Learning and Teaching: Strategic Direction

Aims

1. To provide the best education and experience for our students2. To offer outstanding, innovative, research-based teaching that attracts,

inspires, motivates and develops students, building on their diversity and strengths

3. To maximise student success, delivering strong student outcomes for completion, progression, achievement, employability, and satisfaction

4. To be the best at adding value to the student experience, raising expectations and levels of personal performance so that students succeed at higher rates than would normally be expected from the University’s entry standards and student profile

5. To lead at the cutting edge of provision offering personalisation, enrichment and a sense of community.

We will achieve these aims through … staff and students working together in strong partnerships that IGNITE:

Inspire, Guide, Nurture, Innovate, Transform and Empower an engaged curriculum that builds on the strengths, experiences and

interests of students being ambitious for our students, setting clear expectations and motivating

them to succeed highly engaged students, challenged and supported to achieve well and to

flourish academic and professional support staff at every level leading on

initiatives to enhance learning, teaching and the student experience learning environments and infrastructures that create a sense of belonging

and enable effective engagement a strong learning community, with staff and students contributing actively

to the evolution of our learning and teaching strategy.

Key Priorities for 2014-15

We will focus our energies on three broad objectives for 2014-15. We will:

(a) Drive up teaching quality

(b) Build student engagement and progression

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(c) Achieve high rates of graduate employability.

Learning and Teaching at UEL will be characterised by …

(a) community: partnership and collaboration as members of a learning community, contributing to peer support, the life of the University, and to society more broadly through civic engagement

(b) real-life relevance: fostering the skills and abilities of our students to equip them for employment and to tackle the big challenges that confront the modern world

(c) vitality: students and staff engaged in innovation, creativity, research, dialogue and debate

(d) enrichment: education and services that engender a sense of belonging, encouragement, excitement, intellectual curiosity, enjoyment and reward

(e) flexibility: enabling multiple approaches to teaching and learning, promoting the personalisation of the learning experience, and supporting the rich diversity of our students, our styles of teaching, our modes of delivery and our subject disciplines

(f) agility: dexterity and resilience in adapting to, or initiating, change (g) recognition: appreciating, valuing and rewarding excellence in teaching,

learning and student support.

‘Student engagement’ at UEL means students participating…

(a) in partnership with staff and with each other(b) intellectually, in their subject and studies(c) in a range of experiences that broaden their outlook and enrich their lives (d) in the life of the university, academically, socially, culturally and in

decision-making(e) in making their voices heard, such as through student representative and

feedback processes(f) in co- curricular activities that contribute to their success as students and

in preparing for graduate employment (g) in opportunities that will equip, empower and inspire them to become

leaders in community, business and society…all to levels commensurate with individuals' broader ambitions, interests and capacity.

Meeting our key priorities

1. Drive up the quality of teaching

a) Enhance the status and recognition of teaching Learning and Teaching: Strategic Direction

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a) Strengthen appointment processes for new teaching staff b) Provide career progression pathways that recognise, reward and promote

excellent teachingc) Fund Teaching fellows, research and Ph.Ds in learning and teaching d) Draw explicitly on the combined expertise and specialisms of UEL Schools

and Services.

b) Develop an engaged curriculuma) Provide programmes of study that:

i) Address the needs of community, business and industry, supporting student employability

ii) Engage students in real-life, enquiry-based projects that address key social, business and cultural challenges, including the ‘big questions’ facing us in the modern world

iii) Involve students as co-producers of knowledge, contributing to, and drawing from, the research base of the University

iv) Provide social capital for UEL students, building their confidence and raising their aspirations and expectations

v) Provide rich opportunities for students to broaden their outlook and develop initiative, including through work-placements and internships, volunteering, study abroad, and activities that raise their international awareness and understanding

vi) Enable the success of a diverse student body.

c) Empower and enable teaching staff a) Provide opportunities for staff to develop and nurture a shared passion for

high quality teaching that inspires students with a love of learning and inspires colleagues to adopt and share new approaches

b) Put mechanisms in place to fuel a culture of innovation, pedagogy and debate on learning, teaching and the student experience

c) Facilitate diverse approaches to teaching: provide space, resources, technologies and training to enable teaching staff to employ multiple and distinctive teaching methods to achieve excellent outcomes for UEL students.

