Applying PGCAP Learning Through Individual Micro-Teaches & Group Micro-Modules (Victoria Taylor - Leeds)

At the University of Leeds, our aim is to provide our PGCAP participants with a balance between theoretical knowledge and practical applications. At this symposium, we would like to focus on sharing how we have designed some of these practical applications through the use of individual micro-teaches and group micro-modules. As well as allowing participants to apply some of what has been covered on the programme, engaging in a micro-teach and a micro-module provides further opportunity for participants to reflect on the approaches they employ within these tasks to their potential value in their wider ongoing practice.

In Module 1 of our PGCAP, the individual micro-teach asks participants to design and deliver a single 25-minute teaching experience consisting of both an asynchronous and a synchronous component on an academic topic of their choosing. Module 2 builds from Module 1 with a move towards the considerations needed to design and develop a coherent series of learning, rather than simply individual episodes of teaching.

Participants work with a group of peers from across the University to employ overarching curriculum design principles to create a 2-hour teaching experience consisting of two asynchronous components and one synchronous component. In addition to this, the groups must design an assessment task for their micro-module which they mark and provide feedback on. In both cases, fellow PGCAP participants in the cohort become the ’students’ who engage with the micro-teaches and micro-modules and provide peer feedback on their experiences.

Before the pandemic, our PGCAP was delivered in a blended mode made up of online learning and in person teaching. However, since Sept 2020 the PGCAP has been delivered fully online which has allowed us to maintain the aims of our course whilst also supporting colleagues with their transition to delivering more teaching online. This fully online environment has meant a significant redesign of our micro-teach into the format described above, as previously the micro-teach consisted of a 10-minute in person session. This redesign then sparked the format described for our group micro-module task. Therefore, as part of this presentation we would also like to share the additional digital skills participants develop when engaging with the micro-teach and micro-module tasks. These skills aim to further support colleagues to grow in confidence across this developing digital education landscape in their wider ongoing practice.

Examples of participant feedback:

"I learned a lot from my own experience and observing that of other colleagues. My mentor was amazed by the level of professionalism involved in the planning and delivery stages of micro-teach. Learning how to take advantage of Microsoft tools will be a great takeaway and I will try to pass it on to my colleagues who have not taken PGCAP."

"The group micro module experience was unique and valuable. Working with colleagues of different disciplines on a subject that none of us was particularly knowledgeable/good at is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I learned things from my peers that I could have never learnt from my colleagues in our own school."

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Describe how individual micro-teaches can be employed to allow PGCAP participants to apply approaches to delivering single episodes of teaching
• Describe how group micro-modules can be employed to allow PGCAP participants to apply overarching curriculum design principles to develop a coherent sequence of learning
• Explain how digital skills development can be embedded into a PGCAP
• The aim is that attendees will be able to find out about how the University of Leeds has employed individual micro-teaches and group micro-modules as practical applications within our PGCAP, which since the pandemic has also allowed further digital skills development to be embedded into the programme.

Embedding the PgC: Skills, Processes and Practices (Dr Leanne Freeman with Laura West-Burnham - Cardiff Metropolitan University)

In the last 18 months the PgC TAP has undergone both a re-design and a leadership change. This has provided an opportunity to examine how the PgC operates and to extend the PgC team to one that incorporates the skills and expertise of our Quality Enhancement Directorate. The new PgC team is working to align the PgC with other taught programmes across the institution and also connecting with Professional Services units to ensure that the programme meets the needs of both participants and the institution. In this session we will reflect on how the broadening the reach, impact and delivery of the PgC can position the programme as central to the learning and teaching mission of the university. 

