Few teaching methods (or problems) are truly new and unique; frequently colleagues from another part of the University are grappling with, or indeed might have solved, the very issue with which you are tasked. A quick email or phone call to a colleague either within or outwith your discipline could help with new course design or enhancements. To facilitate this approach throughout these sections reference is made to examples submitted by teaching staff from across the University of Aberdeen.
- Design
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Overview Design of any taught element, from a single tutorial or lecture through to an entire Programme, can be made simpler if a few basic design principles are applied.
Some useful starting points for designing any teaching can be broken down as follows:
- Start with the end in mind – what are the learning outcomes? In other words what do you want your students to know or be able to do as a result of your teaching? Also consider at this stage the relationship between these outcomes and the University’s MySkills framework.
- In parallel with 1 above, what content will be included – and what will be left out? Curricula are always full, and it is easy to overfill them. Coverage is the enemy of understanding. Fewer concepts, well explained, can be beneficial.
- Which other concepts, not traditionally thought of as part of the formal curriculum, will be included. These include due consideration being given to aspects such as employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship and generic skills development.
- Assessment and feedback: How will students and you know that the learning outcomes have been achieved? How will students know how they are progressing along the way, before it is too late for them to change their practice?
- Methods of delivery: How are you going to help your students to engage with the materials, ideas and concepts that you have set out above? Are lectures the best way to do this or are there others? Have you taken account of the accessibility of your materials from an equality and diversity perspective?
- Evaluation: How will you know that your teaching is effective?
Learning Outcomes Writing learning outcomes is not an easy task. Striking a balance between being over-prescriptive (producing too many) and too vague to be of use (too few) is never easy.
Download our guide which has been written to be used alongside the University’s course and programme descriptor forms: Guidance on writing aims and learning outcomes
Content It is difficult to write learning outcomes without reference to your content, and in practice the two are usually considered together. Some pointers at this early stage to help with this phase of design include:
- Don’t think that you have to cover everything. Many curricula are too “full” already
- Ensure that the students know why particular content is in the curriculum
Content Advice Guidance
If a course contains potentially distressing material or issues, students should be informed about this well in advance. More information available in the document UoA Content Advice Guidance
Employability, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship At this stage consider how you might build in those aspects of the curriculum that sometimes get forgotten. Remember you don’t have to do all of them, and not all topics lend themselves to this (although with a little lateral thought often they can). The following is not a prescriptive list, but consider:
Employability
Have a look at our employability resources for some ideas and inspiration. Also, employability case studies has a range of examples of how staff from around the University have engaged with the concept of employability in their teaching.
Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
Although we won’t all be able to produce a spinout company from our courses, there are plenty of opportunities to help and encourage your students to engage with the wider concepts of enterprise and what it means to be entrepreneurial.
You can find examples on the Careers Website and in our Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Spotlights.
Assessment and Feedback Thinking about the assessment strategy at the start of the design process will aid the design of learning activities that help students to not only achieve the learning outcomes, but stretch them academically in order to demonstrate their mastery of the topic or subject matter. There are plenty of novel methods of assessment that might also be used; don’t feel constrained to use written, timed, closed book assessments at all times of this doesn’t help to test students in an effective manner.
- Alternative assessment techniques - along with examples of staff from around the University describing their assessment techniques and regimes
Feedback is one of the areas of teaching most commonly singled out by students for criticism. The University of Aberdeen has developed a Feedback Framework.
One of the largest studies in recent years on feedback was the Re-engineering Assessment Practices (REAP) project, (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2007).
Resources The Centre for Academic Development has identified and prepared a series of resources which deal with different aspects of the learning and teaching process and with your professional development through increasing your awareness and understanding of particular topics.
These resources have been loosely grouped into the following headings:
Employability
The following is a series of resources on the subject of increasing and evaluating the employability of the University's students and graduates.
For further information on Employability at the University of Aberdeen, contact Dr Joy Perkins, Educational & Employability Development Adviser (j.perkins@abdn.ac.uk)
- CBI: Future fit: preparing graduates for the world of work(26 March 2009)
- CBI: Stronger together: 6. Ensuring students have the skills to succeed(21 September 2009)
- UK Centre for Bioscience: Employability Audit Tool: a resource suitable for all disciplines
- QAA Enhancing Employability: Innovative Projects from Across the Curriculum
- An overview of the work of the Employability Enhancement Theme
- Student employability profiles: A guide for higher education practitioners(May 2007)
- Graduates for the 21st Century resource pack: Promoting the Scottish Enhancement Themes (UK Centre for Bioscience)
Avoiding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the use, without adequate acknowledgment, of the intellectual work of another person in work submitted for assessment. A student cannot be found to have committed plagiarism where it can be shown that the student has taken all reasonable care to avoid representing the work of others as his or her own.
