NTFS Project
Progress Report
Please complete the sections below. If you have any queries regarding the completion of the
forms please contact the NTFS project strand Project Officer at ntfsprojects@heacademy.ac.uk
or 01904 717500.
Progress Report Project Information
Project lead
institution
Project title
Lead contact name
Reporting period
University of Kent
To See Ourselves as Others See Us
Sally Fincher
August 2008-January 2009
1. Project Update Summary
Please provide a short update on the project's achievements and current activities, to be
disseminated on the Academy's website, maximum 200 words. (Only this section will be
made publicly available)
The project is recruiting participants to a longitudinal study of change in pedagogic practice,
and planning the first “day survey” of teaching activities.
2. Activities and progress
2a. With reference to your project plan summarise your achievements during the last
reporting period and whether the anticipated objectives, activities or deliverables have been
completed.
If there has been any variance from your planned activities please say what the variance is
and what its causes were? If applicable, what is being done to get back on track? Will the
project plan need to be revised? (Please list as headings or bullet points)
The project has had a difficult, and slow, start due to two major difficulties:
Web Page Because the project aims to collect mass data from “ordinary” academics, we
considered it important to secure a “ac.uk” domain. The regulation for these is severe (more
so than we had realised). The JISC naming committee turned down our application for
“share.ac.uk” as too generic and gave us “sharingpractice.ac.uk” only on our second appeal.
This process has taken until 20th December, and so we are only now working on the website.
Veterinary Disciplinary Commons We had been asked by the LIVE CETL at the Royal
Veterinary College (RVC) to run the first Disciplinary Commons. We met with them several
times in the Summer and identified a suitable topic which straddled both clinical and nonclinical pedagogy, and so should draw participants from both sides. A list of potential
participants was compiled through CETL contacts and by searching individual University
webpages. A schedule was devised and invitations sent out. Sadly, this Commons failed to
recruit. We had three fully-committed participants (1 each from RVC, Nottingham, Liverpool),
three who wanted to rotate attendance between a team (2xRVC, 1 Nottingham) and one
wanting to contribute at a distance (Nottingham).
There is a variety of speculation as to why this failure occurred. It might have been because
our names (as leaders) were not recognised in the field. It might have been because Vet
Schools already know a lot about each others’ practice (there are only 6) and so the model
was too heavyweight. Talking to one vet, he said that it was too big a commitment at this point
in his career, when he had to be focussed on his “next big equine osteoporosis bid”. As there
NTFS Projects Reporting Procedure - May 2008
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will now not be a Commons run in the first year of the project, we will plan to run two in year
three.
Positive progress
 We have had one full project meeting, and two with UK partners.
 We have met with the JISC-funded Pedagogic Patterns project and plan to take up some
of their process and products into our own workshops.
 All consultants have expressed a desire to gather longitudinal data, and this will increase
the quantity of data considerably.
 Participants for longitudinal study have been approached and circa 75% recruited.
2b. Use the template below to report expenditure. Explain the reasons for any significant
overspend or underspend. (Only required for the annual progress report, submitted in
July)
3. Reflection
3a. Please articulate, in a short paragraph, the pedagogic issue, 'problem', or research
question, at the heart of your NTFS project, bearing in mind that this central component may
have evolved, developed and been refined. This should not simply be a reiteration of the
project title.
The central issue remains how practice transfers from one pedagogic context to another.
Aspects of this problem which we (still) expect to address include: does the form in which
practice is represented make a difference to transfer? How, when, and with what evidence, do
educators change their practice?
3a. Are you experiencing any problems which are impeding progress? If applicable, what are
these? Are there any unresolved problems from the last report?
We have had problems (as reported in 2a, above).
3b. How has the implementation of activities informed your approach? How do you see the
project developing? Has progress changed the project or your expectations in any way? What
lessons have been learned?
Apart from the reflection on problems (as reported in 2a, above) we have not yet undertaken
enough substantive work to make comment at this stage.
4. Future Activities
What activities, objectives or deliverables you expect to achieve during the next reporting
period? (Please list as headings or bullet points)
 Create and populate webpage
 Complete recruitment to longitudinal study, conduct “baseline” interviews, undertake initial
document analysis
 Identify subject area and leaders for second Disciplinary Commons (to start September
2009). Recruit participants.
 Undertake first “day survey” data collection.
5. Any other comments
I understand that the text provided in section 1a will be made publicly available on the Academy's
website and other publications.
Name
Sally Fincher
Date
8th January 2009
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