QAA Scotland Enhancement Theme 2011-14
Developing and Supporting the
Curriculum:
reflections and achievements
Rowena Pelik, DSC Chair
DSC: what have we achieved?
Outline
• National level: key questions, phases
and topics
• Institutional work and approaches
• The theme as indicative of enhancement
in Scotland
• Questions
Early work - framing and scoping
DSC topics within institutions: CfE
“The University established a Curriculum for Excellence short
life working group to establish current knowledge of and
engagement with CfE across the institution... Schools have
developed their own action plans following the group’s
recommendations. Abertay has been very active at a national
level with CfE...”
“[Dundee has] also created a Curriculum for Excellence booklet:
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cfe/lib/doc/cfe%20booklet.pdf and sent
copies to every secondary school and college in Scotland. This
booklet was accompanied by a letter offering individual visits to
schools in order to discuss CfE with pupils and teachers. This has
been well received.”
DSC topics within institutions: CfE
“Staff Information Sessions and online guidance have updated
and involved staff in preparations for CfE ‘Senior Phase’
implementation. Discussions and Programme Leader workshops
have been held to promote revision of first year curricula more
closely to match the needs and requirements of CfE students. In
this context, all admission statements now reflect the CfE.” [GCU]
“St Andrews held an Open Forum on CfE attended by 70
delegates from the university, local schools and Education
Scotland.”
“a half-day symposium on 17 June to bring together key
stakeholders, including schools, colleges, local authorities,
Education Scotland and the SQA, and University Staff. We hope
these stakeholders will all contribute to shaping our developing
institutional understanding of CfE.” [Dundee]
DSC topics within institutions
Staff: enhancing teaching
“Through.. AcceleRATE CPD (Learning and Teaching)
Framework we now offer internal professional recognition ... This
has hugely increased the engagement of staff across the
institution... The theme has focused our attention on the need to
celebrate staff engagement and achievement in learning and
teaching. Over the last three years we now have learning and
teaching feature in our University magazine, an expanded annual
Learning and Teaching Showcase, introduced our Principal’s
Awards for Learning and Teaching and expanded our range of
Caledonian Associates and Scholars CPD opportunities. This
has resulted in an increase in our staff who are professionally
recognised and a tangible sense of a growing community centred
around learning and teaching.” [GCU]
DSC topics within institutions
Staff: enhancing teaching
“The work undertaken in developing learning and teaching and in
exploring the future development of the curriculum has
highlighted the need to ensure that our teaching staff are both
effectively supported in their own development needs and that
high-quality teaching and leadership in learning and teaching is
more explicitly valued, recognised and rewarded.” [Edinburgh]
“we .. use[d] some of the resource available to accelerate the
development of a University CPD scheme aligned with the
UKPSF. Without this resource, this important development for
the support and recognition of staff would have taken much
longer.” [QMU]
DSC topics within institutions
The flexible curriculum
“Significant work is ongoing ... at Abertay currently as the flexible
curriculum features strongly in the new TLE strategy.”
“the process of developing and sharing the Flexible Curriculum
Toolkit and the Staff Enhancing Teaching work has been
enormously beneficial as a focus for leaning and institutional
reflection on these specific areas of practice and development.”
[OU]
“the annual Programme Leaders event focused this year on the
three strands of the DSC and engaged staff in evaluating the
QAA Curriculum Design Toolkit.” [GCU]
DSC at work in
institutions
DSC at work in institutions: supporting
innovation and change
Seed-corn funding was used very purposefully:
“The Projects for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
initiative was set up...
• To disseminate ET work already done and encourage staff and
students to engage with it
• To stimulate further development of ET activities
• To involve students as partners in ET work
• To showcase good and innovative practice in a range of subject
disciplines/programmes.” [Queen Margaret University]
“The aim of the small-scale projects funded under the DSC
theme has been to engage a range of staff and enable them to
progress areas of work that are innovative and related to their
own interests...” [UWS]
DSC at work in institutions: supporting
innovation and change
“This
seed-corn funding not only supports staff development but
also enables changes to the curriculum to support and enhance
the student experience.” [Aberdeen]
“we wanted to raise the profile of the institutional and sector-wide
work undertaken in relation to the Themes... [including] by
creating a University of Dundee Enhancement Fund to provide
seed-corn funding for small-scale projects.”
“QAA enhancement funding at Heriot-Watt is distributed to teams
of lecturers and students following a Call for project proposals.