- Reference: University of Aberdeen. The University’s Code of Practice on Student Discipline (revised 24 June 2008)
The following are useful resources:
- Articles on Designing out Plagiarism provided by Plagiarism Advice (www.plagiarismadvice.org)
- Information for Students on Avoiding Plagiarism, provided by the Student Learning Service
Specific Learning Differences
Annual Learning and TeachingSymposium One of the primary objectives of higher education in Scotland is to provide a high quality of student experience. The Centre for Academic Development supports the University in its activities in this area through a wide range of teaching enhancement activities aimed at supporting staff, many of which tie in to the wider national Scottish Enhancement Themes. To date staff have engaged with the work of the Themes through:
- ongoing institutional priority work, which frequently aligns closely with the Themes
- a range of special projects, some of which have been internally-funded including:
- the annual Learning and Teaching Symposium and Best Practice Fair
- the overarching Curriculum Reform project
- the identification and development of Graduate Attributes
The enhancement of teaching and teaching related activities are supported by the Centre's Educational Development Advisers, Dr Darren Comber and Dr Joy Perkins.
The Centre's Educational Development Advisers are involved in a range of activities, including the University's Postgraduate Certificate in H.E. Learning and Teaching, and the Teaching Programme for Postgraduates and ECRs. Meanwhile the Enhancement Co-ordinator is involved in the identification of good and innovative teaching activities and their dissemination across the institution, in addition to contributing to the Centre's Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Learning and Teaching, Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme and events including Learning and Teaching Symposia and Teaching Fellow events.
Quality Enhancement has encompassed and overtaken the former Quality Assurance processes in Scotland (Subject Review and, before that, Teaching Quality Assessment), and many staff will have encountered Internal Teaching Review and the wider Enhancement-Led Institutional Review (ELIR). The latter are important elements in the overarching Scottish Quality Enhancement Framework (QEF), with which the University of Aberdeen engages actively.
Many academic staff will be aware of the work of the Enhancement Themes, an important and high-profile aspect of the QEF. Running since 2005, the Themes aim to:
"...enhance the student learning experience in Scottish higher education by identifying specific areas (Themes) for development. The Themes encourage academic and support staff and students to share current good practice and collectively generate ideas and models for innovation in learning and teaching."
The Themes have been supported since 2006 by an Annual Conference. Staff from across the University have both contributed to and attended the conference.
Curriculum Management Designing and Reviewing Courses and Programmes
Before a course or programme can be taught within the University, it is necessary for it to be reviewed to ensure that it complies with the University’s academic standards (as laid out in the Academic Quality Handbook) and those of the Quality Assurance Agency.
In order to improve the design and review process, the University’s Curriculum Management system has been developed to replace SENAS. The Curriculum Management process involves the completion and submission of the appropriate Curriculum Record (new course, course change, course withdrawal, new programme, programme modification, programme withdrawal). Once submitted, the Curriculum Record will then be reviewed by the appropriate approval bodies, including: the Business Case Approval Group, the Quality Assurance Committee, Academic Services, and Central Timetabling.
The University imposes a strict timeline for the submission of Curriculum Records to ensure that all courses and programmes can be reviewed appropriately. Furthermore, adherence to the timeline is particularly important to ensure that courses and programmes can be properly timetabled. As such, the University requires that all Curriculum Records are submitted for approval no later than the XX of XXXXX in the academic year before the change in teaching is due to commence.
Detailed user guides on how to use the Curriculum Management system are available here. They can also be found throughout the system itself, by clicking the ? in the top right corner of the screen.
Any questions or comments arising from the Curriculum Management process should be directed to senas@abdn.ac.uk.
Curriculum Management
The University Calendar and the Catalogue of Courses
Once approved by the University, courses and programmes are made available for staff and students to view.
The University Calendar lists every programme offered by the University in a given academic year, the academic regulations which must be adhered to, and the courses which must be studied to ensure a student can graduate with a particular degree.
The Catalogue of Courses displays all of the courses that the University offers, listed by subject area.
- Deliver
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Delivery of teaching encompasses a vast range of methods, and colleagues in each discipline will have their own ideas as to the most effective blend of these. With changing patterns of work for both academics and students, often traditional forms of delivery are no longer the most effective way to encourage students to engage with ideas and materials; this is not to say that a good lecture, well delivered, is not a useful teaching method. However, there are many techniques that exist and that are in use around the University to which staff might not have been exposed.
A discussion with colleagues from outwith one’s own discipline, and even the opportunity to sit in on teaching taking place in other disciplines, is a valuable piece of professional development.
- Support materials for staff giving large lectures (content to follow)
- Support materials for teaching small groups (content to follow)
There is a legal expectation that teaching materials and sessions will be as inclusive as possible. Equality and Diversity is frequently thought of in legislative terms (it is), but by making your materials and sessions as accessible as possible, this may benefit all of your students.
- Evaluation