Welcome

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Welcome to the Realising Teaching Excellence blog at the University of Worcester, where we hope to keep you informed about teaching and learning developments, create dialogue around developing excellence and introduce you to examples of interesting practice. The ‘Teaching Excellence’ page has the latest news on learning and teaching The ‘Interesting Practice’ page has a range of learning and teaching case studies See the ‘Resources’ page for useful guides and information including the “Busy lecturer’s Guide to Inclusive Practice” and information on student transitions and Teaching Awards The ‘Tried and Tested’ page contains examples of enhancement activities undertaken at module and course level which have been evaluated and proven to have been effective. Our ‘Projects’ page shows updates and outputs from the various learning and… Read moreWelcome

Announcing the recipients of this year’s University of Worcester Teaching Award Scheme

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We are thrilled to announce the recipients of this year’s University of Worcester Teaching Award Scheme, individuals who have showcased excellence and innovation in teaching. Among the distinguished achievers are educators who have exhibited outstanding leadership, support, and mentoring, driving innovation in teaching and learning across various disciplines. Their dedication to fostering inclusive learning environments, implementing impactful curriculum redesigns, education for sustainable development and enhancing student experience underscores their unwavering commitment to the highest standards of pedagogical practice. Through their exemplary efforts, they have not only inspired students but also elevated the overall teaching landscape at the University of Worcester. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the awardees for their remarkable achievements and meaningful contributions.  University of Worcester Teaching Award This award focuses on… Read moreAnnouncing the recipients of this year’s University of Worcester Teaching Award Scheme

2024 University of Worcester Learning and Teaching Conference

Josh Simpson

The Call for Papers for the annual University of Worcester Learning and Teaching Conference (17-18 June 2024) is available via the Conference webpage and submissions are now open. The theme of ‘A Community of Learning’ will be explored through presentations, posters, workshops and student lightning presentations. The closing date for submissions is 17:00 on Friday 15 March. For queries, please contact ltconference@worc.ac.uk.

Vignette of Practice: Taking dementia education to the next level

Josh Simpson

Taking dementia education to the next level Dr Chris Russell, Teresa Atkinson, Mary Bruce, Nicola Jacobson-Wright – School of Allied Health and Community Ensuring that those who support people living with dementia are skilled and knowledgeable is essential to providing quality care (Surr, 2020). We are a small teaching team, formed in 2019 to develop a new Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies delivered fully online. The content and andragogy are rooted in our underpinning values embedding our passion for person-centred dementia care into our teaching and beyond into professional practice. The course was developed in response to the need to reach professionals with differing constraints on opportunities to engage with education. We decided to develop a fully online programme, delivered via synchronous and asynchronous… Read moreVignette of Practice: Taking dementia education to the next level

Schedule and abstracts now available for ‘AI generations’ Symposium (2nd November 2023 online)

Josh Simpson

The full schedule and abstracts are now available for the Thursday 2 November Symposium, ‘AI generations: Staff and Student Innovations Unplugged’ and can be downloaded at the following link: AI Generations Symposium – Schedule and abstracts Many exciting talks are planned, including those on the use of AI in assignments, in planning and structuring lectures, and in subjects such as History and Fine Art. The keynote from Sue Attewell, Co-Director of the Jisc National Centre for AI, will be on ‘The Impact of AI in Education’. Places are still available. To book, please visit the Staff Development page and join the Symposium Teams site. Queries can be sent to j.simpson@worc.ac.uk.

Symposium: ‘AI generations: Staff and Students Innovations Unplugged’ – 2nd November 2023 (Online)

Josh Simpson

AI generations: Staff & Student Innovations Unplugged Thursday 2 November 2023 1.00-4.15pm (Teams meeting online) Keynote speaker: Sue Attewell, Co-Director of the Jisc National Centre for AI A symposium aimed at exchanging ideas and experiences about the impact of generative artificial intelligence on education, learning, and assessment for use in future academic practice. WANTED: Contributors for 5-minute lightning talks Whether you have developed and polished tried-and-tested outputs in the form of assessments or teaching sessions, or are planning to experiment, we would like you to share your practice and reflections. Contributions from both staff and students are welcome. The time limit is 5 mins and 5 slides. To be considered: Please email Josh Simpson j.simpson@worc.ac.uk with the title of your talk and a couple of… Read moreSymposium: ‘AI generations: Staff and Students Innovations Unplugged’ – 2nd November 2023 (Online)

