1Autumn 2013

Journal

ISSN 2050-9995 (Online

ENRoute!ENRoute is Edinburgh Napier University’s professional development

framework for staff engaged in teaching and the support of learning. It is accredited by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and is based on

the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) for teaching and supporting learning in higher education 2011, developed

by the HEA on behalf of the sector.

The framework represents an holistic approach, aiming to integrate the opportunities and

pathways available within the University.

Associate Fellow

Fellow

Senior Fellow

Principal Fellow

Standalone HE Teaching Modules (accredited until Nov 2014)

Postgraduate Certificate in Blended and Online Education (PgC BOE)

HE Pathway

Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in

Higher Education (PgC TLHE)

Edinburgh Napier Teaching Fellowship Scheme

ENRoute Direct

Edinburgh Napier University is a registered Scottish charity Reg. No. SC018373

ENRoute! Pathways to professional recognition for teaching and supporting learning

Short awareness-raising workshops are being offered on each of the three campuses and are suitable for potential applicants starting to explore their options and also for those who manage colleagues engaged in supporting learning and teaching. You will gain an overview of the different pathways on offer and the support available and there will also be lots of opportunity for questions and discussion.

Tuesday 19 November 10-11 am 3/05 Craiglockhart

Wednesday 4 December 10-11 am H15 Merchiston

To book your place on this event staff should register through HR Connect Employee Self Service. Other workshops will be available soon.

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Contents3 tfj Autumn 2013 Editorial Comings and Goings

4 Senior Teaching Fellows Vice Principal (Academic) Update

5 ENMCA ENRoute

6 Academic Professional Development Page

7 Supporting Good Referencing Practice Show & TEL

8 Writing Retreat

9 Teaching Fellows’ Away Day

10 A New Graphic Alliance

11 LTA Resource Bank Updates

12 The Impact of Online Masters’ Education in Inter-professional Child Protection Practice

13 Conference Reports

16 Diary Dates

17 Article Update

18 Around the Faculties

20 Book Review

21 SIG-M SIG-TEL Student Focus

22 Grant Panel Update Teaching Fellow Community Development

23 Teaching Fellows Journal Editorial Team

tfj Autumn 2013 EditorialBrian Webster

Earlier this year, I had the unique opportunity of going to Johannesburg as part of a Duke of Edinburgh Study Tour with a specific focus on the development of leadership skills. As part of that experience, I met with key leadership figures in Johannesburg, including politicians, local council leaders, vice chancellors of Universities and tribal leaders within the community and neighbouring townships. During my time there, I met with a range of public health nurses delivering care to vast numbers of the community, in the poorest parts of the city, often with little resources; children with HIV, adults with long-term health conditions and the frail and elderly of the black townships. As a nurse, I was struck by the absolute patient-centred focus that the nurses had: despite their lack of resources and sometimes health infrastructure, their absolute priority was to ensure the care they gave to the members of that community was of the highest standard possible.

On reflecting on my experiences in South Africa, I was struck by the similarities and transferability of patient-centred care and student centredness. Both approaches have the individual at the centre of everything they do. The concept of student-centred approaches to learning in higher education is widely accepted within the literature, yet the practice of delivering student centredness varies hugely across institutions. Blackie et al. (2010) argue that to be truly student centred, academics are required to not only demonstrate this in their pedagogical approaches to delivering education but also to value the person of the student in the learning process. As we move towards an increased programme focus within the University, this provides a perfect platform for us to further enhance our student-centred approaches across the institution and develop an even stronger transformative student community. •

Blackie, M., Case, J. & Jawitz, J. (2010) Student-centredness: the link between transforming

students and transforming ourselves. Teaching in Higher Education, 15 (6), 637–646.

Comings and GoingsThe first ENRoute Panel met in mid-October to confer awards and the associated professional recognition, based on the recommendations of the Teaching Fellow Appointments Panel and the ENRoute External assessor. Three Teaching Fellows were appointed and they become the University’s first Senior Fellows of the HEA – many congratulations to Rachel Holmes, (School of Accounting, Financial Services & Law), Elaine Mowat (Academic Professional Development, HRD) and Janis Ross (School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care). We look forward to getting to know you. TF renewal applications are being processed over the next several months so look out for further announcements later in the session.

We are sorry to lose Karen Strickland, Senior Teaching Fellow, OVP, who moves in December to Robert Gordon University as Associate Head of the School of Nursing. Karen goes with our very best wishes for this exciting opportunity. •

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Our recent Academic Priorities Newsletter underlined a number of academic initiatives underway this year.

Work on strengthening the programme focus of our academic provision continues into academic year 2013/14. Building on progress last year, the Programme Focus Working Group is developing the Programme Design Framework, which will replace the 20 Credit Handbook, and is working on a revised template for Programme Handbooks that will emphasise a programme level approach to the development of student learning, teaching, assessment and feedback.

The hard work and efforts of programme teams to enhance student satisfaction, together with that of the Edinburgh Napier Students’ Association (NSA) to improve engagement, have been reflected in significantly increased satisfaction results in the latest National Student Survey (NSS). The Student Survey Steering Group is working closely with the NSA to achieve high levels of student participation in the 2014 NSS and build on this progress. The University and NSA are developing a Student Partnership Agreement in 2013/14 and the University is committed to supporting the excellent work of the NSA in enhancing student engagement via programme reps, sport and volunteering in 2013/14.

The Digital Futures Working Group has been meeting regularly since Spring, continuing to benchmark current digital practice and provision at Edinburgh Napier and

Senior Teaching FellowsIt is our pleasure to report that five new Senior Teaching Fellows have been appointed in the recent promotions round. They are: Jackie Brodie, School of Management; Karen Campbell, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care, Charlotte Chalmers, School of Life, Sport & Social Sciences; Kate Durkacz, School of Engineering and the Built Environment; Julia Fotheringham, Office of the Vice Principal (Academic). In addition, Caroline Turnbull, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Computing & Creative Industries was also awarded the title of Senior Teaching Fellow, a route open to those already on grade 7 or above. Our congratulations go to all the new Senior Fellows and we wish them well in this new role.

identifying areas for possible future development. The final outcomes and recommendations of the Working Group will be the Focus of the Digital Futures Symposium event to be held on Thursday 19 December. A symposium on International Futures: enhancing the student experience at Edinburgh Napier will be held on 10 December as the start of work to inform the strategic direction of the University in relation to the internationalisation of the curriculum.

While the University’s submission to REF 2014 is continuing to be refined and improved for submission in November, the discussion is now moving onto the long term research strategy and the position of the University for REF 2020. The latest Academic Board endorsed an exciting, and ambitious, vision that places research at the heart of academic activity with clear targets for a step change in the quantity of high quality research, alongside an inclusive research culture that values a broad base of subject based research and knowledge exchange and pedagogy.

Finally, the Academic Board has made the decision to realign the undergraduate and postgraduate academic years from September 2014 as well as permitting two-trimester 20 credit modules alongside single trimester modules. A working group is currently considering some of the consequential implications for the teaching calendar, including, for example, the approach to Week 1 and Induction, and the group will report its recommendations to Academic Board by December 2013. •

The Head of Academic Practice and the Teaching Fellow Coordinator have been discussing the development of the Senior Teaching Fellow community with the Vice Principal (Academic) and Director of HRD over the last several months. The Coordinator has a specific responsibility to help develop the Senior Teaching Fellows as a network representing teaching excellence and supportive leadership of academic practice within Edinburgh Napier. Now we have 24 Seniors, twice the previous number of such posts, it is an ideal time to talk together about how we may best support local and University-wide initiatives in relation to teaching and support of learning. •

Vice Principal (Academic) Update

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ENMCAElaine Mowat

As academic life becomes ever busier and more task-oriented, our appetite for creating spaces for contemplation and reflective dialogue seems to grow; illustrated, for example, by the interest in issues such as staff empowerment, mindfulness, and peer partnerships at this year’s QAA Enhancement Themes conference.

