Name
Teaching Excellence Awards Submission Form
Dr Jerome de Groot
Role
Lecturer
School/ Office
School of Arts, Histories and Cultures
Faculty
Humanities
Email
Jerome.degroot@manchester.ac.uk
Telephone
0161 2753170
Name of Supporting Colleague
Professor Graham Ward
Student Facing
Yes
Category
Please indicate which category of award you feel is most
appropriate for your submission
X
Established Teaching Staff (General
Category)
Significant Innovation
Rising Star
Staff in a support role
Documents for submission
Two page personal statement
One page citation from Head of
School/ Office or appropriate senior
colleague
One page statement of student
evidence (not required for nonstudent facing staff)
Please indicate which documents you are submitting
Yes
Yes
Yes
Support arrangements
Did you use the Faculty mentor in
writing your case?
Yes
Did anyone else support you in writing
your case?
Head of Department, Prof. Patricia Duncker
What other support would have been
useful?
No
Do you agree to fulfil the
requirements of the Award if you are
successful? (please see guidance
notes for details)
Yes
s/enhancements/teachingawards/TEAs0910
I am Lecturer B in English and American Studies (EAS). Over my ten-year career I have taught in various
institutions in the UK and the ROI, gaining wide pedagogical experience. I am constantly innovating in my
teaching, working to harness new technology and pedagogical methodology whilst attending to the archival
riches of the University. I see my role in Teaching and Learning as innovator, manager, and facilitator.
Individual Excellence: innovation
I was the recipient of a Centre for Excellence in Enquiry Based Learning grant in 2008 for pedagogic
innovation at MA level. My project embedded EBL pedagogy into MA instruction with particular reference to
Special Collections at JRUL and Chetham’s Library (D). The grant enabled me to include postgraduate
students in the course as supervisors of projects; I was in charge of training, briefing and mentoring these
postgraduates. The project also enabled me to introduce some of the JRUL staff to EBL pedagogical models,
which has led to them regularly deploying them. This research-led use of EBL in the archive is new, as is the
deployment of EBL models in library-based courses (on research in EBL see Hutchings 2007, 21-22). I have
worked in partnership with the JRUL to incorporate Special Collections and EBL research-led teaching more
generally into the fabric of undergraduate courses, something that was not done within EAS hitherto. This has
been achieved for five courses from L1 to L3, with visits, EBL sessions, and workshops.
I am currently the academic lead on a JRUL project piloting the use of Ebook readers in the classroom.
In Semester 2, 2009/10, my ‘Milton 1608-2.0’ class will use Ebook readers. I have worked with Humanities
ICT and the JRUL in developing this provision. The impact of handheld portable reading technologies on
traditional text-based subjects within the Humanities has been tentatively considered by academics. There
has been little analysis outside of libraries of the ways in which emergent hardware systems will transform
and change curriculum delivery (Clark 2009, Levine-Clark 2007). This issue is acute for text-based subjects
(Hernon et al 2006). The deployment of Ebook readers on this module will highlight the problems, challenges
and potential of using the technology to deliver the course with wide-ranging implications and eventual
applications throughout the Humanities curriculum (see Corbeil et al 2008). Using new reading technology
within a canonical course will demonstrate just how far it is possible to penetrate traditional curriculum design
and delivery with such hardware. It will also demonstrate how this technology can interface with more
traditional, material, archival and textual approaches to teaching. Ebooks will impact on the ways we teach –
with implications for academic, library, and support staff – and affect the evolution of curricula. This project
allows all stakeholders in the development of e-learning hardware provision to develop strategies (E).
The Milton course is innovative in design, using Web 2.0 software including social networking and
bookmarking, blogging, slidecasting and podcasting as part of the teaching and assessment process. There is
a class blog and a wiki for materials and presentations (http://www.manchestermiltonwiki.wikispaces.com).
The course is entirely taught in the CEEBL, allowing video, internet, audio and multiple viewpoint teaching.
