SESSION 4A Wednesday 7th 1130 - 1300 [Room TBA]

Developing employability-oriented curricula and learning

This session presents examples of employability being enhanced and/or relationships built with employers, community organisations and professional bodies. The first presentation demonstrates how students are brought into direct contact with professional agencies as an integral part of the dance curriculum and its assessment. Aiming to produce effective graduates from New Media Production who are adaptable to the challenges of working in environments informed by technological change, the second presentation discusses an approach to notional e-learning hours being developed; students are encouraged to ‘bridge the gap’ into self-directed learning within external communities. The benefits of work experience being integrated into the Sport Science and Personal Training degree both for the students and in developing community links forms the focus for the next presentation. A community-based interventional programme where the Department of PE and Sport Studies has been collaborating with several external partners brings the presentations to a close.

Chair: Lesley Lawrence

SESSION 4B Wednesday 7th 1130 - 1300 [Room TBA]

Language and culture: Transitions and issues

This session considers the importance of unpacking our understanding of a diverse student population and the associated challenges, approaches and opportunities for the institution and its staff. The first presentation focuses upon how students’ language learning motivation changes during their studying and implications. The need for much greater cultural awareness and discussion of the challenges faced by academics when teaching a diverse body of students forms the focus of the second presentation. The third presentation focuses on students’ transition into employment and why we need to do more to prepare international students to enter the labour market, illustrated by insights gained from visits to cities in India. The final presentation considers the benefits of giving opportunities to students to work on initiatives, for example on research projects, where their own experiences and backgrounds can be drawn upon and their employability skills developed.

Chair: Norma Pritchett

SESSION 4C Wednesday 7th 1130 - 1300 [Room TBA]

Technology facilitating reflection and learning

This session presents examples of technology enhancing learning predominantly related to student reflective activity. The first presentation considers the use of focussed video clips to aid the reflective process in initial teacher education whilst the second presentation considers how data from personal online blogs completed by students within the Business Pods were used to develop a reflective instrument to indicate skills development. Continuing on the reflective theme, the next presentation examines the role of e-portfolios in engaging Psychology students in reflection with emerging associated issues considered. The final presentation evaluates the use of e-portfolios across the University as a whole, examining how they can be integrated into work-based programmes in the developmental stages, with questions raised over whether or not universities are at the cutting edge of e-portfolio development.

Chair: Mark Gamble

SESSION 4D Wednesday 7th 1130 - 1300 [Room TBA]

Physical and virtual space: Enhancing the curriculum

This session consider various approaches to enhancing the curriculum and supporting staff in its delivery through physical and virtual space utilisation, drawing upon the views of staff and students. The first presentation considers the importance of the environment and space in facilitating a variety of creative teaching and learning methods to support the development of registered nurse mentors’ mentorship skills and assessment practice. The effectiveness of the CETL’s C space as a learning space is evaluated in the following presentation with some lessons for future design of teaching space at the University. Moving to the virtual environment, the importance of finding an appropriate on-line programme to engage students and be usable by staff with limited programming skills forms the focus for the next presentation. The final presentation focuses upon improving the effectiveness of social networking, in particular Twitter and facebook sites, for communication purposes whilst exploring the potential for new teaching and learning possibilities.

Chair: Mark Atlay