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Consider how their own PgC is embedded within their institution
• Reflect upon how change can be an opportunity for growth
  

Sharing concrete ways to support colleagues develop interthinking skills (Denise Sweeney - Nottingham)

This session will explore the process entitled 'interthinking' which has eminated from the research conducted by Littleton & Mercer and colleagues at the University of Cambridge on classrooom and workplace talk. 21st century university graduates are required to have effective communicative skills and the ability to work with others when entering the workforce. This presentation will explore key findings from the interthinking research and how this work has been introduced into PGCHE modules at the University of Nottingham with academic teaching staff who are required to support their students with developing these graduate skills as part of their disciplinary degree.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Sharing concrete ways to support colleagues develop interthinking skills

Reflections on Transitions from a PgCAP to an Academic Professional Apprenticeship (James Moran - Loughborough)

The move from a PgCAP to an Academic Professional Apprenticeship has required a shift in expectations of both participants and teachers. There have been substantive structural and pedagogic changes as adaptations to practice have evolved within a rapidly changing landscape. This presentation will be a reflection on the role of a module leader in these two programmes and the challenges and opportunities which arise from meeting both UKPSF and APA standards within a single course. This will include thoughts around curriculum design, work-based learning and supporting the End Point Assessment.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Explain the main differences between a PgCAP and an APA course
• Recognise the different terminology and standards used on an APA programme and how they impact participant learning outcomes
• Examine the advantages and disadvantages of an Academic Professional Apprenticeship route to gaining Fellowship of Advance HE

How do you like your PASTA? Serving up an inclusive, flexible and authentic PGCert assessment (Professor Jo V. Rushworth - De Montfort University)

A new PGCertHE course was developed at De Montfort University in 2017 which was designed to reflect the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the institution's inclusive teaching and learning framework. The Patchwork Screencast Assessment (PASTA) was designed with a dual purpose; firstly, to model the sort of inclusive, flexible and authentic assessment that we wanted to encourage academics to employ. Secondly, to replace essays as a means of assessing PGCert students with something focused more on formative learning and which demands that the participants can apply the theory to their practice. The PASTA requires learners to collect formative "ingredients" by means of weekly tasks that are associated with the learning topics. These can be prepared in flexible formats; videos, cartoons, writing and pictures are all encouraged. Weekly peer and tutor feed-in is encouraged. Finally, learners serve up their PASTA in a format that suits them best, for example a movie, a narrated PowerPoint or a voiced-over Word document are all accepted. The blend of reflection, theory and hands-on practice should have a distinctive taste which reflect the participant's students and teaching, oozing with evidence and bringing UDL practice to life. In a survey deployed to the first cohort, 100% student satisfaction and positive free-text comments were received. The PASTA is now employed on other courses as a UDL-friendly, authentic assessment. Due to its digitally-submitted nature, the PASTA might be helpful to others to consider as a post-covid PGCert assessment, particularly in light of the current drive within the sector to move towards more inclusive and authentic modes of assessment with a focus on assessment for learning.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• To gain an awareness of how the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can be used to design a PGCert course, with a focus on inclusive, flexible assessment that requires authentic application of knowledge and skills.
• To consider how a PASTA-style assessment might work for your PGCert/PGCAP course. The marking rubric and some examples will be shared.

"Never let a good crisis go to waste" (Aston)

I'll talk about how our PGCert was purposefully moved online mid-module in early March 2020, before lockdown in order to start preparing participants for the challenges ahead. I'll also talk about steps to move some of the in-person activities online (specifically the ABC learning design method) and how our experience teaching the PGCert online since then has influenced our redesign decisions (and reaccreditation) this year.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• learn about the ABC learning design method and how it can be shared with participants in-person and online.

Building Back Better? From crisis to opportunity, via empathy (Kate Richardson with Dr Sarah Moore, Sarah Plumb & Briana Chapple Sheffield)

“The good teacher, one who is perceived as having particular personal qualities beyond simply exercising due care, appears to be the effective teacher by virtue of the personal not despite it.” (Clegg & Rowland, 2010, p.729)

This case study will track the development of our PGCert in Teaching for Learning in Higher Education from the first lockdown in April 2020 to the gradual return to face-to-face teaching in September 2021. This will be an open and honest account of our experience as Tutors on the course, challenges we faced, and the gradual steps we took to adapt our practice to the ever changing circumstances, both locally and globally. We will begin by giving a brief outline of the pre-pandemic programme. We will then go into more depth about how we managed online workshop weeks, tutorials, communities of learning, observations and feedback during periods of lockdown, and talk about the emotional, social, pedagogical and psychological ups and downs for us and our students!

