Learning and Teaching Conference 2012: keynote plenary
Newcastle University's mission is 'to deliver teaching and facilitate learning of the highest quality'
and our existing LTSE Strategy sets out our aspirations to enrich students' experience of higher
education. The keynote session was an opportunity to reflect on our existing LTSE Strategy and
discuss how best to update it as we move towards 2012/13.
This document summarises the plenary at the end of the keynote session on Friday 6th July 2012.
Groups of staff were invited to discuss the future of learning and teaching in the context of each of
six strategic prompts, and to feed back their key points.
Education for life
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What does the question mean – is this life-long learning, or preparing for your life? Both?
Producing independent learners
Recognising the talents students arrive with, and further encouraging them
Encouraging collaborative working
Engaging with alumni through provision of professional development courses – this is hard
when our graduates often disperse to other parts of the country
Learning another language
Learning emotional intelligence, preparing for working in business
Learning to receive and to give constructive feedback to peers
Learning how to learn
Information literacy
Being able to identify the value of different sources of information
Making greater use of sending students on placements, whether for a year or a semester or
over the summer, or intercalating programmes
Issues around professional and personal ethics, and how students learn to
understand/develop these principles
Educating/up-skilling teaching staff. Life-long learning for us, too.
Student-centred approach
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Student-centred learning
o Problem-based learning where students come up with problems and work with
teachers to find solutions
o Balancing core taught hours and other ‘just in time’ student-led teaching
o Communication and evaluation during modules, not just at the end
o What’s the value of face-to-face lectures versus other face-to-face teaching time?
Are lectures just a recorded teaching resource?
Student communities
o Helping students run student societies based on their programmes, to cement this
programme identity. Helping students find such communities in other contexts
o Improving how we bring students from different halls together with the main
campus, and with each other. Transport links are key here
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Improving how personal tutoring arrangements and office hours are publicised to
students
More student-centred spaces
o Having places for students to go and eat their own food
o Making use of external spaces – markets, open air performances
o Wifi/mobile access to teaching/learning resources
Value diversity
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What is diversity and what does it mean?
Different things to different people: cultural diversity, ranges in skills and abilities, physical
dis/abilities
Do we know enough about how to work with people from different backgrounds?
Skills of how these different people can working with each other
Skills, not limitations, in each group
Street food events for the whole campus
SCT events being more prevalent in small group work
Global citizenship
Research-informed experience
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Getting all students to do research at all levels in all programmes
Students need to learn research skills, embedded in their curriculum. Then they’re better
able to evaluate whether the teaching they experience is research-informed
Do students choose NU because of its research reputation or because of Bigg Market drinks
prices?
Do students come to be taught by famous research stars? Should programmes be more
honest about who will be here to teach students, and that PGR students are also experts
Ditch all teaching outside your research expertise?
Ditch all textbooks and write your own based on what you know about?
Engender a research culture that students are actively involved in from the early stages of
their university experience
Give students an induction-phase tour of research labs, so they’re aware of what goes on
there even if they’re not yet directly involved in it
PGR support for UG programmes
No lying to students about who‘ll be teaching them
Support for employability
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If we want students to engage with the idea of employability it needs to be made explicit in
our programmes: communication skills, IT skills… engaging with employers helps us keep up
to date on what these desirable skills are, then they need embedding in our curricula
Importance of languages for employability. How proficient should our students be in other
languages, and how feasible is it to achieve this?
Accreditation of courses/engagement with industry
Employing practitioners as teachers
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Opportunities to experiences different cultures (here and through international exchanges),
to experience what it is to work cross-culturally
Can we use more global, not only European/UK, examples in our teaching
Importance of global networking presence – do our students have the skills to keep up to
date on such things?
Establishing more reciprocal arrangements for teachers (abroad and/or in industry)
Giving LOTS of feedback… will students get so much feedback when they’re in a job?
Reviewing how we deliver feedback and get students to engage with it
A fully rounded, enjoyable and formative student experience
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What’s the question?
What does ‘enjoyable’ mean – consumer satisfaction or short and long-term fulfilment?
Building community identity, induction into a diverse student population. More peer
mentoring/exchanges between students from different campuses
Cooperation between services/Academic Units – use of pop-up and informal spaces
Cultivating centres of excellence in not-only-academic areas
Working with employers towards tailored provision across a number of different modules
Personalised learning paths: project years, more options, supernumerary (non-contributory
but credit-bearing) modules/projects. Pick’n’mix approach to education – to the extent of a
Major/Minor programme model?
Less ‘boring’ or dry teaching. More relevant and professional delivery
Should we differentiate between research/teaching career paths?