National University of Ireland, Galway
An Coiste Feabhais Riarachán agus Seirbhísí
The Committee on Administration and Services Quality Improvement
The Administration and Services Quality Assurance Programme 2008/09
The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT)
Follow Up Meeting
Tuesday, 15th December 2009
CELT Training Room, Arts Millennium Building
Present: Professor James A Houghton (Chair), Dr Iain MacLabhrainn, Professor Jim Ward,
Professor Gearoid O’Laighin, Ms Anna Cunningham, Ms Mary O’Riordan, Dr Pat Morgan,
Dr Gerry Morgan, Mr Tom Acton, Dr Edward Herring, Ms Mary Bernard, Dr Kelly Coate, Dr
Fiona Concannon, Dr Sharon Flynn, Ms Bernadette Henchy, Mr Paul Gormley, Ms Ann
Lyons, Ms Grainne McGrath, Ms Lorraine McIlrath, Mr Patrick Monaghan, Mr Andrew
Murphy, Ms Lorraine Tansey, Dr Michelle Tooher, Ms Aurélie Boulos, Ms Gudrun
Geirsdottir, Ms Maureen Linnane (in attendance).
Apologies: Professor G L Loftus.
Action Plan for CELT and the Director:
Following the recommendations from the Review Group and discussion at the Follow
Up meeting:
1. CELT (and the Director) will assert its leadership role and expertise in
teaching and learning issues across the University in a more directive way and
to shape policy and strategy. Subject to constraints on staffing and resources,
CELT will provide guidance on key aspects of pedagogy (including
educational technologies, curricular reform, teaching models, etc) through
publications, recommendations, policy statements, etc, as appropriate.
2. The Director will continue to work closely with the Council of Deans and the
Registrar to ensure that the University’s Learning, Teaching & Assessment
(LTA) Strategy is implemented and developed, with appropriate matters
directed to Academic Council. This will also be achieved via:
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Reconfiguring the existing committee of Vice-Deans for Teaching and
Learning (convened by the Director) to encompass representation from
Adult & Continuing Education, An t-Acadamh and the Library as an
institution-wide forum for the discussion of teaching matters which
supports and augments the work of the Council of Deans.
Routine monitoring and reporting on activities such as workshops,
enrolment on professional development courses, etc, and working with
the Institutional Research Office in the development and recording of
appropriate KPIs for CELT’s operations.
3. CELT will revise its internal organisational structure to respond to current
staffing and resource levels, suggestions from the Review Group and to
increase efficiency and organisational simplicity. In addition:
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CELT will work with relevant university offices on financial planning
and appropriate costing, staffing and budget models, but will ensure
that crude models of service charging which would impact on the
uptake and use of its facilities and resources will not be pursued.
CELT will ensure that the skill-sets of individual members of staff are
appropriately used and cooperation and teamwork will continue to be
supported across the range of responsibilities and services.
CELT will ensure that there is a clear understanding by the user
communities as to who are the appropriate contacts and what the
procedures are for requesting support for specific queries.
An integrated approach to curricular reform and the support of high
quality teaching and learning will be enhanced by linking the various
strands of CELT activity (including CKI and ALIVE) into a coherent,
team-based structure, engaging pro-actively with Schools and Colleges
on an ongoing basis.
The roles of the Assistant Director and the Director will be examined
to enable the Review Group’s recommendation that the Director is
better able to devote more time to strategic/policy level developments
in the University.
This revised structure and listing of key responsibilities will be completed by
end March 2010
4. The Centre’s draft Strategic Plan will be revised in light of the feedback from
the Review Group and other recent changes in resourcing and prioritisation
arising from the University’s new institutional Strategic Plan and wider
developments in the higher education landscape nationally. The revised,
simplified plan will be completed by end Match 2010.
5. CELT will endeavour to raise awareness of the extent of its research activities
and continue to pursue its record of publications and engagement in relevant
fields, building capacity through its research committee and research group.
The withdrawal of the additional lectureship and diminished scope for
associated funding in the near future, along with pressures of our mainstream
service provision, place real limits on what can be achieved, but the
intellectual stimulation of research and scholarly activity is of great benefit to
many CELT staff and one which is considered an essential part of the CELT
ethos.
6. The Centre will provide a summary guide on the range of possible student
feedback mechanisms and work with the Vice-Deans, Colleges and Schools to
review the extent of uptake of each of these across the institution. This guide
and associated training resources will be completed by February 2010 and
made available to all staff.
Action Plan for University Management:
1. The Registrar and Deans of Colleges through Heads of Schools will encourage
academic staff (including those who may not have engaged in teaching-related
training in the past) to participate in CELT activities.
2. All Schools will have feedback mechanisms in place where feedback is
embedded, useful and relevant, rather than simply an administrative exercise.
Issues pertaining to access to the results, potential uses, etc, will be resolved
by the appropriate bodies across the university including Heads of School,
Deans and others.
3. The University will ensure that the academic promotions process does in
practice result in sufficient recognition and reward of high quality teaching
and that such is communicated to academic staff in order to change any
perception that research performance is the over-riding criterion.
4. To consider that the Research Committee or similar bodies include
representation of the Director (or appropriate representative) in order to
promote stronger synergies between the research and teaching missions of the
institution. Given the focus on the impact of research on teaching and the
undergraduate experience in recent funding calls (eg PRTLI), as well as the
growth in postgraduate programmes that blend taught and research
components, such a development will demonstrate internally and externally
NUI Galway’s commitment to a model of academic practice that sees research
and teaching as deeply interconnected.
5. The Registrar recognises that the resource base and staffing complement of
CELT needs be prioritised and expects more flexibility in the near future, in
relation to the filling of vacant posts. It is agreed that recent issues and
pending issues with regards staffing, cover during leave, etc, threaten to
undermine the quality of support which CELT can offer where the growth in
demand cannot be met by reduction in resources, particularly where the
quality of teaching and student engagement is vital to the new Strategic Plan.
Approved by: Director of CELT, Dr Iain McLaren, 28th February 2010
Approved by: Registrar, Professor Jim Ward, 5th March 2010
(on behalf of all Deans and Heads under his office)
Dr David O’Sullivan
Director of Quality
Finalised: 5th March 2010