In order to illustrate our points, we will select a few specific examples of how we adapted the programme, including rapidly upskilling Tutors to teach fully online, balancing synchronous and asynchronous tasks to best fit the needs of the programme and the students, and targeted support we put in place to enable each individual to succeed on their module within their own personal pandemic parameters.

A particular focus for the talk will be around the centrality of authenticity and personhood in our approach. As Clegg & Rowland highlight in the quotation above, and throughout their 2010 study into kindness in pedagogical practice, “kindness in teaching is both commonplace yet unremarked” (p.719); and having reflected on our experiences as a team, we feel strongly that our flexible, personal approach to the individual needs of our students over the last 18 months was a highly significant factor in the success of the PGCertTLHE. Programmes of this type offer a uniquely metacognitive perspective for all involved, which during this uncertain time resulted in a really positive, friendly and supportive community of practice between Tutors and students, who were frequently learning from one another. Once the initial shock of the emergency pivot to online learning had subsided, this actually felt like a really exciting and democratic space; we were all back to square one in a way, and being open and honest about this made us better teachers.

Finally, we will explain how we went from surviving to thriving, embedded the best practices developed during the pandemic, and reinstating those aspects of the programme we all missed so much when we were unable to see students face-to-face. This final part of the talk will be supported by feedback from students and our External Examiner, highlighting the strengths of the Programme as it now stands, what should be further embedded, and providing a good evidence-base for us to move forward with our new, adapted, more empathetic format and processes, which we are confident provides the best of both worlds - online and offline.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• share our experiences in a ‘lessons learned’ format, which attendees can then reflect on in relation to their own context, in order to move forward with their programmes in a positive, empathetic, open-minded way.
• by being honest about the challenges and mistakes made during a intensely difficult time for everyone, we hope that attendees will be able to empathise with the ‘journey’ we’ve been on, and join us in identifying the benefits that are starting to come out of this enforced and tumultuous period of pedagogical experimentation!

Engaging and empowering Early-career Academics though Innovative Curriculum Design (Dr Bianca Fox - Nottingham Trent University)

This presentation presents a new curriculum model and describes the interlinked pedagogical principles used to rethink the curriculum design of the Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA)/ Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE) course at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). Active learning was a key tenet of the redesign of the course as was aligning the content to the APA Standard and UKPSF dimensions of practice. The focus was on meeting the needs of the 21st Century academic through engaging learners in experiential learning, peer problem solving, and project-based learning, both synchronously and asynchronously, and developing their academic practice by breaking the curriculum into smaller teaching blocks. Through utilising eleven teaching blocks across two modules, a range of pedagogic methods with specific areas of engagement were identified, thus generating more meaningful engagement with content. In addition, using smaller teaching blocks allowed more opportunities for tailored workplace learning activities and collaboration with colleagues from across the University, with a significant increase in sharing and embedding good practice.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Any course with long thin modules could be redesigned using our proposes curriculum design principles, particularly where there are a number of modules which interlink. This is an interactive presentation that aims to discuss how these pedagogical principles could be adopted by other colleagues leading or teaching on similar courses.

Online Seminars for active learning and community building (Mary Jacob - Aberystwyth)

In adapting our PGCTHE programme at Aberystwyth University to respond to the pandemic, we shifted our seminars online. The new format has given us additional opportunities to build a learning community among our participants, some of whom are not based on our main campus. It also gave us additional and unforeseen ways to build active and collaborative learning into our programme. We plan to continue using the new seminar format even after the university has a full return to in-person teaching.

This talk builds on a presentation, ‘What I learned from moving seminars online’, that I gave in July 2020 as part of the AdvanceHE Online Curriculum Symposium. Since then, I’ve refined the technique and developed a model for incorporating Active Cognitive Tasks (ACTs) into online learning. The ACT model is built around four existing frameworks: Bloom’s taxonomy (focussing on higher order thinking), Chi’s ICAP model of active learning, Laurillard’s learning types as used in the ABC Learning Design methodology, and Redmond’s framework for online engagement. A theory-based article on ACTs will be published as part of a SEDA Special in early 2022. The current talk complements the forthcoming SEDA article by providing a concrete case study showing how I use ACTs in online PGCTHE seminars.

