LALT Update
Dr Kate Strudwick, previously Dean of the Lincoln Academy of Learning and Teaching (LALT), has taken on line management of Linsey Woodcock and the Office of Quality, Standards and Partnerships (OQSP) team, whilst continuing to lead LALT. Kate's title has therefore now changed to Dean of Teaching and Learning.
The Office of Quality, Standards and Partnerships (OQSP) is responsible for assuring and enhancing the quality and standards of the University's awards and programmes across the range of its academic activities. The Office approves, monitors and reviews all academic programmes and partnerships, and provides the expert independent and impartial guidance and support to all staff across the institution, and to the University's national and international academic partners. It produces, develops, and maintains the key University policies, documents and records relating to all quality and standards matters, including legally binding academic partnership agreements. It is also responsible for the management and facilitation of internal and external reviews and audits. Further information can be found using the button below:
Claire Randerson, Dean of Postgraduate, has also taken on line management for Gosia and the International College.
Professor Mike Neary Tribute
In January, we learned of the very sad news that Mike Neary, Emeritus Professor of Sociology in the School of Social and Political Sciences had passed away.
Mike created and led the Student as Producer initiative, which has become so pivotal in the university's development over the past decade. He published extensively on higher education policy, pedagogy, academic labour, curriculum development, digital and educational innovation, and student engagement, arguing to empower students as equal voices.
His bold and innovative thinking will forever have a profound impact on the University of Lincoln and other institutions in the UK.
Student as Producer 2.0
As we move into the implementation stage for the TLSE strategy, there is a focus on developing student engagement within and beyond the curriculum. One objective is to launch a new Student as Producer model, which will work on developing opportunities for engagement and participation. This has the potential to be transformative, and develop and build a collective sense of belonging and community. The model supports a holistic student experience, framed within values at the heart of student engagement.
Consultation Event
One of the first stages of the Student as Producer 2.0 project will include an event for all staff and students to engage collaboratively identify how we develop the values and principles of the strategy. The four key themes will be: Teaching, Research, Decision Making, and Extra Curricula opportunities.
This event will take place on Thursday 20th April from 9:30am-12:30pm, and all staff and students are welcome to join the discussion to shape the new strategy. Please use the link below to book your place.
Student Futures Manifesto
In April 2022, the UPP Foundation Student Futures Commission lunched the New Student Futures Manifesto (SFM) report. This manifesto connects Universities and the Student Futures Commission, as joint partners, in developing support offered to students to build their sense of belonging following the pandemic.
Based upon six key themes, the manifesto is a commitment to enhance and facilitate a series of support mechanisms to make positive contributions to student experiences. The SFM is student led and 'owned' from start to finish, with Student Consultant roles established as a collaborative process with staff. This project supplements UoL's other partnership approaches with student engagement, including Academic Opportunities and Student as Producer roles developed through LALT.
Recruitment of Student Consultants
The SFM Student Consultant role was advertised through the Students' Union website as a Volunteering Opportunity. Students were paired with staff mentors in January 2023, with regular meetings being held between the pairings to discuss their specific theme, roles, and suggested recommendations.
Academic oversight is provided by monthly meetings, which are part of the reporting mechanisms alongside participation in university committees.
Partnership with the SU
The Students' Union has led on recruitment, training, and support of Student Consultants. The Vice President Education meets with the Student Consultants, and a Teams site has been created. Student Consultants have received training on role and expectations, research, and insight, with a planned external training session on consultancy.
A SFM handbook has been provided to offer supporting guidance for the pairings, outlining details of training, core dates and expectations.
To date, Student Consultants have developed a set of survey and focus group questions, which will be collated to develop a SFM survey. This will be disseminated through SU Comms and Marketing to ascertain levels of understanding about support offered to students at UoL. The final manifesto will take the form of a report provided by each Student Consultant, outlining the proposed changes, how they should be delivered, measured, and reviewed. The project team for SFM will work collaboratively to formulate the final manifesto disseminated on the SFM website, presenting a set of institutional commitments to key areas from each theme.