d) Build leadership capacity for learning and teaching a) Create opportunities for staff to lead on LTSE initiatives that add value to

the institution; invite a wider range of people to lead, developing and supporting them to develop in leadership roles

b) Provide 'Innovate' awards for staff wanting to trial or introduce new approaches to LTSE

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c) Investigate the development of a ‘Leadership In Teaching Dashboard’ tool to enable teaching staff to collate and articulate their contribution to raising the quality of teaching.

e) Review and develop the training and support available for teaching staffa) Review current programmes and opportunities for staff induction, training

and ongoing development b) Pilot a refreshed peer support programme including observation of

teaching c) Enhance the guidance available to teaching staff, (such as tips on

incorporating use of portable devices; getting the basics right; for making marking criteria explicit, tied into constructive feedback)

d) Provide support for integrating strategic objectives into teaching (such as research, civic engagement, employability, graduate attributes)

e) Make it easy for staff to access information about developments in Learning and Teaching across the sector.

f) Promote interactive and personalised approaches to learninga) Promote and enable ‘learning-through-doing’, engaging students actively

and fully in the learning process in ways that inspire them to attend, participate, make individual contributions and enjoy the experience

b) Encourage and enable the use of adaptive online materials, tailoring learning to individual circumstances and pace of learning

c) Promote approaches to the design of curricula, assignments and assessment that empower students to make the most of their personal strengths, experiences, interests and backgrounds

d) Design learning experiences that assist students to perfect their understanding and skills through repeated practice and reinforcement

e) Encourage innovative, well-scaffolded ways of involving under-graduate and post-graduate students in research projects relevant to them, their programme of study and their School

f) Optimise use of resources and technologies that make most effective use of teacher contact and students’ time (such as through ‘flipped classroom’ approaches; pre-recorded lectures and other pre-class materials; use of MOOCS and OERs; podcasts for use before and/or after lectures; bespoke e-books; apps; etc.).

g) Provide learning environments and infrastructures that promote effective engagement a) Provide teaching and support environments that are friendly, welcoming

and conducive to active participation in learning

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b) Create spaces, virtual and physical, that enable students and staff to develop a sense of identity and belonging, as members of the University, as well as their School, subject and programme

c) Formulate a strategy for Teaching Enhanced Learningd) Maintain an up-to-date portfolio of technologies that enable effective,

enjoyable and collaborative learning, whether on campus or for learning beyond the walls of the University

e) Use technologies to assist students to access resources and materials that enable them to practise skills and develop their understanding of course content at their own pace and in their own time

f) Continue the rolling review of, and investment in, the physical and virtual estate so that this supports the Learning and Teaching Strategy as well as the needs of a diverse student body.

h) Optimise the impact of management information, monitoring and reviewa) Use module and programme data, NSS etc. for identifying good

practice/areas for interventionb) Review processes for annual monitoring and reporting on learning and

teaching at programme, subject and School level, focussed on measures to improve student outcomes

c) Target Subjects or programmes with poor metrics for teaching, for review and support towards improvement

d) Build on current processes for module monitoring and improvement, providing mechanisms for the early monitoring of modules with known risk factors coupled with support for those delivering the modules.

2. Build student engagement and progression

a) Implement the new academic frameworka) Provide a smooth migration to the new academic frameworkb) Provide appropriate transition modules to enable students to progress and

completec) Review the success of the first year of the new frameworkd) Monitor the effectiveness of the different approaches taken to embedding

learning outcomes within the curriculum e) Monitor and review the effectiveness of the academic framework in

supporting achievement & employability f) Investigate the feasibility of introducing add-value modules.

b) Provide strong and relevant arrangements for personal tutoring a) Implement and monitor the new Peer Tutoring Policy b) Strengthen the Attendance and Engagement Policy

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c) Provide an enhanced, integrated dashboard of student information to inform teaching and personal tutoring and service provision, including information on engagement in online activities.

