Other kinds of "impact" REF 2014

David Willetts speech-at UUK conference today was interesting for many reasons. The biggest 'impact' for me was where he was talking about what will be REF'able and how research will be assessed for the Research Excellence Framework 2014.
The most surprising thing was that you could include unpublished work and journal impact factors would have no relevance!

Supporting the research process

Research is a pivotal part of Higher Education, all universities do research to some extent, even if it is research into their teaching that never get published in peer reviewed journals.

Pedagogic Research Model

Recently we published an Impact guide to Pedagogic Research, with members of the PRF and the Centre for Research informed Teaching. We had a highly successful Launch event, with posters, resources and contributions from 10 different schools, demonstrating inspirational teaching, and a speech from our Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience).


What I would like to share with you is our Model of Pedagogic research...

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?....

How to improve your writing in 10 steps

There are some really good resources on Literature review HQ, heres a sample on improving your writing. Not all of which are doable if you are short on time, but gives some good ideas...

Teaching that matters new million+ report

Teaching That Matters new million+ report is released today on how the modern universities are leading a teaching revolution...

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....

Figshare, a new tool for sharing data or a revolution in academic publishing?

What is figshare? well it seems to be a faster way of sharing your data, away from the ponderous route of normal journal publishing.

"figshare allows researchers to publish their data in a citable, searchable and sharable manner. The data can come in the form of individual figures, datasets or video files and users are encouraged to share their negative data and unpublished results too. All data is persistently stored online under the most liberal Creative Commons licence, waiving copyright where possible. This allows scientists to access and share the information from anywhere in the world with minimal friction."

It already boasts usage by prestigious universities, and uses the creative commons licence.  Could it be a useful way to share openly data including negative results, as it claims, we shall see, it seems to be mainly science based data at the moment but there are no restrictions on what you can upload so it has the potential to upload qualitative data and for performing arts staff to upload videos as well. So we shall see if it will be the ground breaking invention it claims to be. It could certainly come in useful!

HEA four year strategic plan for teaching

HEA focus on professionalisation of teaching continues in four-year strategic plan

Strategic priorities over the next four years include:

• to inspire and support effective practice in learning and teaching;
• to recognise, reward and accredit excellent teaching; 
• to influence policy, future thinking and change; 
• to develop an effective, sustainable organisation that is relevant to, and valued by, higher education.

All good intentions but lets wait and see how they are implemented. This should hopefully make lecturers lives better as well as the improving student experience. The main problem is too much work and little recognition. so as long as these concerns are reasonably addressed I am all for the new plan.  Staff should be valued for their excellent teaching in the same way that they can be venerated for excellent research, whether this new strategy will do enough, we shall see.

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.

Universities UK launches guide to quality and standards

As mentioned in their media release, UUK have launched  a new publication which outlines how quality and standards are assessed and assured within UK universities. The are 6 key features in the UK system for safeguarding standards :

1.       National tools that are used by all universities (the ‘Academic Infrastructure’) including Frameworks for higher education qualifications, Subject Benchmark Statements and a  sector-wide Code of practice for the assurance  of academic quality and standards in higher education;

2.       Universities’ own systems for ensuring their standards are right and quality is maintained, such as procedures for the design and review of courses and the use of external examiners;

3.       Independent external review of each university by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), resulting in published reports;

4.       Effective engagement with students and employers, including professional, statutory and regulatory bodies, which helps to shape what universities do;

5.       Mechanisms to support improvements in quality, for example by learning from the experience of others, sharing good practice and ways of supporting professionalism in teaching;

6.       Measures to address complaints.

These features provide the backbone of the quality standards assessment. This document helps clarify the way this system works.  http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/44806UniUK_guide_lores.pdf

or for the summary see: http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/44835UniUK_Summary_lores.pdf

  There is an increasing request for transparency of the HE system and provisions. This seems to be another way of demonstrating the value of UK universities.

Impact of Pedagogic Research!

