Sally Brown

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 (793 downloads) , Keynote slides en Espagnol (550 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 (559 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 (613 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 (560 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 (637 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 (560 downloads) ,  CIT fit for purpose assessment (832 downloads) ,  UCC improving retention (558 downloads) ,  UCC international trends (544 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 (948 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 (1763 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 (610 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 (781 downloads) , UKPSF slides (744 downloads) , Questions for PFHEA applicants (729 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

On Tuesday 30th of June and Wednesday 1st July I am working at Liverpool John Moores University again to help them with a curriculum renewal project, firstly with Programme Leaders and secondly with programme teams. the slides I am using are here. LJMU Assessment (602 downloads) , LJMU Curriculum (578 downloads) . I am also helping set up a self help and co-mentoring group for colleagues at LJMU embarking on a PhD by Publication. Sarah Nixon and Barbara Walsh who worked with me and Phil in the Newcastle group on PhDs by Publication both have their Doctorates now and are ‘paying forward’ by setting up this group for their faculty colleagues.

On Thursday I am keynoting and running workshops at Bradford University’s Learning and Teaching conference, again focusing on Programme re-energisation, and the slides I use are here: Bradford slides (1040 downloads) .

With Granny duties on Monday and Friday, it looks like being a busy week!

Today I am working at the University of East Anglia with senior colleagues on Principal and Senior Fellowships of the higher education academy   The slides and handout I am using here. I have family locally and spent much of my childhood so it’s great to be back in the region.  UKPSF grid (781 downloads) , UKPSF slides (744 downloads)

It’s great to be back in Pontypridd to work with staff and student reps at the University of South Wales. I’ve been visiting  this campus for at least 25 years and it’s always interesting to see how institutions grow, merge, develop and flourish. It’s still a jolly steep walk from the bottom of the campus to the top however. I’ll be engaging with Conference participants throughout the day, starting with my keynote, the slides for which are here:   USW slides (688 downloads)