PGHEP Module ‘Learning, teaching and the student experience’

Evaluating and enhancing teaching: your enhancement initiative

Synopsis of the workshop

This workshop focuses on the ways in which learning and teaching can and has been evaluated and enhanced and continuing professional development opportunities relevant to higher education teaching. Participants will critically consider a range of case studies from different disciplines and use them to identify characteristics of good enhancement initiatives. Methods for systematically evaluating teaching and for gaining feedback from students in particular will be introduced. The workshop will provide guidance on and examples of the ‘enhancement initiative’ which is a required component of PGHEP and has to be included in the summatively assessed portfolio. Participants will be given the opportunity to develop ideas for their own enhancement initiatives, discuss them with their peers and the PGHEP staff team and think about ways of identifying relevant concepts, theories, literature and resources. Such an initiative might focus on addressing a problem encountered, responding to student feedback, experimenting with a new method or innovation etc.

Workshop learning outcomes

This workshop is particularly relevant to the achievement of module learning outcome 5 and 6.

This workshop, coupled with subsequent experiential learning in the workplace, should lead to participants achieving the following workshop learning outcomes:

Participants will:

  • Have a critical understanding of ways in which learning and teaching in higher education can be enhanced, considering in particular the quality of student learning
  • Have familiarity with a range of methods for evaluating teaching and learning
  • Be able to design and carry out an initiative which systematically enhances a small aspect of their teaching, incorporating relevant research and/or scholarship and generating relevant evidence

Pre-workshop tasks

Gather ideas for a possible enhancement initiative about an aspect of your practice that you would like to develop further, identify relevant expertise in and beyond Northumbria, do some initial literature searches and develop this into a draft proposal.

Post-workshop task

Plan and carry out your enhancement initiative which is a required component of this module.

Links to 2011 UK Professional Standards for Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education (UKPSF)

Areas of Activity (A)

5: Engage in continuing professional development in subjects/disciplines and their pedagogy, incorporating research, scholarship, research and the evaluation of professional practice

Core Knowledge (K)

5. Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching

6. The implications of quality assurance and quality enhancement for academic and professional practice with a particular focus on teaching

Professional Values (V)

3. Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development