ABSTRACT. The Glasgow Access Programme (GAP) was established in 2017 as a new widening participation (wp) access to Medicine foundation year programme, designed to support first time entrants to higher education who did not meet the academic requirements for direct entry to Medicine, GAP aims to support students during their transition to higher education while also providing them with the skillsets required to succeed on the undergraduate medicine degree programme. When designing the Fundamental skills in Medicine module, team-based learning (TBL) was incorporated into the teaching strategy as it provides a framework for a student-centred active learning approach aligning to the University Learning and Teaching strategy. As a foundation year medical degree a key requirements for curriculum design was alignment with the GMC outcomes for graduates (2018), however partaking in a TBL session enables students to develop many of the University of Glasgow graduate attributes, encouraging the development of transferable teamwork skills that enables students to become confident, effective communicators and experienced collaborators, while also developing their critical thinking skills and enhancing their assessment literacy. Both students and staff are required to prepare in advance as a TBL session typically involves students completing an individual readiness assurance test, e.g., 10 multiple choice questions, completed on Moodle. A team readiness assurance test, using the TEAL rooms, students worked together to complete the same quiz again, encouraging peer learning. At this stage staff have an opportunity to identify issues with understanding concepts being delivered and can consolidate student understanding during a short presentation. Students then participate in an application of knowledge, for GAP this is an applied clinical scenario where students are assessed in a different format, using short answer questions. The approach encourages students to develop a deeper understanding of the teaching delivered during lectures and to identify gaps in their knowledge, providing them with continuous feedback on their approaches to learning. The GAP TBL approach has developed the core principles of TBL further to expand student skills development, incorporating a requirement for students to prepare MCQs on Peerwise in advance, encouraging active learning skills. Also, a TBL session typically concludes with a reflective component, where students are encouraged to discuss the development of their individual academic skills and how to improve their effective teamwork skills, setting goals in their reflective diaries. Students are also encouraged to peer evaluate the contributions of other team members and provide feedback on areas for development. This workshop will provide participants an opportunity to learn more about the TBL process, take part in a TBL session, identify opportunities for student skills development that will support students during their transition from high school to higher education, while encouraging graduate skills development that can be applied from a level one programme onwards. Participants can hear from a student’s perspective on their engagement with TBL as an active learning approach and can ask questions from both staff and students involved in this active learning teaching approach.

ABSTRACT. Peer learning is central to our ability to ‘promote, encourage and enable more pervasive engagement with student-centred active learning approaches’ (L&T Strategy, 2021). SLD’s Peer Learning team works to increase opportunities and further embed peer learning culture across the institution. We have created partnerships with the most established PAL and mentoring schemes across the University and are working to pilot new projects in key subject areas. We have also been advocating peer learning across the institution, as well as advising and facilitating dialogues across projects to promote best practice. Our work brings together established best practice from across the sector, alongside a solid framework from the scholarship of learning and teaching (e.g., Barnard et al., 2018; Dawson et al., 2014).

This student-led workshop offers practitioners an interactive introduction to the fundamental principles of peer learning. Our team will adapt and use elements from our bespoke Leader Training, which has been co-designed by academic staff and students, to create a one-hour session where attendants will be able to engage with some of the techniques and resources of peer learning.

Participants will discuss the general benefits for students, and the possibilities and advantages of implementation within Schools and subject areas. Utilising a flipped format, several digital resources, and exploiting the possibilities for active learning provided by the facilities of James McCune Smith Learning Hub, the workshop demonstrates the potential of peer learning to be at the forefront in delivery of the University of Glasgow’s Learning and Teaching Strategy.

ABSTRACT. Direct observation of practical skills attainment has been shown to have clear benefits for learning, increasing student confidence and improving the student experience (Seery et al 2017). Professional accrediting organisations, such as those in medical and veterinary programmes and the Life Science-specific Royal Society of Biology, require such direct assessment methods to document competency levels and demonstrate attainment of learning outcomes for individual students (Richard et al. 2006; Ohn & Norcini 2007). However, reviews of skills observation methods identified barriers to their application, particularly related to large cohort sizes and anxieties from being observed (Khanghahi & Azar 2018). Methods such as peer-observation of skills (Seery et al 2017) or scoring rubrics (Chen et al. 2013) have been tried, but issues related to time constraints and consistency of feedback still persist. With the help of two student co-facilitators, we present a framework that can break down those concerns while still providing the benefits and objectives of this approach; our framework delivers a time-efficient and effective implementation of formative direct skills assessment that could be widely adopted regardless of cohort size or discipline. We will include initial evidence for its use during practical laboratory sessions of the core School of Life Sciences second-year undergraduate courses, which range in size from 175 to 630 students.

This workshop will consist of a 15-min introductory presentation outlining framework construction and scaffolding into courses, including the tools involved, consultations with staff and students and the final approach taken, followed by a 20-min supervised work session during which participants will be given the opportunity to create a list of the key discipline-specific skills for a particular course and then reflect on how those skills connect with course Intended Learning Outcomes and University Graduate Attributes. Different disciplines may focus on different aspects of the coursework, so lists could be formed from practical, transferable or methodological skills, whichever are most pertinent to the course and discipline. Finally, the session will conclude with a 15-min hands-on demonstration of embedding these skills lists in course Moodle sites and a 10-min summary from the student perspective, given by the student co-presenters. By the end of this workshop, participants will have learned how to scaffold a skills checklist within their coursework and gained an understanding of lessons learned from its initial implementation.