Vlogs and podcasts of class discussions are prepared and loaded online every week. The podcasts are
created in partnership with the students and circulated using the website and Apple iTunes, giving the
students Knowledge Transfer and e-citizenship experience. Students spend class time presenting the
outcomes of their own enquiries, and two weeks are spent entirely investigating original 1640s texts in the
JRUL and blogging about their finding, an application of EBL pedagogy unique to the course. Each of these
projects is developed individually, and enables the students to explore their own areas of interest –
personalising their learning experience whilst teaching them the key values and practices of humanities
research. The final coursework assessment consists of a portfolio including contributions to blogs, wiki and
other online discussions; students may also submit a podcast, vlog, slidecast or website as this latter part of
their assessment. The course integrates new pedagogical approaches and new technologies with more
traditional content. I seek through this module to consider the implementation of effective e-Learning
strategies and look to analyse and illustrate any potential problems with such delivery when applied to
mainstream, traditional text-based subjects, and to a canonical author such as Milton.
Raising the Profile of Excellence: facilitating access and managing teaching
I have been involved in widening participation initiatives, including teaching on the Manchester Access
Programme and for Courses for the Public. As a result Gemma Purang is in her third year of English Literature
and Linguistics at Manchester (B). With the Humanities WP Office I developed the Shakespeare Study Day for
post-16 students in February 2009 which will continue in 2010 (C). I recently applied for £400 from the
Aimhigher programme to enable the involvement of Key Stage 4 pupils in this day.
As Undergraduate Programme Director since January 2009 I have been directly responsible for the
development of learning and teaching policy at discipline level, and have input at School level. I have had a
major impact upon the ways in which EAS teaches, in particular through writing departmental policies on
s/enhancements/teachingawards/TEAs0910
Academic Advisement, Peer Observation, and GTA observing and mentoring where before there had been
none. I initiated and run the EAS T&L Forum; meetings have included briefings from JRUL and CEEBL that
have led to current curriculum developments regarding delivery and assessment at L3 in 2010/11. I run
focus groups with students at all levels relating to the degree structure and procedures, which enables us to
nuance and develop our provision, and initiated the EAS email newsletter which goes to every undergraduate
once a month. Both these strategies enable our students to feel a sense of ownership over their programme
of study (described as ‘great’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘useful’ in emails to me; our NSS score for Question 14 (‘Any
changes in the course or teaching have been communicated effectively’) rose by 15% from 2008 to 2009). I
am responsible for providing support, training, and feedback to our c.45 Graduate Teaching Assistants. I have
developed an entire programme of training for the GTAs, piloted in 08/09 and instituted formally in 09/10.
I am an academic lead on a Higher Education Academy (HEA) National Teaching Fellowship Scheme 2year project ‘HEARing student voices: developing the pedagogy to reflect achievements across the student
experience’, awarded £193,000 in 2009. I am part of the steering committee, and therefore contribute
expertise, strategic leadership, and experience as well as being involved in the practicalities. My involvement
demonstrates an interest in augmenting and improving the student experience, and a commitment to
exploring issues with potential for sector wide application.
I have provided leadership in national subject-specific pedagogic debates. I was an invited contributor
to ‘The First Year Experience of English’, a HEA English Subject Centre (ESC) conference at Keele University
(2007). I was asked to organise the HEA-funded national conference ‘Teaching Milton’ at Manchester in
2008. This was a conference devoted to sharing pedagogical practice and exploring teaching issues. I gave a
presentation on the use of EBL and e-technology in teaching, and wrote a short report for the Subject Centre
Magazine. The event was also recorded for their website. Colleagues across the community were energised by
the event (F). As a direct consequence of this meeting I convene ‘Team Milton’, an initiative undertaken with
the Universities of Exeter, Essex, Oxford and Manchester, with the input of the ESC, to share teaching
innovation. We are organising social networking collaboration between students and the exchanging of
teaching via video-conferencing this year. I have recently submitted a proposal to give a paper at the 2010
Digital Humanities conference entitled ‘Ebook readers and Web 2.0 in the Humanities classroom’ and I am
talking on this subject at another English Subject Centre day in March 2010 at UCLAN.