Programme Leaders Symposium
The University is running a Programme Leaders Symposium day event on Wednesday 17th May from 9:30am-4pm in the Alfred Tennyson Building.
The event will enable all Programme Leaders to come together to share good practice, develop College activities, and network with fellow Programme Leaders across the university. They will be encouraged to reflect on their role, and be able to gain advice and support from the sharing of good practice.
We also envisage the Symposium as being helpful for aspiring Programme Leaders to get an insight into the role, so please book on if you may be interested in becoming a Programme Leader in the future.
To book onto the event, please visit the Eventbrite page using the button below:
We would love to hear contributions from a variety of people from across the university, not only Programme Leaders. These can be on any success stories and good practice on curriculum design, Student Engagement activities, student feedback mechanisms, Personal Tutoring, working with Module Coordinators, engaging with Digital and Careers services etc. This can be in the format of:
- 20-minute presentation
- 1 hour workshop
- Pecha Kucha
- Poster
If you are interested in presenting, please send 100 words on the topic and specify the format to lalt@lincoln.ac.uk.
Teaching and Learning Conference
On Wednesday 7th June 2023, the University will be hosting the first Teaching and Learning Conference for all UoL staff.
This conference will be a platform and opportunity to share practice across the organisation, which is core to the successful implementation of the new Teaching and Learning Strategy.
You will receive an email with more details, and a link to book your place.
Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES)
The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey will launch at the University of Lincoln on Monday 17th April, and will run until Friday 16th June 2023.
PTES is a national online survey, co-ordinated by AdvanceHE, and offers Postgraduate taught students a safe platform to share open, honest and confidential feedback about their course and study experience at Lincoln. This feedback will not only help us understand what is working well, but importantly, will help us make changes that will enable us to enhance the student experience for future students. The survey is carried out by universities across the UK, which means we can also compare how we are doing in relation to other institutions. It covers students' experiences in the key areas of:
- Teaching and Learning
- Engagement
- Assessment and feedback
- Organisation and development
- Skills and development
For the first time this year, we have included institutional questions to find out more about our postgraduate taught students' experience of a range of campus and online services.
On Monday 17th April, all eligible postgraduate taught students will receive an email invitation from the Jisc Online Surveys system, containing a personalised link to the survey, which should only take around 15 minutes to complete.
This year, we will also host an on-campus campaign, with a voluntary space for PGT students to complete the survey. This will run from Monday 17th April for three weeks in the Global Lounge, ground floor of the David Chiddick Building. On completion of the survey, students will need to provide a screenshot/image of the survey completion message (at the end of the survey) to claim a free drink and treat gift card, which will only be available for collection during the on-campus campaign. This gift card can only be redeemed at the GF&Co cafe, located within the David Chiddick Building until Friday 16th June 2023. Collect your gift card during the opening times below:
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday : 10am-4pm
- Wednesday : 1pm-4pm
LALT will support any areas that require additional assistance to encourage participation with the survey. Results from this survey will be made available via the university dashboards early in the summer.
Please do encourage your PGT students to provide their feedback.
For more information about PTES, visit the link below.
Year 1 and Year 2 Survey
A new survey for Year 1 and Year 2 students will launch on Monday 24th April until Friday 12th May.
This survey has been introduced to help us gather intelligence on students' satisfaction levels of their university experience so far. We have seen fluctuations in our NSS overall satisfaction rates at programme level, with little context as to why some subjects have disparities in their performance from one year to the next. This new survey will therefore enable us to assess programme level satisfaction aligned to the TEF reporting metrics, track learning gain, and increase knowledge exchange. This means that appropriate adjustments can be made to programmes during a student's university experience, and hopefully improve overall student satisfaction and NSS scores.
The question set has been carefully considered through consultation within a working group of representatives across the university. This includes questions regarding teaching, assessments, student voice, organisation, learning resources, Careers, ICT, Estates, and so on.
LALT will be facilitating a survey zone in the Freezone space in the Library foyer. Students participating in the survey through the Freezone will receive a complimentary hot drink and sweet treat voucher, which can be used in the Isaac Newton Building and Minerva Building.