The basic approach involves giving participants an asynchronous preparation task followed by a highly interactive synchronous online discussion. The preparation task is usually to read an article that I have annotated with thought questions and other comments. I also give them a worksheet in advance so that they know how the session will run. During the live Teams session, I upload the worksheet via chat so that everyone can type into it as a shared document. I give them some time to type their responses and then build the discussion around participant’s ideas. Everyone can download the collaborative notes at the end. In my talk for HEFi, I will show you examples. This activity has helped us a build community of mutual support during a time when we can’t be physically together. It has been well received and many of my students tell me they now use a similar technique in their own modules. The key take-aways of my presentation for HEFi are the value of using ACTs for community building and the importance of integrating preparation with the live online session. This approach to seminars can be applied not only to PGCTHE-type programmes but to any teaching that incorporates discussion, such as undergraduate seminars. What my PGCTHE participants experience as students, they then go on to use as teachers.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• How to run an interactive online seminar that promotes active learning and builds a learning community.

Navigating and belonging in a changing landscape – student, graduate and teacher experiences and perspectives from shifting an inclusive curriculum design module to an online space and what next? (Sarah Rhodes with Fiona Kolontari & Faye Middle - Wolverhampton)

The HE academic practice community has experienced momentous change due to the recent Covid pandemic. During this time of uncertainty, it was a challenge to shift from an emergency remote teaching approach to a more consolidated period of online learning retaining a high-quality supportive learning environment (QAA, 2020). In addition, equality, diversity and inclusion within our sector and society has renewed focus; rightly so, and the importance placed on this now within teaching, learning and assessment practices is advocated by our professional body (Advance HE, 2021) and beyond.

The importance of frameworks for CPD and communities of practice for academics has never been more crucial for supporting each other in addressing and overcoming these challenges. Creating opportunities for colleagues to know themselves, others, and value different perspectives need to be built into professional development activities. Central to this is also the importance of creating a strong sense of belonging for staff and students to their institution aiming to enhance student satisfaction, engagement and retention (Pickford, 2016; Thomas et al., 2014).

The Inclusive Curriculum by Design module within the PG Cert Academic course at the University of Wolverhampton offers a platform to foster knowledge, skills and values within a dynamic space. Peers can discuss, debate and critically reflect on their own and others’ academic practice. Prior to 2019/20, the module consisted of face-to-face scheduled teaching sessions and succeeded in students ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ inclusive practice evidenced by their summative case study assessment. However, the ‘believing’ or social justice element of inclusive practice had been varied with numerous students only meeting threshold requirements, not fully interrogating exclusion and critically examining their assumptions and teaching and learning approaches. This falls short of the key attributes of inclusive educators: consultation, collaboration and problem solving (Hobbs and Westling, 2002) and the need to enhance student’s sense of belonging by engaging them behaviourally, emotionally and conceptually with their curriculum, learning environment and activities they undertake (Pickford, 2016). As Garman (2005) stipulates, trainee educators “must be made aware of their own attitudes, beliefs and life experiences as they relate to issues of diversity before they will be able to critically examine and change them”. The pandemic also presented a disruptive opportunity for those involved to question existing practice and expose what Foucault refers to as ‘subjugated knowledges’ (Foucault, 2003 in Halberstam, 2011) in relation to the mode of delivery and inclusivity principles.

This session aims to share the experiences and perspectives of the Inclusive Curriculum by Design module through differing lenses: student, graduate (now tutor) and Module Leader. It will examine the benefits and challenges in relation to navigating a sense of belonging and identity during the shift to an online environment and share the learning for future iterations. Reflections from teacher, graduate and student will focus on the creation of safe brave online spaces to explore attitudes, values and beliefs, opportunities formative assessment and student choice. The significance and importance of online contributions (synchronous and asynchronous) from Senior Leaders including the VC, Pro VC, Dean of College of Learning and Teaching, Professor of Learning and Teaching, Associate Dean for Inclusivity in addition to academics and professional staff (with HEA accreditation) from across the university as voices and facilitators will also be discussed.