Proposals are considered by a panel, and funding is allocated on
the basis of relevance to the QAA theme, innovation and the
individual project’s potential for impact.”
DSC at work in institutions: some
projects and activities
“Innovative approaches to involving service users in Health and
Social Care curriculum delivery. Produced a series of podcasts,
including interviews with service users and carers, used to
enhance student learning and prepare students for practice
learning placements.” [Open University, Scotland]
Three sample funded projects from Heriot Watt:
• Social Media for Enhanced Learning and Teaching in Engineering
• Production of short online videos for non-specialist audiences – an
alternative assessment method (Built Environment)
• Live Learning – pioneering inter-campus live studio design projects
through hand held tablet computers
“Using senior students to support junior students in practical
classes in Physiotherapy” [QMU]
DSC projects in institutions
“‘Digital student selves’ Exploring strategies for learning and
creating online” [GSA]
“[A] project enabled an existing model of interprofessional
education in health and social care to be further evolved... By
deepening understanding of one profession’s specific needs, the
curriculum for three further courses has been enhanced... The
project has provided real evidence.. of the ways in which
interdisciplinary teams can add value to student learning and help
to prepare students for the interprofessional worlds in which they
will practice.” [RGU]
“Undergraduate History conference – a national conference
organised and hosted by UG history students. Outputs included
a conference publication.” [St Andrews]
DSC projects in institutions
“Education Excellence Fund.. funded projects.. have enabled the
building of collaborative relationships across the university and..
encouraged and supported the creation and development of
innovative learning and teaching activity.” [Strathclyde]
“The development of online diagnostic tests for engineering maths
using the DEWIS e-assessment system project addresses a need
to provide more support to engineering students who enter 3rd year
after completing an HND at College.” [Aberdeen]
Three indicative examples of funded projects from Dundee:
• A game for learning basic concepts in molecular biology and evolution
• Social space, learning tool or both? Student perspectives on the use
of social media in higher education
• Improving integration of, and academic skills amongst, international
doctoral students
‘
DSC embodying enhancement:
collaborative and collegiate working
Collaboration within institutions:
“A key characteristic in our approach has been in the
development of ‘partnership working’ with significant
involvement of students and staff drawn from all levels and roles
(academic and support) from across the University.” [Edinburgh]
“History skills workshops: proposed, developed and facilitated
by postgraduate students in History for sub-honours students,
helping to develop research skills in UGs and curriculum design
and teaching skills in PGs” [St. Andrews]
DSC embodying enhancement:
collaborative and collegiate working
Thinking collaboratively:
“The ‘Aberdeen workshops for student-led co-operative
enterprises’ project aims to lend pedagogical support to studentled enterprise initiatives using workshops to ensure that students
become more aware of the opportunities to learn from
organisations such as Co-operative Education Trust Scotland and
Co-operative Development Scotland.”
“Project teams were formed and enabled to take forward their
own innovative ideas in highly focussed, low-cost, collaborative
projects which aimed to implement new practices and
enhancements for curriculum design and staff/student support;
those involved came from across academic schools and
professional services.” HWU
DSC embodying enhancement:
collaborative and collegiate working
Collaboration between institutions:
“Our inspirED seminar series has been a useful vehicle to support
staff engagement with DSC.. and has included input from a range
of colleagues from across the sector including Cathy Bovill on coconstruction of the curriculum; Keith Smyth on technology
enhanced learning within the curriculum; and Roni Bamber on the
‘curriculum review route map’. All of these seminars have
attracted excellent attendance from.. across the institution and
have also supported a positive impact on practice.” [Dundee]
“Linking outcomes into curriculum development ... particularly a
cross-institutional collaborative project undertaken by the
Universities of Glasgow, Birmingham, Nottingham, and Edinburgh
known as the LEAF Project: Leading Enhancement in
Assessment and Feedback.” [Glasgow]
DSC embodying enhancement:
collaborative and collegiate working
Collaboration between institutions:
“Our initiatives involve or have led to the involvement of working
in partnership with other Universities... this approach has
significant potential to accelerate the pace of effective
development with the commensurate improvement to the quality
of the student experience - e.g... the setting up of a Scottish
Network for universities currently exploring the use of
Transforming the Experience of Students through Assessment
(TESTA) audits with Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh Napier and
Robert Gordon University” [Edinburgh]
DSC embodying enhancement:
internationally informed and
outward-looking
“All of the projects draw on knowledge and practices that are
outwith Heriot-Watt. For example, the project proposals are
informed by relevant, peer-reviewed scholarly literature and
project teams link with a range of external organisations, through
collaborations with international industry partners, external
professional organisations, learned bodies and academic
networks. Among those are networks facilitated by QAA to
disseminate the work of other universities in enhancing the
curriculum.”
