Programme Leader Development session

Academic Quality and Development19 January 2015

Dr Angus Paddison, Director of AQDDr Tansy Jessop, Head of L&T

Outline of session

• Context of being a Programme Leader at the University of Winchester;

• Responsibilities of being a Programme Leader;

• Sources of support and advice (Student Services);

• Opportunities for enhancement.

Post it Exercise

• One phrase per post it• Fast and furious• Three starter phrases• Please stick your post

its on flip chart paper around the room

• 10 minutes

• Please individually complete the sentences on as many post its as you want to on each of the three topics.

• One idea per post it.

• After five minutes please put up your post its on flip chart paper on the walls, under each label.

Instructions

Statements beginning…

• I understand my role as a PL as…

• The challenges of being a PL are…

• As a PL I hope to achieve…

Favourites

• Spend five minutes reading post its on the sheets.

• Red dots if you disagree

• Yellow/Amber if you are ambivalent

• Green if you agree

Introduction: setting the context

• Role of Academic Quality and Development • Learning and Teaching Development and

Academic Quality/Dean of Learning and Teaching

• L&T Strategy and Development themes• Feedback Week• QAA Higher Education Review: Spring 2016

Development Themes 2014/15

The role of Programme Leader

• “The primary responsibility of a Programme Leader is to look after the health of the Programme, enhance the student experience…and oversee the future development of the Programme.”

(Programme Leaders Handbook 2014/15)

Annual Programme Evaluation

Skim read an example APE:

1) What kind of data is collected? 2) What do you think of the action plan? 3) How could you adapt an action plan for enhancing your programme? 4) What are its limitations? How do you get around these?

More key responsibilities

• Nomination of External examiners, and responding to their annual reports

• Chairing Programme Committee Meetings (PCMs) three/four times a year

• Programme Amendments/Exemptions from Regulations

Some key responsibilities

• Working with others on: module evaluations; staffing (Head of Department); revalidations; Open Days.

• Liaison with Registry and Marketing• Responding to student surveys (National

Student Survey and Final Year Survey) and institutional requests

• Preparation for the Exam Board, and presenting marks at the Departmental Exam Board

Two key themes on which to pause..

• Information we give to students and that we hold about our programmes (Programme Amendments, module & programme handbooks)

• Opportunities for Student Engagement (Student Fellow Scheme)

Some vital Regulations and Policies

1. Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes

2. Moderation of Assessed Work Policy3. Academic Misconduct Policy4. Extenuating Circumstances Policy5. Academic Appeals Regulations6. Exam Board Guidelines7. Policy and Procedures for External Examiners

of Taught Programmes

The committees you need to know about

Useful sites to get to know

Programme Leaders’ Forum

• Wednesday 4 February 2015 venue tbc

• Wednesday 25 March 2015 venue tbc

Chair: Meryn WiligenSecretary: Nicolette Connon

Important relationships and useful people to get to know• Your students• Your programme administrator• Student Services (Dr Lesley Black/Steve Petty)• Your subject librarian• Registry (Bruce Carruthers)• ITS (Keith Mildenhall)• Marketing (Lisa Preston)• Student Recruitment and Admissions• Colleagues in Academic Quality and Development

Useful sites to get to know

Learning and Teaching Team: what we can help you do

• Curriculum design• Assessment design• Technology• Student Engagement• Masters in L&T• Reward and recognition

Curriculum Design: it’s complicated

“This course has changed my whole outlook on life. Superbly taught!”

“This course is falsely taught and dishonest. You have cheated me of my tuition”

It’s even more complicated

“This has been the most sloppy, disorganised course I’ve ever taken. Of course I’ve made some improvement, but this has been due entirely to my own efforts!”

William Perry’s theory of student development (1981)

Dualism

Relativism

Commitment

Designing for innovation in learning, teaching and assessment

Approaches to Learning (Marton and Saljo (1976)

• Meaning• Concepts• Active learning• Argument• Connections• Relationship new and

previous knowledge• Real-world learning

Surface• Formulaic• Focused on memorising

content• Passive transaction• Inability to distinguish

principles from examples• Modules as silos• Not seeing connections

Deep

www.testa.ac.uk

1) Assessment drives what students pay attention to, and defines the actual curriculum (Ramsden 1992).

2) Feedback is significant (Hattie, 2009; Black and Wiliam, 1998)

3) Programme is central to influencing change.

Three TESTA premises

TESTA Changes

• Emphasis on formative tasks• Growth in authentic tasks (blogs, posters,

conference presentations, films etc.)• Linked cycles of formative to summative• Streamlining varieties• Scaling down summative tasks• Movement towards programmatic

assessment

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Avoid this model of curriculum design…

The best approach from the student’s perspective is to focus on concepts. I’m sorry to break it to you, but your students are not going to remember 90 per cent – possibly 99 per cent – of what you teach them unless it’s conceptual…. when broad, over-arching connections are made, education occurs. Most details are only a necessary means to that end.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/a-students-lecture-to-professors/2013238.fullarticle#.U3orx_f9xWc.twitter

A student’s lecture to professors

PEBBLEPAD

Student Engagement

• Winchester Research Apprentice Scheme (WRAP)

• Student Fellows Scheme