The provision of space for reflection, fresh thinking, and mutual support has proved central to the experience of those involved in the Edinburgh Napier Mentoring and Coaching Award (ENMCA). The ENMCA was piloted in early 2012 and had its first full run in 2012/13. The programme enables participants to develop their mentoring and coaching knowledge and skills within the context of academic practice. Participants each work with at least two mentees during the period of the programme, supporting them to develop in areas such as new academic roles, academic writing, technology enhanced learning, and applying for professional recognition.

Mentees from the 2012/13 presentation identified opportunities for challenge, support and growing self-awareness as particularly valuable aspects of the experience: “Feeling supported, being valued, having a laugh and being listened to.”; “The opportunity to reflect in a non-judgemental work-related context”.

and “Ultimately I know more about myself than ever, and that’s a great feeling!” Those involved as mentors pinpointed the value of working with colleagues from across the University and sharing experiences through study days, action learning sets and supervision. They also noted the influence of mentoring practice on positive working relationships and personal satisfaction.

The ENMCA runs again from October and we look forward to working with another group of colleagues to build our understanding of how such one-to-one relationships, sometimes described as ‘developmental alliances’ or ‘thinking partnerships’, can promote staff wellbeing and institutional learning. The ultimate impact on the student experience is another area for exploration.

Angela Benzies is the ENMCA Programme Leader and Elaine Mowat is the Programme Tutor. Please contact us for any further information about the programme. Those who have successfully completed the ENMCA to date are:

Pilot, 2012 – Karen Campbell, Monika Foster, Caroline Turnbull and Sara Wasson 2012-13 – Gráinne Barkess, Isabel Dosser, Martin Gaughan, Fiona-Jean Howson, Mary Ann Kennedy, Janis MacCallum, Anne MacNab, Janis Ross, Keith Smyth. •

ENRouteAngela Benzies

The summer has been a period of intense activity as we moved into the initial phase of ENRoute implementation. The operations group, the ENRoute Programme Team, started its work in July and is currently meeting every 6-8 weeks in order to establish our procedures and roll the framework out across the University. The priority has been processing Teaching Fellow applications and renewals, as their application cycle was already under way when accreditation was confirmed at the end of May. The ENRoute Steering Group, which has the responsibility for the strategic overview and the major University policy aspects of the work, met for the first time at the end of September and will meet twice more this academic year. We are already identifying significant issues to begin to consider such as what expectations we wish to set for staff engagement in ENRoute and, pertinent to the Teaching Fellow community, whether it is desirable to review

and rationalise titles in order to clarify the mapping of Teaching Fellow and Senior Teaching Fellow against UKPSF categories of recognition.

A programme of supporting workshops has been designed which covers three categories of staff: those needing basic information on ENRoute and its use within the University; those wishing to apply for professional recognition; and those who wish to support ENRoute implementation as applicant mentors, workshop facilitators and assessors. Building the capacity of this last group is a key priority and we appreciate expressions of interest already received. We are working closely with our colleagues in Academic Professional Development to train these volunteers in ENRoute processes and to implement the workshop programme progressively. Please see the ENRoute webpages for more information. •

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Academic Professional Development Page

Academic Leadership at Edinburgh NapierBridget Hanna and Rozita Kirilova

Over 60 Academic and Professional Service staff attended ‘dialogue’ sessions around the concept of academic leadership across the University last trimester. The aim of these sessions was to enable the creation of an inclusive, contextualised Academic Leadership Development ‘Programme’ based on inputs from the academic community itself. Defining academic leadership is problematic, and the literature offers little in the way of consensus but suggests context is key. The Academic Professional Development approach has, therefore, been to define the concept in a way that is contextualised and supports how those of us involved in the academic endeavour want it to develop. In effect, the process is about reconceptualising Academic Leadership across the University.

A dialogic approach was used to surface, structure and develop the views and understandings of academic as well as Professional Services staff around ‘Academic Leadership’. Many readers of the tfj will have come across dialogue sheets, and we used these to structure discussions. The outcome is a set of key principles which will be used to underpin the development of Academic Leadership.

This comment was typical of the experience of many attendees: “I found the session really different from anything I’d been to before. I felt valued and listened to. Wonderful.”

Next Steps?

Watch out for the next round of dialogue sessions, which will explore the principles and provide a useful space in which to reflect on your own leadership experience and practice at Edinburgh Napier.

One of the defining features of this exciting project has been the involvement of all parties in the academic endeavour. Academics, Professional Services staff, and students all have a stake in how we develop our academic leaders in the future and have all contributed in a participative way to develop the principles.

This project is being led by Bridget Hanna, who is based in Academic Professional Development. Please

get in touch with Bridget if you would like to discuss the project in more detail.

The project is being further supported by Rozita Kirilova, an Edinburgh Napier Graduate Trainee. We are keen to involve students across the project as, ultimately, our intention is to link the outcomes of Academic Leadership to student outcomes.

Evidence Base

Rozita Kirilova joined Edinburgh Napier University after she graduated with an honours degree in Human Resource Management from De Montfort University in 2012. She is one of seven graduate trainees in Business Management and her role involves rotation in four departments on a six-month basis. So far she has worked with several teams within FECCI and Human Resources & Development before she joined Academic Professional Development.

As part of her two-month placement with Academic Professional Development, Rozita will assist Bridget Hanna and Fiona Campbell in the provision of an evidence-based approach to academic leadership by reviewing the most current literature. Together with this, she will review all of the internal reports considering this topic and will aim to bring all of the cross-departmental work and colleagues together.

Rozita enjoys the unique collective vibe and respectful working atmosphere of the department and finds working with the team immensely inspiring and insightful as all of the team members champion cutting edge and innovative approaches to academic development. With her international background and experience from both private and public sector, Rozita aims to generate an extensive Edinburgh Napier context perspective on academic leadership.•

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Background

During Week One, 2nd trimester for a 1st year cohort, within the School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care (SNMSC), I was asked to deliver a 30-minute session on referencing. I felt comfortable in doing this as I was the FHLSS representative on the University referencing practice working group and I authored the School guidelines.

During this session, it was apparent that the topic of referencing was emotive. Among many different themes discussed, two areas which stood out were confusion about the Harvard style and the current official guidance being unclear in that there was a lack of examples of categories that students needed to cite in their academic writing.

So what was done?

A review of the SNMSC documentation internally – against other University Schools – and externally resulted in a change of the existing Harvard Style and presentation guidance material.

Key changes

3 Reduced the commas and full stops 3 Referencing examples made discipline specific 3 To cut down ‘noise’ of the PDF the referencing guidance was produced in: • Table format

• Flashcard format –paper and Moodle based

• Mobile Application.

Thanks to all who contributed to the thinking, motivation and production: John Ferris (SNMSC student representative), Kirsteen Wright (OVP), Sheena Moffat (Library), Katrina Castle (SAS), James Blair (IS) and Iain Nico Bruce (IS). A Teaching Fellow grant enabled production of the paper, Moodle and mobile application.

The Future!

Initially, the paper-based product was targeted at the 1st year students; however, the SNMSC has invested in further printing to ensure equity across all years, including the cohort that started the project rolling.

