When the World Shuts Down: Delivering a Successful Teacher Training Course Dan Hughes, School of Education I was the course leader for PGCE Primary when the COVID-19 pandemic forced a lockdown in March 2020 and the challenges for the course were significant. The impact was that our 2019/20 trainees could not go into school for their final placement and face-to-face lectures were stopped. Placements are fundamental to professional courses; they give the trainees time to put theory into practice. The third placement of their year is also where they are assessed against the Teachers’ Standards (Department for Education, 2021). This could not happen, and the question was simply, what do we do? We delivered an entire nine-week online curriculum, supported by coaches/mentors, that focused on… Read moreVignette of Practice: When the World Shuts Down: Delivering a Successful Teacher Training Course

Resources for understanding and supporting student engagement with learning have been collated into a spreadsheet for staff to review and use. The resources are organised into different tabs according to type (such as conference outputs) and with the following information provided: title, year, summary, institution or author and website link. Questions can be sent to j.simpson@worc.ac.uk.

Resilience is fundamental for student retention and it is one of our graduate attributes.  Resilience enables students to cope with the challenges, obstacles and setbacks they are likely to experience on their learning journey, and to graduate with the capabilities and mind set for success.  The term can be applied to both academic and personal aspects of the student experience and is increasingly associated with student well-being, academic buoyancy and a ‘growth mindset’. A proactive approach to developing student resilience as part of the curriculum at Worcester is therefore important because it will support our objectives to improve student retention and graduate outcomes.  We want our students to understand and demonstrate the behaviours, actions and mindsets that constitute resilience, and to be able to articulate… Read moreBuilding student resilience

Please find below the link to the latest guide for tutors on Effective Assessment Feedback Style, written by Professor Michael Bradshaw and Suzanne Lawson. Effective Assessment Feedback Style guide web version Nov 2020

Some ideas on basic good practice to help you and your students engage effectively with a module where the teaching is in different modalities.  Covers things like weekly intros, interactivity, managing and resenting content, directed learning, accessibility and what students said they appreciate from their experience of online learning in ‘lockdown’. Open the file in powerpoint mode 2020.09.04 A Framework for Organising and Managing a Module v4  

Tips and Hints for Course Leaders in meeting student expectations for engaging learning in ‘blended’ modules.   Covers very practical issues about checking students’ digital capabilities, building a sense of belonging, establishing course team protocols, setting up simple buddy systems, using your course rep and monitoring engagement with Blackboard.   Top Tips for Course Leaders in Preparing for Blended 7.9.2020

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