LEARNING AND TEACHING ENHANCEMENT

UWS has utilised the current Enhancement Theme to develop an enhancement plan of work coalescing around the development, implementation and embedding of a UWS Curriculum Framework. Parallel but connected is the re-conceptualising of our approach to student support through introducing a new Student Success Hub and our academic, professional and personal development modules – ASPIRE. These developments reflect our move to a tripartite approach whereby students receive joined-up support from professional services (Student Success Hub), academic ASPIRE Advisers (replacing the previous personal tutoring model); and their peers. In implementing the Curriculum Framework there has been an ongoing focus on the development of institutional enablers supporting flexible, sustainable and authentic learning pathways and opportunities for our students, with associated curriculum development initiatives and the development of a policy on the recognition of RPL, Continuing Personal Development (CPD) and Micro-credentials – all supported by UWS leadership of sector-wide activities in these areas.

Moving into the final year of the current Enhancement Theme our key priorities build from the University’s three focus areas: Student Experience, Digital Transformation and Organisational Effectiveness.

• Student Experience: Support for the next implementation phase of the Student Success Hub and revised personal tutoring system; the launch and expansion of the new ASPIRE curriculum; and the creation of flexible professional Postgraduate provision. These projects are all underpinned by UWS’s Curriculum Framework and its emphasis on flexible, student-centred approaches and the value of real-world learning. Specifically, the ongoing development of our UWS policy in RPL, CPD and Micro-credentials provides the foundations for new Curriculum Framework-aligned programmes which will positively enable the recognition of micro-credentialling and CPD as entry routes and contribute to the upskilling of our communities.
• Digital Transformation: The Theme will be an impetus for projects on enabling student environments to facilitate flexible engagement and support student wellbeing.
• Organisational Effectiveness: Frames our focus on the implementation of an academic development framework. As UWS works to realise its Curriculum Framework in full, there is an opportunity for staff development in related areas, including personal tutoring.

Institutional lead: Professor Jonathan Powles, Vice Principal, Learning, Teaching and Students

Theme Leadership Group staff representative: Dr Eilidh Kane, Lecturer (Learning Futures), Learning Transformation

Theme Leadership Group student representative: Subuola Elufioye, Vice President (Education), UWS Students’ Union

Helen McLean, Head of QuEST (Interim)

Nina Anderson-Knox, Head of Student Success Hub (Interim)

Ruth Whitney Senior Lecturer (Academic, Professional & Personal Development)

Dr Alison Gilmour, Director of Learning and Teaching Enhancement

For more information on the Enhancement Theme work at UWS, or if you are a UWS colleague who would like to get involved, then please contact the Theme Leadership Group staff representative, Dr Eilidh Kane: Eilidh.Kane@uws.ac.uk

Supporting the QAA Scotland sector-wide project - 'Understanding Micro-credentials and Small Qualifications in Scotland' - Professor Jonathan Powles, Vice-Principal, Learning, Teaching and Students, is Chair of the associated project network including representatives from across higher education, colleges, students and stakeholder groups. The focus of the network is to support sector understanding of the development, use and delivery of micro-credentials and small qualifications. For more information on this project see QAA website.

The Enhancement Theme ‘Resilient Learning Communities 2020-2023’ includes a workstream on Flexible and Accessible Learning including two projects; on Recognition of Prior Learning and Experience (RPL/RPEL) and the use of micro-credentials supporting access to ,and as a component of, Higher Education awards. UWS has been heavily involved in both projects with colleagues Gillian Hodge and Suzanne Gallagher–Graham leading the student chapter of the RPL National Toolkit for Scotland. They have been involved in various dissemination and positive practice sharing activities within the Scottish Sector. For more information on the Flexible and Accessible Learning strands of work, please see QAA website.

During 2022-24, UWS is strongly committed to engaging with the Tertiary Enhancement Topic: ‘The future of learning and teaching: defining and delivering an effective and inclusive digital/blended offering’. Internal institutional activity is focused on the implementation of our Curriculum Framework with a focus on our principle of hybrid and flexible learning and teaching. A survey of programmatic approaches to hybrid learning and teaching in summer 2022 will be complemented by a student facing survey. These are both informing institutional focus projects on Digital Transformation, Student Experience and Organisational Effectiveness.

Dr Alison Gilmour, Director of Learning and Teaching Enhancement, was a team member of the QAA Collaborative Enhancement Project (2021-22) - ‘Embedding Mental Wellbeing: Methods and Benefits’. The focus of this project was exploring how mental wellbeing can be embedded into all aspects of higher education to enhance the student experience. A project output included the collation of good practice examples from across the sector which contributed to the production of Open Educational Resources. For more information on Embedding Mental Wellbeing, please see the project pages on the QAA website.