c) Strengthen arrangements for successful transition into higher educationa) Provide strong preparation of students through our outreach, pre-entry, 

flying start and foundation level provisionb) Provide enriched Welcome, induction and orientation arrangements c) Provide early diagnostic activities that enable closer matching of teaching

and service provision to students’ starting places and circumstances.

d) Promote and enable personalised learninga) Create opportunities for students to undertake projects in areas of

personal interestb) Promote the use of interactive, adaptive online materials to personalise

learning and provide opportunities for practice at a student’s own pacec) Promote the use of relevant technologies to enhance student learningd) Encourage assessment strategies that scaffold learning through

repeated practicee) Promote an entitlement model for academic skills development (such

as whole cohort diagnostic testing; clarifying marking criteria; availability of resources, etc.).

e) Strengthen formal student engagement mechanismsa) Review the student charter, reinforcing expectations for partnershipb) Involve students in the key University processes and decision-makingc) Refine student engagement measures.

f) Provide opportunities for civic engagementa) Promote the integration of civic engagement into the curriculum,

including through personal projects or collaborative subject-area research projects

b) Identify learning outcomes developed through civic engagement activities

c) Identify UEL graduate attributes with respect to civic engagementa) Ensure a joined-up approach to civic engagement, employability,

research-led teaching, outreach to schools and colleges, and outreach to business and the community

b) Promote and recognise student contributions to enhancing the economic and cultural life of UEL and local communities

c) Establish civic engagement awards for students.

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3. Achieve high rates of graduate employability

a) Improve overall student success as a contributor to graduate employability

a) Clarify responsibilities for achieving high outcomes for student successb) Enhance the capacity of language and learning support services to drive

up student achievement and degree classificationsc) Communicate effectively with students so that they understand the

requirements for progression, and what they need to do to progress and complete their studies successfully

d) Raise student aspirations for personal success, scaffolding their learning experiences so that can develop academically, professionally and personally, and achieve well

e) Design teaching sessions, learning resources, assignments, assessments and feedback that develop students’ abilities and their awareness of what they need to do in order to achieve well

f) Make effective use of LAAs and LAMs in identifying ways of supporting student achievement

g) Identify student cohorts most ‘at risk’ of not gaining positive outcomes; provide multiple channels of guidance and support to help them to succeed

h) Award prizes that recognise student achievement and progress.

b) Employability

a) Increase the SSR for the Careers and Employability Services b) Develop an ‘entitlement’ model for career development, assisting all

students to gain a solid understanding of what is required to compete for graduate jobs and to access opportunities for developing the requisite attributes

c) Integrate careers education, guidance and employability-related activities into all stages of the student life cycle and curriculum

d) Seek professional accreditation for our programmes wherever relevante) Build our reach to business, industry and community, increasing the range

of employability-related opportunities open to our studentsf) Provide work placement opportunities or equivalents for all students

during their time at UEL (unless engaged in employment relevant to their programmes of study/future career)

g) Provide high quality wrap-around support for students on work-placements and in employment, in order to help them to optimise the learning and development that can derive from the experience

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h) Use Mahara to coordinate and advance students’ engagement in employability

i) Increase the number of individual students actively engaged in (a) key Careers and Employability service opportunities (mentoring, work placements, internships) and (b) support activities (attending workshops, career interviews, guidance on job application processes, etc.).

c) Enhance the overall Student Experience

a) Provide welcoming, professional, integrated, easily accessible, high quality support for our students, whether academic, pastoral, administrative, technical

b) Encourage and support arrangements for student peer support c) Map the student experience for different cohorts of students across the

student life-cycled) Review induction and Welcome Back processes, building in activities that

engage students from the outset in understanding factors for success in their studies and for employability

e) Establish the new helpdesks and promote effective use of these f) Ensure a joined-up experience for students through the front and second

line services, personal tutoring and other School-based provisiong) Provide a richer programme of events and activities relevant to different

student cohorts, increasing students’ involvement in the social and cultural life of the University.

Research-informed and research-based teaching

This policy will be implemented in conjunction with the UEL Research Strategy 2014-17, agreed at Academic Board June 2014, and the objective: Producing high quality critical and applied research that has clear linkages to high quality enterprise and teaching activities that enhance our students’ employability.

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