Developing Excellence and Innovation: personal development
My interest in e-learning and the archive was enhanced by attending the Royal Historical Society’s ‘Digital
Horizons’ seminar in 2007. Papers from the National Archives, British Library and other archival institutions
and their thoughts on the new ways in which information would be available, accessed, and circulated,
demonstrated to me the pressing need for the Humanities and the Academy to engage with new technologies,
software, and sources. The ways in which sources and information are presented are changing so fast we
need to find strategies to deal with this in a teaching and learning environment. This has led in part to the
various innovations listed above. I have collaborated in with my colleague Dr. Guyda Armstrong (Italian). We
put together a bid last year relating to embedding EBL pedagogy and Special Collections investigations in
Humanities programmes, although this was unsuccessful. This mutual learning experience has convinced us
of the need for further work developing and theorising the connections between the University archive,
student-centred learning, and new e-learning technologies.
Through my career I found that students often found it difficult to know exactly how to prepare for
their seminars. They particularly find the transition from didactic ‘A’ level teaching to University self-directed
learning. This fundamental confusion about the nature and content of the seminar was something also that I
observed when observing colleagues. English Literature seminars can tend to be one-dimensional, consisting
of linear development of argument and conceptual knowledge. I became concerned that I was not addressing
all my students’ learning needs in using this traditional model. In 2006 I introduced structured worksheets to
my classes which allow students to prepare for the session. The worksheets direct the students to further
reading, allow them to prepare written thoughts, and enable less active learners to engage with debate and
dialogue. These worksheets allow me to attempt to more efficiently address different types of learning styles
within the seminar. They were praised in feedback, and allow coherent preparation (A).
I realised that I wanted to expand my knowledge of University- and Sector-wide issues, so I am taking
part as a mentee in the Manchester Gold Mentoring Programme. My mentor is Professor William Boyle
(Education), who has particularly enabled me to think about conceptual issues relating to assessment and my
own career development. This has been an excellent experience, obliging me to consider wider issues relating
to teaching and learning. I am also engaging with the wider University community as I have been asked to
lead a Faculty Teaching and Learning forum next year on the use of Ebook readers in the classroom.
s/enhancements/teachingawards/TEAs0910
Student responses to my teaching and stakeholder comment (with cross references to teaching statement)
Student Feedback (A)
My courses, teaching style, and commitment have been consistently highly praised in student feedback, with
comments ranging from appreciation of the range of the course (‘excellent teaching and resources – broad,
engaging’, L3 Historical Novel, 2007), to quality of instruction (‘Brilliant lectures every week consistently!’),
and to teaching innovation (‘Jerome de Groot’s worksheets were especially approved’, both latter comments
relate to L2 Shakespeare, 2009, 2006). A colleague observing a lecture noted ‘You have a lively style, and
managed to convey complex ideas in a simple way, without reducing them to cliché’. Mancunion Student
Direct, the University student newspaper, called me a ‘popular lecturer’ in a report in 2009; I regularly receive
emails from students with comments such as ‘I really enjoyed the seminar today!’ (Historical Novel 2009).
