SHED Residential 2019 (Oct 31-Nov 1, 2019; University of St Andrews)
Day 1
Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis (St Andrews) – ‘Equality & Diversity in Classics Teaching’
This award-winning project was centred on practical measures to embed diversity. The creation of a new module ‘Classical Bodies’ aimed to expand the appreciation of the physical form beyond the ‘elites’ (both forms and viewers). This included student-led seminars to widen the points of view on the material. A sub-topic was ‘Marvellous Bodies’ taught to P2/3 for which students had to learn about pedagogy and outreach (particularly important in the context of this discipline). Another module, ‘Travels & Marvels in the Greco-Roman World’, has a subtopic ‘Marvellous Journeys’ to be taught to P3 and is aligned to the First Minister’s Reading Challenge.
It was noted that, unsurprisingly, work of this kind takes a great deal of effort to prepare and carry out, though was enjoyed by students (and the staff and pupils at participating schools).
Julia Fordingham (Napier) – ‘You’ll remember we did this last year… Small Changes to academic practices in university bring big benefits to students in transaction from college’
This was designed to support transition of students through college to a university course. Students were offered a place on a named degree course if successful at HND, and given the title ‘Associated Students’.
Support for transition (from the university) was based on: making connections (site visits), and filling gaps (workshops). Attendance at these, unfortunately, depended on where students lived and those who lived furthest did not attend (although most students reported that they felt themselves well prepared for university, regardless of whether they had attended sessions or not).
Discussion was had on the tacit assumption that support based on ‘filling gaps’ suggested students had deficiencies (and the same ones), and there was nothing that suggested what the Associated Students might bring (that was different to students entering via other routes).
Sarah Floyd & Vicky Davies (Ulster) – ‘Feeding the Neighbour’s cat: developing doctoral researchers’
This provocative session focussed on the increasing number of doctoral students and the changing nature of what is expected of them regarding teaching. This is a challenge to those who provide staff development, in terms of resource, but if support is not given, it can lead to issues of QA in the student experience.
Details were shared of the programme of staff development, including those parts that doctoral students could/were required to take part in (depending on their specific responsibilities) which, on successful completion, would lead to AFHEA.
Discussion focussed on issues such as whose responsibility it was to ensure doctoral students were supported to carry out their teaching role; resourcing staff development; and paying those undertaking training (for their time, as those who are employed full-time undertake training whilst being paid).
Day 2
Helen King (UWE) – ‘Expertise in Teaching in HE’
To start we were encouraged to compare and contrast our understanding and use of the terms ’expertise’ and ‘excellence’. Various definitions were discussed, illustrating those the terms were thought of as being different, but many different interpretations emerged.
We looked at the characteristics of expertise and also how experts learn and develop.
This work focused on discovering what expertise in teaching is, in part, by studying ‘experts’, but also asked if staff development supported all aspects of expertise.
Aiden Naughton (St Andrews) – ‘Mathsbridge: connecting with International Students’
This project was aimed at supporting international students studying maths, be they studying the subject as their priority or as a support to other disciplines.
It had been found that current support strategies weren’t working, partly because they had assumed one approach could suit everyone, and it was found that students previous experience, for instance, varied widely. It had also been underestimated how much of the maths terminology/symbology was new to students, and they may not know how to say maths terms (e.g. 2/7) in English.
Support through Mathsbridge was provided online for all students, regardless of perceived need, which was felt to be important.
Antonia Wilmot-Smith (St Andrews) – ‘Early Experiences with Lecture Capture in a Mathematics Department’
We learnt how varied the practise is at St Andrews, in terms of the classroom equipment used to teach maths, and hence the impact this can have on the uptake of lecture capture by staff. Policy leaves it as ‘opt in’, and equipment installed currently allows for capturing a combination of audio and/or slides only.
Those students that access the recording appear to achieve higher marks in their assessment, but this might be a case of correlation rather than causation, and this is a function of whether students are studying maths or only taking courses to support their main discipline.
Ken Mavor (St Andrews) – ‘Social Identification and How Students Approach Learning in HE’
This work looked at the interplay between student identity, norms, deep/surface learning and grades.
If students juggled with conflicting identities this could lead to negative behaviours such as procrastination and more surface learning, but developing a strong ‘academic social identity’ could draw them away from negative behaviours and towards deep learning.
Kay Stevens (AdvanceHE) – ‘Equally Safe: consider gender based violence in learning, teaching and the curriculum’
This centred on the Scottish Government’s Equally Safe Strategy (‘…for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls’) and asked us to relate this to learning, teaching and the curriculum.
We were introduced to the Equally Safe in HE (ESHE) Toolkit, created at the University of Strathcyde, which is free to use and adapt.
See also:
Wakelet
Twitter hashtag: #SHEDres2019
