Learning and Teaching Strategy Innovative teaching for world class learning
Foreword We are delighted to introduce the College’s new Learning and Teaching Strategy. Over the coming years we will focus our efforts on four key priorities: a review of our curricula and assessment; an evidence-based transformation of our pedagogy, to make teaching more interactive; the fostering of an inclusive and diverse culture; and the development of online and digital tools to enhance curricula, pedagogy and community. We will build on the many excellent examples of innovative teaching at the College, aiming to make sure that our education provision is as innovative as our research. Imperial will invest significantly in education, to create more time for staff, deliver an enabling infrastructure for future educational developments, and improve educational research capabilities so that we can evaluate the impact of our work. This will not happen overnight, and change cannot be accomplished by individuals in isolation. But we are ready to start work, with the help and support of the whole Imperial community. We invite you to join us and become part of the change. Professor James Stirling, Provost Professor Simone Buitendijk, Vice-Provost (Education)
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The business of bioengineering Professor James Moore, inspired by the need to design better medical devices for the marketplace, created the MRes in medical device entrepreneurship at Imperial. The course focuses on analytical and communications skills, as students, including those pictured here in a seminar led by Professor Moore, research and develop new medical technology and prepare a professional business plan.
The graduates of tomorrow 14,700
students
8,000
staff
6,100
degrees awarded every year
125
Students from over 125 countries
Top 10
Within the top 10 universities in the world
The value of an Imperial education is recognised across the world: we are consistently rated among the top global universities. Each year, outstanding students join us to learn from and work alongside researchers at the cutting edge of their disciplines. When they leave the College as graduates, they are sought after by employers for their deep understanding of their subjects and their analytical, creative and entrepreneurial skills. But the world is changing fast. Today’s students may ultimately move into professions that don’t yet exist. They will apply their considerable knowledge to global challenges that we still don’t fully understand or even appreciate. They will need to interpret ever-increasing volumes of data, work across disciplines, and above all thrive in a diverse, multicultural environment. We are committed to ensuring that Imperial graduates will: • Demonstrate deep conceptual understanding of their chosen discipline • Work effectively in multi-cultural, international teams and across disciplinary boundaries • Approach challenges with curiosity, critical thinking and creativity • Innovatively apply their skills to tackling complex real-world problems • Understand and value different cultures and perspectives • Have developed into independent learners with high self-efficacy • Display a strong sense of personal and professional identity
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Our vision for an Imperial education Imperial will offer all its students a world-leading, rigorous, evidence-based, inclusive educational experience embedded in a vibrant research environment. The Learning and Teaching Strategy supports the introduction of evidence-based innovation in education across the College, drawing on the great work that is already taking place. We are committed to ensuring that an Imperial education is: • Recognised as globally outstanding in the fields of science, engineering, medicine and business, with a focus on the skills needed to address current and future global challenges • Acknowledged as leading in technology-enhanced and innovative practice • Known for combining evidence-based pedagogy with a strong focus on community building, with students acting as partners in shaping their experience • Renowned for applying the rigour of research to the evaluation and enhancement of practice • Sought out by the world’s leading educators as a source of inspiration, aspiration and collaboration
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Building on our existing strengths, we will focus our efforts on four main areas: 1 A review of our curricula and assessment 2 An evidence-based transformation of our pedagogy, to make teaching more interactive 3 The fostering of an inclusive and diverse culture 4 The development of online and digital tools to enhance curricula, pedagogy and community
Training ground The innovative Constructionarium module at Imperial brings together civil engineering undergraduates and industry partners to build real-time construction projects, such as the four-storey replica of the Gherkin skyscraper being worked on here by project leader Azhar Ali and Dr Sunday Popo-Ola, Research and Teaching Fellow in Civil and Environmental Engineering. This pioneering approach has been developed in collaboration with industry over the last 14 years. Innovative teaching for world class learning
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Reviewing our curricula and assessment A focus on curricula and assessment, which builds on good practice already taking place at Imperial, is critical to delivering our ambitions for our graduates. We will create the time and space our educators need to introduce innovation. We will enable our students to engage in multidisciplinary activity and to reflect on their learning. Learning outcomes and forms of assessment will reflect the skills required for the 21st century context. Investment We will support departments in their review of undergraduate and postgraduate taught curricula. Additional staff resources will be made available for departments to undertake this critical process.