“the enhancement theme has provided us with a framework to
benchmark and share our thinking and ideas for re-designing
and shaping our new curriculum and evaluating its delivery” RCS
DSC embodying enhancement:
internationally informed and
outward-looking
“Enhancement of marine science research and teaching
linkages at Heriot-Watt campuses: Edinburgh, Orkney, Dubai,
Malaysia” [HWU]
“HSC Social Pedagogies. This project stimulates HSC
curriculum development in the area of social pedagogies.
Working with colleagues in Trondheim University in Norway the
project considers the ways in which this approach can be
applied in a UK context.” [OU]
DSC embodying enhancement:
in partnership with our students
“Student engagement with the Theme has been one of our
proudest achievements... if students are asked to tell us, or show
us, how they think their curriculum can be enhanced, developed
and supported, they will not only do so, but will do it in
imaginative and creative ways” St Andrews
“30% of the project proposals we funded under the Theme were
student-led or involved students carrying out the main activity;
half of these..were entirely proposed, led and completed by
students... [And] students were an invaluable part of staff-led
projects, working alongside staff in order to develop new
pedagogical or professional initiatives.” St Andrews
“‘Developing and Supporting the Curriculum’ is something that is
done by students, as much as by staff” St Andrews
DSC embodying enhancement:
in partnership with our students
“DSC funding has been used to support the Students’
Association to investigate how students engage with their studies;
this is due to report in early Autumn 2014... [and] to support the
Annual Student-led conference.” [UWS]
“Particular emphasis has been placed upon increasing student
engagement in our enhancement agenda, and our success is
visibly evident in EduFair 2014 (Stirling’s internal learning and
teaching conference), where 71% of sessions have been offered
either solely by students or jointly with staff.” [Stirling]
DSC embodying enhancement:
in partnership with our students
“We specifically required academic staff to work with an
undergraduate student on these projects.” Adding: “academics
could use the funding to do a more detailed piece of work than
they would otherwise have had the capacity to do. As a result
these projects have provided incredibly useful resources that will
have a long-lasting effect on subsequent students.” [Aberdeen]
“[DSC supported the Students’ Association’s] first Education
Week, a series of events aimed at raising students’ awareness of
the different aspects of their learning experience... [this] initiative
is designed to empower students to meaningfully participate in
shaping their learning experience, particularly through
programme and curriculum design.” [GCU]
DSC: achieving institutional impact
“The DSC Enhancement Theme has provided a conceptual
structure through which GCU has radically overhauled and
refreshed the design of the curriculum.” GCU
“over the period of this Theme the L & T culture at HWU has
developed to one that is able to draw on peer-led and supported
initiatives, where the development of learning cultures is seen as
an on-going achievement.”
“[Our] iterative and consultative development towards a stated
position on curriculum change we believe to be an essential
component of our strategic approach to ensuring student and
staff commitment to what will be a significant culture shift for all.”
Edinburgh
DSC: achieving
intuitional impact
“DSC.. offered a real opportunity for
The Open University in Scotland to
explore and articulate the unique
contribution that the university makes
to developing and delivering the HE
curriculum to a diverse student
body... It opened up space for us to
draw together existing work and
thinking, to consider areas where we
have particular strengths and insights
into curriculum development and
delivery ... Crucially, it also offered
space to explore key challenges and
emerging innovations in a sectorwide context, supporting productive
collaboration with colleagues in other
institutions considering similar
practical and policy challenges.”
DSC: achieving institutional impact
DSC “has made a significant impact on RGU. It has underpinned
and enabled new curriculum development and enhancement in
very significant ways in support of our aspirations for a high quality
teaching and learning experience for students. It has also
enabled us to develop further a tool, in CDI, that has real potential
to continue to encourage interdisciplinarity.”
“Curriculum for the 21st century... has formed the backbone of
UHI’s response to DSC”
“At the start of the DSC theme, the intention was to engage a wide
group of staff with the work of the theme, and to support work that
was related to the continued development of the UWS Learning,
Teaching & Assessment Strategy. To date 28 small-scale projects
have been funded, with 3 areas supported through larger-scale
funding.”
Questions?
Enhancement Themes website:
www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.
Registered charity numbers 1062746 and SC037786