Slides from my School of Health presentation during their Staff Development Day on 3 July 2013.

1. School of Health
development day
Prof Alejandro Armellini
Institute of L&T in HE

2. Structure
• Part 1: Personal academic tutors
• Part 2: Northampton’s strategic commitment
in learning and teaching
• Part 3: A vision
• Part 4: Discussion

3. PATting students for academic
skills development

4. Purpose
To share practical ideas to enable you, as
PATs, to help students enhance their academic
skills.

5. Outline
1. Opinion v Evidence for critical thinking
2. Skills audit
3. Recording evidence in usable formats
4. Pointers

6. Opinion v Evidence for critical
thinking
A five-minute task

7. Skills audit
Skill: I can... Yes No Not sure Action
...interact with my peers effectively
as we tackle a task together
[teamwork].
...meet deadlines [time
management].
...take responsibility for our team
and its outputs [leadership].
...step into someone else's role at
short notice [problem solving,
negotiation].
...summarise project findings clearly
and concisely, both orally and in
writing [academic writing and
presentation].

8. Recording evidence in usable formats
Your skill areas Your self-
assessment
Evidenced by Actions to generate
evidence
Example:
Write clearly about complex
subjects in a form appropriate to
the purpose - e.g. report,
summarise, explore, persuade,
propose.
"I think I can do
that".
Not sure - feedback
from previous essays
suggests that aspects
of my academic
writing are weak.
Review submitted
work and feedback
with a CfAP tutor.
Synthesise information by bringing
together various sources and
presenting your interpretation
clearly and logically.
Evaluate and interpret numerical &
graphical data presented by others
Add your own!

9. Pointers
• PAT site on NILE
• CfAP: www.northampton.ac.uk/cfap
o Study Skills for Academic Success module
o Flying start
o NILE organisation
o Kate Littlemore, Head of CfAP
• Skills Hub: skillshub.northampton.ac.uk

10. Learning and teaching: strategic
commitments

11. Strategic commitment to scaling up:
11
• Re-design for online and blended provision
• CPD and accreditation
• Openness

12. The L&T Plan
12
• Intellectual capital
• Student experience
• Enhancement and innovation in L&T

13. 13
TheL&TPlan

14. NILE design targets
14
Level
Focus
Key
features
Founda'on
Delivery
§ Absolute
minimum
expected
§ Course
informa'on,
handbook
and
guides
§ Learning
materials
Intermediate
Essential in all
blended courses
Par4cipa4on
In
addi'on
to
‘Delivery’:
§ Online
par'cipa'on
designed
into
the
course.
§ Tasks
provide
meaningful
forma've
scaffold.
§ Online
par'cipa'on
encouraged
and
moderated,
but
not
essen'al
to
achieve
learning
outcomes.
Advanced
Essen'al
in
all
online
courses
Collabora4on
In
addi'on
to
‘Delivery’:
§ Regular learner
input
designed
into
course
&
essen/al
throughout.
§ Online
tasks
provide
meaningful
scaffold
to
forma've
and
summa've
assessment.
§ Collabora've
knowledge
construc'on
central
to
a
produc've
learning
environment.

15. Effective course design…
15
• Is team-based
• Focuses on the different types of interaction
• Is not obsessed with content
• Offers low cost but high value
• Requires digital literacy skills
• Must be innovative, participative and fun

16. Practical
Courses
(‘New
Teacher’)
< Level
7
Practical
Interventions
: Excellence
and
innovation in
L&T
(new and
existing staff)
< Level 7
L&T
Leader-
ship, HE
Policy,
Research
Supervision
etc.
Level 7
EdD
modules
Level 8
Associate
Fellow
Fellow
Senior
Fellow
20 Credits
PGCTHE
60 credits
Masters
180 credits
EdD
Peer Review
Mentoring
Scholarship
Level 7 Level 8Level 7Level 7
Qualifications

17. Open Northampton
17
Aim
To put Northampton on the global OER-OEP
map within 24 months.

18. Shift to…
18
• Appropriate ‘blends’
• Openness
• Flexibility
• Mobility

19. What will change with Waterside?
• Less physical space +
global competition for diverse and
demanding students +
innovation =
critical need to change the way we go about our
business
• The ‘learning and teaching landscape’:
composition and demographics of the student
population.