All eligible students will receive an email from Internal Communications containing the link to the survey. Please encourage your students to provide their feedback.
If you have any questions, please email lalt@lincoln.ac.uk.
Student Engagement
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Scheme (UROS)
UROS is a competitive bursary scheme designed to provide UG students with the opportunity to gain research experience working in collaboration with an academic member of staff. Students get a genuine insight into the research environment while developing transferable employability skills.
Historically, UROS has focused on undertaking research projects over the summer period, though we understand that not all staff and students can commit to this. Therefore, this year, we have introduced two application windows and two tiers of UROS project bursary:
Tier 1 Projects - Project scope of approximately 30-55 hours. Eligible for a £500 student bursary
Tier 2 Projects - Project scope of approximately 60+ hours. Eligible for a £1000 bursary
Application Window B closes on 17th April 2023. Please email uros@lincoln.ac.uk with any queries regarding the scheme.
How can staff members benefit from UROS?
David Anderson, Programme Leader in the Department of Management has taken part in UROS two years in a row. We asked him why he applied and what he has gained...
'Last year, I took part in UROS because I had a small scale teaching and learning project which I wanted to pilot. The research project 'Let's Play Games!' explores to what extent does playing euro-style board games develop skills and behaviours desirable in 21st Century leaders. Taking part in UROS allowed me to recruit a 2nd year Undergraduate student to collaborate with to develop the project. I am 100% certain that without this collaboration, the project would have faded away as I prioritised other tasks. However, the need to work towards several output goals gave us both a reason to meet regularly. By the end of UROS, we had taken part in the UK Games Expo, presented the project at a conference and produced a poster to summarise our work. Being involved in UROS gave life and validity to this project: the pilot has since been rolled out to an Undergraduate module where students are exploring the global re-skilling crisis brought on by industry 4.0. Using board games as part of the classroom has very much transformed seminars. Students independently lead discussions, barriers between students and tutors are reduced, and sessions are interactive.
I have a second project with UROS this year, focused around the use of Discord for fostering informal online communities amongst students, which has promise to reinvent how I use discussion groups with students. Whatever the outcome of UROS, I have found it a useful way to develop rapport with highly motivated students who are pursuing interesting research topics through to dissertation, which have also just happened to be student-led approaches to create changes in the way I design and deliver my classes.'
Teaching and Support Panels
Teaching and Support Panels are designed to bring together staff and students to provide feedback on new initiatives and proposals on teaching and learning.
To boost student engagement and ensure that the student experience remains a focal point of the university under the Student as Producer ethos, student feedback on innovation is essential. These panels are a great opportunity for students to become involved in and have their say on the development of teaching and learning practices.
We are encouraging staff members from both academic schools and professional services to submit proposals on ideas/initiatives in order to receive feedback from the student panels. Reflections from the trained student panel volunteers will provide valuable insight to help develop proposed initiatives and practices.
If you are interested in gaining beneficial feedback from current students and collaborating in the development of teaching and learning practices, please visit the website below.
Faye Cleminson, Senior Academic Subject Librarian shared her experience of taking part...
'The Library took part in a recent Teaching and Support Panel and found that the opportunity to have a discussion with students highly valuable. The Library has been developing 'Lean Library', which is a browser extension that redirects users to library resources whilst searching on the interest. In the panel submission, we asked the panel to download the browser extension, engage with it, and feed back on this experience. Writing the panel submission gave us an opportunity to be specific about the areas where we needed feedback, and wasn't time consuming.
On the day, the students gave helpful feedback and ideas, and the facilitated discussion helped us to validate that the project would be useful to the student experience, as well as give clearer ideas about how to improve it and communicate it to students. Sometimes communication may only happen when there are problems, and it was refreshing to discuss developments in a structured bit informal way. Working together as 'One Community' was an opportunity to explore and discuss opinions from students on different courses and levels, and we valued their input into this project.'
National Student Survey
The National Student Survey is open until Sunday 30th April. Please make a final reminder to your students to provide feedback on their university experience.
