Teaching Centre Advisory Board

TCAB09 – M1

Notes of the Advisory Board meeting held on Thursday 24 September 2009

Present: Paul Byrne (Chair), Morag Bell, John Dickens, John Feather, Martin Harrison, Terry Kavanagh, Chris Linton, Chris Peel, Jan Tennant, Tony Thorpe, Jo Wilkins (Secretary)

Apologies: None

1. Notes of the inaugural Board meeting held on 26 November 2008

Agreed

2. Matters arising not elsewhere on the agenda

None

3. Revised Terms of Reference – Advisory Board and Management Group

Documents TC091 and TC092 had been circulated in advance of the meeting and were endorsed by the Board. It was noted that there had been three changes to membership of the TCAB: Prof Chris Linton had replaced Prof Ken Parsons, Prof Tony Thorpe had replaced Prof Steve Rothberg (pro tem) and Chris Peel had replaced Danny McNeice. It was agreed that the Board would meet annually, usually in the first semester, with other business conducted by email. Exceptionally, additional meetings could be convened to deal with any pressing issues. The membership of TCMG remains the same, noting that Professor (rather than Dr) is the correct title for Tony Croft. TCMG did not meet during academic year 2008-09, but it was agreed it should meet three times annually henceforth.

4. Staffing Update

Document TC093 had been circulated in advance of the meeting. JT confirmed that Di Beale’s fixed-term contract has now been made open-ended, as have the 2 QEO posts previously funded through TQEF. One TLO (0.5 FTE) has now left the University and been replaced by a colleague on a temporary contract that runs until July 2010. This will allow the post to be reviewed, and if necessary reshaped, in line with emerging priorities. The importance of maintaining a sense of realism about expectations of the TC given its staffing base was reemphasised.

5. Review of activities and developments

JT reported on activities and developments under three headings: provision for new members of staff, provision for existing members of staff and activities relating to development/innovation and QE.

New Staff

New Lecturers

· A major achievement has been the reaccreditation of the New Lecturers’ Route (NLR), now rebadged as the New Lecturers’ Course (NLC). The newly accredited course is valid for 5 years, until August 2014, and was approved by the HEA without conditions or recommendations.

The main change from NLR to NLC is that delivery comprises an Induction day (that includes PVC input) followed by four one-day Teaching-related units, with assessments linked to each unit. The assessments build to form the final Teaching Portfolio. The new provision seeks to be more discipline-based. As regards the Research & Enterprise component, all workshops have been reviewed and updated.

The first new Induction day ran last week with 7 participants, and was well received. Six new lecturers have already registered for the first Unit One Workshop taking place on Wednesday 30 September.

It was noted that the NLR will continue to run alongside the NLC for some time to come. There are presently 110 lecturers registered on NLR (48 SSH, 36 Sci, 26 Eng), with 40 completers in 2008/09. Numbers will of course decline as the NLC becomes more established.

Learning Support Staff

· A new Associate Teaching Course (ATC) has also been accredited until August 2014, again to run alongside the existing Associate Teaching Route (ATR) until the latter becomes defunct. The new course is broadly similar to its predecessor. To date there have been 15 completers on the ATR, with 8 participants still current and 4 new starters doing the ATC.

Researchers

· STARS – Successful Teaching and Assessment for Research Staff – is a provision introduced jointly with the Research Office and intended for research staff relatively new to teaching who wish to build on work already completed on the Teaching Skills programme. It ran for the first time last year with 10 participants, 5 of whom have already completed with 3 more expected to do so shortly.

It was noted that the freestanding workshop programme has reduced in size but continues to be valuable for colleagues doing NLR, ATR, ATC and STARS, and also for established members of staff.

Existing staff

Promotion Scheme

· The teaching criteria and summary of requirements for the new scheme had already been approved. Version 2 of a supporting guidance document had been circulated prior to the meeting, and an updated v3 was tabled on the day. The discussion generated some very helpful ideas and contributions, which subsequently informed a revised v4 of the document that was submitted to HRWG for approval.

Department-based Activities

· JT reported on a number of department-based activities targeting particular roles or staff groups (eg work in Chem Eng on good practice in admissions interviewing; in Economics on the role of programme director; and in Materials specific training for technicians). Work is in hand to deliver input for Economics on writing exam papers.

Other provision has been in response to requests from individual members of staff in various departments covering a wide range of themes. It was noted that the TC is keeping a log of such requests so that any areas of common need can be identified and responded to more generically.

It is important to stress to departments that the role of the TC involves support for existing staff as well as work with new staff doing NLC/NLR. Currently TC colleagues are in the early stages of work that will assist with the development/review of Programme Specs for both new programme and PPR purposes. This work is being undertaken at the request of Curriculum Sub-Committee. It is anticipated that this work will prove to be of considerable benefit to academic colleagues.

Effective Communication in Teaching

· The TC currently offers a range or provision in this area. There are two one-off workshops: ‘Making the Most of your Voice’ for lecturers with English as a first language (which had 15 participants last year) and ‘Lecturing with Clarity in English’ for lecturers with English as a second language (16 participants). The ‘Communicate’ programme is an 8-week course targeted mainly at international staff (16 participants to date, 8 of whom are Mandarin speakers). Whilst well received by most colleagues, the course is not a quick fix and requires commitment to ongoing practise during and after completion. A Summer School has been run for 12 Eng researchers which again elicited positive feedback. Some 1:1 coaching sessions have been developed as follow-up provision for Summer School and Communicate completers.

MB noted that Loughborough does not stand up well against other Universities on effective communication skills of international staff in the teaching context, which is of concern, though it is welcome that we are working to improve this position. It is critical that HoDs refer any staff in need of this type of support. The Appointments form has been revised to include a section identifying any support needs, which may be of help.

QE/Innovations

Teaching Awards Scheme 2008-09

· There have been two rounds resulting in 10 awards (2 Academic Practice Awards, 8 Mini-projects) spread more or less evenly across the Faculties . A review of the scheme is presently being undertaken.

Project-based work

· Three projects were highlighted: work on student engagement, which focused on induction (leading to the production of an induction leaflet for new UG students) and attendance and performance; on student module feedback, where a third electronic pilot is due to commence shortly; and on assessment criteria, looking at different types of assessment (projects, oral presentation etc).

6. AOB

Income generation

· It was noted that the TC is primarily a delivery and service unit, but it has been agreed apropos the silver scenario that a minimum of £2,000 surplus income will be brought in this year. The Centre is on target, having thus far generated surplus income of £900 from consultancy work and a project grant, with £600 more to come from externally-delivered workshops.

Learning spaces

· MB flagged up that meetings were taking place to consider the issue learning spaces and how they interface with changing teaching styles and e-learning developments.

7. Date of next meeting

To be confirmed (Action: PB/JT)