References

Advance HE (2021). Advance HE strategy 2021-2024. [Online]. Available from: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/about-us/advance-he-strategy-2021-2024 Garman, M.A. (2005) Six key factors changing pre-service teachers’ attitudes/beliefs about diversity, Educational Studies, 38 (3): 275-86.

Foucault, M. (2003) in Halberstam, J. (2011) The Queer Art of Failure. London: Duke University Press. Hobbs, T. and Westling, D.L. (2002). Mentoring for inclusion: A model class for special and general educators, The Teacher Educator, 37 (3): 186-201.

Pickford, R. (2016), Student Engagement: Body, Mind and Heart – A Proposal for an Embedded Multi-Dimensional Student Engagement Framework, Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 4(2), 25-32. ISSN 2051-9788. https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v4i2.198 Links to an external site.

QAA (2020). How UK Higher Education Providers Managed the Shift to Digital Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic [online]. Available from: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/guidance/how-uk-higher-education-providers-managed-the-shift-to-digital-delivery-during-the-covid-19-pandemic.pdf

Thomas L., Herbert, J. & Teras, M. (2014). A sense of belonging to enhance participation, success and retention in online programs. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 5(2), 69-80.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Reflecting on the learning experiences of a module leader, graduate and a student on an Inclusive Curriculum by Design module, attendee's will be encouraged to review their current practices and future opportunities for embedding the 'believing' and social justice approach to inclusivity within their professional development activities for new teaching staff.

Co-Creating Assessment Criteria (Thomas Langston - Portsmouth)

Assessing the work of academic colleagues is a perennial challenge for those of us who teach Higher Education qualifications. At Portsmouth on the Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA), we are alway conscious that we need to model both good practice and good habits in our assessments which our course members can take forward into their own teaching and assessment of their students. A key way this is achieved is using a co-creation approach where the course team and apprentices work collaboratively to shape how the assessments will be conducted. This allows apprentices to ‘peek behind the curtain’ of assessment design, specifically good principles of designing marking criteria. In this presentation we will share our approach to engaging our apprentices in both the principles and practices of developing marking criteria by designing the criteria they will be assessed against. We will share practical guidance and examples of the process, Learning Outcomes, criteria and feedback from the cohort about the impact of this co-created approach across the 2 years the APA has been in operation. This approach also introduces our cohort to the principles and some practices of co-creation which they are encouraged to take forward into their own practice to design an inclusive and fair learning experience.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• practical guidance on how to co-create marking criteria with an academic cohort in a Higher Education qualification course.

Feedback practices of multilingual academics (Agi Ryder & Gillian Lazar - Middlesex)

This presentation aims to explore the barriers multilingual academics face when providing students with feedback. Many members of staff, as well as students, draw on a wide range of linguistic repertoires in their daily lives, which impact on their identity and their engagement with their academic programmes. This rich resource is often neglected in the HE setting to the detriment of full inclusion in university life. University policies and practices frequently privilege a standard-English-only approach in which other repertoires are considered as somehow deficient. The project builds on the findings of a previous project (Lazar and Ryder, 2018) that explored how educational developers can incorporate a language-aware approach to feedback when working with staff involved in learning and teaching. While this small-scale project was successful in enhancing awareness among staff about the linguistic aspects of feedback, it also raised additional questions about the complexities of providing effective feedback, particularly for staff from a wide range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This current project focused on exploring these complexities further and aimed to unpack these issues from both an educational and linguistic point of view in order to identify some examples of best practice and thus aid clear communication and enhance students’ learning. This presentation will provide a concise overview of the research project and its main findings with the view of raising awareness of such issues and promoting a dialogue around equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• raise awareness and promote a dialogue around linguistic diversity in higher education and
• how this hidden resource might be capitalised on when working with students and staff in higher education

Creating Teaching Excellence (Hardeep Basra with Geoff Hughes & Dan Cole - De Montfort University)

