March 16, 2015, by Teaching at Nottingham

Professor Wyn Morgan: An Update on the Teaching Transformation Programme

We are now into the second phase of the four year Teaching Transformation Programme (TTP), which, as a reminder, is designed to help make a step change in the way Schools approach teaching and learning. Phase one saw the team make visits to all Schools to discuss in broad terms areas for potential support and development. We are now embarking on a second round of meetings where the emphasis is on much more specific action planning, outlining the aims, objectives and outcomes of projects alongside the resources, support and leadership needed to facilitate the work shared between the Schools and the TTP team.

Several Schools are already up and running with their projects and it is good to see that they cover a range of areas including: redesign of the final year curriculum and assessment (English), developing a NOOC for Spanish learning (CLAS), redefining learning outcomes at a programme level (Biosciences, Civil Engineering and M3) and curriculum mapping to embed greater emphasis on research skills (Economics).

As well as this work in the main strands of activity of curriculum, assessment, teaching and online learning, there are also three other cross-cutting activities. Our MOOCs and NOOCs programme continues to grow apace with a range of courses being offered through FutureLearn as MOOCs and various internal NOOC offerings including “Your Student Journey” which focuses on transition into higher education for first year students.

The “Students as Change Agents” strand aims to harness partnerships between staff and students to work on issues identified as of interest to either party and the five new projects include areas such as lecture capture, academic development and greater use of Moodle. Finally, our learning analytics strand is exploring how academic staff can make best use of the wealth of data from our teaching to help develop classroom practice to enhance the student experience.

The TTP team is keen to ensure we share as much of this work across Schools as possible and there will be a range of channels to do this including workshops, the annual Teaching and Learning Conference, through the website and also through the Quick Wyn (yes, I know….) video updates. It is vitally important that the outcomes of the various TTP projects are not siloed within Schools and we will work hard with colleagues to get the messages out more widely across all campuses. I have been delighted with the way in which the project has been embraced by colleagues in Schools and I am confident that with the expertise in the TTP team and the willingness in Schools, we really can make a big difference in teaching and learning for staff and students alike.

Professor Wyn Morgan

Assistant PVC for Teaching and Learning

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