ULTSEC Innovation Fund 2014: list of funded projects
Each year ULTSEC makes Innovation Fund awards to teams and/or individuals for projects designed to support the student learning experience. This
document gives details of the fourteen Innovation Fund 2014 projects funded by a panel chaired by Suzanne Cholerton, PVC for Learning and Teaching.
Congratulations to all the successful project teams.
Six projects were funded under the priority theme of Assessment and feedback. In alphabetical order by Faculty/Unit these projects are:
Project team
Title of project
Summary of project
Priority theme and
additional themes
Ruth.valentine
@ncl.ac.uk
(FMS – Dental
School);
Simon.cotterill
@ncl.ac.uk
(FMS – MSED)
Ensuring fairness in
group work
assessment: an
online tool to
facilitate interaction
and monitor group
meetings
Teamwork is an essential transferable skill that all graduates need to develop.
However, ensuring fair and transparent assessment of group work can be challenging
when awarding individual marks. To address this we will develop a facility for groups
to record meetings and discussions, building on ePortfolio and with significant student
input into its design. This will enable tutors and peer mentors to monitor individual
and group participation during the assignment period, giving potential to intervene
for non-contributors. This will be piloted in summative group work in Stage 1
Dentistry, with the intention that this could be used by other programmes.
Assessment and feedback
clare.guilding@
ncl.ac.uk,
david.kennedy
@ncl.ac.uk,
richard.price@n
cl.ac.uk (FMS –
MBBS)
Piloting and
development of an
end of year appraisal
scheme which
enables students to
reflect on academic
performance,
receive feedback and
set personal
development goals
for the coming year.
The MBBS programme runs an annual end of year student appraisal. While students
value the opportunity for one-to-one feedback on academic progress with a senior
staff member, satisfaction with the current system is low. We have conducted a
review of the process and based on results from a questionnaire survey of all students
and involved staff aim to pilot and evaluate a new appraisals system. This system will
be a two-way discussion including a reflection by the student on their academic
progress, feedback from the academic staff on aspects of their performance, and
agreement of academic goals to take forward.
Assessment and feedback
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jon.haines@ncl.
ac.uk (HaSS –
Education
Communication
and Language
Sciences);
p.t.miller@ncl.a
c.uk (EdD
student, HaSS –
Education
Communication
and Language
Sciences
How can video
enhanced
observation improve
student and staff
interaction and
practice? A crossdiscipline
exploration of
tagged video as a
shared focus for
reflection.
Video enhanced observation of practice is introduced to assist assessment and
feedback of students on Secondary PGCE school placements and the Speech and
Language Therapy clinical placements. A video app to tag practice is used to record
live mentor responses to novice performance before shared analysis occurs in
subsequent feedback sessions. Students and lecturers are trained on the app and
then invited to co-create relevant tags that would aid with improving practice, before
analysing and developing the process of evaluation as mediated in this way. Findings
will support roll out of this innovative assessment and feedback mechanism to other
fields.
Assessment and feedback,
Strengthening the
relationship between
research and teaching.
christopher.jon
es@ncl.ac.uk,
catrin.huber@n
cl.ac.uk (HaSS –
Fine Art, School
of Arts and
Cultures)
Raising assessment
awareness in the
Fine Art studio
This project addresses the widely acknowledged issue of poor student understanding
of assessment in creative subjects (Vaughan & Yorke, 2009 & GLAD report, 2012). Fine
Art students’ latent perception of subjectivity as the basis of assessment is reinforced
when transparency and awareness of assessment methods are lacking. Innovatively
the project proposes forming a student-staff partnership to provide a student
perspective on current assessment methods, to direct the design of a progressive
programme of practical assessment awareness workjshops tailored to each year stage
of BA Fine Art and to define a new role of assessment awareness tutor responsible for
that programme.
Assessment and feedback
2
michael.jin@ncl
.ac.uk,
t.w.wang@new
castle.ac.uk
(HaSS – School
of Modern
Languages,
Chinese
Translating and
Interpreting)
Writing as thinking:
note-taking training
in consecutive
interpreting
empowered by
digital pens and
collaborative
learning with the online annotator, NB
Effective note-taking (NT) in a lecture helps students focus, remember, and organize
information better, which equally applies to NT in Consecutive Interpreting (CI). But
NT in CI is conducted under greater time pressure due to the immediacy of
interpreters’ oral translation into a target language following a stretch of speech in a
source language. This also creates challenges in CI training: first, beginners have great
difficulties in deciding the content and the best timing for NT; second, traditional penand-pencil notes show severe limitation in offering timely and reliable feedback. This
project combines computer-assisted collaborative learning and digital pens to tackle
those inseparable challenges.
