Barbara Zamorski and Paul Levy

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• Barbara Zamorski and Paul Levy
• University of East Anglia

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A UK model for developing teaching effectiveness
European context
Institutional context
National context
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National context and situation in UK

• The principal organisation charged with improving
  teaching effectiveness at National level is the
  Higher Education Academy.
• The Academy's mission is to help institutions,
  discipline groups and all staff to provide the
  best possible learning experience for their
  students.
• It has been in existence (including earlier
  versions) for a decade.

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Higher Education Academy

• Strategic aims and objectives
• To be an authoritative and independent voice on
  policies that influence student learning
  experiences
• To support institutions in their strategies for
  improving the student learning experience
• To lead, support and inform the professional
  development and recognition of staff in higher
  education
• To promote good practice in all aspects of
  support for the student learning experience
• To lead the development of research and
  evaluation to improve the quality of the student
  learning experience

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Higher Education Academy

• National Services and Programmes
• The Academy works with national enhancement
  initiatives such as the Centres for Excellence in
  Teaching and Learning in England (CETLs), the
  Excellence in Teaching and Learning Fund in
  Northern Ireland, the Quality Enhancement
  Framework in Scotland and the new structures for
  assuring quality and standards in Wales.
• The Academy also has a responsibility for
  managing the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme
  (NTFS) and the Fund for the Development of
  Teaching and Learning (FDTL).
• The Academy is the keeper of the National
  Standards for Teaching and Learning.

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Higher Education Academy
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National Standards

• There are standards in six areas of activity
• Design and planning of learning activities and/or
  programmes of study
• 2. Teaching and/or supporting student learning
• 3. Assessment and giving feedback to learners
• 4. Developing effective environments and student
  support and guidance
• 5. Integration of scholarship, research and
  professional activities with teaching and
  supporting learning
• 6. Evaluation of practice and continuing
  professional development

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Core knowledge

• Knowledge and understanding of
• 1. The subject material
• 2. Appropriate methods for teaching and learning
  in the subject area and at the level of the
  academic programme
• 3. How students learn, both generally and in the
  subject
• 4. The use of appropriate learning technologies
• 5. Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of
  teaching
• 6. The implications of quality assurance and
  enhancement for professional practice

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Professional values

• 1. Respect for individual learners
• 2. Commitment to incorporating the process and
  outcomes of relevant research, scholarship and/or
  professional practice
• 3. Commitment to the development of learning
  communities
• 4. Commitment to encouraging participation in
  higher education, acknowledging diversity and
  promoting equality of opportunity
• 5. Commitment to continuing professional
  development and evaluation of their own practice

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Higher Education Academy
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Development of the profession of HE teaching
HE Programme accreditation and Register of
Practitioners

• One of the Academys aims is to lead, support and
  inform the professional development of staff in
  higher education. 
• The Academy register They maintain a register of
  accredited practitioners, define the criteria for
  admission, develop standards for professional
  practice and provide support for individuals.
• Accreditation of institutions' programmesThey acc
  redit higher education institutions' programmes
  of training in teaching and learning.

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Higher Education Academy
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Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

• The Higher Education Academy supports all the
  CETL initiatives, encourages and facilitates
  networking and helps to disseminate outputs.
• The Centres for Excellence in Teaching and
  Learning (CETL) initiative has two main aims to
  reward excellent teaching practice, and to
  further invest in that practice so that CETLs
  funding delivers substantial benefits to
  students, teachers and institutions.
• There are 74 CETLs, with total funding from the
  Higher Education Funding Council of 350 million.