This session will share ideas on how to develop teaching excellence through the professional development. It will provide an overview of tangible steps educational developers can utilise to develop their learning and teaching environment, giving the opportunity for diverse voices and experiences to be explored in their teaching, both in design and/or delivery. It will draw upon the recent work undertaken to critically review and transform the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, as a basis to get new teachers in HE to conceptualise and position their teaching as truly inclusive. It builds on the UDL framework and provides practical ideas for HE teachers to redesign and deliver a more inclusive learning experience for students.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• • Share practical ideas to enable educational developers to promote teaching excellence

Community, Compassion & Cunning Plans: a PGCHE and a Pandemic (Danielle Hinton - Birmingham) 

This session will explore how the University of Birmingham PGCHE team adapted to online delivery building on an earlier presentation at the Practical Pedagogy conference (Using Discussion Boards for Covid teaching of PGCHE). We will explore where we drew our inspiration (programme values and scholarship), the resulting learning designs, team and participant voices and the current plans going forward.  

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Practical ideas for online PGCHE teaching
• Hear the teaching team and participant voice

Resources:

• PGCertSymposium_DanielleHinton_UoB.pptx Download PGCertSymposium_DanielleHinton_UoB.pptx 

Adapting and thriving by using the Professional Discussion as an authentic summative assessment (Fiona Kennedy- Glasgow Caledonian University)

Assessment design is widely recognized as a significant influence upon learning with authentic, meaningful assessments being associated with positive and fruitful learning experiences (Brown, 2005; Carless, 2017). Assessment methodologies within higher education have evolved to focus on the value of the assessment for the learner, with the concept of assessment for learning now considered as one of the key goals of the assessment process.

Working with learners engaged on a Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice (PgCAP), creating assessments that are authentic is considered particularly important for a number of reasons. Firstly, the process of engaging with authentic assessment can be considered a mechanism for skills development relevant to the work base of the individual (Sotiriadou et al, 2020), developing skills that can be used to inform their own area of practice. Given the temporal nature of learners combining PgCAP study with the delivery of their own learning and teaching practices, the chance to learn about assessment design through experiential means, is considered too valuable an opportunity to miss. In addition, the style and format for presenting the specific relevance that the assessments hold, offers PgCAP learners the opportunity to learn through the practice modelled by the PgCAP teachers. Finally, reflecting upon their engagement with specific assessment types offers PgCAP learners the chance to consider adopting and adapting these assessment methods for use with their own students.

A Professional Discussion is an assessment that affords opportunities for meaningful and rich discussion between a student and an assessor; it is a two-way conversation that provides a platform for the knowledge and understanding of the learner to be explored and as such, is ideally placed for those engaged with work based learning. Based on discussing previously completed formative activities, the Professional Discussion was used as a summative assessment within one PgCAP to facilitate critical reflection and evaluation of personal learning.

This session sets out to explore how and why a Professional Discussion was designed as a summative assessment for teaching staff engaged as learners on a PgCAP programme, and how this assessment method proved to be adaptable, and arguably thrived in the context of teaching during the global pandemic. Further to describing the preparation and logistics associated with the design and delivery of the Professional Discussion, this session concludes with a reflective evaluation of the authentic learning afforded to both learners and teachers.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• gain information on an assessment method that can be adapted and utilised within their own area of practice, and delivered in face to face and online learning spaces.
• hear a critical reflection of practice and gain an insight into how the assessment method has been used to support the learning and development of students and teachers alike.

Under the Bonnet: Exploring Assessment Practices of the Birmingham PGCHE (Marios Hadjianastasis - Birmingham)

In this brief presentation we will share our innovative assessment practice on the University of Birmingham’s Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. Our formative and summative assessment design is driven by a desire to make assessment a dynamic, learner-driven product of the learning process that is meaningful and useful beyond its function as proof that the learning outcomes have been met.

We have been using the patchwork assessment model since 2015 (Winter, 2003; Jones-Devitt, Lawson & Mayne, 2016; Leigh et al, 2013; Trevelyan & Wilson, 2012). This enabled us to support our learners with formative tutor or peer feedback that is clearly aligned to summative tasks. Since 2018, we have also implemented a ‘capstone’ piece of authentic assessment which is forward-facing, and functions as preparation for continuing enhancement of learning and teaching practice that goes beyond the PGCHE, and beyond the individual’s practice to have wider impact (Darling-Hammond & Snyder, 2000; Hart, 1994).