The publication threshold is 10+ respondents and a 50%+ response rate. No results from those programmes that fall below this threshold will be received, although their results will still contribute to the recent subject level and the overall institution level results.
Staff Development
Higher Education Academy's Recognition Scheme (HEAR)
All staff who teach at the University of Lincoln are encouraged to achieve formal recognition of their practice through the Higher Education Academy's (HEA) recognition scheme. Since 2019, the University has administered its own internal programme, supporting staff through the application and submission process. Full details of the application process for each fellowship level, along with upcoming support workshops, can be found on the HEAR Hub below:
The final submission deadline of this academic year is 5th June 2023. For details of upcoming support events and submission details, please contact hear@lincoln.ac.uk.
HEAR Testimonies
This year is proving to be a great success for HEAR, with over 90 D1-D3 applications having been awarded so far. Here are some testimonies from applications and reviewers.
D1 Associate Fellow:
'Gaining associate fellow status was important for me, as it helped me meet the personal specification criteria for the role of Criminology Lecturer. I have since been successful in obtaining this role, and I will continue working towards further accreditation in HEA.'
Mrs Elena Gaschino, Lecturer in Criminology, College of Social Science
D2 Fellow:
'The HEA Fellow recognition has allowed me to walk through my teaching journey again. Reflecting on my pedagogical design and how I have run classes across multiple dimensions, the application has helped me systematically recollect my best practices, as well as lessons to learn. With the recognition, I am not only able to advance my career in the HE sector in the UK, but am also pragmatically inspired to be a more effective educator.'
Dr Connie Mak, Lecturer in Marketing and Advertising, LIBS
HEA Reviewer:
'I volunteered to be a reviewer for HEA to support my colleagues in their practice. We strive to be very good educators and I strongly believe that getting the required qualification shows our interest and commitment to deliver high quality teaching and learning. It gives me great satisfaction to actively engage in guiding others at any stage of their application'.
Dr Oorbessy Gaju, Senior Lecturer in Crop Science, College of Science
HEA Reviewer:
'The opportunity arose to help colleagues to review their D1 and D2 applications. I find it very interesting reading the different approaches applicants use in support of their teaching and learning, how they design and plan their programmes, their reflections on how they engage with their students, and their commitment to professional values. This is a rewarding activity which I feel proud to be able to assist with. It makes me reflect on my own practice, and how I employ my skills in support of my students'
Ms Soledad Rupert-Nathan, Associate Lecturer in Spanish, LIBS
Academic Professional Apprenticeship
Celebration Event
On 9th February, the team held an event to celebrate the success of the APA programme by bringing together the growing community of people who have been part of the programme since 2019 as apprentices, mentors, and line managers. It was an opportunity to showcase the impact that the programme is having at the University, and included information on further CPD opportunities including other apprenticeships, publishing in IMPact, Advance HE Fellowships, and the National Teaching Fellowship scheme. The event, opened by Provost, Liz Mossop, was a wonderful opportunity to come together in person, and the team hope this will be an annual event.
Some of the posters showcased at the event included this feedback:
'The course was my Eureka moment - the point at which everything became clear and achievable. It made the transition from industry to academic more structured, and helped me to build a network and learn to reflect. I plan to continue my learning journey with My Professional Doctorate.'
'The APA Programme was very helpful in all of my specific roles: employability coordinator, senior tutor, and admissions tutor. Enhancing my knowledge of how best to support students and the range of issues they face has been very useful. The course has given me a broader perspective that would be needed in more senior roles, should I try to move in that direction'.
Here is some advice for current and future apprentices:
'Go for it! It is challenging, but the breadth and wealth of pedagogic teaching methods and assessment technics is very beneficial, and therefore makes your 'job' more fulfilling. The course underpins good practice, with excellent tutorial support throughout. It will provide you with the confidence to explore other opportunities within your department, which you probably wouldn't have considered before.'
'Remember that you can learn a lot from your fellow apprentices and their experiences, as well as from the course itself. Peer observation and group project activities are especially good for this'.
