Talking of teaching: communicating about strategy, policy and practice
December 11, 2013
Teaching strategy and policy, and quality assurance and enhancement, all benefit from ongoing conversations between the centre and Schools, and between staff across campuses and across disciplines. Communication about teaching should support the involvement of students and all staff in teaching development. This principle has guided the development of a revised approach with three key …
Learning spaces at Nottingham
December 10, 2013
I conducted a study in autumn 2013 which aimed to assess the distribution and utilisation of innovative teaching and learning spaces across UK campuses of The University, and to establish how these spaces might contribute to the student experience using feedback from colleagues and benchmarking at other institutions. I looked in particular at rooms which …
Peer observation college
December 9, 2013
There has been a growing interest in getting involved in peer observation with staff from other Faculties. Requests for a University-wide scheme are being addressed with the design of a peer observation college, consisting of 80-100 academic members of staff, which will draw on advice from the HEA and will develop from consultation with Deans …
LEAF: a closer look at assessment
December 6, 2013
Assessment is a strong driver of student motivation – that’s clear from the common experience of gaining instant attention when you mention “the exam” in a lecture, and it’s a common theme in the literature around learning in higher education. What we assess gives a strong message about what we value and how we expect …
The new Nottingham Pharmacy degree: a dual campus venture
December 5, 2013
Cristina de Matteis: “In September 2012 we launched our new four year pharmacy (MPharm) degree in Nottingham and Malaysia; the culmination of more than 3 years of planning, innovation, design and implementation. This degree is a radically new approach to the education of pharmacists and meets the new General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) standards [1]. Here …
Making Moodle work for…
December 3, 2013
… cross-campus teaching “We have a single Moodle page which, after ironing out some problems, is now shared between the UK and Malaysia campus. This includes a weekly video, with a quiz that students have to complete before they can go on to the next one, and also a set of discussion forums which can …
Feedback as dialogue
Dr Richard Tunney: “The School of Psychology has made a number of changes to the feedback that students receive on their assessed work. This has been largely driven by feedback from students to us in Learning Community Fora (and their predecessors) and the National Student Survey. I suppose we could think about the quality of …
A faculty-wide mechanism for optimising teaching
December 2, 2013
Dr Kay Bond “In common with many units across the University, the Faculty of Engineering faces a number of significant challenges, amongst which maintenance of high quality teaching and excellent student experience in the face of efficiency savings rank highly. Additional, engineering-specific, challenges come from the need to respond positively and professionally to the demands …
Teaching leadership programme
November 28, 2013
The time is right for a ‘Leading Teaching’ programme at the University. Seismic changes in the HE landscape means that consistently high quality teaching is fundamental to the continuing success of the University. In an environment where students will increasingly act as consumers and be less prepared than they might have been previously to put …
The School of English report on TESTA Audit
November 27, 2013
Jo Robinson and Nathan Waddell: “As part of our ongoing commitment to improving feedback and assessment practices, the School of English bid for funding from the 2012/13 Teaching Development Fund in order to carry out an audit of its assessment structures with a view to reshaping our practice. The audit was undertaken using the TESTA …
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