LEARNING CIRCLES
Learning Circle 1 – Staff Engagement Training Chair: Des Hewitt, Foundation Fellow - Faculty of Social Sciences WIE Team Link: Naomi Kay Members: Rachel Edwards, Phil Jemmett, Paul Barlow, Florian Reiche, Ian Hands-Portman, Claire Rocks, Nicholas Jackson, Christopher Strelluf, Kate Astbury. Learning circle goals/remit c Finalise criteria / principles for recognising good quality training and public engagement exemplars for WIE training c Encourage creativity and innovation in public engagement training c Provide feedback and advice to develop WIE training c Provide mentoring for other LC members where they are new to designing public engagement training c Support development of public engagement mentoring in WIE and more broadly across the university c Advise on how WIE training can contribute to wider university training c Advise WIE of ‘direction of travel’ for training at a strategic and operational level, as appropriate Reflections on first year of activity Our Learning Circle meets every other month. Initial meetings were spent examining the existing state of training provision from WIE and deciding where our group could add the most value. We also supported the team in the development of the new WIE Skills Festival (an online interactive map that forms the new home page for training) by shaping what areas of training should be available and inputting on how online resources can be most useful for staff. Our focus over the autumn term was on developing criteria and a process for reviewing new training materials/ sessions being developed by WIE, other Learning Circles, or other contributors. This system is currently in a pilot stage before being rolled out more widely in the spring. A key role for our Learning Circle moving forward will be contributing time to reviewing resources and providing guidance/ feedback to those producing them. We are also working on developing a mentoring programme for staff and students to be paired with mentors to support their public engagement practice development. This will be initially launched amongst WIE Fellows before being rolled out more widely later in 2022. Our role for Warwick and the future We believe having high quality, creative training and development opportunities available for staff is essential. The work we are doing alongside WIE is ensuring that there are a range of resources, training sessions, and one on one development opportunities that suit staff at all levels across all Faculties and Professional Services. We are excited to have the following as our three key ongoing priorities: c Deliver a mentoring programme to support engagement practice c Act as reviewers to support the development of new resources and training sessions c Continue to support WIE through providing advice about the future direction of training for staff at Warwick
15 WIE Report November 2020 – February 2022 | www.warwick.ac.uk/wie