Assessment and feedback,
Strengthening the
relationship between
research and teaching
Catherine.dougl
as@ncl.ac.uk,
Fernando.Damata@ncl.ac.uk
,
Helen.adamson
@ncl.ac.uk
Steven.hall@ncl
.ac.uk (SAgE –
Agriculture
Food and Rural
Development);
bill.foster@ncl.
ac.uk (SAgE –
Mathematics
and Statistics),
christian.perfec
t@ncl.ac.uk
(SAgE –
Mathematics
and Statistics)
Feedback on the
feedback –
contextualizing
maths feedback by
degree subject: a
pilot in Animal
Science
The School of Maths and Stats, together with Maths-Aid, has generic numeracy
support resources available to students of all disciplines across the University. They
are a good example of timeliness of feedback, but we have no feedback on the
feedback. How useful is it to non-maths students? This project engages an
interdisciplinary team of Animal Science and Maths students to reflect on the
feedback available in e.g. Numbas, The Maths Suppport Wiki and Maths-Aid, and to
develop and pilot subject-specific examples to increase engagement with this
feedback. This will be evaluated by the next cohort of Stage 1 Animal Scientists.
Assessment and feedback
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Five projects were funded under the priority theme of Diversifying our portfolio of programmes. In alphabetical order by Faculty/ Unit these projects are:
Project team
Title of project
Summary of project
Priority theme and
additional themes
Jacqueline.richa
rds@ncl.ac.uk,
Monique.riviera
@ncl.ac.uk
(SAgE –
Agriculture
Food and Rural
Development,
Singapore)
ruth.connolly@
ncl.ac.uk,
stacy.gillis@ncl.
ac.uk (HaSS –
English
Literature
Language and
Linguistics)
Developing a taught
“Transition” module
for BSc Food and
Human Nutrition
students based in
Singapore.
This project aims to facilitate a more effective “transition” from a Singapore
“Polytechnic” to Stage 2 of a UK “University” degree programme focussing on the BSc
Food and Human Nutrition programme delivered in Singapore. In particular, focusing
on the perceived gaps in skills, knowledge and cultural factors that have been
identified by students, staff and the external examiner alike. The project aims to
identify and address the gaps, initially by understanding what the gaps are,
developing materials to address the gaps and delivering those materials within a
credit bearing module.
Diversifying our portfolio of
programmes, Strengthening
the relationship between
research and teaching, and
Assessment and feedback.
Making the archive
public: digital skills,
research and public
engagement
Diversifying our portfolio of
programmes, Strengthening
the relationship between
research and teaching
Emily.Clough@
ncl.ac.uk,
Derek.Bell@ncl.
ac.uk (HaSS –
GPS, Politics)
Community-based
research in Politics
Sandra.salin@n
cl.ac.uk,
Damien.hall@n
Better French living
through the internet
and linguistics
This project brings senior BA and MA students together with professional archivists
and librarians from Northumberland Archives and the Literary and Philosophical
Society, and university staff specialising in the editing and digitisation of documents
and images. It will train its participants to develop curated online spaces that can
stimulate multiple forms of interaction with an archival collection, using open-source
platforms like Omeka, Viewshare and Tumblr, and techniques such as crowd-sourcing.
As they develop these spaces, students will acquire and practise archival, digital and
public engagement skills, and develop the intellectual and creative capacities needed
to communicate arts and humanities research to wider audiences.
We are introducing a new final year research module in the Politics unit, offered as an
alternative to the traditional dissertation. Students will develop and address an indepth research question related to issues of fairness and justice in the Newcastle
community with the input of policy practitioners and community organisations. They
will present their final findings to these organisations at the end of the year, helping
them develop employability skills and network contacts. Innovation Fund money will
be used to fund workshops with community practitioners and deploy a studentdeveloped survey to residents of the region.