In addition, the development of the flashcard activity within Moodle will allow University-wide access. This activity can be populated with any module content to enhance learning, teaching and assessment. If interested in knowing about this facility or the approach to referencing in the SNMSC, contact k.campbell@napier.ac.uk. •

Show & TELAlun Fotheringham

No, it’s not a spelling mistake, but rather Technology Enhanced Learning! The Senior Teaching Fellows in the Business School were charged with the task of organising a Faculty LTA showcase to share and promote the use of TEL within the Business School. The main aim was to dispel the mystery surrounding technology and encourage colleagues to come along and see how TEL could be used as part of their teaching and learning activities with students.

The afternoon kicked off with a plenary session from Keith Smyth, where he was able to outline the latest developments at University level and show how these

could make a difference to our use of TEL for our students’ benefit.

A number of practical workshops were held over the afternoon, covering an Airline Simulation Game, a Virtual Scavenger Hunt, ActivPanel, and Finesse to name but a few. There was also an informal drop-in area where colleagues were able to browse, chat with each other and ask questions on Camtasia, Moodle, the LOC Authoring Tool, Wikis, Online Induction, and EvaSys.

The afternoon was rounded off with the chance to socialise over a glass of wine and nibbles and share ideas for the future use of TEL within the Faculty and beyond! •

Supporting Good Referencing PracticeKaren Campbell

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Paddy Perry

The 2013 Edinburgh Napier Teaching Fellows/HEREN Residential Writing Retreat, run in collaboration with the School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care, was held from 24 to 26 June 2013 at Heriot Watt University. This was organised and facilitated by Karen Strickland, Senior Teaching Fellow & Senior Lecturer and Teaching Fellow (OVP), Dr Gráinne Barkess, Research Developer (HRD), and Professor Lawrie Elliott, SNMSC. Thirteen members of staff attended from across the Faculties.

The broad aim of the yearly Writing Retreat is to provide feedback and collegial support to individuals in order to increase the scholarship and writing productivity of participants. On this occasion, participants ranged from those taking their first steps in writing to experienced writers completing papers. This ensured a mix of skills and abilities to draw upon and participants were able to ‘buddy up’ for peer review, advice and support.

Over the three days, the facilitators explained the process of writing from conceptual development to

completion of the first draft of an article. This was interspersed with group activities and individual writing, review, and revision. However, frequent breaks also had their place as chatting with colleagues over a cup of tea often contributed to moving the work on.

Attendance at the retreat provided an excellent milieu in which to develop writing skills and papers for publication. Gaining insights into reviewer and editor perspectives of the writing and publishing process was invaluable. While it proved to be an intensive experience, the campus gardens provided contemplative space to reflect on development and mull over new ideas. The outcomes from this experience should include completion of a writing project, and articles are now under review by editorial teams.

Writing Retreat

Gráinne Barkess

Staying close to home at Heriot Watt, but far enough away from the day-to-day distractions of our busy offices, colleagues got together to focus on their writing during June. Prof Lawrie Elliot and Karen Strickland kicked off the retreat with a great overview of how to plan the conceptual development of a paper. Making sure that you are clear where you are headed with your paper (and indeed where you started) was key to developing a strong article – Lawrie described how there should be a ‘golden thread’ that weaves its way through the whole text. We had plenty of time to discuss common difficulties with writing and to share ideas, but the majority of the retreat was set aside for uninterrupted writing time – some binge-writing if you will! By the end of the retreat, most people were in a position to have shared a rough draft and to have received some helpful peer feedback on their writing. We hope that over the summer people moved on to some ‘snack writing’ – regular slots of 30 minutes to an hour to finish off their drafts.

I was in the happy position to be facilitating such a focused group of writers, and, recognising the combined knowledge and expertise of the group, I

asked everyone for their top writing tips.

You are not alone!Several people highlighted using a social component to writing – to counteract the feeling of isolation that can occur when writing. During the retreat, there were opportunities for peer feedback and support; many people highlighted the benefits to regularly discussing your writing with others.

Too often, publishing an article falls off our to-do list or ends up in the bottom drawer gathering dust. Buddy up with a colleague and encourage each other to keep going, or find a community of writers that will help you keep on track with your goals.

Other people suggested that writing as a team could help – and it can often be a great way to learn about the whole process from co-authors. Working with a successful writer can help you develop the skills needed to respond to journal reviewers’ comments – perseverance and a thick skin were often mentioned.

Kick starting the writing process

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Weaving your golden threadDifferent disciplines often have different conventions on the structures used by articles, but without fail there needs to be a thread that connects up all the pieces into a coherent whole. Understanding your ‘golden thread’ that weaves together all the various aspects into a whole is important to get right. It helps any reader (including your reviewers) see where your work sits within the field and what you have contributed.

A perfect fit?During the retreat, we spent time thinking about how we can increase the chances that our work will be published. Fitting your article to the journal was critical to this; journals receive far more articles than they will publish, and often the first question an editor asks will be “is this a good match for our journal?” The journals try to help us with this – there are always guidelines for the author. You can waste a lot of time writing a paper if you haven’t already thought about where you plan to submit it.

I want to be aloneWhile our first tip focused on using a social approach to help keep us motivated and accountable, the opposite approach can also be used. Sometimes we just need to find a quiet space with no interruptions (and, yes, stopping to check that reference counts as an interruption!) to really focus our efforts. It’s important to figure out where and when you write best. Find the space and time that works well and stick with it.

Keep writingThe retreat was that rare opportunity of three days to focus on writing, but these don’t come along very often. Rather than wait for that unlikely week where you have no other competing demands for your time, lots of people mentioned making regular writing a habit – snack writing rather than bingeing.

Writing is writingWhen we are talking about writing sessions – that’s what should be happening. No stopping to read the latest paper or to double check that crucial reference (was it 2006 or 2007 – it doesn’t matter, write down “2006??” and move on). Editing that sentence till it shines or reformatting the article headings into Arial from Times New Roman is not writing!

Know your limitsIf you have reached your limit or your session has come to an end, one idea that was used by a number of people was to always know where your writing will be going next – that way you spend less time trying to remember what you were thinking from the last session. You have already signposted your direction to yourself.

For the Top 15 Tips on writing a paper from the Writing Retreat, please see: http://herenblog.wordpress.com/ •

Susan Watt and Liz Adamson

On 17 June, we held a Teaching Fellows’ Away Day. There were three main aims of the event:

1. To provide time and opportunity to form and/or strengthen our links with the other TFs.

2. To let us plan for increased levels of collaboration in our approach to enhancing the student experience at Edinburgh Napier University.

3. To reflect on what we do and celebrate good practice.

The Teaching Fellows who attended the day brought a small ‘poster’ which contained information regarding what they were currently involved in, what help they could offer others (skills/experience), and what help they would like in their Teaching Fellow role.

It was a busy day, which started with an excellent session from Professor Brian Webster with the title

Students are at the heart of what we do. The Teaching Fellows had the opportunity to have a question and answer session with Professor Alistair Sambell and Iain McIntosh, and the day concluded with Angela Benzies sharing her vision for the future of the TF community.

Evaluation from the away day was very positive with comments such as “really good opportunity to network”, “good discussions about the role of the TF community” and “good to see senior management here” as well as some useful suggestions for future events.

On reflection, we were happy with how the day went and are very grateful to the Teaching Fellows who attended and to those who helped put it together, particularly Angela Benzies and Ruth Lough. •

Teaching Fellows’ Away Day

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A New Graphic AllianceMyrna MacLeod

“I consider my posters as I would a painting. It is an image to give to the street – nobody is waiting for it, nobody needs it. Posters must fight, and win the attention of the passer by” Philippe Apeloig

Influenced by the poster design cultures of France, and the work of Philippe Apeloig in particular, a group of final year graphic design students and their tutor explore the territories between graphic design and art. They ask – can the graphic cultures of France inspire us to create a new graphic culture for Scotland?