Vignette of Practice: Out of sight, out of mind? Academic Liaison Librarians Online and Beyond

Josh Simpson

Vignette of Practice: Out of sight, out of mind? Academic Liaison Librarians Online and Beyond Sarah Purcell, Kathryn Devine, Shona Raymond, Alison Taylor, Jennifer Dumbelton, Ros Sykes, Jo Dunn, Beth Connors and Andy Searle – Library Services Figure 1: L to R: Jo Dunn, Shona Raymond, Sarah Purcell, Ros Sykes, Allie Taylor, Kathryn Devine, Andy Searle, [Beth Connors]. The Academic Liaison Librarian Team advises, teaches, and supports students, researchers and academic colleagues at the University of Worcester and across our partnerships (V1, V2). We are a professionally qualified team (A5) who support literature searching and academic referencing, and promote the effective use of physical and online library services, integrated at both course and module level. Our team ethos of sharing knowledge, undertaking professional development and… Read moreVignette of Practice: Out of sight, out of mind? Academic Liaison Librarians Online and Beyond

Vignette of Practice: Course design and development including enhanced use of Pebble Pad and the Pebble Pocket App for undergraduate level 4-6 teaching

Josh Simpson

Course design and development including enhanced use of Pebble Pad and the Pebble Pocket App for undergraduate level 4-6 teaching Glyn Harding, Michelle Morgan, Craig Williams and David Mycock – School of Sport and Exercise Science One of the assessments in SPRT 2034 ethics requires students to collaborate with Drama and Law staff and students to participate in a real-life innovation cross department experience court case to analyse the ‘ethical implications’ of applied practice. Through this approach, we underpin our delivery with the School of Sport and Exercise Science core teaching values (see Figure 1) to ensure high-quality teaching and the promotion of inclusive practice. Furthermore, synchronous online learning (developed through Covid 19) has enabled students and lecturers to interact live, retaining the student-teacher interactions… Read moreVignette of Practice: Course design and development including enhanced use of Pebble Pad and the Pebble Pocket App for undergraduate level 4-6 teaching

Vignette of Practice: The PGCE Secondary Education Magazine Commonwealth Edition

Josh Simpson

The PGCE Secondary Education Magazine Commonwealth Edition Rebecca Davidge, Simon Huson, Elena Lengthorn and Rachael Moore – School of Education Our Secondary PGCE team developed and delivered a series of teacher educator workshops on decolonising, diversifying, and democratising our subject curriculums in light of the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 and the local Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. A further catalyst for this project was the exploration of the inspirational text Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Satnam Sanghera (Sanghera, 2021). Reading of Empireland enabled us, as a group of university tutors, to discuss our preconceptions of the British Empire. The book took us on a learning journey which included a clearer understanding of the past, present and possible… Read moreVignette of Practice: The PGCE Secondary Education Magazine Commonwealth Edition

Vignette of Practice: Enhancing the student experience in occupational therapy and physiotherapy practice placement modules

Josh Simpson

Enhancing the student experience in occupational therapy and physiotherapy practice placement modules Annabel Heaslop, School of Allied Health and Community   As part of the BSc Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy courses, students are required to complete over 1000 hours of successful practice placement for students to register with the HCPC as Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists following graduation. While students generally provided positive feedback regarding the practice placements themselves, historically, practice placement modules (in which placement occurs) have not received high levels of student satisfaction on modules evaluations. When planning to deliver my second-year practice placement module for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy students and associated learning, I reviewed student feedback from the preceding module. I used this feedback to implement changes to my existing module and… Read moreVignette of Practice: Enhancing the student experience in occupational therapy and physiotherapy practice placement modules

The Use of Generative AI In Education

Josh Simpson

The Use of Generative AI In Education Martin Whiteside, Chief Information Officer, University of Worcester Martin Whiteside, our Chief Information Officer, has written a very interesting piece on what generative AI tools can and can’t do. It includes some fascinating analysis about what ChatGPT can do in producing ‘assignments’ in Literature, Art, Science and Maths. The paper is available to download via this link.