email: J.Gormley@bham.ac.uk Tel: 48315
CoSS E-learning Hub now open in JG Smith – Rm G16 College of Social Sciences
Vol 9 No 2, 2016
Talking About…Learning & Teaching
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Learning and Teaching Bookshelf: e-Portfolios e-Portfolios enhancing students’ self-directed learning: A systematic review of influencing factors Jorrick Beckers, Diana Dolmans, Jeroen Van Merriënboer e-Portfolios have become increasingly popular among educators as learning tools. Some research even shows that e-portfolios can be utilised to facilitate the development of skills for self-directed learning. Such skills include self-assessment of performance, formulation of learning goals, and selection of future tasks. However, it is not yet clear under which conditions e-portfolios optimally facilitate the development of these skills. We conducted a systematic review aimed at identifying and understanding influences on the development of self-directed learning with an e-portfolio. Inclusion criteria were used to select recent, high quality studies that focused on e-portfolios and reported an influence on self-directed learning. There were 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Institutional factors, curriculum factors, learning process factors, personal factors, and portfolio factors were identified. Portfolios are used most effectively when faculty development aimed at supervising self-directed learning skills development is provided, when the portfolio is integrated into the educational routine, when teachers coach students regularly, when scaffolding is applied to increase motivation, and when the portfolio is designed to facilitate at least goal-setting, task-analysis, plan implementation, and self-evaluation. Beckers, J., Dolmans, D. and van Merriënboer, J., (2016) e-Portfolios enhancing students’ self-directed learning: A systematic review of influencing factors. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 32(2), p.2. [online] http://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/2528/1347
Analysis of factors influencing acceptance of academic and professional development e-portfolios
personal,
This research investigates factors that influence students’ intentions to use personal, academic and professional development portfolios using a theoretical model based on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB). Electronic portfolios (eportfolios) are important pedagogical tools and a substantial amount of literature supports their role in personal, academic and professional development. However, achieving students’ acceptance of e-portfolios is still a challenge for higher education institutions. The model suggests that Attitude towards Behaviour (AB), Subjective Norms (SN) and Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) and their decomposed belief structure can assist in predicting and explaining students’ Behavioural Intention (BI) to use eportfolios. After using e-portfolios, data was collected from 204 participants from a UK university and analysed through the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique. The results demonstrated that the proposed personal, social and control factors in the model were well supported statistically and significantly influenced e-portfolio acceptance. The study provides for the first time a proven theoretical model which can be used to predict e-portfolio acceptance. The findings are valuable for system developers, educational developers and higher education institutions where e-portfolios are being used. Ahmed, E. and Ward, R., 2016. Analysis of factors influencing acceptance of personal, academic and professional development e-portfolios. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, pp.152-161. [online] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563216303703
College of Social Sciences
Vol 9 No 2, 2016
Talking About…Learning & Teaching
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Large Group Teaching HEA Large Group Teaching Tips Cards https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/largegroupteachingtoptrumps_8.pdf The 10 top tips are short, quick and simple strategies to help engage (and entertain) students in the lecture theatre, specifically in larger classes when 1-2-1 interaction and small group or tutorial work is not possible. Each card is a new strategy showing how to incorporate it into your practice and includes the equipment required. Also included is a few ways the activities could be enhanced. The cards include a risk factor which is really linked to your confidence levels! The riskier strategies, if they do not ‘come off’, have a higher chance of confusing the students or distracting from the overall session aims. You should incorporate these ideas into your sessions, start off with the low risk activities and when you see the impact it can have on your sessions, move on to the medium and high risk activities.
Reflections On Large Class Teaching Blog Post Fiona Saunders http://fionasaunders.co.uk/reflections-on-large-class-teaching/
How Can We Help? Contact Danielle Hinton (CoSS Instructional Design Consultant) if you’d like to talk about strategies and ideas for supporting large group teaching. email: d.m.hinton@bham.ac.uk or tel 43468.
College of Social Sciences
Vol 9 No 2, 2016
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Talking About…Learning & Teaching
Academic Development Opportunities Dr Petia Petrova, Academic Practice Advisor, CLAD CLAD provides a wide range of academic development opportunities. These include A. BEACON - HEA Professional Recognition B. Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) C. Academic Practice Groups
BEACON – HEA Professional Recognition HEA Fellowship is an international recognition of a commitment to professionalism in teaching and learning in higher education and demonstrates that your practice is aligned with the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). Beacon aims to build engagement with the UK Professional Standards Framework across the institution and provide a route to recognition for experienced staff and for those not served by existing HEA accredited programmes (e.g. librarians, learning technologists and skills support staff). Staff are encouraged to apply for Fellowship and Senior Fellowship of the HEA through the ‘Beacon’ Scheme run by CLAD. Submissions comprise a written piece supported by referee statements. Find out more via the Beacon programme Canvas course or email beacon@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) The Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) is a 60-credit Masters level programme for academics with a substantive teaching and assessment role at the University. The overall aim of the programme is to provide a comprehensive preparation for the learning and teaching aspect of an academic role, and to relate this to wider responsibilities associated with professional practice such as research and academic leadership. All probationary academic staff with a substantive teaching and assessment role are required to complete the full 60 credit PGCert in Academic Practice. This applies to all those who joined the institution from November 2011. PCAP is also open to non-probationary staff for CPD purposes. For more information please email: pgcertenquiries@contacts.bham.ac.uk
College of Social Sciences
Vol 9 No 2, 2016