A L’Affiche opened on 6 June 2013, and it was a golden moment. Not just because of the warm early summer light streaming in through the high windows of the gallery at The Institut Francais in Edinburgh, but because it was a time to celebrate a year of hard work by eight soon-to-graduate graphic design students and their tutor.

In the four undergraduate design programmes, fourth year students have been taught in an ‘Atelier’ system for several years. These small, themed groups of around eight students, led by a tutor, generate explorative design output resulting in a beautifully visualised Honours project.

For the 2012/13 academic year, I suggested to my students we work together as a design collective, focusing on poster design. Part of the output from each student and myself would be a range of posters visualising project research while examining graphic poster cultures from around Europe. We settled quickly on the poster designers of France as our main influence; French poster design is an important part of graphic design culture

and the French graphic landscape. This, in turn, allowed us to consider

why we didn’t have much of a poster culture in Scotland and whether we could do something about that.

As a collective, we decided to instigate a project where we work towards a group exhibition of the posters we produce, printed at scale, in a public venue. Two students in the group had been on exchange for a trimester to ESAG Penninghen, a prestigious design school in Paris, and had been taught by a celebrated poster designer, whose work was regularly exhibited around Europe – they had been inspired by this experience and brought a lot of what they had learned to our collective.

The Gallerie Anatome in Paris is one of the most important galleries focusing on poster design in the world. It holds exhibitions of the work of Michel Bouvet and Philippe Apeloig, who continually produce posters for high profile cultural organisations, such as exhibitions at The Louvre, The Bastille Opera, and theatre festivals around France. The gallery curates the work in a very individual way: as well as hanging the posters at scale on the walls, they also hang them in stairwells, in the middle of rooms and out of windows, allowing the viewer to walk around them and view them from unusual angles. We decided to try to recreate this approach in a venue in Edinburgh.

As the work progressed, a venue was found – The Institut Francais in Edinburgh. After viewing the work to date, Director, Vincent Guerin, generously offered the collective their gallery space and stairwells to hang the work. A

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perfect connection was made with France, and the project developed into something bigger – a potential three-year collaboration involving students, colleagues and professional graphic designers in Scotland and France.

James McNaught, one of the participating students, sums up the experience:

This public exhibition would not have been possible without the support of Teaching Fellows and Napier Student Development Fund. Myself and my group were able to plan and execute complex large scale printing of the work we produced, curate an exhibition of our work in a public space and hold an opening night reception. We were able to invite prospective

In 2012, students on the BDes(Hons) Graphic Design programme won four national student design awards – three Roses Student Creativity Awards and a prestigious D&AD Yellow Pencil. The course has just been awarded Creative Skillset accreditation, having gone through rigorous assessment by industry.

employers to the event, and representatives of cultural organisations in Edinburgh and Glasgow. We experienced working as a collective with our tutor, placing our work in an international context, event organisation and curation. This enhanced our student experience at the very end of our time at University and our employability. We received fantastic feedback from members of the graphic design industry on the originality of the work and the curation. We gained an enormous amount of confidence in our ability to exhibit as graphic designers, and to plan and organise that experience ourselves. It was fantastic to be able to work with our tutor on such a unique experience – it enabled us to see what graphic design can do in a whole new light.•

LTA Resource Bank updates...Moodle for diverse and large class size Sandeep Chowdhry

It is challenging to teach an engineering design module to a diverse and large class of 90-100 students. Students in large classes may be less focused and require more class management input than small classes. It’s also difficult for a lecturer to attend to the needs of each student. As a result, adopting a face-to-face teaching approach affects the quality of the students’ learning experience. To enhance the learning experience, I decided to provide Moodle as a collaborative learning platform in addition to face-to face-teaching, giving all students an opportunity to share their learning and benefit from each other. As a tutor, I can track the students’ learning experience and provide timely learning support to the students.

Read more on the LTA Resource Bank

Bringing Practical Application into Teaching Keng Goh

It was a busy period in winter 2012, especially preparing the assessment for Trimester 2. For many students, it meant they were only a few months away from facing real world challenges. As a module leader for Mechatronic students, creating an assessment/project which provides a platform (simulating a working environment) to demonstrate knowledge and skill sets learned would hopefully be appreciated. It had to be a practical project and involve team work; an interesting project that might capture their imagination and keep the students motivated. A two-wheeled transporter, like Segway, was chosen because, firstly, the system comprises relevant engineering design aspects, and, secondly, it defies the laws of physics.

Read more on the LTA Resource Bank

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Marjorie Keys

Marjorie Keys, Teaching Fellow, carried out a project in 2012/13 to evaluate the impact on practice of online child protection education at Masters level. Two modules were the focus of this study: Child Protection in Context and Child Protection: Risk to Reality. The modules attract students from a range of professional backgrounds including health, social work, police, education and voluntary agencies. Over 80 students from within the UK and further afield have completed these with evaluations consistently reflecting a very high level of satisfaction with module content, relevance to practice, the variety of online activities provided, the support from lecturers and the level of interaction with other online students from differing backgrounds. There had not, however, until now, been any evaluation of the subsequent impact on practice of this educational provision. A Teaching Fellow grant made it possible to undertake an initial study to explore the perceptions of these past students with regard to the impact on professional practice.

The rationale for the study was clear. Within the field of child protection, the need for practitioners to be knowledgeable and competent has been highlighted by numerous child death inquiries and subsequent reports (DOH 1991, Laming 2003, RCPCH 2010, Munro 2011). While research had been undertaken into the effectiveness of certain aspects of child protection practice (Macdonald 2001), there was a lack of research into the effectiveness of interprofessional child protection education. In addition, to date, no study had been undertaken to look at the effectiveness of Masters level online child protection education.

The initial aim was to gain understanding of the extent to which the online modules described have an impact on practice, both at the time of study and once the course is completed. This aim was achieved by means of questionnaires sent to all practitioners who had completed one or more of the postgraduate child protection modules. These were supplemented by telephone interviews where it was felt that additional information could inform the study. The project was

overseen by a steering group that included colleagues from within both Higher Education and relevant areas of health and social work practice, while the work was carried out by a colleague who was previously a senior police officer and was appointed as research assistant.

Responses indicated that students were very positive about the relevance to (and impact on) practice of all module content, both at the time of study and for an indefinite period thereafter. A very encouraging finding from the study was the number of participants who reported having initiated improvements in practice as a direct result of studying the modules concerned. These included “improved training materials”, “developed a safeguarding refresher course”, “set up a counselling skills programme”, “redrafted guidelines”, “designed and implemented a new fetal monitoring system”, “facilitated a parental support group”, “influenced the development of policies” and “developed a report writing workshop”. While students were overwhelmingly positive about the impact on professional practice, however, there were some consistent messages about the difficulty and isolation of studying in an online environment. This information has the potential to influence and guide not only those who teach in such environments but those who provide the essential technical support.

The findings of this study were disseminated last month at the European Conference of ISPCAN (International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) in Dublin, and a journal article will be submitted for publication in Nurse Education Today.

The study has the potential to inform current and future educational provision and to identify areas for further research. In particular, it could be beneficial to expand the study to include managers’ perceptions, thereby seeking to further validate the findings from this initial study. •Reference

Scottish Government. (2012) National Framework for Child

Protection Learning and Development in Scotland.

