Handbook for Learning
and Teaching Review
Team Members
2015/16
1
Contents
Purpose of this handbook and LTR training
4
The Purpose of LTR
6
Key features of the process
11
Team Roles and Responsibilities
18
Managing the LTR effectively
27
How to ask questions
30
How to make commendations and
recommendations
33
2
Contents (cont)
Appendices:
1. List of key documents about the LTR process
2. Suggested LTR Review Visit Schedule (1 day and
potential variations)
3. LTR Timeline: The Panel Perspective
4. LTR Timeline: The Subject Area Perspective
5. Sample SWOT
6. Recommendations exercise
7. Previous examples of exemplary practice
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Purpose of the Training and Handbook
After reading this handbook and/or attending training, LTR team
members should be able to:
• Articulate the purpose of LTR
• Appreciate what the key features of the process are
• Understand how LTRs are planned, and, with support, how to
carry out and follow up an LTR
• Understand the roles of the team members, including the
Secretary and Chair
• Understand how to use the SWOT and other evidence to prepare
and ask appropriate questions
• Recognise the value of recommendations, commendations and
exemplary practice, how to identify them and how to word them
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Accentuate the positive
• We can learn more from what works well than from
what works badly
• What works well in one context can often be transferred
to another
• Messages that are constructive and positive in tone are
likely to be better received
• Makes the event a more positive experience for
everyone
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The Purpose of LTR
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Institutional responsibility
• The University has primary responsibility for the
standards of awards made in its name and for providing
the learning opportunities and experiences necessary to
enable students to achieve those standards
• Design of policy guided by the Expectation and
indicators of sound practice within Section B8 of the
QAA’s UK Quality Code on programme monitoring and
review
• Mechanisms for annual and periodic review: Annual
Monitoring and Review (AMR) and Learning and
Teaching Review (LTR)
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QAA requirements – Chapter B8
• Effective, regular and systematic processes must exist
for the monitoring and review of programmes
• Deliberate steps must be taken to use the outcomes of
programme monitoring and review processes for
enhancement purposes
• Processes, roles and responsibilities for programme
monitoring and review must be clearly defined and
communicated
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How LTR can add value:
• Self-reflection on whether programmes remain current
and are effectively taught
• External and student input
• Constructive and positive engagement
• Opportunity to bring matters to the attention of Faculty
and University
• Highlighting areas of exemplary practice
9
Outcomes of the LTR process
• A positive experience!
• Confirmation that standards are secure and that there is
a high quality learning experience
• Re-approval of degree programmes for a further six year
period
• Formal report considered by FLTSEC and TPSC
• Recommendations to assist the subject area with
continuous improvement of provision
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LTR – Key Features
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The key features of LTR
• Development-led process that encourages reflection,
the enhancement of learning and teaching processes,
and the dissemination of exemplary practice
• Focus on quality assurance and quality enhancement –
QA summary, QE and Technology-Enhanced Learning
summary, and Library report
• A Review Team visit to the academic unit (approximately
one day)
• The involvement of a student representative and an
external subject specialist on the panel
• Role of the LTR Chair as a ‘critical friend’
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The key features of LTR
• Focus on centrally-held QA and QE information
• Academic units asked to produce a SWOT analysis
• Variable lengths of review visits, up or down from one
day and depending on a number of parameters
• SWOT
5 pages maximum, providing overview and then
identifying key Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats
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Reading a SWOT
• Overview page: key information, including unit history, student and staff
numbers
• Strengths and Weaknesses are internal to the unit, Faculty and/or
University
• Opportunities and Threats are external (industry-specific, funding shifts,
etc)
• Look for supporting evidence: can you find evidence in the documentation
to back up claims made in the SWOT? Would you interpret that evidence
differently?
• Consider the impact of the claims – what is the potential effect on the
subject area?
• Consider the suggestions made by the unit on what will be done (either to
build on a strength/opportunity or react to a weakness/threat) – are these
realistic? Will they be effective?
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Exercise One
• Read through the sample SWOT (Appendix 5)
• What information can you gather from a SWOT? How
might you develop questions based on the SWOT?
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Additional Documentation
• QA Summary – prepared by the LTR Secretary based on all available QA
documentation (contains overview of Quality Assurance information)
• QE & TEL summary – prepared by LTDS staff and fed into by the subject area
(contains overview of the unit’s use of TEL, including ReCAP and ePortfolio, as well as
information on learning & teaching enhancement activities)
• Library report – prepared by the relevant liaison librarian (contains overview of
acquisitions and collections, plus information on engagement activities in the subject
area)
• An Educational Partnership report (if relevant)
• Access to selected Blackboard modules
• QA PDF – contains all subject-level, Faculty-level, and University-level QA
documentation in one PDF (eg external examiners’ reports, programme regulations,
Board of Studies minutes, NSS results). The PDF is searchable and bookmarked so
that you can easily find specific documents, and a full list of expected documents can
be found in the LTR policy.
16
How to Use Additional Documentation:
• Not every panel member needs to read every word.
Use the summaries and SWOT to target your review.