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Reflect on their assessment practice
• Consider the potential wider impact of PGCerts on T&L

Elevating discussion: review and development of a PGCAP for online teaching (Rachel Boulter - LJMU)

Like so many institutions, the LJMU PG Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) delivery team had to review and revise content and teaching approaches during the 2020/21 academic year. Evidence-informed and practice-led, the programme forms part of an integrated framework that supports the academic development of staff from an emergent role to an experienced teacher. Providing a programme, which reflects the experiences of academic staff teaching online, was an important factor in how the PGCAP programme team developed the 2020/21 offer. There was a plethora of areas, which had to be considered: student and tutor digital capability; cohort familiarity (or lack) with LJMU systems and approaches; opportunities for engagement with the broader cohort, as well as disciplinary based colleagues. Taking account of these issues, the team developed an online approach which sought to maximise student-tutor and student-student interactions. In delivery, this was achieved through tutor co-delivery of sessions, incorporation of a variety of expert internal contributors and enhanced discussion opportunities within sessions.

During the review, it was crucial to ensure the course content was accessible and promoted reflective practice. Aligned with this, given the potentially isolating nature of teaching during a pandemic for those new to HE or LJMU, the team were focused on ensuring that connections between PGCAP staff and students could be established and maintained. For all staff, but particularly for those new to teaching, there can be negative emotions associated with teaching online (Regan et al. 2012; cited in Badia et al, 2018). The PGCAP programme team wanted to provide a positive and inclusive learning experience, elements of which the students could replicate within their own teaching. The frequency and role of the disciplinary Peer Learning Groups (PLGs) was raised across the programme, with additional meetings scheduled across the academic year. Student feedback indicates the success of this change:

I think the sense of community has been really useful - especially during lockdown. The consistency of a peer learning group works well as you get to know your peers a bit more…’ (LJMU Post-Graduate Taught Survey Report, 2021)

This approach has been further modified as we move into an active blended learning model for 2021/22, giving ‘equal priority to signalling to the student that they learn both within the class and outside of it’ (LJMU Active Blended Learning Policy, 2020). This session will outline the ways in which the LJMU PGCAP was adapted to reflect the move to solely online delivery last academic year. The challenges the PGCAP team faced in designing and delivering the programme and the lessons learnt will also be highlighted, alongside plans for further development of the programme in 2021/22.

References

Badia, A., Garcia, C. and Meneses, J. (2019) Emotions in response to teaching online: Exploring the factors influencing teachers in a fully online university. Innovations in education and Teaching International, 56:4, 446-457, DOI: 10.1080/14703297.2018.1546608

Liverpool John Moores University (2021) LJMU Post-Graduate Taught Survey Report. Liverpool John Moores University

Liverpool John Moores University (2020) Active Blended Learning as a Response to Social Distancing Measures. Liverpool John Moores University

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Through relatively simple adaptations, a programme can flex to new ways of working
• The importance of reflecting the UG and PG student experience back to PGCAP students (i.e. academic staff)

Hard to Place: why post-pandemic teaching doesn't fit the PG Cert mold (Peter Fossey & Dr. Jennie Mills - University of Warwick)

Many teaching staff are working under unusual and demanding circumstances, and further changes ahead cannot be ruled out. There is a high degree of uncertainty. Questions are raised about how best to support teaching staff under these conditions.

Teaching and learning related CPD, including PGCHE courses, is conventionally organised around the kinds of teaching that academics might expect to be engaged in: large group lectures, small group seminars, perhaps specialisms like lab demonstration or work-based learning.

Our course, the Academic and Professional Pathway for Teaching Excellence (APP TE) is an AdvanceHE accredited twelve month taught online programme intended for staff who are new to the university. Most participants are early in their career, having limited teaching experience; and some are new to the UK higher education sector.