The Impact of Online Masters’ Education in Inter-professional Child Protection PracticeAn exploration of (practitioner) perceptions

tfj Autumn 2013 13

Conference Reports

DRS/CUMULUS Oslo 2013

Iain Macdonald

This was the 2nd International Conference for Design Education Researchers and the theme was Design Learning for Tomorrow – design education from kindergarten to PhD. It was hosted and organised by Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences. All the papers presented were peer-reviewed and were published in four volumes of conference proceedings. Academics gathered from across the UK, Europe, Middle East, Far East, Australia, USA, and Brazil to engage in many common issues that affect design education, such as sustainability, new technology, marketisation, assessment, and community engagement.

CUMULUS is the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media. Founded in 1990, it has a membership of 165 universities from 43 countries. The Design Research Society is a multi-disciplinary learned society for the design research community worldwide, which was founded in 1966 and facilitates an international research network across more than 40 countries.

The context of the conference was set out as follows:

Designed artefacts and solutions influence our lives and values, both from a personal and societal perspective. Designers, decision makers, investors and consumers hold different positions in the design process, but they all make choices that will influence our future visual and material culture. To promote sustainability and meet global challenges for the future, professional designers are dependent on critical consumers and a design literate general public. For this purpose design education is important for all. We propose that design education in general education represents both a foundation for professional design education and a vital requirement for developing the general public’s competence for informed decision making. (DRS/CUMULUS 2013)

The purpose of design education is to provide students with a ‘passport’ to enter the community of practice of professional design. To do this, they must develop a capability to meet a level of professional ‘polish’ and presentation, but more importantly an ability to think creatively.

The key to achieving this lies in their abilities to think in a solution focussed way employing visuo-spatial

intellectual abilities. The ability to engage in creative thinking, and more particularly the creative synthesising of ideas through design thinking, is the most important capability required to enter the community of professional practice. (Tovey 2013)

These capabilities need to be nurtured at an early age not only as a basis for studying design but also to equip students of all ages with abilities across a range of occupations. The conference argued that design education can be seen to have a wide remit in both providing the next generation of designers and developing competence in decision making more generally.

My paper was developed from my PhD thesis and argued for the place of drawing and heritage media in digital art and design education. I highlighted the parallels with some of the issues that Dick Field addressed as far back as 1972, which continue to resonate today. It also echoed issues raised in other papers at the conference regarding commodification of the learner, digital and analogue hybrids. At a time when digital media is regarded as orthodoxy in education, in advanced global economies there is a pressing argument to review the

14

Conference Reports

lessons of the past and reflect on whether they are still applicable. I explained how the changes of approach to art and design education have affected the choice of materials, the stress on different skills and the values of different creative arts within the subject. From a position as a practitioner in the moving image, and in response to autoethnographic research, I put forward a pluralist approach to teaching design, through a hybrid of particular aspects of ‘heritage’ and digital practices.

Oslo was a perfect host for international collaboration and discussion. After a reception at the City Hall, where Nobel Prizes are conferred, our hosts entertained the delegates with traditional folk songs while dressed in their national costumes on the last day, which coincided with Norway’s National Day.

FECCI Conference Updates

Caroline Turnbull

Over the summer, the Faculty of Engineering, Computing & Creative Industries hosted a very successful lunchtime Overseas Study event where a number of colleagues from across the Faculty showcased overseas opportunities within their programmes. These opportunities ranged from traditional year or semester abroad experiences to shorter, more concentrated periods of a couple of weeks. Colleagues outlined the benefits to the students who had participated, their top tips on developed agreements with overseas partners, and the benefits to them personally in terms of their LTA practice – for example the opportunity to work collaboratively and share ideas with colleagues from around the world. The International Support and Exchanges Team from Student & Academic Services provided a really useful input on the funding opportunities available to both staff and students. It is hoped that this event provided colleagues with ideas and possibilities that could be adapted for inclusion within their own programmes as we actively undertake to encourage more of our students to consider the possibility of studying abroad.

Following on from feedback from their School Subject Review, the School of Engineering & the Built Environment held its inaugural Learning, Teaching and Assessment Conference. The Conference aimed to update and showcase some of the work and ideas relating to LTA both within the School and from speakers in related areas. Speakers each had a twenty minute slot with five minutes for questions. The idea was for presentations to ‘sow seeds’ and act as tasters for possible new techniques, which colleagues could adapt for use in their modules. The material covered

was wide ranging, reflecting the diversity of practice in existence across the School. Sessions varied widely and included an introduction into the latest Moodle options through to routes to professional recognition, the use of audio feedback and a demonstration of mobile phones as substitute ‘clickers’ for in-lecture feedback. The feedback from the staff who attended was very positive, and the event proved to be an excellent way of sharing good practice. Many expressed the view that it had been a worthwhile event. The consensus seemed to be “… I didn’t know we did or could do that…”! It is hoped that this type of event can be staged on a regular basis.

The School of Arts & Creative Industries hosted a Research Symposium on 4 September. This was well attended by staff and research students from across the School. There were a number of presentations throughout the day by staff and research students on a range of current and potential research projects, plus debate on practice-based research. It is hoped that this will be followed by another half-day symposium early in the New Year.

The School of Computing held their annual LTA Conference, bringing together a large number of colleagues in the Schools and wider University to support their event. As always, there was a packed agenda with fast moving, informative, and thought provoking sessions. Many of these sessions provided updates on the latest developments related to LTA and other Institutional agendas including graduate employability, Moodle, overseas study, and associate students.

Finally, Kate Durkacz, Teaching Fellow in the School of Engineering & the Built Environment, is part of a team of academic colleagues from the Universities of Glasgow, Oxford, Strathclyde and Liverpool John Moores, who presented at the HEA/Sigma CETL-MSOR Conference, which was held at Coventry University in mid-September. Their presentation was entitled Sharing Assessment across Institutions and VLEs. The group have been working with IMS Question and Test Interoperability version 2.1 (QTI 2.1) software, which provides a flexible and powerful way of specifying computer-delivered assessment questions and tests in an XML format that can be used by different delivery systems, including Moodle. There are currently three JISC-funded projects on QTI: QTIDI, Uniqurate and QTI-PET, and it is the latter which Edinburgh Napier University is involved in. This work is now at the stage of being tested by interested parties at various institutions. At Edinburgh Napier, an existing online test which assesses standard grade

tfj Autumn 2013 15

Conference Reports

mathematics has been rewritten in QTI format. The individual questions will be made available for use by the other partners, and it is envisaged that the QTI test will run for the first time as part of a module assessment package in 2014/15.

24th International Networking for Healthcare Education conference (NET2013) Tuesday 3 – Thursday 5 September 2013

Paddy Perry

I was privileged to be able to attend the 24th International Networking for Healthcare Education conference (NET2013), held in Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge in September. More than 300 delegates from 25 countries attended to share information on their educational practices through presentation of papers as core themed presentations, e.g. internationalisation and globalisation, sub-theme papers, symposia or poster presentations. Many of the delegates were nurse lecturers, but there was a mix of lecturers, clinical practitioners, social workers, physiotherapists, dieticians and staff from the ambulance service. It was particularly good to see contributions, in the form of presentations and poster presentations, by students.

Two keynote speakers, Jane Salvage (International Nursing Expert, Health Consultant and Writer, Visiting Professor, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London, UK) and Professor Gary Rolfe, Professor of Nursing, Swansea University, provided food for thought on the topics of the future of nursing education and reflection in practice. Key conference themes were:

• Education in clinical practice and practice development

• Educational innovation and enhancement• E-learning/blended learning• Humanising healthcare education• International and global challenges in healthcare

education• Learning and teaching strategies• Partnership working and interprofessional learning• Research in healthcare education• Role of service users• Student experience.

