The Contemporary Academic in Context
| Module title | The Contemporary Academic in Context |
|---|---|
| Module code | EFPM900 |
| Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Lisa Alberici () |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 1 | 1 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 50 |
|---|
Module description
This module is for academics and academic-related professionals who teach or support learning in a research-intensive university. Drawing on relevant research and scholarship, and your own professional experience, this module will locate your professional practice and development within the wider context of UK higher education, e as well as the more local institutional contexts and priorities which will shape your professional career development. It is designed to complement your work and to develop a supportive community amongst academics who are relatively new to University employment.
There are no pre-requisites, but it is intended that you would take this module alongside module EFPM902 (Creative Effective Learning in Higher Education) as part of the Academic Professional Programme.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module aims to provide an understanding of the principles of academic practice and its political and social contexts following the professional values of the Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education 2023 (PSF 2023), and the Academic Professional Apprenticeship standard. Its purpose is to support you in building on your existing skills and knowledge in order to become effective academics and professionals operating in your departments, in your university and in your national and international contexts. It is intended to enhance your confidence and effectiveness through reflection on your own practice, informed by research, scholarship and professional development, and to enable you to thrive within a research-intensive university.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Analyse and respond to the wider context in which higher education operates, recognising the implications for your professional practice.
- 2. Apply knowledge of methods for evaluating the quality, effectiveness and impact of your professional practice including reference to relevant higher education regulatory, administrative and quality procedures.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. Critically evaluate and scholarship, research, or professional learning or other evidence-informed learning together with learner and peer feedback to inform and enhance your own and others academic practice.
- 4. Explore innovative approaches to undertaking your work to create interest, understanding and enthusiasm among your students and/or other stakeholders.
- 5. Implement the principles and methods of critically reflective practice and evidence-informed approaches to enhance your own professional development and academic practice.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Collaborate confidently and effectively with others to enhance practice, including students, peers, professional networking and/or public engagement, and engagement with professional bodies and other external organisations
- 7. Be confident to act as supervisor/mentor/coach and/or tutor to lead and support the development of subject/practice expertise
- 8. Create a teaching portfolio that demonstrates your ability to describe your own academic identity and its relation to the wider context in which you operate, and to reflect meaningfully on your academic practice in dialogue with peers, students, literature, and self-reflection, based on relevant professional frameworks such as the Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in HE (PSF2023).
- 9. Commit to, and manage your own, continuing professional development (CPD) in your subject discipline and pedagogy, incorporating research, scholarship and professional practices.
Syllabus plan
This module is designed to support the development of supportive communities of practice amongst academic professionals in Higher Education. It also gives participants the opportunity to examine, reflect on and adapt their academic practice in the round (administration, teaching, and scholarship/research), underpinned by evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development.
The bulk of the module is delivered through a number of delivery days, with a mixture of full and part-days delivered in person or online. Structured learning activities will be varied, to include interactive lectures, discussion groups, expert panels, and collaborative small group tasks. The curriculum content is aligned to the Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education 2023 (PSF 2023) and the Academic Professional Apprenticeship standard. Participants will each be allocated an assessment tutor from the teaching team, who will provide support as needed, in face-to-face meetings, by email, Teams, Zoom, and/or telephone.
Sessions can vary according to your and other participants’ interests and questions, but they are designed to fit into four broad themes:
1. Contemporary issues in UK Higher Education, for example:
- The nature of contemporary academic practice in all its dimensions including research, teaching, citizenship/leadership, and business and community relations.
- The UK sector context, including HE Quality Assurance and governance.
- The individual’s context and developing teaching and research practice through dialogue with peers.
- How this context informs different academic identities.
2. Academic practice in a research-intensive university, for example:
- The social, cultural and policy context of the contemporary university, in particular research-intensive universities, and the relationships between research and teaching and how to negotiate them.
- Research-inspired, inquiry-led learning
- Project and self-management, problem-solving and design-thinking.
3. Supporting students, for example:
- Supporting students towards pastoral, academic and employment success.
- Student experiences from pre-arrival to graduation and beyond.
4. Individual Career Trajectories, for example:
- Your own academic identity as a dynamic construct.
- Mechanisms of progression and promotion, and career development.
- Taking responsibility for and planning your own professional development with regards to your academic role.