Evaluation scores
I have consistently been assessed as an excellent teacher in feedback as demonstrated by Unit Evaluation
Questionnaires. In 2006/07 my course unit, The Historical Novel (with a 92% response rate) had an
exceptionally high mean score of 1.75 out of 2 for Question 1 (‘The teaching I received was excellent’; the
SAHC average was 1.36). For several other questions relating to teaching I had scores of 1.73 and above (Qs
2, 9, 10, 11; SAHC: 1.34, 1.16, 1.39, 1.15). In 2007/08 the mean score for Question 1 was 1.55 (SAHC:
1.38); I had a high of 1.82 for Q 6 (relating to approachability of the tutor; SAHC: 1.51). In 2006/07 I scored
poorly on online resources (0.42; SAHC: 0.41), and took the time to create a new Blackboard site for the
course, reflected in the response to Q 3 increasing to 1.41 in 2007/08 (SAHC: 0.36). As part of the Strategic
Review of Teaching and Learning, the Faculty of Humanities looked at best practice examples of teaching and
learning across the Faculty, and included my course due to excellent student feedback in 2008/09 (with a
mean score of 1.5 for Qs1-8 and a 76% response rate); my score for Q 1 rose to 1.8 in this year’s responses.
Email from Gemma Purang about the Manchester Access Programme (B)
‘the MAP scheme was an excellent program which inspired me to apply to Manchester. The incentives which
the scheme offered were excellent and the opportunity to work closely with an academic tutor in the field of
our choice allowed the scheme to give students a taste of independent work and university life’.
Shakespeare Study Day (C)
Feedback on this day from School teachers focussed on the ‘excellent’ teaching and the ‘atmosphere of
intellectual inquiry […] students were unafraid to speak up and discuss ideas’.
Written Statements from students on the ‘Material and Textual Cultures course’ (D)
When asked about their experience, students on the ‘Material and Textual Cultures’ course had a range
responses, including their valuing the chance to work in the University’s Special Collections:
There were many very interesting debates in the seminars, and this was neatly combined with
concrete and detailed analysis of specific texts. I especially enjoyed working with the medieval texts
from the John Ryland’s Library collection. To turn the pages of a beautiful 15th century copy of Dante
and Petrarch’s Sonnets was an amazing experience.
The combination of critical-thinking seminars based on scholarly literature and/or source excerpts
with hands-on workshops was particularly well done and provided a wide range of experiences of
different sources in various settings under the tuition of diverse specialists
The students valued the combination of archive and theoretical work (enshrined in the EBL pedagogy
underpinning the course), and responded favourably to the demands made of them intellectually in a more
sophisticated fashion due to this hybrid delivery style. Undergraduates responded in official feedback to the
opportunity to visit Special Collections: ‘Deansgate library was excellent’ (L3 Early Modern Identities, 2009).
Martin Snelling, JRUL E-Learning Support Manager (E)
On the Ebook project: the ‘point of the experiment is to see what changes/effects we find’.
Dr Sharon Achinstein, St. Edmunds Hall, Oxford (F)
s/enhancements/teachingawards/TEAs0910
‘Many thanks for such a stimulating day – I learned so much and have so many new questions to think about’.
s/enhancements/teachingawards/TEAs0910
Works cited
Clark, Dennis T. (2009) ‘Lending Kindle e-book readers: first results from the Texas A&M University project’,
Collection Building, 28: 4, 146-9
Hernon, P., Hopper, R., Leach, M. R., Saunders, L. L. & Zhang, J. (2006) ‘E-book use by students:
Undergraduates in economics, literature and nursing’, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33:1, pp. 3-13
Parry, Ross (2007) Re-coding the Museum: Digital Heritage and the Technologies of Change, London
Routledge
Levine-Clark, Michael (2007), ‘Electronic Books and the Humanities: A Survey at the University of Denver’,
Collection Building, 26: 1, pp. 7-14
Hutchings, William (2007) Enquiry-Based Learning: Definitions and Rationale,
http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/ceebl/resources/papers/hutchings2007_definingebl.pdf
Corbeil, Joseph Rene, Wilson Butler, Janice, Valdes-Corbeil, Maria Elena (2008) ‘Faculty, are you ready for
mobile learning? E-learners say they are geared up and ready to engage’, International Journal of Mobile
Learning and Organisation, 2:1, pp. 48 - 61
s/enhancements/teachingawards/TEAs0910