With such a range of themes, it was difficult to decide which one to follow! However, there were a number of social spaces on campus where it was possible to have a coffee, meet presenters, and informally discuss papers that were missed. In addition, there were three specially

commissioned workshops and three optional evening workshops.

My contribution to the conference was to deliver a paper entitled Compassion within the personal development teacher role: an exploration of student and lecturer experiences and perceptions. This described an exploratory study completed with Janis Ross, Lecturer, Linda King, Lecturer and Kev Head, Pastoral Care Advisor. It was presented as part of a symposium entitled Integrating compassionate care within an undergraduate curriculum, with Dr Jayne Donaldson, Head of School and Anne Waugh, Senior Teaching Fellow and School Director of Academic Quality.

Dr Donaldson provided an overview of the Leadership in Compassionate Care Programme, describing the impetus for development of the programme and the activities associated with its undergraduate curriculum strand. Anne Waugh presented a co-authored paper entitled Enabling candidates to demonstrate their compassionate and caring attributes during recruitment and selection. She explained the study approach, the attributes identified by registered and student nurses, implications of the findings and further action to be taken. Dr Donaldson concluded the symposium with a final paper on A restorative space. During the programme, lecturers expressed that they were expected to nurture the compassionate and caring attributes of student nurses but had little time and limited opportunities to reflect on and prepare for this role. This research paper described the use of facilitated reflective workshops as a creative opportunity for nurse lecturers to reflect on their practice and workplace. The symposium was well received and a number of delegates noted their interest in working in partnership with the School to further developments in this area.

The conference gala dinner was held in Corpus Christi College, where we were guests of the Master. This provided an opportunity to network with colleagues and to soak up the atmosphere and history of the University.

As a follow up, added feature of the conference, there will be a Special Issue of Nurse Education Today, to which those contributing papers can submit. This will be edited by Professor Gary Rolfe and Professor Philip Keeley (University of Manchester) and thus will enable wider dissemination of the ideas, experiences and innovations addressed by the conference themes.

Further information is available at: http://www.jillrogersassociates.co.uk/net-conference-home.html •

16

Diary Dates

HEA STEM Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2014 Enhancing the STEM Student Journey University of Edinburgh 30 April – 1 May 2014

The conference will include keynote presentations, debates, individual papers, posters, and student poster competitions. Keynotes will include Andy Field, Professor of Child Psychopathology at the University of Sussex, Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, and Nike Folayan, Chair of AFBE-UK.

Deadline for the submission of full papers, abstracts for posters, oral presentations and workshops: 22 November 2013.

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/stem-conference-2014

HEA Annual Conference Aston University 2-3 July 2014

Bringing together individuals and groups engaged in enhancing the student learning experience, the conference will feature a series of keynote lectures, oral presentation, poster, discussion and workshop sessions. The theme of the conference and further details will be available shortly.

The call for papers will open by the end of November and close 27 January 2014. Conference booking opens 6 January 2014.

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/annual-conference

Westminster Higher Education Forum Exporting UK education – Implementing the Education Sector Industrial Strategy Central London 5 December 2013

The conference will bring together key policymakers from across Government and the relevant regulatory bodies with universities, colleges, independent schools, student representatives, providers of education services and the online learning sector. This event is CPD certified.

http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/forums/event.php?eid=680

2nd International Conference on Information and Education Technology Melbourne, Australia 2-3 January 2014

Keynote speakers: Dr Steve Thatcher, University of South Australia; Associate Professor Manolya Kavakli, Department of Computing, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW. This conference aims to bring together researchers, scientists, engineers, and scholar students to exchange and share their experiences, new ideas, and research results about all aspects of Information and Education Technology and discuss the practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted.

Please note the deadline has passed for submission of papers, but conference bookings remain open.

http://www.iciet.org/

5th International Conference on E-Education, E-Business, E-Management and E-Learning- IC4E 2014 Toronto, Canada 13-14 January 2014

The 2014 5th International Conference on e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning (IC4E 2014) will be held in Toronto, Canada during 13-14 January 2014. It is one of the leading international conferences for presenting novel and fundamental advances in the fields of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning. It also serves to foster communication among researchers and practitioners working in a wide variety of scientific areas with a common interest in improving e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning related techniques.

Please note the deadline has passed for submission of papers.

http://www.ic4e.net/

Diary Dates are coordinated by Kate Durkacz (K.Durkacz@napier.ac.uk) and Joan McLatchie

(J.McLatchie@napier.ac.uk) – contact them with any dates you would like added.

Visit: http://staff.napier.ac.uk/services/vice-principal-academic/academic/TFscheme/Pages/DiaryDates.aspx

tfj Autumn 2013 17

2014 Conference of the International Consortium for Educational Development, ICED

Educational Development in a Changing World Stockholm, Sweden 15-18 June 2014

The conference is hosted by Karolinska Institutet and organized by the Stockholm Uppsala University Network as part of the Swedish Educational Development Network (SwedNet). The conference aims to bring together participants for creativity, curiosity, and front-of-the-line thinking about the development of teaching and learning in higher education.

Submissions of abstracts are now being invited. The initial deadlines for final proposals are 1 November 2013 and 30 January 2014 respectively.

http://www.iced2014.se/

SEDA Spring Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference 2014

Engaging Students: Engaging Staff Copthorne Hotel Newcastle 15-16 May 2014

The 2014 Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference will focus upon the theme of ‘engagement’. We invite proposals for sessions exploring this theme from both staff and student perspectives across the further and higher education sectors in the UK and internationally. We are interested in exploring research and reflections around engaging staff and students in teaching and learning as well as practical ideas for enhancing the engagement agenda in our universities and colleges.

Deadline for proposal submissions: 4 November 2013

http://seda.ac.uk/index.php?p=14_2&e=447&c=1 •

Article UpdateWhy learning about climate change shouldn’t make you sad and depressed

Mark Huxham and Meena Bhagat

Back in October 2012, we suggested that climate change is a scary subject and that climate change education is a social priority, but the challenge is how to engage and enthuse students in a topic that is complex and depressing.

Thanks to a Teaching Development Grant, we have since been exploring these issues with Edinburgh Napier students. Findings show that instruction about climate change increases levels of both knowledge and anxiety. However, knowledge may not translate into action, particularly when people are anxious. Our sample, although small, did indicate some behavioural change amongst students, with some having passed a ‘learning threshold’ or experienced a ‘light bulb’ moment. Meyer et al. (2006) discuss threshold concepts and how people learning about complicated and difficult subjects eventually undergo new and different ways of thinking.

We talked in depth to those students who had ‘seen the light’, were engaged with the subject, and had behaviour changing ideas for others, but these were the exception

rather than the norm – you need to be emotionally strong to wholly engage with climate change and not be depressed. Teachers are often worried that teaching difficult subjects will upset their students and may sugar-coat reality to make the lessons sound more positive. Sterling (2010) suggests that students are taught about the potential horror of climate change but are also empowered by being taught resilience and sustainability. Learning hard and complicated facts about the world which we live in must involve emotional as well as conceptual difficulty but it can also leave you enthused and hopeful about the future. •References

Meyer J. H. F, Land R. and Davies P. (2006) Threshold concepts and

troublesome knowledge (4): issues of variation and variability in Threshold concepts within the disciplines. Rotterdam: Sense.

Sterling S. (2010) Learning for resilience, or the resilient learner?

