College of Arts and Social Sciences

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College of Arts and Social Sciences

Quality Enhancement Themes and Strategies 2nd
Teaching Learning Staff Forum Wednesday 24th
November 2004
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Part 1Enhancement Themes
College of Arts and Social Sciences
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College of Arts and Social Sciences
Responding to Student Needs

• Professor Trevor Salmon
• Director of Teaching Learning
• Dr Mary Pryor
• Academic Learning Study Unit

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Responding to Student Needs
Context

• Quality Enhancement Theme for 2003/4
• Led by Professor John Harper (RGU)
• Project Report available January 2005
• Work to be disseminated through a web-based
  tool-kit
• http//www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/

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Responding to Student Needs
Four Strands
Developing the first year curriculum
Academic Learning Support, Assessment,
Technology-Related, Course Content, Staff
Professional Development
Approaches to integrating student support
Increasing diversity, Holistic Approach
Academic, Administrative and Pastoral Approach,
Key Issues
Personal tutor systems and their alternatives
Models and Systems of Support, Use of Technology,
Student Expectations
Induction
Student Transition, Staged Dissemination of
Information
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Responding to Student Needs
What do we need to do?

• Make first year a priority
• Foundation for retention and student development
• Deliver effective transition
• Understand student expectations
• Understand what happens in Schools
• Meet diverse needs

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Responding to Student Needs
What do we need to do?

• Communicate our expectations
• Appropriate curriculum
• Best teachers
• Common intra-disciplinary expectations
• Right tools at the right time
• Early assessment

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Responding to Student Needs
CASS Activities School Level

• Approachability - Smile for Students
• Person and Professional Advisors - Accessible!
• Compulsory year 1 learning course
• Induction days/coffee/small teambuilding sessions
• Practice exams with detailed feedback
• Maximum numbers in tutorial groups, badges
• Encouragement to join discipline societies
• Easy access to information (Noticeboards/web)
• Getting student feedback

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Responding to Student Needs
CASS Activities College Level

• Re-launch of SK1003
• Theme - Get yourself connected
• Early computer registration
• Students as demonstrators
• Pilot scheme
• First MA Welcome
• First Year Experience Questionnaire

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Responding to Student Needs
MA Welcome

• Academic Welcome (2 sessions)
• Thursday 23 September - Freshers Week (Advising)
  
• Inspirational and informative!
• 200 students at each session
• Speakers
• Professor Trevor Salmon CASS DoTL
• Mr Steve Duggan - Student Support Services
• Dr Mary Pryor Academic Learning Study Unit
• Dr Aenea Reid - DISS

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Responding to Student Needs
1st Year Experience Questionnaire

• Rationale
• Identified by the Retention Progression
  Strategy Team as an important research area for
  the University
• Identified by CASS as a key priority
• CASS SK1003 students - pilot for the
  Institution

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Responding to Student Needs
1st Year Experience Questionnaire

• Questionnaire
• Web-based questionnaire - 25 response rate (7
  for Napier)
• Prize draw (20 book tokens) offered as an
  incentive
• Run during the 8th week of teaching

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1st Year Experience Questionnaire

• Student Profile
• 69 lt 18 yrs (9 26)
• 71 from Scotland
• (23 from Aberdeen)
• 80 MA, 16 BEd/BMus
• 99 Full-time
• 99 Entered into Year 1

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1st Year Experience Questionnaire

• Preliminary findings
• MA Welcome
• 56 attended the MA welcome 75 found it useful
• 81 non-MA students had an Induction 91 found
  it useful
• Information related to their Academic Studies

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1st Year Experience Questionnaire
Timetabled academic study
Personal academic study
Percent ()
Percent ()
lt 10
11 15
16 gt
lt 10
11 15
16 gt
Time (hours)
Time (hours)
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1st Year Experience Questionnaire
Submitted first assignment
In employment
Percent ()
No job
lt 10
1115
16 gt
Time (hours)
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1st Year Experience Questionnaire
Information related to their Academic Studies

• 20 have changed their courses
• 69 agreed that their courses are as good as they
  were expecting

• Overall 1st Year Experience
• 74 feel they belong to the University community
• 72 agreed that their experiences so far match
  their expectations
• 88 would recommend the University to their
  friends

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Responding to Student Needs
In Future..

• What can we do to make the transition to
  university more effective?
• What key areas should we focus on?