Strategic approach Students will develop higher order skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, alongside practical discipline mastery. By providing opportunities to apply knowledge in new and unexpected contexts, 06 Learning and Teaching Strategy
Facilities for the future Chemical engineering undergraduates, such as those pictured here, are encouraged to learn independently from their first day at Imperial. The 1,0002m Chemical Engineering Teaching Laboratories are designed to develop problem-solving skills, and create space for students to tackle increasingly complex practical experiments grounded in real industrial scenarios, throughout their four-year degree.
and time and space to reflect on learning, we will support students as they deepen their understanding of their discipline and their practical and applicable skills. Students will be provided with tailored, authentic feedback on the full range of their achievements. • Activity across disciplinary boundaries: a modular structure that enables greater choice and flexibility within programmes • Applying knowledge in new contexts: new for-credit modules offering broader, integrative activities to apply disciplinary knowledge in new contexts, driving transformation of students’ understanding and professional identity. These opportunities might include societal engagement, entrepreneurship and student-led projects • Breadth of expertise: a consistent, College-wide approach to the availability of Horizons, a programme of wide-ranging and innovative courses designed to broaden our students’ education • Authentic assessment: a variety of assessments to evaluate the full range of our students’ achievements and skills
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Solid foundations
Making our teaching more interactive An interactive teaching and learning environment has at its heart active students who are partners in shaping and enhancing their own education. We will support the creation of interactive environments across taught programmes, enhancing classroom sessions with teaching that is challenging and rewarding, encouraging students to go beyond the retention of information through the investigation and development of concepts. Investment All departments will be invited to bid for funding to transform their teaching methods. Staff support and additional resource will be available to support the change process and to employ additional discipline specialists where necessary. Funding will also be available to build capacity in evaluation and educational research. We will adapt the physical spaces on campus to facilitate the creation of interactive environments, and to support an inclusive scholarly community.
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Microscopes in the lecture theatre, customised videos in a virtual learning environment and geological mapping in the field. For Dr Emma Passmore (right), pictured here with a BSc Geology student, new techniques to encourage active learning, even in a discipline as old as geology, are key for developing confident, highly skilled graduates.
Strategic approach Students will be supported to become active learners. We will continue to prize deep disciplinary knowledge, but we will facilitate this through an emphasis on inquiry and discovery, analysis, evaluation and reflection. We will use the existing literature on higher education and will build on the many examples of good practice presently available at Imperial. Our success will depend on the creation of world class learning spaces, the use of high quality data and the implementation of research evidence to inform decision making and evaluate education. • Interactive classrooms and laboratories: increased use of techniques to make learning more engaging, challenging, authentic and satisfying and the use of more open-ended enquiry-based labs, allowing students to engage in their own experimental design • Engagement with research: undergraduate students will undertake research as part of their degree, engaging in discovery, supervised by an active researcher • Supporting our educators: staff will be given time and space to review and innovate their curricula and pedagogy; learning technologists and specialist faculty-based staff will support and facilitate innovation in teaching
Flipped for flexibility
• Supporting our students: students will be supported to learn interactively
Professor David Dye, pictured here, employs so-called ‘flipped’ learning in his teaching of second and third year Materials students – students review assigned videos and notes before class, and then spend supervised time in class, collaborating and solving problems. In Professor Dye’s words, “Students come from all over the world to study together – so why sit in a lecture theatre in silence and then learn alone?” Innovative teaching for world class learning
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Inclusive and diverse community To create a healthy learning and working environment we need to foster a community in which different backgrounds and cultures are cherished and recognised as critical to excellence in education. We will create and nurture a supportive environment for staff and students that rewards and recognises innovation and encourages active student engagement in positive change. Investment To support these changes we will invest in training for all staff who teach. A new scheme will award grants to students who work with staff to implement change within their departments. We will enhance our student services to provide the modern, professional and comprehensive support our students deserve. We will also invest in new initiatives to embed equality, diversity and inclusivity in the campus community.
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Global challenges Since 2012, the Horizons programme at Imperial has been inspiring the creativity and broadening the minds of its undergraduates. The Global Challenges course, led by Dr Elizabeth Hauke pictured on the right here, embodies that mission in both its content, covering climate change, poverty and disease, and in its design, which emphasises inclusive collaboration and diverse forms of assessment.