Consider assigning tasks to specific panel members
• Use the documentation to find evidence for and more
information about items mentioned in the SWOT
• Key documents: External Examiner’s reports, student
handbooks, Board of Studies minutes, SSC minutes,
survey results
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LTR Team Roles and
Responsibilities
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What does a team consist of?
• Chair – a UG or PG Dean from same Faculty or a
designated nominee
• An academic from another Faculty
• An academic from the same Faculty, but from a different
School
• A student rep nominated by the Students’ Union
• An external expert nominated by the subject
• LTR Secretary from the Learning and Teaching
Development Service
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Shared Team Responsibilities:
• Reading the SWOT, QA summary, QA & TEL summary, and library
report before the pre-meeting
• Reviewing QA evidence as needed before the visit (PDF)
• Pre-visit meeting (may not include the external) and dinner
• Agreeing questions and schedule for visit
• Debriefing after meetings on the visit day
• Agreeing exemplary practice, commendations and
recommendations
• Commenting of the draft report
See Appendix 3 for a ‘swim lane’ of the panel’s responsibilities
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Role of the External Member:
• Only subject specialist in the team
• Plays key role in assessing curriculum, standards,
currency, compliance with benchmarks and PSRB
requirements, and comparability of provision with that
of other institutions
• Vitally important and required by QAA
• Often leads on curriculum issues and questions during
the visit day
21
Role of the Chair
• Informal liaison with Secretary and subject area, including
providing feedback on a draft SWOT
• Chairing the pre-visit meeting
• Ensuring that questions and schedule are agreed
• Keeping to schedule and keeping focused
• Managing the debriefing after each meeting, so that the key
points are recorded
• Providing oral feedback at the end of the visit
• Final say on the draft report
22
Role of the Student Member
• A full member of the LTR team
• Selected from another subject area, and not there to
represent the students in the subject
• Participates in pre-visit meeting and dinner
• May lead on questions about student experience
23
Role of the Secretary: Before the visit
• Make arrangements and liaise with the subject area –
including over the appointment of external and
deadlines for documentation
• Provides feedback on draft versions of the SWOT
analysis (with the Chair)
• Completes the QA summary
• Agrees the questions and meeting schedule with the
review team
• Negotiates with the subject area over the schedule and
other logistical arrangements
24
Role of the Secretary: During the visit
• Takes notes during sessions
• Helps the team to debrief after meetings and records
agreed key points
• Works with the chair and review team to agree
exemplary practice, recommendations and feedback
25
Role of the Secretary: After the visit
• Drafts the report and liaises with team members to agree draft
• Sends draft report to academic unit for factual checking
• Sends final report to subject, TPSC and relevant FLTSEC
secretary
• Meets with academic unit to discuss potential responses to
recommendations (with Chair)
26
Managing the LTR Effectively
27
Using scare time profitably
• The visit has to include time for discussion and panel
reflection as well as for meetings
• Questions has to be very strategic and focused on the
most important issues emerging from the team’s review
of prior documentation
• Additional questions may emerge from the meeting
with students, and prepared questions may be
answered through discussion – be flexible
See Appendix 2 for a sample visit day schedule
28
Preparing and asking questions efficiently
• Meetings and questions should be agreed in advance,
including: a chair for the meeting (can rotate around
panel), leads for each question, topics to pursue and
rough time scales
• Sometimes you have to leave out a planned question
because time runs out, so it is important to know what
matters most
• Session chair needs to keep team and interviewees
focused and prevent digression
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How to ask questions
• Your questions should have a clarity of purpose: What
do you want to find out?
• “Etiquette” of questioning
• Structuring lines of questioning:
• What are you trying to do?
• Why are you doing it?
• How are you doing it?
• Why is that the best way to do it?
• How do you know it works?
• How can you improve it?
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Exercise 2
In the meeting with students, concerns were raised by
some PGT student representatives about their
experience of personal tutoring. They indicated that
they had raised this at the Student Staff Committee but
had not received a response. This does not seem to
support the assertion made by the School that in the
last three years they have reformed personal tutoring
and have fully implemented the new student
representation policy.
In groups, construct a line of questioning that explores
this with members of staff
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After each meeting: Follow up
• After each meeting, the team should agree a small
number of bullet points relating to the key issues
identified in the session
• Be on the look-out for commendations and
recommendations
• Decide if any questions need to be revised or added
before the next meeting
32
Commendations and
Recommendations
• What is exemplary?
• What is a commendation?
• Recommendations
• SMAR(T) goals
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Exercise 3
• Using Appendix 6, draft a recommendation for each of
the scenarios listed. Where you feel that you would
need more information, note this.
• Using Appendix 7, review the citations of exemplary
practice from previous reviews. Which examples work
best as ‘exemplary’ practice and why?
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And finally…
….thank you for attending this workshop
• Questions
• Contacts
• Feedback
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Key Documents
• The key documents are in the LTR section of the Quality
and Standards Handbook:
• Learning and Teaching Review - Learning & Teaching
Development Service - Newcastle University
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