Towards a necessary reconciliation in a paradigm of sustainable

education. Environmental Education Research, L6(5-6), 511–528

Meena Bhagat (40076103@live.napier.ac.uk) & Mark Huxham

(m.huxham@napier.ac.uk)

18

Office of the Vice Principal

(Academic)

The start of session 2013/14 sees the whole of the Faculty safely housed at Merchiston, with a real buzz around the campus now the students are back. The Faculty Teaching Fellows spent the summer planning a number of events aimed at developing LTA practice and enhancing the Student Experience, with these getting session 2013/14 off to an exciting and thought-provoking start. These included: a very successful lunchtime Overseas Study event; the School of Engineering & the Built Environment holding their inaugural Learning, Teaching and Assessment Conference; the School of Arts & Creative Industries hosting a Research Symposium; and the School of Computing holding their annual LTA Conference. Finally, Kate Durkacz presented at the HEA/Sigma CETL-MSOR Conference.

For full details on the above please see the Conference Reports section. •Caroline Turnbull, FECCI, C.Turnbull@napier.ac.uk

OVP Teaching Fellows have worked with the Vice Principal (Academic) on the academic agenda, as well as progressing institutional responses to the current QAA Enhancement Theme, Developing and Supporting the Curriculum. As part of ENRoute implementation, Fellows have led in the design and delivery of new supporting workshops, including a webinar for participants on the OVP’s academic programmes. Julia Fotheringham and Kirsteen Wright have created a UKPSF key ring resource to support ENRoute discussions. Strategic development continues on Digital Futures, led by Keith Smyth. New Personal Development Tutor guidance has been issued, this work having been led by Janis Ross and Wendy McInally from SNMSC and an MSc publishing student, Penny Armour, on behalf of the PDT working group led by Karen Strickland. Improved web based resources are available for students and staff and recording of PDTs in our SITS system has been enhanced. Dissemination activity has been a strong feature of recent months. •Angela Benzies, OVP (Academic), A.Benzies@napier.ac.uk

Around the Faculties

Faculty of Engineering,

Computing & Creative

Industries

Want to find an old tfj article... Well now you can! All back issues of the tfj are now online and fully searchable.

You’ll find all the current editions as well as all those previously published online. You’ll be able to search within one issue or search all the issues together to find articles of interest. The previously published online articles do follow a simple design format but we hope you’ll enjoy revisiting issues and articles previously published in the tfj.

Go to http://issuu.com/teachingfellowsjournal

tfj Autumn 2013 19

Contribute to the next issueAs ever, we welcome suggestions for articles for the tfj and invite you to email tfj@napier.ac.uk at an early stage to discuss your ideas and help the editorial team to plan the next edition.

Visit http://staff.napier.ac.uk/tfj-contribute for more details

We are also looking for a guest editor, or editors – up to three people working together – for the spring edition as the editor is on a period of extended leave from mid-February to end of March 2014. The work involves helping plan it with the rest of the team and delivering the spring edition by end of March. Please email us if you’d like to take up this opportunity.

Email us at tfj@napier.ac.uk.

Monika Foster has embarked on a new initiative with Confident Futures for students on the work experience module in the School of Marketing, Tourism & Languages. Confident Futures has been delivering tailor-made workshops as part of the module, but some students were not ready to benefit from the workshops until they were on their six-month placements. Two interactive, online courses are therefore being offered to the students while on placement: Manage Yourself, Manage Your Time and Building Resilience as a pilot. The results are very encouraging: students praised the opportunity to develop key employability skills during their work experience. The plan is to further develop the online courses whilst continuing to offer face-to-face workshops before placement, to ensure access to resources throughout the entire module. •Joan McLatchie, Business School, J.McLatchie@napier.ac.uk

During the Summer, the Teaching Fellows within the Faculty of Health, Life & Social Sciences commenced/extended their roles, focused on writing and conference presentations, and enjoyed the wonderful weather!

Janis Deane was appointed to a new role as Curriculum Development Advisor in the Faculty for 2 days a week as part of the Graduate Employability Programme. Fiona-Jean Howson has continued her secondment to Academic Professional Development supporting and empowering Programme Leaders while extending her role into mentorship. Mark Huxham has co-authored a chapter in the SAGE Research Methods Cases project on methods in pedagogical research entitled What the World Requires of Us. Mark is also working on a new intensive teaching approach called ‘natural lines’ with his fourth year students. Charlotte Chalmers presented her paper Marking students’ essays face-to-face at the Higher Education Academy’s 2013 annual conference. Susan Watt presented four papers at the International Clinical Skills Conference in Italy in May. Susan also organised a Teaching Fellows away day in June with Liz Adamson. Continuing the international theme, Susan has just had a bid accepted for an international project on using simulated clinical practice to enhance employability. Liz Adamson will be leading an LTA initiative – Transforming the Experience of Students Through Assessment (TESTA) – within the School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care. The following links provide more information, and a member of the TESTA team will be invited to visit the School this month to facilitate an information session that will be open to all staff. http://www.testa.ac.uk/ http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/detail/ntfs/ntfsproject_winchester09 •Paddy Perry, FHLSS, P.Perry@napier.ac.uk

Correction: The FHLSS update in the last issue was written by

Paddy Perry.

The Business SchoolFaculty of Health, Life &

Social Sciences

EDITOR WANTED

20

Book Review Paddy Perry

Ryan, J., (2013)

Cross-Cultural Teaching and Learning for Home and International Students. Internationalisation of Pedagogy and Curriculum in Higher Education

Abingdon: Routledge ISBN 978-0-415-63013-9

As someone with a particular interest in internationalisation in higher education, I was fortunate to find this book, which brings together papers from an international conference hosted by the Higher Education Academy/UKCISA (UK Council for Student Affairs) in 2011, entitled Internationalisation of Pedagogy and Curriculum in Higher Education: Exploring New Frontiers. The aims of compiling this book are to share examples of current practice and provide emerging research evidence for those tasked with internationalising teaching and learning policy and practice.

As the title indicates, the book focuses on internationalisation of curriculum and pedagogy to address cross-cultural teaching and learning for all students. This is achieved through exploration of current issues clustered in four sections: new ways of teaching, learning and assessing; new ways of designing and delivering curriculum; new ways of thinking and acting (personal change and development through international learning); and new ways of listening (e.g. cultural differences in academic values and attitudes and influences on learning). Each chapter is written by authoritative author(s), employed in a range of professional roles and subject areas, from Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the UK. A local contributor, Dr Monika Foster, Edinburgh Napier University Senior Lecturer, Senior Teaching Fellow and expert in internationalisation in higher education, addresses the theme of designing and delivering curriculum.

The introduction is by the editor, Dr Janette Ryan, Director of the Teaching International Students Project, Higher Education Academy, whose doctorate

was on Teaching and learning for diverse groups of students, focusing on international students and disabled students. Dr Ryan describes the current challenges and opportunities of internationalisation, outlines the aims of the conference, identifies the conference themes and how these are translated into the book chapters, and provides an outline of each section of the book. This in itself would be useful to someone new to the topic of the book.

Each chapter introduces a case study and is presented in a similar way, although there are some differences depending on whether the focus is an educational practice/initiative or a research project. This and the outline as noted above enable the reader to negotiate their way around the text and individual chapters. This is essential, as each chapter stands as an independent piece of work and the book is more likely to be ‘dipped into’ rather than read from cover to cover.

The book, while relevant and readable, is challenging. For me, this related to my lack of familiarity with the example subject areas and the theoretical background to some of the issues, and therefore reading required sustained attention! However, this is not a criticism of the book but reinforces the need to read a little and often. By this approach, the relevance of the content to current practice is apparent. For example, Chapter 4, Feedback or feed forward? Supporting Master’s students through effective assessment to enhance future learning addresses an ongoing concern.

