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Creating Effective Learning in Higher Education

Module description

This module is for teaching academics and academic-related professionals whose practice with learners has breadth and depth. Drawing on theoretical and empirical research about effective teaching and learning in higher education (HE) contexts, combined with your own professional experience (at least 100 hours of teaching and supporting learners throughout the duration of your programme), together we will explore, critically and creatively, a range of ways in which we can enable students in a research-led university to learn effectively. Examining the values and practices of a changing higher education sector, we will focus on a range of research-informed themes, including: how students learn; teaching methods; designing effective teaching sessions and modules; assessment and feedback; and ethical, sustainable, and inclusive teaching. You will work with colleagues to identify an area of your own teaching practice which you would like to develop during your time on the programme.

There are no pre-requisites, but it is intended that you would take this module alongside module EFPM900 (The Contemporary Academic in Context) as part of the Academic Professional Programme.

Module aims - intentions of the module

In this module, we aim to enable you to find creative and research-informed ways of enhancing your academic and professional practice with respect to supporting student learning, underpinned by the dimensions of practice of the  Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education 2023 (PSF 2023), and the Academic Professional Apprenticeship standard. We aim to help you to develop ways of engaging in teaching practice development and peer dialogue, so that you can participate in and develop supportive communities of practice amongst colleagues from across the University, including those in the module group, with a focus on sharing and improving teaching practices and enhancing the student experience. Through critical exploration of relevant education theory, recent developments in HE and University policy, and with respect to peer and student feedback, you will also locate and evaluate your professional practice within current institutional, political and social contexts whilst evidencing your practice explicitly against the professional values, core knowledge and areas of activity of the PSF 2023.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Evaluate and engage with a range of methods to develop, evaluate and revise sessions, course materials and curricula.
• 2. Design and deliver teaching informed by ethical, sustainable, and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) considerations.
• 3. Deliver education that is informed by how people learn, promotes active learning, and is enhanced through collaboration.
• 4. Select and justify the use of a range of teaching, assessment and feedback approaches to support learning and achievement.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Identify and use approaches tailored to discipline contexts, learner needs and learning environment contexts.
• 6. Use digital technologies to develop and disseminate knowledge and understanding of subject disciplines, promoting effective learning, and supporting a range of needs.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Use prior learner feedback to inform your academic professional practice.
• 8. Implement the principles and methods of critically reflective practice and evidence-informed approaches, in the form of a portfolio aligned with relevant professional frameworks, such as the Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in Higher Education (PSF 2023).

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 their learning, teaching and assessment practice, in terms of creating effective learning and inclusive learning environments underpinned by evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from , scholarship, research, professional learning and other evidence-informed approaches.

This is a blended module and most of the teaching  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 PSF for teaching and supporting learning (PSF 2023) and the Academic Professional Apprenticeship standard. Participants are 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 all are designed to fit into four broad themes:

1. Learning theories and curriculum design, for example:

• Planning teaching sessions (including ILOs, learning and teaching activities, and assessment methods)
• The socially constructed nature of learning and its implications for your teaching methods (threshold concepts, active learning, feedback loops, and the effective use of digital technologies)
• Programme and module design and evaluation.

2. Inclusive, ethical and sustainable education, for example:

• Contemporary issues in Higher Education, including research-inspired, inquiry-led learning, understanding the student experience, widening participation, the climate emergency, the digital age.
• Inclusive teaching practice, informed by equality and diversity and in an internationalised university context.
• How to involve students in the design of curricula and engaging students as agents for change.

 3. Assessment, marking and feedback, for example:

• Assessment, quality assurance, marking criteria, calibration, moderation.
• Designing creative and alternative assessments.
• Constructing effective feedback.

 4. Critically reflective practice and educator identity, for example:

• Self-reflective teaching practices informed by research, scholarship and professional development.
• How to articulate your teaching philosophy.
• Mapping your academic and professional practice against, and critically engaging with, the PSF 2023.

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)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

As per the TQA manual.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university, (4th ed.), Maidenhead: Open University Press.
• Brookfield, S.D. (rev. 2017). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, (2nd ed.), San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons Inc, and Jossey-Bass Inc.,U.S.
• Fung, D. (2017). A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education. London: UCL Press. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1558776/1/A-Connected-Curriculum-for-Higher-Education.pdf.
• 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.
• hooks, bell. (1994). Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom, Routledge.
• Race, P. (2014). The Lecturer’s Toolkit: a practical guide to assessment, learning and teaching, (4^th ed.), Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
• Tong, V. C. H., Standen, A., and Sotiriou, M (eds), (2018). Shaping Higher Education with Students: ways to connect research and teaching. London: UCL Press. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10044671/1/Shaping-Higher-Education-with-Students.pdf.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE:https://ele.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=9645.  
• Advance HE, Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learners in higher education (PSF 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/.  
• University of Exeter – Inclusive teaching practices: https://universityofexeteruk.sharepoint.com/sites/EducationToolkit/SitePages/Inclusive-teaching-in-Higher-Education.aspx.  

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), subject benchmark statements: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements.
• University of Exeter – Teaching Quality Assurance (TQA) manual: https://as.exeter.ac.uk/academic-policy-standards/tqa-manual/.

Key words search

Academic Practice, Academic Professional, Learning and Teaching, Higher Education