Overview of the Postgraduate Certificate in University Teaching and Learning
My name is Christine and I’m a member of the team that organises the Postgraduate
Certificate in University Teaching and Learning, (we call it PCUTL for short).
The aim of this podcast is to provide a general overview of PCUTL, including;
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the aims of the programme
who can access the course
the way the programme is taught
the involvement of mentors in the programme
where to find further information about PCUTL
The information should be helpful for anyone who wants to learn more about the
PCUTL programme.
What is PCUTL? PCUTL is a staff development programme organised by a team
within the university’s Human Resources Division. It’s a 60 credit M-level
qualification, which seeks to provide a systematic but flexible orientation to the
knowledge, values, understanding and skills associated with world-class teaching and
learning in a research-led university.
The Certificate can be taken over a period of up to five years and is made up of 4
modules. In order to be awarded the Postgraduate Certificate, all four modules need to
be completed successfully. The descriptions of the modules can be found on the
PCUTL Web pages.
What is the purpose of the course? The basic ethos of the programme is to enable
participants to become more competent, confident and reflective university teachers,
who are capable of critically evaluating and developing their approach to teaching or
learning. The programme provides a practical, work-based and theoretical grounding
for participants. Both a discipline and inter-disciplinary approach is taken, and the
needs of a diverse student body will be discussed.
Who is the course for? PCUTL has been designed to meet the needs of new teaching
staff at the university who don’t possess formal teaching qualifications. It would also
be useful for more experienced colleagues who may wish to review and refresh their
approaches to student learning and teaching.
In order to access the course participants need to meet the programme admissions
criteria, which are detailed in the Admissions Policy available on the PCUTL Web
pages.
Some staff at the university have a three year probationary period and successful
completion of the first forty credits of PCUTL is a requirement of the three year
probationary process. The requirement may be waived for those who can provide
documentary evidence of the award of a comparable qualification, or adjusted for
those who can demonstrate significant teaching experience.
Who organises the course? The programme is led by a Senior Lecturer who has many
years of experience of teaching and supporting learning in higher education.
Like other courses at the university, the programme has a Board of Studies. The
PCUTL Board is made up of staff from several of the university’s Schools and
divisions, and so a wide range of perspectives and involvement in learning and
teaching is brought to the management of the programme.
Again, like other courses at the university, the programme has a Staff/ Student Panel,
where the views of students are represented and feedback on the programme can be
provided to the programme organisers.
How is PCUTL taught? Modules 1, 2 and 3 are taught via workshops, whilst module
4 is largely self directed and project based. The number of participants in each cohort
is quite small and so there is a lot of opportunity for interaction with other participants
and the workshop leaders.
In addition to the workshops, participants have access to Learning Central, which is
the university’s Virtual Learning Environment. Within Learning Central participants
can access module announcements, programme information such as handbooks, and
links to interesting articles or papers, amongst many other things.
Where are the workshops taught? The workshops take place on the university campus
and participants get lots of notice regarding the dates, times and locations of the
workshops. The workshops are held on weekdays, during the day.
Assessment - Details of the ways in which participants work will be assessed can be
found in each of the module descriptions that are available on-line. The assessments
are in the form of coursework and there are no examinations in PCUTL.
The role of mentors- Each participant in the programme will be allocated a mentor
from the School or Division in which the participant works. Mentors are nominated
by the participants’ Head of School or Division and mentors play a very important
role in the programme. Mentors help participants to translate their learning on
PCUTL into a discipline or subject specific context.
I hope you have found this brief overview of PCUTL helpful. If you would like
further information about PCUTL please view the programme web pages, which
you’ll have found already as you’ll have accessed this podcast from there. If you’d
like to contact a member of the programme team you’re very welcome to call or email. Our contact details are on-line.
Thank you very much for taking the time to listen to this overview – we hope that
you’ve found it helpful. And please remember, if you have any questions about
PCUTL, you’re very welcome to contact the PCUTL team.