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College of Arts and Social Sciences
Employability

• Dr Graeme Roberts
• Vice Principal Teaching Learning

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Employability
QE Theme Important and Timely

• Because
• Many students believe increases chances of
  well-paid and meaningful employment
• One of SHEFCs hallmarks of a high quality HE
  sector is where learning and teaching promotes
  the employability of students
• ELIR includes consideration of the HEIs approach
  to the employability of its students
• SFC publication Learning to Work report as
  framework for consultation and policy development

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Employability
QE Theme Important and Timely

• Because
• ESECT (Enhancing Student Employability
  Co-ordination Team) briefings and practical
  toolkits
• LTSN Generic Centre guidance on enhancing student
  employability
• Support for employability theme in 2004 by HEA
  subject centres

Great Opportunity for Scottish Universities to
build on and exploit this material
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Employability
What is Employability?

• A set of achievements - skills, understandings
  and personal attributes - that make graduates
  more likely to gain employment and be successful
  in their chosen occupations.

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Employability
Aims of Steering Committee

• To help Scottish sector engage effectively by
• Creating a clearer understanding of what it means
• Raising its profile and its benefits across the
  sector
• Encouraging and assisting the development of
  institutional strategies that embed employability
  in the entire student experience
• Working with the Scottish Group developing
  material to support introduction of Personal
  Development Planning in 2006

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Employability
Network of Institutional Contacts

• To ensure that programme of work is informed
• and shaped by sectors needs and priorities,
• ICs have provided detailed information about
• How each university plans to engage with theme
• What it hopes the outcomes of that engagement
  will be
• What assistance it needs
• Any proposals it may have for a local
  employability event

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Employability
Employability Strategy Working Group

• Considering
• Mapping current level of employability activity
  in each School
• Identifying good practice for sharing with the
  rest of University and sector
• Assisting Schools to embed employability in
  curriculum
• Working with Students Association to promote
  employability through extra-curricular activities
• Addressing implications of Learning to Work
  report

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Employability
Employability Strategy Working Group

• Has agreed to develop an institutional strategy
  that
• Builds on current policy on provision of career
  education, information and guidance (February
  2002)
• Incorporates provision for PDP
• Takes account of Learning to Work report
• Provides overarching framework and guidance for
  development and delivery of College and School
  action plans and development partnership between
  Students Association and Careers Service

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Employability
Employability Strategy Working Group

• Seeking advice and comment on how to
• Develop and implement an effective employability
  strategy in a research-led university
• How to make the best use of briefing materials
  and toolkits developed by ESECT
• How to take account of the needs of local and
  national employers
• How to monitor and assess effectiveness of our
  strategy

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Part 2Quality Enhancement
College of Arts and Social Sciences
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College of Arts and Social Sciences
Overview of QE Framework QE Strategy

• Dr Nick Spedding
• Administrative Officer, Registry

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QE Framework Strategy
Quality Enhancement is not..

• Quality Assurance - ensures things are OK
• Focuses on what is taught at what level
• Retrospective
• Bureaucratic, confrontational
• Box-ticking, form-filling, hoop-jumping
  extravaganza

As it turns out, we are very good at this!
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QE Framework Strategy
Beyond Quality Assurance

• Quality Enhancement - always making things
  better
• Focuses on students and the wider learning
  experience
• Forward thinking future actions, strategic
  planning
• Partnership, constructive dialogue
• To produce genuine change

This is work in progress, guided by SHEFCs
Quality Enhancement Framework
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QE Framework Strategy
Quality Enhancement Framework

• Five Core Aspects
• New standards of public information
• Working more closely with students
• No more QAA subject inspections Internal
  Teaching Review (ITR) only
• Key themes to guide Scotland-wide QE activities
• Enhancement-Led Institutional Review (ELIR)

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QE Framework Strategy

• QAA definition of QE
• Taking deliberate steps
• to bring about
• continual improvement
• in the effectiveness
• of the learning experience
• of students

• HE Academy definition of QE
• http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/896.htm
• An inclusive concept and a collective enterprise
  (that) includes
• significant strategic initiatives and
• the many small things that people
• do to try and make things better

This is the gap our QE strategy should help us
bridge!
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QE Framework Strategy
UofAs Quality Enhancement Strategy http//www.abd
n.ac.uk/qe/strategy.shtml

• Explicit statement of intent
• Draws together key principles of QE and
  identifies key agents
• Includes action points for the central
  administration
• Toolkit to guide thought and action at all levels

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QE Framework Strategy
UofAs Quality Enhancement Strategy http//www.abd
n.ac.uk/qe/strategy.shtml
The QES provides a central framework to
encourage and support the pursuit of better
practice in teaching and learning, but the
responsibility to undertake enhancement
activities rests primarily with individuals and
groups in the Universitys Schools and other
academic units
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College of Arts and Social Sciences
Institutional Priorities Preparing for ELIR

• Dr Graeme Roberts
• Vice Principal Teaching Learning

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Preparing for ELIR
ELIR

• Audit of management of quality and standards
  through institutional review
• Also looks at our management of QE
• Outcome of a public document - judgement and
  commentary
• Opportunity for a serious critical reflection on
  our strengths and weaknesses
• Comments on draft by end of term

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Preparing for ELIR
Strengths?