The main objective of this pilot project is to collaborate with Stage 2, 3 and 4 French
language students in the development of online resources which would be specifically
designed to help Stage 2 students prepare for the time they will spend in a
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Strengthening the
relationship between
research and teaching,
Assessment and feedback
Strengthening the
relationship between
research and teaching,
cl.ac.uk (HaSS –
School of
Modern
Languages,
French)
Alton.horsfall@
ncl.ac.uk,
Jonathon.goss
@ncl.ac.uk
(SAgE –
Electrical and
Electronic
Engineering);
Jarka.glassey@
ncl.ac.uk (SAgE
- Chemical
Engineering and
Advanced
Materials)
francophone country during their Year Abroad (Stage 3). The secondary aim is to pilot
an initiative that will narrow the gap existing between research-based content
modules and Language modules in the School of Modern Languages by integrating
French Linguistics material and content into French Language learning and teaching.
pReCap for
supporting the
teaching of
Engineering
Improving student experience in the context of increasing student numbers, the
diversification of student cohorts and the increase in various modes of programme
delivery can at least partially be addressed by a more effective utilisation of education
technology, such as pReCap (prerecorded targeted material in podcast form) in the
delivery of core knowledge. However, important issues of ensuring student
engagement with material, in particular where pReCap is a part of face-to-face
delivery, remain to be resolved. This proposal aims to investigate the most effective
methods of incorporating pReCap material into face to face and distance learning in
engineering subject areas.
Language Skills
development;
internationalisation of the
student experience;
developing the cultural
awareness of students;
student engagement and
peer learning; knowledge
sharing and supporting the
wider academic community.
Diversifying our portfolio of
programmes, Strengthening
the relationship between
research and teaching
Three projects were funded under the priority theme of Strengthening the relationship between research and teaching. In alphabetical order by
Faculty/Unit these projects are:
Project team
Title of project
Summary of project
Priority theme and
additional themes
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Two linked projects supporting postgraduates who teach, linking school-specific support with the initial, mandatory, ILTHE workshop as part of the University’s
UKPSF CPD scheme:
Peter.hopkins@
ncl.ac.uk,
simon.tate@ncl
.ac.uk (HaSS –
GPS,
Geography);
Sean.gill@ncl.ac
.uk (PhD
student, HaSS –
GPS,
Geography);
rosalind.beaum
ont@newcastle
.ac.uk (Staff
Development
Unit)
Creating an
interactive online
resource for
Postgraduate
Teaching Assistants
(PGTAs) who lead
undergraduate
seminars
This project aims to create a set of online resources that PGTAs can access in order to
assist them when they are tasked with leading seminars for undergraduate students.
The resources will include videos, information sheets and top tips for enhancing the
student seminar experience. There will also be an interactive element where PGTAs
could share experiences/views on particular topics. PGTAs will be informed about it at
their induction, invited and encouraged to enrol onto the it and will be encouraged to
use it at follow-up monthly meetings of PGTAs. It will be further promoted through
DPDs and PG Directors.
alison.graham
@ncl.ac.uk,
gordon.port@n
cl.ac.uk,
heather.martin
@ncl.ac.uk
(SAgE – Biology)
Encouraging student
interaction in
practical classes
through tailored
demonstrator
training
This project seeks to facilitate an improved relationship between undergraduate
students and their postgraduate demonstrators. Undergraduate students often
perceive a lack of consistency in the support they receive in class and in the feedback
they receive on assessed work from demonstrators. Equally, demonstrators report
that they often feel unprepared for their role. Both student groups, and academic
staff, have a lot gain from a closer working relationship. We aim to survey all
stakeholders before developing a tailored set of training materials and guidelines.
The ultimate aim is to engender a more productive learning environment for
undergraduate and postgraduate students alike.
One University-wide project led by the Newcastle University Teaching and Scholarship Forum:
Strengthening the
relationship between
research and teaching,
Assessment and feedback
sara.marsham
@ncl.ac.uk
(SAgE, Marine
The NUTS and bolts
of learning and
teaching: a staff-
Strengthening the
relationship between
research and teaching,
We will organise and host a workshop aimed at strengthening the relationship
between research in learning and teaching, and teaching at Newcastle University by
asking students directly which issues in learning and teaching are most important to
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Strengthening the
relationship between
research and teaching
Science and
Technology);
jeanchristophe.pen
et@ncl.ac.uk
(HaSS – School
of Modern
Languages,
French);
vanessa.armstr
ong@ncl.ac.uk
(FMS –
Biomedical
Sciences)
student partnership
at Newcastle
University
them. As the workshop will be delivered through the NUTS Forum, the event is crossFaculty and multidisciplinary. In addition, a key aspect of the project is that the NUTS
Forum will develop from being principally staff-led to integrating students as partners
in research in learning and teaching by making their voices heard.
Innovation Fund information is online: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/quilt/resources/excellence/innovationfund.htm
Contact for Innovation Fund queries: lydia.wysocki@ncl.ac.uk
23rd May 2014
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