Invitation to share your practice

The Learning and Teaching (LTA) Professional Development Programme content

The Learning and Teaching (LTA) Professional Development Programme

The programme of events coordinated through the LTA is open to all colleagues in Further and Higher Education across the university partnership and is designed to share good practice in learning and teaching and educational research and scholarship.

Planning of the current programme of professional development events and webinars is  underway and we are inviting colleagues to present and share their practice with others.  In particular we are looking for presentations that align to the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Strategy Values and/or specific areas of learning and teaching practice outlined below.  However the suggestions below are just that, and if you would like to share an area of your practice that is not covered below please still get in touch!

Presenting helps to build confidence in public speaking, connects participants and presenters with colleagues across the partnership, and across discipline and roles, and enhances practice through reflection and dialogue with others. Furthermore colleagues applying for Advance HE HEA Fellowships through the institutional framework ALPINE have used a recording of their presentation to submit a Digital Artefact, an important element of the application.

Ways to present

The LTA Connect webinar series: One hour monthly lunchtime webinars aligned to the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Strategy Values and UKPSF. The webinars should share good practice on approaches to learning and teaching and pedagogic research, and offer the opportunity to discuss the wider context in which our learning and teaching practice sits.

Scholarship development: Sharing approaches to scholarship development through short webinars of up to an hour or longer workshops.  We are looking for colleagues who can develop others’ confidence and skills in topics including:

  • Presention skills and techniques;
  • Blogging;
  • Networking/developing a professional profile;
  • First steps to academic writing.

Assessment and feedback: Sharing practice and innovation in student assessment and feedback . Topics could include:

  • Formative assessment;
  • Using technology to support assessment and feedback;
  • Peer assessment;
  • ‘Sustainable’ assessment (i.e. assessment which does not increase the work load of academic staff but delivers benefits to students).

Open education: Developing Open education practices through short sessions and workshops.  We are looking for colleagues who can support colleagues through presenting on their experience in:

  • The use of open educational resources in curriculum development;
  • Working with learners to create open content;
  • Using open textbooks;
  • Publishing in the ‘open’;
  • Experience of engaging with open CPD.

Critical education: We are interested in hearing from colleagues who are engaged in or are able to share views related to critical education practice, in areas that could include:

  • The broader purposes of Further and Higher Education;
  • The relationship between educational institutions and the wider communities they sit within;
  • Equality and diversity in learning, teaching and the curriculum;
  • Critical perspectives on the use of technology in learning and teaching;
  • Pandemic implications for Further and Higher Education, and learning and teaching practices.

Educational research: If you are engaged in your own educational research, either in relation to evaluating your own practices or as part of a formal educational research project, we would be interested in helping you disseminate your work and findings through a webinar or workshop. We are also interested in hearing from colleagues who could offer sessions on educational research approaches and methods.

Educational leadership developmentSharing approaches to developing educational leadership through presentations at the leadership symposium, webinars and workshops. 

Graduate attributes: We are looking for colleagues to share their experiences and reflections of working with the University graduate attributes in their teaching, learning and student support practice through contributing to workshops or presenting a short webinar.

Mentoring: Sharing your mentoring/coaching practice/approaches to support others on the University Mentoring Scheme. This could be through a one hour CPD session or at the University Mentoring Residential.

Submitting your interest to present

If you would like to present please complete the LTA Presenter Proposal Form and send it to lta@uhi.ac.uk  We accept registration forms at any point in the academic year.  Whether you are an experienced presenter or considering your first presentation, the LTA team can support you in preparing and presenting your session.

We aim to accept all submissions of interest to present and will work with you to find the right format to disseminate your practice, however if you have a preference please indicate that on the LTA Presenter Proposal Form.  We will be in contact to arrange a date and time that suits you to present and understand that this might be determined after you know your teaching commitments for semester one.

Mentoring at UHI

We are also looking for mentors who wish to support colleagues around any of the topics outlined above through mentoring on the University Mentoring scheme.  Please email the mentoring team at mentoring@uhi.ac.uk for more information.