Network Event
As part of National Learning at Work Week, on Monday 15th May, the APA team are holding a breakfast event to launch the new APA network. This network is in response to participant feedback, which highlighted the interest in opportunities to continue 'connecting, engaging and developing' across cohorts beyond the programme. APA apprentices past and present will be invited to join us on the Brayford Campus, or via Teams. Current apprentices can seek advice to support their APA journey, and alumni can reconnect with each other, develop skills in mentoring, and explore opportunities to further develop their careers.
Please contact apa@lincoln.ac.uk for more information
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education programme
LALT will soon be starting to recruit for the next cohort of the Postgraduate Certification in Higher Education programme (PgCert HE), starting in September 2023. This is a programme for members of academic staff who are not eligible for the APA programme, or professional service staff members who have a role in teaching or supporting the learning and development of students. It aims to develop innovative teaching and learning experiences, and promote a culture of reflection, evaluation, research, and continuous improvement in relation to academic practice.
Please contact PgCertHE@lincoln.ac.uk for more details, and to check you eligibility.
University Senior Tutor Team
Personal Tutoring is increasingly a key area of focus in Higher Education practice across the sector, due to its role in supporting student development and wellbeing.
The University of Lincoln Personal Tutoring system is coordinated by the University Senior tutor team, who work to support Senior Tutors in each School. Dr Jessica Hodgson (Lincoln Medical School) holds the role of University Senior Tutor, and has recently been joined by Dr Alice Bell (School of Creative Arts) in the role as Deputy University Senior Tutor.
The overarching remit of the University Senior Tutor team is to:
- Improve the quality of Personal Tutoring provision across the university
- Innovate Personal Tutoring practice through the recognition of best practice and introduction of new initiatives
- Produce a core set of Personal Tutoring models reflecting best practice for adoption and adaptation within Schools as appropriate
- Support and equip Senior Tutors within Schools to effectively implement their Personal Tutoring programmes
This is achieved through an annual plan, which outlines the set of strategic priorities each academic year.
In the academic year 21/22, the University Senior Tutor team developed a new clear and robust framework for Personal Tutoring at the university. The new framework aims to a) capture and maintain existing good practice, and b) align Personal tutoring across the university to an approach appropriate to achieve good quality student support. This became part of the Student Support and Tutoring policy in 2022.
In line with the revised policy, the priorities identified for this current academic year 22/23 are to:
- Enhance and embed Personal Tutor training within each school
- Improve evaluation of Personal Tutoring systems through comprehensive gathering of student feedback
- Develop school-specific Personal tutoring Programme overview statements, to outline the ethos of Personal Tutoring provision within each school
If you have any questions regarding Personal Tutoring or the University Senior Tutor Team strategy, please email Jessica Hodgson: jhodgson@lincoln.ac.uk
Digital Education
Digital Education CPD opportunities: book now!
The next Digital Education Training week will be running from the 19th-23rd June 2023. Please find out more information via our web page below.
Our workshops (traditional training courses as well as more interstice sessions) help support year round staff development, and are available to book on to until November 2023. These include: Makerspace sessions to help you develop new teaching activities, Digital Discussions, Data Driven Teaching, Assessment Design, Creating Interactive Digital Content, Blackboard sessions, Engaging Students Online, and many more.
Booking can be done through the 'My View' HR system, The direct link to the booking system can be found below. To book through the system, click on 'My Training & Development' > 'New Course Booking' and filter the type by 'Digital Education'. Click on the course you are interested in > click on the date you would like to attend to find more information, and submit your request for training. If you have any further questions, please contact digitaleducation@lincoln.ac.uk.
- Student as Producer 2.0 Consultation Event - Thursday 20th April
- PTES - Monday 17th April - Friday 5th May
- Y1Y2 Survey - Monday 24th April - Friday 12th May
- APA Network event - Monday 15th May
- Programme Leader Symposium - Wednesday 17th May
- Teaching and Learning Conference - Wednesday 7th June
- Digital Education Training Week - 19th-23rd June 2023
If you are interested in having content included in the next edition, please email jhornertimmins@lincoln.ac.uk
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