Sally Brown

This week I am spending an intensive week in Plymouth, helping colleagues across the University gain HEA Fellowships in the various categories from Associate Fellowship for their part-time and very new members of staff, up to Principal Fellowship, supporting the expert team who run the program at Plymouth University. My slides and the handout Phil and I prepared explaining the UKPSF and its 2015 edits, together with some questions that act as a checklist for Principal Fellows are here. UKPSF grid (764 downloads) , UKPSF slides (725 downloads) , Questions for PFHEA applicants (714 downloads) .

I will also be drafting a response to the government consultation  on the TEF, for the Association of National Teaching Fellows, in my new role of Chair of the Committee of National Teaching Fellows.

This week my work comprises mainly  home-based writing, reviewing and editing, but my big news is that I am delighted to have just been appointed a Visiting Professor of Learning, Teaching and Assessment Enhancement at the University of South Wales​.  Thank you  for inviting me to work with you! I will be working with senior colleagues there on 28th of October and then again on 18th November, when Phil and I will be helping to launch the Enhancing the Curriculum Toolkit to which we have contributed some ideas on supporting enterprising students. You can get to this Toolkit at this link: http://www.etctoolkit.org.uk/

After a very busy time in the first part of September I am now benefiting from a few days at home to catch up with all the tasks I should have done over the last 3 weeks. We had an interesting time at the HEA Senior and Principal Fellows networking meeting for the North East in Newcastle last night and I find myself doing more academic writing than I had previously planned, particularly on the Teaching Excellence Framework and on learning gain, as well as a new book with Kay Sambell and Linda Graham. Oh and there is a lot of fruit in the garden waiting for me to make jam!

This week I am delighted to have participated in exploring the Doctoral thesis of Victoria Quesada at the University of Cadiz. Congratulations to Dr Quesada for a highly articulate, confident and convincing defence!

The end of the week is being spent in slightly rainy Santander for the international  conference on Formative and Shared assessment hosted by the University of Cantabria in Santander by the sea. I am keynoting on Saturday and my slides in English and Spanish are here. Keynote slides in English (784 downloads) , Keynote slides en Espagnol (543 downloads) . Thanks so much to my translator and colleagues of the Formative Assessment network of Spain for hosting me, and to Narcea Publications www.narceaediciones.es for displaying my three books translated into Spanish!

On Wednesday 9th, I am working at Liverpool John Moores University helping again with their Curriculum Refreshment project. My brief reminder slides on curriculum design essentials is here:   LJMU slides (546 downloads) .

On Thursday 10th September I am giving a keynote at the IEE Conference on Entrepreneurial Education, being held at Anglia Ruskin University, winner of the THES Enterprise University of the Year,  in Chelmsford.  My slides are here: IEEC slides (604 downloads) .

On Friday 11th September I am doing workshops for ARU on preparing candidates for National Teaching Fellowships in Chelmsford and Cambridge, the slides for which are here: ARU NTF slides (547 downloads) .

Then after 8 hours in our house in Newcastle, Phil and I are off to Spain on Saturday so I can do a PhD viva in Cadiz, and Phil and I will both be presenting at a conference on Formative Assessment in Santander. Slides for this presentation in English and Spanish will be posted here next week. I’ve been taking extra Spanish lessons over the summer to ensure I conduct myself reasonably well in both contexts!

PS: Here’s a word document of the text of Jo Johnson’s speech on 9th September entitled ‘Higher Education: fulfilling our potential’ Text of Jo Johnson speech (631 downloads) .

Phil and I are starting the new academic year in Ireland this year, with workshops in Cork IT today (Thursday 3rd) on retention and engagement and fit-for-purpose assessment, and tomorrow Friday 4th at University College Cork on retention and engaging students and international HE trends. It’s lovely to be back in Cork for some work and some holiday, meeting old friends and new faces. My presentations are here: CIT engagement (550 downloads) ,  CIT fit for purpose assessment (813 downloads) ,  UCC improving retention (547 downloads) ,  UCC international trends (533 downloads) ,

Following on from Ruth Pickford’s and my Teaching Excellence Framework SWOT (see post below) I have been asked with Phil Race to contribute to a #LTECHAT on Wednesday 26th August, 8pm UK time as part of an open exchange about the TEF.