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A few examples

• University of the Arts London
• Creative Learning in Practice (CLIP)
• Bath Spa University College
• ArtsWork Learning Labs
• University of Birmingham
• Centre for Excellence in Interdisciplinary
  Teaching and Learning in Mental Health
• Bournemouth University
• Centre for Excellence in Media Practice
• University of Brighton
• Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
  Through Design (CETLD)
• University of Bristol
• The AIMS Centre (Applied and Integrated Medical
  Sciences)
• Bristol ChemLabS CETL (Bristol Chemical
  Laboratory Sciences)

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Higher Education Academy
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The Subject Centre Network

• The Academy provides discipline-based
  support through a Subject Network of 24 Subject
  Centres. These are a mix of single-site and
  consortium-based centres located within relevant
  subject departments and hosted by higher
  education institutions. 
• Each centre engages in a wide variety of
  activities to support practitioners, subject
  departments and discipline communities. 

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Some examples of these

• Art, Design and Media
• Bioscience
• Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine
  (MEDEV)
• PALATINE - Dance, Drama and Music
• Philosophical and Religious Studies
• Physical Sciences
• Psychology
• Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (C-SAP)
• Social Policy and Social Work (SWAP)

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Higher Education Academy
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National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS)

• National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS)
• The Higher Education Academy's National Teaching
  Fellowship Scheme recognises and rewards
  individual excellence in teaching in higher
  education in England and Northern Ireland. 
• From 2006 the scheme has two separate strands,
  Individual Awards and Projects, with total
  funding per year of 2.5 million.
• Nominations for the 2007 individual award will
  open on Thursday 30 November 2006.  The 2006
  individual award winners were announced in June.

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Higher Education Academy
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The Fund for the Development of Teaching and
Learning (FDTL)

• The Fund for the Development of Teaching and
  Learning (FDTL) was established in 1995 to
  support projects aimed at stimulating
  developments in teaching and learning in higher
  education and to encourage the dissemination of
  good teaching and learning practice across the
  higher education sector.
• Bids for FDTL funding were invited from higher
  education institutions that demonstrated high
  quality in their educational provision, as judged
  by the teaching quality assessment exercise. 
  Since 1995, the Fund has supported 164 projects
  throughout HEFCE-funded institutions.
• FDTL is funded by the Higher Education Funding
  Council for England (HEFCE) and the Department
  for Employment and Learning (DEL).

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FDTL Phase 5- some examples of projects

• Enhancing graduate employability embedding
  employability skills development in the
  curriculum
• Bringing economic experiments into the classroom
• Plagiarism, computers and values preventing
  plagiarism among international business and
  management postgraduate students
• PREPOL Developing a pre-entry and initial
  guidance package for the study of politics and
  international relations

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Higher Education Academy
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Institutional context

• All UK institutions have more or less the same
  problems
• Emphasis varies depending on whether more or less
  research-intensive
• UEA is a typical example of the majority - the
  balanced economy model

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UEAs Green Paper

• History of chronic underfunding of universities
• Teaching subsidising research
• Running down of the estate
• Public funding reforms
• Introduction of Full economic costs and student
  fees
• Must be able to demonstrate financial
  sustainability
• Planning and consulting for the future
• Renewed emphasis on excellent teaching
• Developing a financially sustainable research
  portfolio
• Bringing Knowledge Transfer into the mainstream

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Institutional structures tend to reflect the
National scene

• Centres for Academic Practice
• Sometimes all staff and educational development
  in one Centre (as at UEA)
• MA in Higher Education Practice (ie concerned
  with whole academic role)
• Short courses on eg plagiarism, assessment,
  research supervision, teaching techniques,
  learning technology
• Access to external courses
• Teaching courses for Graduate Teaching Assistants
  and Part-time tutors
• Learning and Teaching Quality Offices
• Responsible for institutional strategy on
  teaching and learning
• Provide funding for internal projects and
  fellowships

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Projects and fellowships

• Internal projects funded by the Institution eg on
  assessing good teaching, on assessment strategy,
  on evaluation practice
• Teaching fellowships at discipline, subject or
  department level
• Typically small funds, short time scale
• Disseminated by Centres for Academic Practice,
  Learning and Teaching Committees and by special
  events

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A UK model for developing teaching effectiveness
European context
Institutional context
National context
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Inter-relationships between the levels
Institution
National context
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Discussion

• How do these features in the UK and UEA
  experience reflect the wider European picture?

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