Hands on assessment

I was inspired by this article on how hands on science assessment are a much more accurate reflection of student comprehension. The computer based and physical tasks set for the students, involved much more than you would ever get out of a pen and paper exam, and the students got much more out of it. The study was conducted by the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress)

Teaching Exchange

We held the Teaching Exchange yesterday , and it was a very successful event, there was standing room only in the first session, so we had to move to a bigger room!

Sitting on the shelf: Do we really need to disseminate our research?

Most research ends up sitting on the shelf in a library or behind some publishing companies pay wall.  Even with  the current rise in open access, hardly anyone outside of a university ever hears about our research.  Do we really need to disseminate our research to the wider public? And if we do how do we break it down so they can understand it? With the current pressures on academics is it worth our time to condense, simplify and disseminate our research to the lay person?....

The REF 2014 Update

HEFCE now has an updated page with the final criteria and working methods that the Research Excellence Framework (REF) panels will use when assessing research. REF panel criteria....

Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Today we held the first Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning presented by Malcolm (Vice Chancellor) and Rod. (Pro VC)  There were 28  Award winners in a total  5 categories:

Individual Awards
• Excellence in teaching delivery and intellectual stimulation of students
Cliff Olsson, School of Sport Tourism and the Outdoors
Amanda Taylor, School of Social Work

• Innovation in teaching and assessment
Andy Bainbridge, School of Art, Design and Performance
Martin Salisbury, Lancashire Law School

• Best practice to improve the student progression and performance
Matt Horn, School Of Journalism, Media and Communication
Sarla Ghandi, School of Health

• Excellence in research informed learning and teaching
Pam Qualter, School of Psychology
Darren Tunstall, School of Art, Design and Performance

Team Awards

• Creation of a superlative student experience overall

Graduate Diploma in Law team - Lancashire Law School

The Media Technology team -School Of Journalism, Media and Communication

Congratulations all! Its nice to see your hard work being rewarded and valued. Also congrats to the LDU (Learning Development Unit) for all your hard work setting up and organising the event.