January 26th, 2012
Learning and Teaching day 2012
The annual learning and teaching day held last week (20/01/2012) was by all accounts informative and interesting. To liven up the beginning we began with internal colleagues and speed presentations, a snapshot of different approaches to assessment and feedback from a discipline perspective. This proved very popular, and for some colleagues enlightening to see how people tackle ‘getting out of our silo mentality’ of doing the same thing year on year, and use assessment differently. They varied of course, from the OMG as a student reaction to public speaking though to questions posed about reflective journals as a tool for learning. The morning was good - it raised questions, comments and eyebrows! No questions were allowed during the speed presentations, these were saved for the transferability tables. This is a novel concept where people choose an approach they had not considered but could transfer to their discipline. Colleagues were not only able to discover more about a particular style, but find out more about the beautiful old Lampeter building as we used the ‘Founders Library’ & Rydal Room among others.
The afternoon provided a contrast; Paul Barrett from Birmingham City University presented a case study from the Institute of Art & Design. Using a metaphor as written feedback as an academic shield some students are not able to penetrate, Paul introduced the use of ‘scribe buddies’ for summative feedback. An innovative form of feedback, which required students to discuss their assessment with their tutor, while having the conversation typed by a peer. This has proved hugely successful for student satisfaction, both their experiences of assessment feedback and in the process itself.
Taking a student’s perspective the Student Union President Rikki Miller shed light on a how students perceive the process of assessment and feedback, discussing the NSS and in-house surveys and experiences of students from Trinity Saint David. The message was clear and simple. Student expectation on feedback and assessment are set by tutors, putting tutors in control, therefore make sure we stick to what we tell them. For me it was a back to basics moment.
Finally, Terry Mayes from Glasgow Caledonian University reflected on assessment, both from the day discussions and activities and from across the sector. He reminded us that feedback is at the heart of learning and should be scaffolded into the learning design. As policy changes in higher education so do expectations, and as with Rikki’s message these need managing differently for different stakeholders, QA may be different from parents but we all want the same thing, a good education for the people who attend university.
It was a positive day that highlighted the challenges of higher education. What I took away from the day was the passion of colleagues to give both their knowledge and their energy towards innovating their teaching to inspire students learning.
Tags: Assessment, conference, Event, Feedback, Learning and teaching, Staff Development
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December 22nd, 2011
This time last year we were all living under arctic conditions, we were deep in festive snow and ice and looking at a cold (if white) Christmas. This year it is relatively tropical, it is +12 outside and we have had only 2 hard frosts this winter so far. So for those looking for a white Christmas the Alps would be a good place to go for the break.
We are told this last week of the year is usually a good time to think about the year past and year ahead (or at least that’s what I’ve heard somewhere). So I thought I would take a moment to rejuvenate the TSD Blog and do so. 2011 has been packed at Trinity Saint David. On the large scale the merger in 2010 between University of Wales Lampeter and Trinity College Carmarthen brought in 2011 change and challenges the institution, staff and students. New colleagues joined us in the autumn moving both internally and starting afresh, this always presents an opportunity for new ideas and outcomes and it is always a pleasure getting to know new people. From the ‘external’ merger some departments came together internally, again allowing us a fresh look and opportunity to work more collaboratively.
On the smaller side the Learning and Teaching team completed the JISC Capacity Building Project. This project afforded us time to reflect on developments across the whole academy and consider how many of these could support our students and colleagues at all levels.
We began a journey that will see the university move from two VLEs (Blackboard and Moodle) into one (Moodle). This will continue throughout this year and will become a regular part of this blog update. Moodle is increasing its presences across the HE sector. For TDS especially as it looks towards building regional tertiary education model it will support a more collaborative teaching and learning programme. It is challenging for colleagues and system to merger learning environments and this blog will act in 2012 as a record of our journey as some colleagues discover new learning designs and others learn the intricacies of supporting a bilingual as the system will work in both Welsh and English.
Following a pilot project related to online assessment, we started the rollout for moving assessment submission online with the Humanities Faculty. Again a challenge for both students and staff as new systems are learnt and developed.
The other project that has been a great success this year is the launch of The Student Researcher, Journal of Undergraduate Research in September. Following the merger of Carmarthen and Lampeter Institutions, both staff and students are presented with great opportunities to share and experience a wider range of subject areas. As a multidisciplinary journal, The Student Researcher offered us the space to share student research and experience and allow us all to discover insights into new and fascinating subjects. The main aim of is to showcase the research achievements of all students across all levels and disciplines of the University. We feel, however it does more than showcase individual work, it represents the very heart of what it is to experience Higher Education, that of learning to undertake the journey of research, to purse and contribute to the development of discipline knowledge.
On that note I will stop, I look forward to next year, the new (and continuing!) changes, challenges and projects but also finding where our detours may take us…
Happy New Year
Tags: 2011, 2011 reflection, Blackboard, JISC, JISC Capacity Building, moodle, Reflection, Teaching Research nexus, The Student Researcher
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November 11th, 2010
I was invited to attend and give a presentation at the Gwella CAMEL event which was held in Cardiff University yesterday (10th November) on the topic of Learning Environment Reviews.
CAMEL (pdf) (Collaborative Approaches to Management of eLearning) was a project originally funded by HEFCE in 2006 through their Leadership, Governance and Management Programme (LGM), led by JISC InfoNet in partnership with JISC, the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) and the Higher Education Academy.
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Tags: CAMEL, conference, Gwella, HEA
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October 10th, 2010
Trinity Saint David was recently invited to host the first of a series of CAMELs (Collaborative Approaches to the Management of eLearning) organised by the University of Glamorgan as one of their Gwella initiatives. The subject of this CAMEL was the use of social software for learning and teaching. Subsequent events would cover ePortfolios, Learning Environments and Assessment.
I produced this set of slides to show the considerable progress that had been made in this area by both Trinity University College and University of Wales Lampeter in the past two years coming up to the creation of the new University of Wales Trinity Saint David on 1st September 2010.
Trinity Saint David now has its own presence on Twitter, Facebook and blogs and links to these may be found in the blog sidebar —->
Tags: CAMEL, Gwella, social media
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October 10th, 2010
This post contains a summary of a range of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) related events and activities that took place between January and October 2010. It covers conference reports from:
- JISC RSC Wales Roadshows: Jan - April 2010
- Blackboard Northern Europe Teaching and Learning Conference April 2010
- SALT Conference: May 2010
- The JISC Innovation Forum: July 2010
- The Gwella CAMEL series: Aug - Nov 2010
……and a brief look forward to forthcoming events during the new academic year 2010/2011
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Tags: BCP, Blackboard, conference, Gwella, JISC, Tech Enhanced Learning, TEL, VLE
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