Perhaps one disappointment is the lack of supporting additional material such as web-based resources. This is becoming a ‘must-have’ feature of books and would be helpful for ongoing professional updating. However, there is a comprehensive list of references at the end of each chapter, including online materials.

In conclusion, this is a worthwhile book to dip into for professional and personal development. The chapter topics are pertinent to any subject discipline and address topics of current concern. The final chapter from Dr Ryan, Listening to ‘other’ intellectual traditions, emphasises the need for a reciprocal approach to internationalisation and provides an uplifting conclusion to this useful reference text. •

tfj Autumn 2013 21

Student Focus

Student Partnership Agreement and Student Engagement Strategy

Rob Malcolm

Edinburgh Napier Students’ Association (ENSA) has a new Constitution, which will be fully implemented in 2013/14. Our Trustee Board consists of 4 external professionals, 3 Sabbatical Officers and 2 Edinburgh Napier University students. The Trustee Board is responsible for the strategic direction of ENSA and our student executives are responsible for the political leadership of ENSA.

ENSA is currently developing a range of student engagement proposals which will be incorporated into a Student Partnership Agreement. The Partnership Agreement will be submitted to the 2013/14 University Committee cycle and publicised widely within the University & student community. The official launch was on 21 October.

The proposals are being developed in consultation with our internal and external colleagues, and we are adopting a partnership approach to their delivery. We are inviting

all sectors of the University and student community to comment on the proposals and to offer support where they have skills and abilities relevant to the projects being undertaken.

ENSA has deployed one member of staff, Maxine Wood, to coordinate this area of activity and to support our Sabbatical Officers as they take the Partnership Agreement forward.

The Agreement will include: a Student Engagement Strategy; a Communications Strategy; a Sports Development Strategy; Mapping and Celebrating Successful Engagement Activities; Development of the Student Representative System; Student-led Projects; Academic Partnerships; Enhanced Training and Support for Elected Student Officers; Volunteering, Leadership and Community opportunities; HEAR 6.1 Accreditation and Areas of Recognition and Reward. •

SIG M

SIG TEL

A programme of events for 2013/14 has been organised, supported by a Teaching Fellow Grant. The first is a Master Class in coaching practice on 30 October, given by an executive coach with extensive experience in the private and public sectors. We will have an input on listening ‘for life, health and community’ on 6 February, and later in the year some of our research colleagues in the Faculty of Health, Life & Social Sciences will talk to us about ‘mindfulness in mentoring and coaching’. Networking events are planned in conjunction with the current cohort of the Edinburgh Napier Mentoring and Coaching Award (ENMCA) and with the Teaching Fellow community. See the SIG-M web pages for further details: http://staff.napier.ac.uk/services/vice-principal-academic/academic/TFscheme/SIGM/Pages/SIG-M-events.aspx. Please come join us! •

Members of SIG-TEL continue to be involved in a number of Technology-Enhanced Learning and related initiatives across the University. Recently, this has included organising local events (such as the Business School TEL event in March), contributing to the Digital Futures Working Group and to the successful launch in June of the Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice (http://jpaap.napier.ac.uk) for which several members of SIG-TEL are editors or reviewers.

SIG-TEL are currently scheduling their meetings for the upcoming session and will circulate dates shortly. If you would like to get involved in SIG-TEL, please contact the representative for your department or Faculty: Keith Smyth (OVP Academic); Joan McLatchie (Business School); Robert Mason (Engineering, Computing & Creative Industries) or Karen Campbell (Health, Life & Social Sciences). •

MentoringAngela Benzies and Caroline Turnbull

Technology Enhanced LearningKeith Smyth

22

The Grants Panel met in October and considered 5 new grant applications. Please see table below for those approved.

The next round of applications needs to be submitted in November 2014 and will be considered in December.

All Teaching Fellows are welcome to apply.

The work continues on the new Teaching Fellows database in collaboration with Information Services Colleagues James Blair and Mark Skinner. •

Grants Panel Update

Ref Teaching Fellow Title Amount Awarded

TF1172 Kendall Richards

Conference presentation –The Fourth International Interdisciplinary Conference on Perspectives and Limits of Dialogism in Mikhail Bakhtin “Dialogue at the Boundaries” Hamilton

£1,530

TF1173 Anne Waugh HEA SIG meeting: Biosciences in Nursing Education £340

TF1174 Charlotte Chalmers Investigating the advantages and disadvantages of face to face marking and feedback £574

TF1175 Monika Foster Re-constructing culture of learning £1,585

TF1176 Caroline Turnbull SIG-M Events 2013/14 £670

TF1177 Keith Smyth Attendance at Ascilite 2013 to present Digital Futures and OER work £2,090

Teaching Fellow Community DevelopmentI am an admirer of the work of Etienne Wenger on communities of practice (2002) and at various points in our Teaching Fellow community development I have considered how this could be applied. Wenger suggests that elements of communities of practice comprise: domain – the area of common interest of members; community – fostering interactions and relationships built on mutual respect and trust; and practice – tools, information, styles, language and stories and that intentional cultivation is needed to optimise participation and impact. Over the years we have strengthened the sense of belonging and involvement with each other and the creation of a brand identity has helped communicate something of who we are and what we seek to do within the University. The tfj plays a role in informing, encouraging and linking Fellows and others in the academic community.

I am interested in Wenger’s thoughts on value, how this relates to impact, and how the community links personal development to corporate strategy, especially as concerns over ‘managerialism’ sometimes surface in higher education generally. I feel that the importance of voluntary participation, informality and autonomy that Wenger describes are aligned with the aims and lived experience of the Teaching Fellowship Scheme and my approach to community coordination is about maintaining collegiality along with full

engagement with management at every level. And while notions of teaching excellence may be contested, I do believe that it is possible to create institutional descriptions of what is valued by an academic community and genuinely beneficial to students and to staff.

Five years on from the launch of the revised Scheme, I find my thoughts turning now to what Wenger describes as the “mature stages” of community development that include stewardship and transformation and revisiting ‘strategic intent’, which may include definitions of community as “helping, best practice, knowledge stewardship and innovation”. I see all these elements in our community and the University’s intentions for it but, as Wenger indicates, the emphasis may change with time and changing circumstances. I think it is timely to review against current challenges and opportunities and my feeling is that it may help to review our organisational structure in order to increase the development opportunities and further enhance the leadership skills of community members. In light of HEA accreditation of the Scheme, this feels like the right time to move into a new phase, which I believe will include increased interaction with all levels of management, as we seek to maximise the potential benefits to students and staff of the University. I would very much welcome your views on how we move forward. •

Wenger E., McDermott, R., Snyder, W. (2002) Cultivating

communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Harvard

Business School Press, Boston

tfj Autumn 2013 23

Kirsteen WrightPublications Officer

t: (0131) 455 3217e: K.Wright2@napier.ac.uk

Teaching Fellows Journal Editorial Team

Angela BenziesSenior Teaching FellowTeaching Fellows Coordinator

t: (0131) 455 6105e: A.Benzies@napier.ac.uk

Ruth LoughTeaching Fellows Administrator

t: (0131) 455 6360e: R.Lough@napier.ac.uk

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Joan McLatchieSenior Teaching FellowSchool of Marketing, Tourism & Languages

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t: (0131) 455 5018e: A.Dragona@napier.ac.uk

Kate DurkaczTeaching FellowSchool of Engineering & the Built Environment

t: (0131) 455 2349e: K.Durkacz@napier.ac.uk

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