December 22, 2014, by Teaching at Nottingham

UNNC T&L newsletter Dec 2014

Prof. Julie Sanders: “Dear Colleagues, There is much activity to report in this latest T&L newsletter and it is a sign of just how lively T&L is at UNNC that so many good things from newly funded technology-enabled learning projects to the formation of the Peer Observation College are happening at the moment. We have many delegations from within China that visit us to learn about our work and I am always very proud to speak on behalf of UNNC on these occasions.

There is lots to read here so I won’t keep you from that activity except to take the chance to say a big thank you for all your work and all you do for our students in whichever line of work you are in. It is a long stretch between a hot and humid August when our new academic intake arrives and these colder darker days of December but thank you for your energies, your commitment and at times your important challenges to the work of the TLEO. We as a team appreciate the chance to collaborate with you and to work with our student community to continue to innovate and improve.

Wishing you love, light and laughter this festive season.
Julie
Professor Julie Sanders, Vice Provost (Teaching and Learning), UNNC
AB447

CTC Away Day
On 26 November, members of the Campus Teaching Committee headed off campus for an afternoon to workshop the role and function of the committee and to contribute to the Excellence in Education and Student Life section of UNNC2020.
We all looked in detail in advance at the new tricampus T&L strategy document and had some really useful debates on topics ranging from students as partners and what it means to put students at the centre of our institutional thinking and practices, on small group teaching and the challenges around resourcing and adapting our estate to be able to respond to changing cultures of learning, and on incentivising outstanding teachers in our community.
We also discussed ways to mature relationship to UK led boards and committees through more diverse representation and a more proactive contribution to agendas in the future. Special thanks to the TLEO team for making this event happen. The ideas it generated will feed into the larger UNNC 2020 planning process and all readers of this newsletter are also invited to join in that conversation either through the SharePoint site or emails to the TLEO via teaching.learning@nottingham.edu.cn.

Peer Observation College
Peer Observation College (POC) is a University-wide scheme which will aim to provide professional, independent and consistent teaching observation for colleagues by colleagues, to share good practice in Teaching and Learning across UNNC and with our fellow UoN campuses and to create a supportive space focussed on personal and professional development. The intention is to increase staff awareness of wide range of teaching methods used at the University and to encourage participants to reflect on the effectiveness of their teaching and share teaching and learning experiences with other colleagues.
48 staff from three faculties have confirmed their participation in the Peer Observation College Scheme. A Launch and Training Event will be delivered in January. For questions or comments, please email TLEO via teaching.learning@nottingham.edu.cn.

Dearing Awards Workshop
The Dearing Awards recognise a wide range of staff contributions to enhance the learning environment. Dearing Awards 2015 goes live recently. Here in UNNC, a Dearing Awards workshop has been held on 5 November with attendance of previous winners, which showcased their works/experiences and answered queries from staff on the process. Up to date, 32 nominations from UNNC have been well received for this year’s scheme.
For further information, please visit the Dearing Awards homepage.

Introductory Video Conference on MOOCs/NOOCs
Nearly 50 UNNC staff registered and attended a video conference with Nottingham UK campus on MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and NOOCs (Nottingham Open Online Courses) on Friday 5th December. This meeting was hosted by Vice Provost Teaching & Learning Julie Sanders and Learning Technology Consultant Daniel Dai from UNNC’s Teaching and Learning Enhancement Office. Sarah Speight, Academic Director of Online Learning, and Steven Stapleton, Senior Project Manager (MOOCs, NOOCs and Open Learning) from Nottingham’s UK campus presented to UNNC attendees via video conference about MOOCs/NOOCs in general, findings from recent Nottingham’s exploratory online courses, and how they would work for pedagogical innovation in the future.

Review on Online Learning and Distance Learning
Nick Hutton, former CEO of the U21 Global Graduate School in Singapore, visited UNNC from 26th to 28th November. He has been commissioned by Professor Alan Ford, PVC for T & L, to carry out a review of our current online and distance learning provision in UK, China and Malaysia. In his visit, Nick met a wide range of people, from Deans, Faculty Directors of Teaching (FDoTs) to professional development departments. He will benchmark us against our competitors and will be advising us on the development of a more strategic approach to online provision.

Lecture Capture
To align directly with the University 2020 Strategy, the University Teaching and Learning Board have approved in principle the idea to introduce lecture capture as standard opt-out practice across all campuses of the University. A project called ‘Comprehensive Lecture Capture’ has been planned. This project will be kicked off in January 2015 and an enhanced lecture capture service will be available from academic year 2015/16. Faculty Directors of Teaching (FDoTs) have started to consult with colleagues and report back views about this. In the meantime, students are welcome to canvass views through Learning Community Forum (LCF). All are welcome to feedback views directly to Daniel DAI in Teaching and Learning Enhancement Office.

PGCHE Updates
The Future of International Higher Education has taken place on 1st November and about 15 PGCHE participants attended those workshops. In addition, the twice a year Video Conference Exam Board was held on 5th November, 2014 UK time with both China and Malaysia campuses involved. This time six participants have successfully achieved 30 credits and one with 15 credits. Meanwhile, the scheduled Video Conference workshops have been taking place as planned. Continued to the additional local events which could be accredited as part of 2014-15 course schedule, another event. A Teaching and Learning showcase-sponsored by CELE and TLEO in UNNC has been accredited and is planning to take place in January. For more information, please contact OPD (Organization and People Development).

Contact us:
If you have any feedback on this newsletter please contact:
teaching.learning@nottingham.edu.cn

Posted in Strategy and policy