Rob Manton: “I found it
energising to engage with some of the topics we looked at in Bridges –
the pedagogic and employability ideas, and ideas brought in by external speakers. It was refreshing to look at new things - and old things differently.”
Guy Parrott: “The greatest impact the Bridges had on me and other people is the opportunity, space and time to meet colleagues in a wider university setting; to see what other professionals do with their students and how they deal with their curriculum. It is absolutely invaluable to interact with those colleagues and take back those ideas to your own teaching.”
Dr Dorota Ujma: “My main responsibility in my CETL Fellow role was the Employability Skills strand. It was quite demanding as employability seems such a massive area to research and I was trying to balance various other roles I had. But looking back at it now, I am incredibly grateful as I have learnt a lot as a CETL Fellow. What I appreciated the most was the ability to talk to many people from a variety of departments within the University and to listen to their problems; to share hints and tips of practices. I have changed my teaching practice - I relax a bit more, stop and listen.”
Dr Alfredo
Gaitan: “The
three years I was part of the Bridges are probably the best three years in the
whole time I have been in the University, of the 13 or 14 years I have been
here. I was able to be part of a group of people, who were interested genuinely
in students, their development and making an impact and changing teaching and
learning."
1st year Computing Networking student: “I find the module that is designed to give you the skills that help you with the types of learning you need, with what university resources to use and to analyse yourself really useful.”
2nd year Advertising and Marketing Communications student: “What is valuable for me, are all the opportunities that I can find here. The experience of not just studying but being able to find opportunities through for example the Careers office or Bridges that enabled me to develop.”
2nd year Public Relations student: “What I like about the University and the teaching here is the freedom that I can choose what I want to study. I study very interesting things, but when I feel intrigued by something, I can explore it and find so much about it. I like the approach of tutors to us; they treat us like we were really good at this and that."
MSc Public Health student: “The Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has really impacted on me, my interaction with many personalities and people from different academic backgrounds has helped me to learn.”
CETL Student Liaison Officer: "My Bridges experience as a student on a one year long work placement gave me so much. First of all, I finally got to know what CETL is doing, that people in there are trying really hard to make our studies as useful and as interesting for us as possible by researching and testing. I had a chance to learn different things from my colleagues and I hope I was able to appreciate appropriately the opportunity given. Secondly, I had a few great opportunities to participate in conferences and help to organise events such as the B:Fest, 'Who's the Bigger Fish?' competition, CETL Open Days and regular U CRe8 Club workshops. On top of this, working in a real full-time office job was a very useful and rewarding experience for my future career, as I have developed good communication skills through speaking to various client groups, networking skills by liaising with students and other staff, team work skills as being part of the Bridges team, organisation and time management skills through working on assignments and to deadlines. Most of all, I strengthened my customer service and presentation skills, because one part of my job was booking the Bridges learning spaces and front-line service."