Yesterday we held a highly successful event concerning the Impact of Pedagogic Research, where we launched our Impact of Pedagogic Research guide and showcased inspirational teaching from members of staff in the PRF. The place was full and we had talks from members of the PRF and the Pro VC (student experience) who stated that it was immensely important that we allow the time to reflect on our teaching and develop our teaching through pedagogic research whether informally or formally. The value of forums like the PRF are increasingly important to support our development through a supportive community of practice.
see the guide here http://www.uclan.ac.uk/information/services/ldu/research/prfimpact.php
and the PRF here www.uclan.ac.uk/prf

And the award for best lecturer goes to....

"Its about time good teaching was recognised in HE as a valuable commodity. there are enough student surveys and websites criticising lecturers, so I'm very glad to see the Student Led Teaching Awards  making the news. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/oct/17/lecturers-win-student-awards


This idea has been implemented by the Higher Education Academy http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/student-led-awards  and is a very worthwhile activity to help recognise good teaching when and where its happens. we want lecturers to feel recognised for their good work, because its not an easy job that just seems to get harder every year. The criteria mentioned is quite interesting as an example of what good teachers do.


  "the criteria for which an award was made – enthusiasm, feedback and the ability to prompt questions and critical thinking."


not only is the recognition a encouraging boost for the really good lecturers, who can feel disheartened in todays economic climate but it also has;

"unexpected benefits, strengthening a sense of community on campus, empowering students and making them reflect on their learning."


I am now looking forward to this being implemented in my university as we already have a cadre of dedicated teachers who work with the pedagogic research forum to improve their teaching, but don't get enough credit from their colleagues or management.  


See our impact guides for examples of inspirational teaching 
www.uclan.ac.uk/impact 

The current impact agenda could consider the impact of inspirational teaching, not just research

"Some academics are unhappy with the focus of the research impact agenda and have questioned the new framework and criteria. John Parkinson writes that it could benefit from looking also at the potential of teaching to connect with and inspire students, rather than focusing solely on the impact of research."
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/07/27/the-current-impact-agenda-should-consider-the-impact-of-inspirational-teaching-not-just-research/


It is strange that in measuring the impact of universities, that teaching is not considered, since it is our primary activity!

The social value of universities

How do universities contribute to the wider community?  Well Uclan is one of the biggest employers in Preston, as well as being involved in community engagement projects! 
 Interesting article by Faiza Shaheen in the Impact of Social Sciences blog, 
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/09/05/billions-of-pounds-in-social-value/

Impact of the social sciences

Podcasts of the sessions and panel discussions from the Investigating Academic Impact conference on 13th June 2011 are now available to download for free.

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/podcasts/

the pressures of student satisfaction

The guardian has posed the question below, with a survey yes or no?

"Are pressures on HE professionals to deliver student satisfaction too high?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/poll/2011/aug/17/national-student-survey-pressures

With the new fees regime and NSS results just out (student satifaction up overall to 83%) is student satisfaction putting too much pressure on academics to conform or perform to what the students feel is a good experience?
Do students know what to expect when they come to univesity or will they be expecting too much with the massive hike in fees?
Is Student satisfaction a fair assessment of the quality of a university experience? or should we find a different way that takes onboard the quality not quantity of contact hours and support? Are students the right people to be measuring the quality of an educational establishment or are they just part of the overall picture? Do the staff views of the quality of provison count? or should there be a 'mystery shopper' who looks at many different establishments who provide the same course?
Student and staff expectations can be very different and there is no easy way to measure the overall student satisfaction as students are individuals and will expect and need different things from their university education, and some subjects will outperform others and some courses will have more dedicated staff. If the lecturing staff care about their subject and about their teaching it shows. We have produced short books in a series called Impact which details how much the staff care about their work and the innovations in their teaching. Hopefully this will help students make an infomed decison and show who in their subject is dedicated enough to make a real difference to the student experience.
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/information/services/ldu/research/impact.php