Additional elements will be designed in collaboration with you, as participants, in order to reflect your own priorities and the needs of your department, as determined in prior and on-going discussions between you, your Department or Workplace Mentor and other stakeholders.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 173 | 105 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 21 | A range of full and part days, involving whole group sessions, comprised of a combination of activities, such as interactive lectures, presentations, discussion groups, collaborative small group tasks, poster presentations, and panel discussions. |
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 1 | Individual tutorials with module assessment tutor. |
| Guided Independent Study | 21 | Preparation for formative poster task, and for giving feedback to peers. |
| Guided Independent Study | 50 | Reading course materials and resources for portfolio, including preparatory and follow up tasks from delivery sessions. |
| Guided Independent Study | 50 | Undertaking data collection and analysis (or equivalent) relating to your portfolio. |
| Guided Independent Study | 52 | Preparing the summative portfolio. |
| Placement | 105 | Directed activities in professional contexts CPD and roles related to academic practice. |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poster and oral presentation; feedback to peers | 2 hours (including peer feedback) | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | Oral peer and tutor feedback |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A teaching portfolio comprising written reflections, and artefacts from practice: | 100 | 1-9 | Written tutor feedback | |
| 1. Mapping to PSF 2023 | Up to 500 words | 8 | ||
| 2. One video clip from teaching practice, with session plan. | Up to 500 words (and up to 20 minutes for video clip). | 2, 3, 6, 7 | ||
| 3. Written reflective case studies. | Up to 1900 words. | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 | ||
| 4. Artefacts from practice for case studies, including peer review of teaching forms, and examples of student feedback. | Up to 2500 words. | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 | ||
| 5. Post-programme professional development plan. | Up to 500 words. | 2, 9 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio of evidence as set out above. | Portfolio of evidence as set out above. | 1-9 | Resubmission at next assessment deadline (minimum 3 months later) |
Re-assessment notes
As per the TQA manual.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- Becher, T. and Trowler, P. (2001). Academic tribes and territories: intellectual enquiry and the culture of disciplines, (2nd ed.) Buckingham: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.
- Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for Quality Learning at University, (4th ed.), OUP.
- Brookfield, S.D. (rev. 2017). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, (2nd ed.), San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- Brown, K, and Mountford-Zimdars, A. (2017) "Exploring academic hiring and life in humanities and social sciences at an English research university through a PhD students-as-partners project", Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. 8 Issue: 1, pp 15-29.
- Clarke A.M., and Sousa B.J. (2018) How to be a Happy Academic, SAGE.
- Debowski, S. (2011). The New Academic: A Strategic Handbook. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
- Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. and Marshall, S. (eds), (2014). A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing academic practice, Abingdon and New York: Routledge
- Healey, M. and Jenkins. A, (2009). Developing undergraduate research and inquiry, HEA, York.
- Mountford-Zimdars A, Sanders J, Moore J, Sabri D, Jones S, Higham L (2017). ‘What can universities do to support all their students to progress successfully throughout their time at university?’ Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 21(2-3), pp 101-110.
- Robinson, S., Bristow, A., & Ratle, O. (Eds.). (2024). Doing academic careers differently : portraits of academic life. Routledge.
- Tijdink, J. (2023) The Happy Academic: How to succeed and stay healthy in Academia. VU University Press.
- Trowler, P., Saunders, M. and Bamber, V. (eds), (2014). Tribes and territories in the 21st century: rethinking the significance of disciplines in higher education, Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE: https://ele.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=9644.
- Advance HE, Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) for teaching and supporting learning in higher education 2023: https://advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/professional-standards-framework-teaching-and-supporting-learning-higher-education-0.
- Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, Academic Professional Apprenticeship standard: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/academic-professional/.
- Vitae – realising the potential of researchers: https://www.vitae.ac.uk/.
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
- Barber, M., Donnelly, K., Rizvi, S. (2013). An avalanche is coming. Higher education and the revolution ahead. Available at: http://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2013/04/avalanche-is-coming_Mar2013_10432.pdf?noredirect=1.
- Bolden, R. et al, (2012) Academic Leadership: changing conceptions, identities and experiences in UK higher education. Summary report available at: https://www.lfhe.ac.uk/en/components/publication.cfm/S3-04.1.
- Moore, J., Higham, L., Sanders, J., Jones, S., Candarli, D., and Mountford-Zimdars, A. (2017). Analysis of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF2) provider submissions, https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/evidencing-teaching-excellence.
- Reshef, S. (2014). An ultra-low-cost college degree [video] from TED2014, available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/shai_reshef_a_tuition_free_college_degree?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare.
- Wonkhe (pronounced wonky) for HE policy, people and politics: https://wonkhe.com/.
Participants will also need to construct an individual list of references of books, journal articles and policy literature according to their teaching portfolio plans.
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | none |
| Module co-requisites | EFPM902 |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 20/5/2008 |
| Last revision date | 09/01/2024 |
