Published: 25 June 2021 at 15:45
This year we received 23 applications for Learning and Teaching Awards – funding of up to £3,500 to support development and research projects to transform lives through innovative, inclusive, and entrepreneurial education.
Deputy Vice Chancellor for Education Professor Aletta Norval announced the 13 successful applications at this week’s Engage Learning and Teaching Conference.
Our Learning and Teaching Project Scheme allows individuals and teams to apply for financial assistance to support pedagogic development projects.
Following the successful completion of the project and dissemination of the findings, award holders will be eligible to apply to become an Anglia Ruskin University Associate Teaching Fellow.
Aletta said: “These people who have applied for and who have been awarded Learning Teaching Project Awards are sterling examples of the fantastic entrepreneurial spirit in our institution of bringing forward projects and ideas that they want to try out. That drives our inclusivity agenda. We are thankful that we have so many colleagues at ARU who are willing to put in the effort to do these additional projects.”
Congratulations to the successful applicants:
Eugene Giddens and John Walsh (AHSS)Employability and Virtual Learning for Doctoral Candidates in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Eugene and John will use the funding to create Employability content for the AHSS Canvas site for doctoral candidates.
This content will include:
1) Five employability sessions on a range of topics
2) 30-minute recordings of the lectures for these sessions
3) A Canvas page for each session, offering advice and guidance.
Liz Bradbury, Shaun Le-Boutillier, Sebastian Rasinger, David Jay and Sarah Etchells (AHSS)More Than a Feeling: Learning from our Students' Experience of Belonging and Achievement
Liz and her team will use the funding to employ student research assistants to collect and analyse data for the AHSS ‘Achievement Gap Working Group’ (AGWG).
This group was set up to examine the underlying reasons behind the achievement gap between BME and white students and to agree and progress actions to reduce this gap.
Elaine Brown (AL&T)What does it mean to belong?
Elaine will use the funding to investigate students’ experiences of ‘belonging’ at ARU.
Students are active participants in this process, recording their experiences during the trimester, and subsequently reflecting on these experiences at the end of the trimester. By eliciting, and making explicit student experiences of belonging, together with our students we can determine the appropriate next steps.
Esther Norton, Claudia Wascher, Helen Keyes and Silvia Cirstea (FSE)Closing the Assessment Disadvantage Gap
Esther and her team will use the funding to address ‘disadvantage gaps’ where unintended obstacles may prevent some students from achieving their full potential.
Looking specifically at different forms of assessment, Esther and her team will conduct a quantitative analysis of attainment for different assessment types by gender and ethnicity, and a qualitative assessment of different experiences of, and motivations towards, diverse types of assessment by gender and ethnicity.
Francesca Cavallerio (FSE), Matthew Timmis (FSE), Rebecca Palmer (AHSS), Susan Wilson (AHSS) and Sharon Boswell (FSE)Using ‘Letter to the Self’ method to explore the experience of diverse student populations in different HE institutions
Francesca and her team will use the funding to develop materials to help students in their transition to Higher Education. Students from different Faculties will read a composite ‘letter to self’, created following the previous LTPA-funded project. The team created the ‘letter to self’ from participants’ quotes merged into a fictitious ‘student’ giving advice based on their experiences.
The team will ask students to complete a ‘response to the letter’. Analysis of the data will result in a short ethnodrama for each narrative type identified and recorded as ‘talking heads’ videos, and a nonfiction comic.
Kyprianos Georgiou and Lata Gautam (FSE)Evaluation of a semi-automated marking/feedback tool
Kyprianos and Lata will use the funding to develop an automated feedback tool using Microsoft Excel to provide timely and quality constructive feedback and feedforward to students, particularly for marking of poster presentations.
Lorna Nisbet, Rebecca Jones and Charmaine Bale (FSE)Can a mobile app build student confidence for practical skills in a post COVID-19 world? Embedding the Crime Scene Assist mobile app to enhance practical skills teaching in Forensic and Investigative Sciences
Lorna and her colleagues will use the funding to evaluate the use of a mobile app introduced to help Forensic Science and Crime and Investigative Studies students who, due to COVID-19 restrictions, are unable to fully participate in face-to-face teaching and practical sessions.
Nathalie Zahra and Lata Gautam (FSE)Identifying barriers in higher education for BAME students and interventions to support their attainment
Nathalie and Lata will use the funding to investigate Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students’ attainment in the School of Life Sciences and understand a range of issues related to their engagement and progression (including both the enablers and barriers). In consultation with ARU Student BAME Advocates, their analysis will result in an engagement action plan.
Yvonne Norgett and Marta Vianya (FSE)Production and evaluation of ARU branded videos for supporting a blended delivery of clinical skills in eye care
Yvonne and Marta will use the funding to create a new series of clinical instruction videos to support blended delivery for the discipline of Vision and Hearing Sciences and to evaluate their use.
Development of ARU-branded videos will cover more of the clinical skills than our current set of videos and reduce the need to use externally branded material.
Matthew Timmis (FSE), Uwe Richter (AL&T), George Evangelinos (HEMS), Sarah Elsegood (Student & Library Services), Sandra Watts (Study Skills Plus), Isobel Gowers (AL&T), Emily Long (Students’ Union), Francesca Cavallerio (FSE), Ash Wilmott (FSE) and Adrian Scruton (FSE)How do we implement Digital Certification and Badging effectively across ARU?
Mat and his interdisciplinary team will use the funding to evaluate the use of ‘Digital Certification’ in the form of Badging at ARU.
Specifically, they will explore two areas:
1) How ARU uses Badging to maximise student experience and employability both within and beyond their taught degree
2) How ARU can use Digital Certification in both credit and none-credit bearing forms to evidence co- and extra-curricular engagement and learning.
Eshtar Hamid and Jade Moore (HEMS)Student- led formative OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Exam) as preparation for summative & national assessments
Eshtar and Jade will use the funding to assess whether a student-led formative Objectively Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) can enhance the confidence and clinical competencies of Year 5 Physician Associate students, both for their summative assessment, and preparation for their national exams.
Students will be involved in the design through participation of topics from the main domains of the assessment including patient / examiner instructions and the marking scheme.
Kate Cook (HEMS) and Catherine Brown (BAME Student Advocate)Exploring the impact of BAME student midwives’ experiences of racism in clinical practice and academia
Kate and Catherine will use the funding to understand the experiences and evaluate the impact of empowerment group sessions on BAME student midwives during their midwifery training.
Kate and Catherine will collect data via pre- and post-intervention surveys, and through students’ reflective journals.
Neil Dixon and Sarah Elsegood (University Library)Using design fiction for near-future learning tools
Neil and Sarah will use the funding to explore the possible use of Artificial Intelligence in near-future educational technologies.
Neil and Sarah hope to identify how educational technologies or platforms can incorporate AI over the next 5-10 years, how professional services and academic staff will use near-future educational technologies in learning and teaching, and how academic and professional services staff could adapt their educational practice in the context of near-future educational technologies.