Teaching and Learning 2015-2020: Strategies for student engagement at Sussex

The 2015 annual teaching and learning conference is taking place on Wednesday 25 March in the University of Sussex Conference Centre with an exciting programme and both internal and external speakers. Overviews for the sessions and a bio for each of the presenters can be found below along with information about how to book a place.

Programme

Key note - How can we better engage students to maximise student retention and achievement as well as fostering intellectual curiosity and (dare we say it) the joy of learning?

Professor Sally Brown

Synopsis

Contextual factors including high fees, pressures to achieve well in the National Student Survey and competing demands on other aspects of academics’ roles sometimes get in the way of inspiring teaching. Nevertheless students nowadays have high expectations of enhanced experiences in the classroom and effective lecturers are keen to foster real and purposeful engagement. ​This presentation will explore some of the factors associated with excellent and inspiring teaching as well as reviewing how we can work with sometimes demotivated students to (re)discover the joy of learning.

Bio

Professor Sally Brown is Emerita Professor of Higher Education Diversity in Teaching and Learning at Leeds Metropolitan University and was until July 2010 PVC (Academic). She is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth and Adjunct Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast and James Cook University (both in Queensland, Australia). Sally has worked in education for more than forty years and was, for five years, Director of Membership Services for the Institute for Learning and Teaching, prior to which she worked at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for almost 20 years as a lecturer, educational developer and Head of Quality Enhancement.

She is a National Teaching Fellow and was awarded a £200,000 NTFS grant for three years to research Innovative Assessment at Master’s level. She is widely published, largely in the field of teaching, learning and assessment. Sally is an independent consultant and workshop facilitator who offers keynote addresses at conferences and events in the UK and internationally.

Workshop 1 - A Marked Improvement: Transforming assessment at Sussex

Dr Jennie Osborn

Synopsis

Functionally assessment sits at the heart of higher education – the main pumping mechanism from which flows the institutional lifeblood of academic standards, staff time, institutional reputation, students’ behaviour and graduates’ future lives. But although we can easily conceptualise assessment as a vital educational organ – this heart is too often just an unloved, sometimes unlovely, muscle. NSS scores tell us that assessment is failing to measure up. Academic staff are necessarily wedded to assessment – but perhaps tied by familiarity and habit, rather than genuine affection. Technological advances are making assessment easier to cheat on.

This workshop aims to rekindle our relationship with assessment through a critical exploration of the 6 tenets of assessment outlined in the HEA publication A Marked Improvement: transforming assessment in higher education.

Bio

Jennie Osborn is a Consultant in Academic Practice at the HEA, working primarily with the innovative pedagogies team. Her academic background is broadly interdisciplinary within the Arts and Humanities, and she graduated with a D.Phil. from Sussex in Eighteenth Century Literature.

Jennie specialises in technology enhanced learning and digital pedagogies, flexible and distance education. She is particularly interested in how disciplinary practices intersect with teaching and learning, and how they can be used in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and more specifically how arts-based approaches can be used in educational enquiry, and the potential of arts-enriched educational development.

Workshop 2 - Postgraduate teaching, supervision and assessment

Professor Sally Brown

Synopsis

Many universities worldwide are increasing the number of masters programmes they offer, and both UK and international students are keen to gain masters awards for both employability and personal fulfilment. However, it is not always clear looking at curriculum descriptors for masters programmes how the levels of learning differ from those required at undergraduate level, although those who teach on them are clear about the differences. This workshop will include opportunities to:

• discuss the differences in learning outcomes between masters and undergraduate programmes;
• offer opportunities to design learning outcomes that can lead to masters level learning;
• consider the potential differences in teaching approaches and expectations of students between the levels;
• discuss innovative and fit-for-purpose approaches to masters level assessment.

Workshop 3 - Using modern technology for teaching in the sciences

Professor Claudia Eberlein, Student Led Teaching Award winner 2014

Synopsis

This session gives an introduction to the practical use of various kinds of technology available at Sussex or easily obtainable for teaching. Most of our lecture theatres are now equipped with stylus-writeable PC screens; there will be an overview of how to use them, and how to maximize their potential in conjunction with the lecture capture facilities. A short demonstration will also be given of a Livescribe digital pen which is useful e.g. for publishing model solutions to maths-based problems as an audio track can be linked to step-by-step solutions. Time-permitting there may also be a short section on the use of tablet computers for teaching and e-marking.

Bio

Claudia Eberlein is Professor of Theoretical Physics. She teaches a core module on introductory Quantum Mechanics to Physics & Astronomy students. As this subject matter is often perceived as very difficult by students, she has been very eager to explore new ways of making the material accessible and interesting to the students on her module, while engaging the whole spectrum from the most able to struggling students.

Workshop 4 - Supporting equality and diversity in HE: Addressing unconscious bias in teaching practice

Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith

Synopsis

This workshop engages with Equality Challenge Unit’s recent work on unconscious bias in higher education. The session addresses the relevance of the issues raised from our perspective as HE teachers. While much of the spotlight on unconscious bias falls on processes of student recruitment and staff selection and promotion, we will focus on our role in acknowledging and tackling unconscious bias in our own teaching and learning delivery at any level of responsibility. Group discussion activities will share perspectives and practices across disciplines, and as applied to a variety of teaching and assessment contexts. The focus will be on reflecting on and interrogating our own practices, responsibilities, and opportunities to advance more equitable HE learning experiences for our students.

Bio

Tamsin is a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education based in the School of Education and Social Work, and Course leader for the University's Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE). She is also Associate Director of the University's Centre for Gender Studies.

Workshop 5 - Utilizing creative visualization, mindfulness and image for enhanced and deeper learning

Diane Simpson-Little, Student Led Teaching Award winner 2014

Synopsis

This workshop is about understanding and experiencing creative visualisation and mindfulness and how it can encourage a deeper comprehension and absorption of the subject area being taught. It also gives an insight into the power of images in presentations and how slide design can transform and amplify a message.

Bio

Diane is at present course leader for the BSc (Hons) Product Design Degree. She teaches visual communications, toy and game design and design philosophy. She has a broad range of skills and experience across key areas of design and has extensively explored the nature of creativity in a wide variety of applications, disciplines, cultures and contexts. Diane has been a facilitator on many workshops in the area of entrepreneurship and creative business development, and has published papers that explore contemplative pedagogy and creative learning environments. Diane has also taught at Central St. Martins and the Royal College of Art, where she gained her masters degree. Prior to this she worked for a number of advertising agencies and is still a practising designer.

Booking

To request a place on the conference please use the booking form. In the afternoon there will be parallel workshops taking place and you will be able to indicate which ones you would prefer to attend. You will also be able to specify any dietary or access requirements using this form.

For any questions about the conference, please contact Clare Wolstenholme.