I have devised eight potential dimensions for a TEF which you or your university can use as a spider diagram to review on a scale 1-10 the extent to which you provide a Teaching Excellence Framework.  My proposed eight dimensions (thanks to Phil and Fiona Campbell for advice on refining these) are:

1. The HEI recognises and rewards excellent teaching e.g. by supporting HEA Fellowship accreditation, appointing Teacher Fellows, offering Professorships for L&T, and valuing academic leadership
2. Students are involved in assuring and enhancing teaching at all stages from curriculum design through teaching to evaluation, there are robust systems for training, supporting, valuing and making good use of student representatives.
3. All New-to-HE staff are trained and supported through their early years of teaching (linked to probation) including GTAs, sessional and fractional staff , and career-wide CPD is provided for all who teach and take up is monitored
4. Students are satisfied with their learning experiences as indicated by a basket of measures, one of which will be NSS outcomes
5. Outcomes for students are excellent as indicated by retention and successful degree achievements and students are employed in graduate professions within three years of graduation
6. Quality assurance measures result in QAA & PSRB confidence
7. Assessment is fit-for-purpose, appropriate to subject and level and is integrated with learning, with robust moderation in place to assure standards
8. The HEI demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and redressing all kinds of disadvantage, particularly in terms of Widening Participation and Fair Access.

These appear in shorter form on the diagram linked here: https://lthechat.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/tef-grid-august-2015.jpg

I am sure these are capable of improvement, so am looking forward to receiving suggestions for enhancement of the dimensions themselves, and indeed of the format.

If you want to join in the conversation, do join us on Wednesday 26^th August at 8.00 p.m., using the hashtag #LTHEchat.

For those interested in the HEA position on TEF, Geoff Stokes’s presentation given at the NTF discussion on TEF convened by Ian Scott at Oxford Brookes is here Geoff Stokes presentation (937 downloads)

And the newly beady eye is brought about by having had my second cataract operation yesterday (Sunday)! Thanks to the amazing NHS for helping me get this done in the holidays due to a waiting list clearing initiative.

I’m networking extensively with National Teaching Fellows this week. On Tuesday I supported a writing residential and work-out for NTFs in Birmingham and yesterday Ruth Pickford and I walked in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and worked on a paper. Our main job though was reading through the approximately 100 responses to SEDA, HEDG & NTFS mailbases on TEF ISSUES. We have assembled a personal SWOT analysis of these which we will present at the NTFS Discussion with BIS & HEA colleagues at the NTF meeting kindly convened by Ian Scott at Oxford Brookes. Our SWOT is here: TEF: a SWOT analysis (1753 downloads) .

This is my last busy week before things wind down a bit for me and Phil over the summer (but the grand-parenting keeps going all through, so will still be occupied!)

I am very pleased to be contributing on Tuesday and Wednesday a keynote and two workshops to Michelle Morgan’s groundbreaking HEFCE-funded project on Masters level Employability. It’s producing some really useful data which I am looking forward to hearing more about. Meanwhile my slides for the keynote are here: Kingston Keynote (597 downloads) .

On Thursday I am again contributing to Nottingham Trent University’s target of getting all staff to achieve HEA Fellowships at the appropriate level. I again provide here the slides and handout Phil and I prepared to support the process which anyone is welcome to access and use. UKPSF grid (764 downloads) , UKPSF slides (725 downloads) , Questions for PFHEA applicants (714 downloads) .

Over the summer my posts will be less frequent and I will be aiming to do some housekeeping on my website.  Do get in touch by email though if I can help with anything: sally@sally-brown.net