Adapting a PGCert in A Changing Higher Education Environment

1. Adapting a PGCert in A Changing Higher Education Environment Dr Sean Walton, University of Bradford HEA Annual Conference 5th July 2011

2. Drivers for Change • NSS scores. • Browne review (Fees!). • “Putting Students at the Heart of the System”. • Section 5 agreement with the (then) DRC. • Statistical analysis of attainment across the university (BME groups fair relatively badly). • Refurbishment of teaching estate. • Pedagogic issues (growing evidence-base for effective practice etc.).

3. Considerations for the future • Graduate Teaching Assistants taking on more sessions. • Fees. • Focus on ‘student experience’. • Potentially more international students/greater student diversity.

4. PGCerts: A Universal Learning and Teaching Strategy? • Please consider the extract from the University of Bradford’s PGCHEP. • Please spend 10 minutes discussing this in groups of approximately 4 people. • What implications do you think the points the strategy raises have for Graduate Teaching Assistants? • Are all parts of the strategy suitable and/or relevant to graduate teaching assistants?

5. University of Bradford: Context • Learning and teaching strategy: focus on active and collaborative learning/move away from didactic teaching methods. • Innovative teaching, inclusive pedagogy, and reward and recognition of good teaching. • Aligned with SD1 and SD2 of Professional Standards • ‘Everyone’ that teaches students (p/t, hourly-paid, postgrads, postdocs) should be brought to SD1 – develop a new 20 credit module to achieve this.

6. University of Bradford: Context • New/experienced academic staff expected to work to SD2: • New staff required to complete PGCert , normally during 3yr probation. • Revised CPD scheme under development which will enhance engagement with experienced staff. Aim is to make teaching a recognised scholarly activity on a par with research.

7. Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice • Rewritten in 2009/10 around three consecutive 20 credit modules, in six month blocks • Module 1 – Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (aligned with SD1) • Module 2 – Inclusive Curriculum Design • Module 3 – Teaching Practice and Professional Development (Portfolio)

8. Module 1: Learning & Teaching in Higher Education • Course team decided to develop three variants of Module 1 to suit 3 audiences • Common learning outcomes. • Common pool of resources/sessions. • Course team involved to greater/lesser extent across all three variants.

9. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: GTAs and Part-Time Tutors • A single, 20 credit module, analogous to the first module of the PGCHEP. • Graduate Teaching Assistants. • Part-time tutors. • Students form a range of cultural backgrounds. • Students with a range of different academic backgrounds. • Students with range of teaching experience.

10. The GTA module • Runs over the course of one academic year. • Learner can choose which sessions to attend. • The sessions are predominantly practically focussed. • More theoretical aspects of the course are dealt with in private study. • Assessment is by group activity and individual assignment (30/70 weighting). • The module has a particular focus on issues of inclusion and diversity.

11. GTA Module content • The GTA module sessions cover: • Inclusive teaching and learning: Critical Pedagogy; Critical Race Theory; and Cosmopolitanism. • Tutorials and seminars: Small group teaching. • Lab work. • Classroom management techniques.

12. GTA Module content • Assignments and feedback. • Teaching large groups. • Fieldwork. • Technology enhanced learning. • Personal support for students.

13. GTA module assessment • First assessment takes the form of a poster presentation. Groups can choose from a range of topics (e.g. Kolb’s learning theory, andragogy/adult learning theory, constructive alignment etc.) or present on a topic of their own choosing. • Second assessment takes the form of an individual reflective assignment incorporating a self-assessment of teaching practice and engagement with an area of practice selected by the student.

14. Choice on the GTA module • Participants on the GTA module are required to attend the first block day. This is an introduction to the basics of HE teaching, the Bradford context, and an overview of inclusive teaching theory and practice. • After this, students must attend a minimum of four other sessions. The student can choose which four sessions to attend.

15. On completion of the GTA module • Participants gain a 20 credit, M-level teaching qualification (the module is being considered for HEA accreditation). • Participants can choose to go on to study the full PGCHEP, counting the GTA module as the first PGCHEP module. • A high proportion of GTA students have chosen to progress to the full PGCHEP.

16. The ORIC project • The team at the University of Bradford’s Centre for Educational Development (CED) along with the University of Salford’s Academic Development Unit have recently obtained funding to create 30 credits of open educational resources based around inclusive curriculum design, ESD, and digital literacy. • The ORIC project draws heavily on material that has recently been designed for the GTA module. • See http://www.oric.brad.ac.uk