• QE strategy and action plan
• New teaching and learning infrastructure
• Robustness of revised ITR system
• Revision of class representative system
• Promotion of e-learning
• Investment in teaching infrastructure
• (case studies)

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Preparing for ELIR
Weaknesses?

• Student feedback system
• Lack of co-ordination of learning support
  services
• Arrangements for sharing of best practice
• Professional development of staff for their role
  in teaching and learning
• Recognition and reward of teaching excellence
• Management of implementation of QE strategy

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Preparing for ELIR
Overall Picture?

• Effective approach to QA - moving emphasis to QE
• Regularly reviews key elements of QA strategy
• Staff conscientious about teaching but perceive
  advancement depends on research
• Effective ad hoc innovation at subject level -
  now seeking to manage process more effectively

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Preparing for ELIR
Overall Picture?

• Low participation in educational staff
  development and engagement with HEA subject
• Strong and effective partnership with students
• Committed to excellence in teaching and research

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College of Arts and Social Sciences
Institutional Priorities Review of Teaching
Learning Strategy

• Ms Cathy Macaslan
• Head of School - School of Education

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Review of Teaching Learning Strategy

• Critical reflection
• How effective are we? In which ways are we
  effective?
• Strengths
• What are our target areas for development?
• What should inform such choices?

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Review of Teaching Learning Strategy
Strategic Review

• Teaching and learning in a research-led
  institution
• Outcomes measured against benchmarks
• Information to inform development plan
• Dovetailing enhancement theme

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Review of Teaching Learning Strategy
Review Group

• C. Macaslan, Head of School of Education
  (Convener)

• Bill Long, Director of Undergraduate Programmes
  (Science)
• Gillian Mackintosh, Registry
• Julie McAndrews, Centre for Lifelong Learning
• Darren Comber, Educational Staff Development Unit
• Aenea Reid, DISS
• Clerk, TBC

• Mary Cotter, DTL, College of Life Sciences and
  Medicine
• Trevor Salmon, DTL, College of Physical Sciences
• Gordon Walkden, DTL, College of Physical Sciences
• Calum Mair, Vice-President (Education), Students
  Association
• Doug Marr, School of Education, Court nominee on
  UCTL

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Review of Teaching Learning Strategy
Remit
To conduct a thorough review and holistic
revision of the Universitys approach to
undergraduate teaching, learning and assessment,
in the light of our aims

• Research-led University ranked in the UK top 20
• Distinctiveness of the student learning
  experience
• Students making us their first choice university
• Fees-only students
• Students from low participation groups
• Students successfully transferring from FE

• Part-time and mature students
• Our student body
• Student retention and progression rates,
  especially in year 1
• Employability of our graduates
• Develop and deliver within the University a new
  evidence-based model for the Scottish teacher in
  the 21st century (the Hunter Project)

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College of Arts and Social Sciences
A Students Perspective What does QE Mean?

• Mr Calum Mair
• Vice Principal Education,
• Students Association

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A Students Perspective

• good degree
• high essay marks
• cheap booze
• free gym pass
• four years that I enjoy

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A Students Perspective
Student A
Student B
Student C
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A Students Perspective

• 13,500 students would give a different answer
• 120 different Nationalities would give a
  different answer

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A Students Perspective

• School Perspective No idea
• Undergraduate Perspective No idea
• Post-Graduate Perspective A Review of quality
  and standards
• Graduate Perspective Increasing the standard
  of educational attainment

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A Students Perspective

• QAA Perspective
• QE is a term that describes the continuous
  improvement of both quality and standards in
  higher education, and students have a very
  important role to play in this process.

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A Students Perspective

• Encapsulate all!
• Diverse
• Interchangeable
• Open to interpretation

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A Students Perspective

• Quality Enhancement is about the learning
  opportunities available to a student, via
  teaching, support, facilities and services.

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A Students Perspective

• Therefore QE differs for every student
  perspective
• It differs for the Student Sabbatical
• It differs for the Active Student Rep
• It differs for the In-Active Student
• It differs for the Future Student..

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A Students Perspective

• QE means everything to some and nothing to
  others!

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A Students Perspective

• To enhance the Student Experience you need to
  enhance all aspects of the system, all aspects
  that touch on student life 24 hours a day 7 days
  a week, 365 days a year.
• From applying to UCAS to beyond Alumni Relations.

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College of Arts and Social Sciences
Open Forum Questions and Answers
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College of Arts and Social Sciences
Thank You for Your Participation

• We will be asking you for your feedback!