The power of peers Anyone who has turned to a friend for help with a tricky concept or assignment knows the value of peer learning. In his teaching of undergraduate biology and biochemistry students, Dr Steve Connolly of the Department of Life Sciences has introduced peer-assisted workshops focused on study skills, such as that pictured here, which bring first years together with second and third year ‘peer leaders’ to facilitate group learning.
Strategic approach The creation of a supportive environment is key to fostering a sense of community and we will work to enhance this throughout the College. • Inclusive learning: supporting staff and students to turn diverse backgrounds and cultures into an opportunity for mutual learning, taking advantage of different experiences and perspectives • A supportive and inclusive scholarly community: strengthening support for students and working to embed equality, diversity and inclusivity in the campus community • Establishing a culture that values teaching as highly as research: improving recognition for staff and achieving greater parity of esteem for teaching • Supporting innovation: creating time for staff to step back from existing workloads and recognising their contributions consistently across the College • Student engagement in positive change: establishing new ways for students to contribute to their own and to their peers’ educational experience as co-creators of teaching innovations
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Team technology
Online and digital learning Digital and online technology can facilitate interaction and participation, enhancing learning, assessment and the development of transferable skills. We will use cutting edge digital technology to support interactive teaching, create a stronger sense of community and apply the latest innovations in learning. We will match innovative and interactive pedagogy with online and digital technology, redefining how we develop and use physical and digital learning environments in order to improve students’ broader experience. Investment We will fund new resource-rich learning spaces for staff to implement different teaching techniques. We will invest in the new Digital Learning Hub, which will support staff and students in using technology to enhance education and provide expertise and support in learning analytics and educational research.
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Professor Pietro Spanu of the Department of Life Sciences has introduced team-based learning, where students come to classes having studied in advance, and then engage in group learning, including tests and peer assessment, as pictured here. Professor Spanu is now able to teach 140 students in a fourweek block, single-handed. Students have reported increased confidence and improved learning in their feedback on this approach.
Strategic approach We will support departments to transform their pedagogy, to be innovative in their use of technology, and to enlist the help of learning technologists in their specific discipline. By developing both open and private online courses we aim to reach even larger cohorts of learners, creating a global community of actively engaged learners. • Enhancing the experience of our on-campus students: supporting the move towards more interactive teaching in classrooms and labs • Increasing our global footprint in education: developing online courses which reflect our research strengths for large groups of learners across the globe • Creating global citizens able to use digital technology in professional environments: building membership of a community which collaborates and learns effectively both in person and online
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Field notes
An approach grounded in evidence We have based our new strategy on consultation and research and we will continue to be led by evidence in its implementation. • A large and growing body of evidence has shown that using more interactive techniques in higher education enables more effective learning, by actively engaging students, increasing their sense of personal and professional identity, improving learning outcomes and creating a stronger sense of community • We will continue to be informed by academic research into learning and education, and in turn we will contribute to that body of knowledge with our own experience of evidence-based innovation. We will rigorously evaluate the impact of our education, and create useful transferable techniques and insights to foster further innovation • In studying the effectiveness of our innovations, we will consider the equality, diversity and inclusivity impacts of our curriculum design, delivery and assessment • By evaluating the effectiveness of our learning and teaching innovations, and then adjusting our teaching methods based on the evidence we have collected, we will continuously enhance our education
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The field trip to Dorset’s Jurassic Coast is an iconic moment for first year earth science and engineering undergraduates at Imperial. Over three days, they develop critical field skills including structural quantification, sedimentary logging, geological mapping, note taking, and sketching. They also learn to work collaboratively with peers from all over the world, a long way from the library and lecture theatres of South Kensington.
Find out more Visit www.imperial.ac.uk/learningand-teaching-strategy to read the Learning and Teaching Strategy in its entirety, view case studies of pedagogical innovation in action at Imperial, and find out more about how you can play your part in shaping new forms of learning and teaching.
www.imperial.ac.uk/learning-and-teaching-strategy
Our mission: “ To achieve enduring excellence in research and education in science, engineering, medicine and business for the benefit of society.� Imperial College London Strategy 2015–2020