A two-step model for creative teaching in higher education

This paper provides examples of practice demonstrating some underlying principles of translating creative and active pedagogies from school into a higher education context, using a simple two-step model and the concept of creative learning and teaching (Jeffrey, 2006). Since working in higher education, I sought to translate the principles of creative learning and teaching (Jeffrey, 2006) into my praxis. This exercise became particularly prudent when moving into academic development, trying to convey the successful principles underlying my pedagogy to colleagues on the Masters in Academic Practice. The paper will discuss a two-step model I developed: de-contextualizing and then re-contextualizing sometimes complex and intangible learning content to make it more accessible for learners. This will be exemplified by two teaching cases and evidenced with data I collected during my own Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, demonstrating how the approach improved student performance and the overall quality of their academic work. These principles could be easily translated into different disciplinary contexts, with different groups of students

Researching Under-Represented Groups: How to Empower Students through Targeted Learning Development Support

The Scottish Government has tasked Higher Education Institutions with improving the recruitment, retention and progression of students who are classified as living within the lowest deprivation quintile according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivati on (Scottish Government, 2012). The Scottish Funding Council allocates ringfenced funding for this purpose and negotiates specific outcome agreements with each institution to measure and evaluate success. As an initiative funded in this way, the School of Health and Life Science’s Learning Development Centre (LDC) at Glasgow Caledonian University is required to support students from low participation postcodes. The LDC provides enhancement - led, learning support to all students in the School through a blend of timetabled, in - programme teaching, workshops and one to one appointments. Support for, and monitoring of, those identified as belonging to the ‘multiple deprivations’ category (MD20s), however, is becoming an increasing priority. Whilst clearly a desira ble aim in terms of social justice and widening participation, it is less obvious how best to target and measure support. The risks of stigmatising, alienating or even creating dependency amongst what is surely a heterogeneous group are manifold. This pape r will report on research conducted by the LDC members that attempted to better understand the diverse group of ‘MD20 students’ who attend, or potentially attend programmes within the School. The aim of the project was to provide an evidence - base on which further support activities could be built. Cognisant of the diversity of the group in question and the risk of labelling or categorising students, the project employed a narrative or biographical approach which aimed to capture and explore the individual l ife histories of students (Field, Merrill & West, 2012). In particular, it investigated the paths their lives had taken to lead them to study at university, how they felt about the MD20 focus and what kind of support, if any, would empower them to succeed in their studies. Alongside in - depth, qualitative exploration of the issues, academic performance and baseline demographic data were collected to gather as full a picture as possible of the group in question

Academic Skills a Long Thin Induction

Poster presented during GCU learning and teaching day sharing the impact of my integrate academic skills module (aka long thin induction) on student performance and confidence

Jank and Meyer's Guiding Questions for Didaktik Translated and Adapted for Higher Education

This is an adaptation of a set of questions Jank and Meyer (Jank, W., & Meyer, H. (2019). Didaktische Modelle (13th ed.). Berlin: Cornelsen Verlag GmbH.) suggested are at the core of Didaktik. I realised that these might be helpful to support colleagues teaching in higher education to adapt their teaching for the 2020/21 academic year with predominantly online or hybrid teaching

Mentoring Mentors in Cooperative Software Engineering Education Programmes

Cooperative programmes are principally partnerships between academia and industry to deliver education partly on campus and partly in the workplace. Mentors in the workplace are crucial in such cooperative programmes as they scaffold appropriate development activities for students. A workplace mentor in this situation is important not only for the development of detailed technical knowledge, but also in the development of software engineering skills that are almost never in fact taught in higher education, e.g. navigating large, neglected code bases. Consequently, workplace mentors are a key component of any high-quality education programme delivered in partnership with industry. However, higher education institutions and enterprises not only need to appreciate the importance of mentors in such schemes, but also ensure such staff are supported to use their experience to increase their skill as a mentor. Mentors need the space and support to reflect on their own practice, develop skills and attain new knowledge. In this sense, the challenge is not dissimilar to that faced by computing science school teachers that need to continually consider their own practice as well as have the time to consider emerging programming languages and frameworks. Many of the structures and existing research on how to support computing science school teachers could be adapted to support these workplace mentors, e.g. support groups. In this poster, we present initial research and models for mentoring mentors in cooperative software engineering programmes. The aim is to share initial work, receive feedback and to connect with potential collaborators

Transitions into Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) with Linnea Soler @DrLinneaSoler and Nathalie Sheridan @drnsheridan

Linnea and I are not focussing on the definitions and debates around the terminology of SoTL. We want to explore how engaging in SoTL for the first time, impacts academics, including those coming from a non-social science background. What are the stumbling stones? How can SoTL be imbedded into daily practice to help academics develop as they work? How can collaborative efforts, including cross-disciplinary collaborations, help advance SoTL and make it more fun? What nuggets of advice can be learned to help facilitate/motivate/de-mystify/enthuse the process

Supporting students in the transition to postgraduate taught study in STEM subjects