In response to the conditions brought about by the pandemic, and anticipating post-pandemic pedagogies, we have redesigned APP TE. Academics need to be prepared for significant changes to the circumstances under which they are teaching, and potentially at short notice. Moreover, the last eighteen months have made clear that we have to be prepared for unforeseen events impacting on learning and teaching, looking beyond the current crisis

As such, we believe that it is no longer desirable to organise a CPD course according to different ‘types’ of teaching, as these are liable to shift and change in response to changing circumstances. Instead, we have structured the course thematically, around different aspects of professional practice. Essentially when considering ‘teaching contexts’ we have decentred the situation (delineated by space, time, and population) and recentred elements of student learning which our participants might want to support and promote through their teaching. This approach allows us to draw participants’ attention to the underlying reasons for being concerned with, for example, student engagement, independently of any particular situation in which keeping students engaged is a challenge. Being in touch with the value of these aspects of practice, rather than primarily with how they are realised in conventional teaching practice, should enable participants to develop a more flexible approach to teaching, and better prepare them for unpredictable times ahead.

Organising thematically rather than contextually has also meant that issues which might otherwise be sectioned off and detached from teaching-related content can be more fully integrated throughout. For example, reflection on professional values and teaching philosophy is an integral element throughout the course, including in reference to the ‘teaching excellence’ discourse, the relationship between research and teaching, the value and role of critical thinking in education.

The first cohorts on the redesigned course are beginning to submit their final assessments now. While the sample size is small as yet, early indications are that the first-time pass rate has improved compared to most previous years. Participants have remained engaged with the course more fully over a longer period of time, completing group exercises and formative assessments throughout the twelve months of the programme.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• Reflect on how academic developers/CPD can address conditions of uncertainty, and support academics who are teaching under challenging circumstances
• Think about the underlying principles by which CPD courses are organised, and how they shape participants’ learning

Early Career Academic Identity: Student or Teacher or somewhere in between?  (Adam Tate - Nottingham Trent University)

The role, and arguably the purpose, of academics has evolved over the last twenty years. These shifts have been driven by the massification of Higher Education in line with shifting government policy, a focus on widening participation, the development and democratisation of technology allowing ultrafast remote education, and the changes to the funding and regulatory frameworks of Higher Education. Such changes have been associated with new neoliberal managerialism, with staff viewed through performance management regimes akin to other corporate sectors (Rodriguez, 2020; Teichler, 2021). With the rapidly evolving role and purpose, there are implications to how staff conceive their academic identity(ies).

This paper explores the issue of early career academics’ identity and belonging in the age of Panopto and Microsoft Teams, as both participants on an Academic Practice course and as members of teaching staff. Here, we explore the hybrid identities that have manifested, particularly the ident of student-teacher identity (Hope, 2018). Not only are early career lecturers in this hybrid state, but there are further complexities that impact upon the development of their identities. For example, lecturers are increasingly pressured to deliver more online content for students, to push for more interactivity, increasing evidence of collating students’ views and opinions through discussion forums, committees, ‘student voice’ and other modes of engagement. This has been somewhat more complex in the context of the online teaching with students more able to remove and silence themselves in an apparent disengagement: keeping their cameras switched off, turning off their mics, communicating primarily through the public chat function, and often preferring basic email communication to any of the more ‘sophisticated’ options now available (Adams et al., 2021; Smith, 2021). Some early career academics lack the digital competencies to place them as the ‘expert’ in the room in terms of their proficiency, some calling upon students and other colleagues to support them. This too alters conceptualisation around the traditional power dynamics of student and teacher in the room, here, this is of interest in how Academic Identity might form.

This paper looks at how Early Career Academic Identity(ies) are inextricably bound within complex interactions, that such identities are fragile and contingent upon a number of factors. We advance insights on Academic Identity formation from what we have observed from teaching and mentoring on the Academic Professional Apprenticeship/Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

Expected outcomes of this session:

• contribute to the knowledge on the formation of Academic Identity. 
• colleagues will become more cognisant of the factors influencing academic identity, and to be able to more critically discuss this with their Academic Practice students.
• support those teaching Academic Practice Courses to create inclusive environments to enhance students’ sense of belonging.