1. Workshop Set-Up:
The aim is that at each table we have a variety of disciplines / subjects represented by (ideally) four participants.
Ensure a mixture of disciplines at each table (where possible):
Arts & Humanities
Health & Social Care
Social Sciences
STEM

2. The Drivers and Barriers to Teaching Excellence: an Animal– and Veterinary- Curriculum Perspective
PedRIO Conference: 29th November 2018
#PedRIO #HarperLT

3. Aims of this workshop:
To provide space for colleagues to explore the drivers and barriers to teaching excellence, in their own disciplines, to derive some realistic calls to action
To share some of our findings from Harper Adams
To consider the student view

4. A bit about me:

5. Which word best describes you?
What is your single most important question at this point in the day?
What is your greatest talent? If I needed help to do something, what would it be?
Although we’re at the last session of the day, it would be interesting to use an icebreaker activity.
Note your answers down on a post-it and share with colleagues on your table.

6. Context:
I was one of six participants in the HEA Teaching Excellence Programme last year;
This follow-on project set out to understand the staff perspective on what teaching excellence ‘looks like’ at my own institution and asked: 
What are the drivers to impactful teaching?
What are the barriers to teaching excellence?
The profile of teaching excellence in UG provision has been highlighted due to the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) in England.
We’re all here today because we have a common interest in teaching excellence, whether that be delivery, evaluation or reporting.
My Project:
Internally funded through EDQE
Started in January this year with the final report due in December (next month)
Whilst my project set out to establish an understanding within the Harper Adams-specific culture and context, the intention is that the methodology is mirrored at up to five other UK institutions as a result of the peer network developed through the HEA TEP.
Focus groups and online survey
Analysis via grounded theory and open coding approach

7. In your groups:
Using the dialogue sheet and pens on your table, answer the prompts in turn to explore the drivers and barriers to teaching excellence, in your own disciplines…

9. The key findings from my project:
Students engaged
Social (constructivism) aspects of teaching and learning
Innovation in teaching
Integral real-world activities within a curriculum
Staffed considered the drivers to impactful teaching were…
Social (constructivism?) aspects of T & L
Team teaching
Using students as partners 
Small groups of students
Building relationships between the academic staff and students
Communication with students
Understanding students as individuals before guiding them academically
Staff recognising the intersectionality of students’ lives
Having students that ask questions
Considering one’s own conduct in the classroom
Seeking out feedback as a process of self-improvement
Innovation in teaching
The role of technology
Online marking and feedback
Scope for students to use technology in the classroom
 Pedagogical innovation
Designing for a visual learning approach
Integral real-world activities in curriculum
 Connecting curriculum to industry
Matching theory with practice
Alignment of curriculum with professional bodies / employer needs
Practical application of skills
Inclusion of soft skills
On-course placement and industry experience
Own credibility in their subject field.

10. Staffed viewed the barriers to teaching excellence were…
Disconnect with students
Internal regulations
Entry profile of students
External regulations
Staffed viewed the barriers to teaching excellence were…
Internal regulations
Timetabling and room resources
Having to teach unfamiliar topics
Annual changes in teaching allocation
Large group teaching
Lack of autonomy
Assessment load
Tension between research and teaching
Technology that breaks face-to-face contact between staff and students.
External regulations
Government funding
 TEF
 PSRBs
 Contrast of cultures between compulsory and higher education
Entry profile of students
Limited numeracy skills of students
 Students who are at university for the ‘experience’, rather than the subject;
 The motivation of students to search for employment after graduating and assuming they are joining the family business.
 Confidence levels of students
 Unwillingness of students to read prior to a taught session, or take problems away to solve independently
 Students who lack focus in a taught session

11. Looking back at your dialogue sheets…
Consider how your students would view your proposed calls to action.
How do those projected views differ across your group (table)?

12. Some concluding thoughts:
Alignment of curriculum with industry needs
Pedagogically sound communities of students and staff
Frequent evaluation of practice and appropriate action
Teaching Excellence