While there has been a wide range of studies examining the transition of undergraduate and postgraduate research students, there are few which concentrate on the experiences of postgraduate taught (PGT) students. This is unfortunate, because PGT students have pressing needs for support: since taught masters courses last for usually one academic year, postgraduate students are asked to adapt and succeed at a far faster rate than undergraduates, who take four years in Scotland to complete an honours degree. PGT students are a minority group amongst the university population, with e.g. more than three times as many undergraduates enrolled at the University of Glasgow than postgraduates. Furthermore, international students represent a high proportion of PGT students. To better understand the needs of PGT students and therefore improve the quality of their education, we need to understand their experiences and challenges as they transition through their course. This paper presents a study focused on PGT students in STEM subjects at the University of Glasgow. Feedback from students in the College of Science and Engineering was gathered using a multi-methodological approach. Surveys, one-to-one interviews and a workshop were utilised to investigate students’ perceptions of support received from staff and services. This data was linked to student academic confidence, social confidence, and overall satisfaction with their experience at the university. Data were gathered at three points in the year to evaluate whether perceptions change as students progress through their course. This data from surveys and interviews was used to direct a workshop, which discussed potential solutions to issues raised. Better online resources were identified as key to feeling prepared before the commencement of a PGT course, and better communication with lecturers and peers was important to the success and satisfaction of students, particularly after beginning PGT study

Social capital and refugee children : does it help their integration and education in Scottish schools

The 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act led to the dispersal of asylum seekers around Britain, with Glasgow City Council the only local authority in Scotland who agreed to house and support asylum seekers. The Glasgow Asylum Seekers' Support Project (GASSP) was established with funding from the Home Office National Asylum Seekers' Support (NASS) fund to provide housing, social work and education services for the asylum seekers in Glasgow. One result of this was the establishment of GASSP Units in 27 Glasgow schools. Research by Smyth (2006) into the perspectives of pupils in the GASSP units had observed a number of social capital building strategies used, albeit unconsciously, by both staff and pupils to enable integration of the refugee pupils into the mainstream school. Within the Applied Educational Research Scheme (AERS) network on social capital it was decided to fund a small scale case study to further explore this phenomenon. The aim of the case study was to investigate if and how teachers and pupils understood social capital; how it was interpreted in schools and if it impacted on their networks outside the school and on their families. The investigation involved three researchers conducting fieldwork in one primary and one secondary school in Scotland. Qualitative methodology was employed including analysis of policy documents; interviews and conversations with school staff and pupils; fieldwork in school observing teaching and learning situations and social situations. Pupil voice played a major part in the data collected, including photographic evidence collected by pupils themselves. The research found that teachers had clear aims to help the refugee pupils build social networks. While not necessarily using the term social capital they were certainly making use of a range of practices which built bonding social capital. In exploring the associated concepts with pupils we found an understanding of the importance of friendship and trust, the importance of cultural capital and some of the barriers to building bridging social capital. We were unable to establish clear evidence about the transferability of social capital to outside the school setting

Researching Social Capital: Accessing Children’s Voice

This paper was presented: September 2008, Ethnography in Education Conference, Oxford Researching Social Capital: Accessing Children’s Voice This paper will report on the ethnographic methodology used to investigate if and how Social Capital is built in schools to enable effective learning for refugee pupils. It will focus particularly on the need for multiple approaches to data gathering and on ways of accessing pupil voice when the children do not have English as a First Language. The project is one of a series of case studies undertaken by the Schools and Social Capital network of the Applied Educational Research Scheme (AERS) in Scotland. This particular investigation built on the findings of the CLASP (Creative Learning and Student Perspectives) project undertaken by Geri Smyth for the Scottish part of the European project

Ethnic differences in receipt of psychological interventions in Early Intervention in Psychosis services in England – a cross-sectional study

There is some evidence of differences in psychosis care provision by ethnicity. We investigated variations in the receipt of CBTp and family intervention across ethnic groups in Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) teams throughout England, where national policy mandates offering these interventions to all. We included data on 29,610 service users from the National Clinical Audit of Psychosis (NCAP), collected between 2018 and 2021. We conducted mixed effects logistic regression to examine odds ratios of receiving an intervention (CBTp, family intervention, either intervention) across 17 ethnic groups while accounting for the effect of years and variance between teams and adjusting for individual- (age, gender, occupational status) and team-level covariates (care-coordinator caseload, inequalities strategies). Compared with White British people, every minoritized ethnic group, except those of mixed Asian-White and mixed Black African-White ethnicities, had significantly lower adjusted odds of receiving CBTp. People of Black African, Black Caribbean, non-African/Caribbean Black, non-British/Irish White, and of “any other” ethnicity also experienced significantly lower adjusted odds of receiving family intervention. Pervasive inequalities in receiving CBTp for first episode psychosis exist for almost all minoritized ethnic groups, and family intervention for many groups. Investigating how these inequalities arise should be a research priority