Aligning with Pillars 1 & 3 of the Learning & Teaching Strategy, this work presents a significant and easily adoptable approach that allows students to recognise the skills acquired during their degrees, as the first step in building a portfolio of experience related to their future careers. Although based around practical skills in a scientific discipline, the framework and approach taken are highly transferable across disciplines and easily embedded within course VLEs. Given the importance in articulating specific skills when applying for future positions across academic and non-academic career paths, this innovative, yet simple and time-efficient approach could dramatically support students in their transition from university into the workplace, facilitating access to opportunity regardless of background.

ABSTRACT. Neurodivergent students have barriers accessing opportunities that are far greater than neurotypical students. The University of Glasgow has many support structures in place to help ND students access opportunities and flourish. Supporting neurodivergent (ND) students identify their strengths and weaknesses, and the kind of support they need will create lasting benefit to them. Building a community of staff who can support this process and help develop co-created self-advocacy plans will foster to opportunities across a more diverse student body.

• Self-advocacy is beneficial for neurodivergent students at all stages of their educational journey and beyond • A clear understanding about strengths, weaknesses and needed support will build agency in ND students • Faculty and staff must develop skills to support ND students in identifying strengths and weaknesses • Faculty and staff must develop skills to co-create ND self-advocacy plans

This workshop will focus on developing self-advocacy skills in neurodivergent students. One barrier to accessing opportunities for neurodivergent (ND) students is navigating the systems and applications that come before the actual experience. That is, ND students may be missing out on opportunities because the barriers to identifying and organizing them may be too high. One way to reduce these barriers is for ND students to be able to express the support they need. This workshop will focus on methods to support students to identify their own strengths and weaknesses, and to co-create a self-advocacy plan that allows students to identify and ask for the support they need.

This workshop has been developed with neurodiversity advocates, neurodivergent students, teachers and young people, and a neurodiversity change management trainer.

This workshop addresses the purpose stated in our Learning and Teaching Strategy by developing students to ‘fulfil their academic potential and contribute in the fullest way possible to culture, society and the economy throughout their lives’. Further, it demonstrates our values in facilitating inclusive policies and practices that promote student and staff wellbeing. The workshop itself is an opportunity for students and staff to develop skills and personal insights together, and co-create self-advocacy plans that will benefit ND students long-term.

Who is welcome to attend: Students and staff members who feel this workshop would useful in supporting ND people in their lives

What to expect: Participants should expect to work in small groups or in pairs, to share their personal experiences, to explore their own strengths and weaknesses, and to work collaborate with others to co-create a self-advocacy plan.

Workshop program: • Framework of a self-advocacy plan (5 min) • Subjective strength and weakness assessment (10 min) • Co-creative self-advocacy plan (25 min) • Discussion (20 min)

Outcomes: Development of self-advocacy skills, and ways to support self-advocacy in ND students, experience co-creating across students and staff

ABSTRACT. The University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Strategy has committed to transforming curricula and tasks us to “Articulate a programmatic approach to assessment and learning – clarifying where learning builds on prior study, how assessment operates across core courses, and where key discipline-specific and transferrable skills are developed and demonstrated” (University of Glasgow, 2021). In response to this, we present and demonstrate a new online teaching tool that facilitates the mapping of knowledge and skills gained via individual courses in any subject to wider contexts, such as a degree programme, assessments, and career options. Working through the six-step process results in a personalised map and an analysis of what can be learned from the links between courses and the contexts. The tool can be used either by students at the beginning of a course to help embed intended learning outcomes and graduate attributes and increase engagement with course content, or by staff in the course design and review process.

Among many benefits, curriculum concept mapping has proved to be a positive influence in encouraging staff collaboration (Uchiyama & Radin, 2009), can be useful in reviewing and improving teaching approaches, and can help students to make useful connections between course content across the curriculum (Hay et al., 2008). By guiding students through our course mapping tool, staff will help students to identify which of the graduate attributes they are developing well, and where they might further develop their skills.

ABSTRACT. The workshop will explore the XXXX Game, which is an interactive teaching activity that can be used to promote the development of critical thinking and critical discussion skills in students. The Game was initially developed to be used online during the global pandemic but it transfers easily to any classroom setting. The game incorporates elements of Theatre of the Oppressed (Boal, 1993), which provides participants with the chance to examine key issues related to any topic through improvisation, as well as Ethical Dilemna Story Pedagogy (Rahmawati et al., 2021). The XXXX Game can be used to teach students about any topic, and enable them to critically engage with key concepts and explore scenarios to further deepen their understanding. For the Game, all participants are assigned with a range of characters that relate to the topic and invited to participate in character, without revealing their identity. This workshop will teach participants how to use the game and will enable them to take part in a taster activity.

ABSTRACT. The dominant statistical approach in many disciplines is null hypothesis significance testing and using p-values to make decisions. Despite its dominance, there are common misconceptions in what you can conclude from p-values, including believing you can accept the null hypothesis based on a non-significant finding. As practitioners in the scholarship of learning and teaching, it would be valuable to conclude whether an intervention or teaching mode has an effect or not. After briefly presenting the results of a review into how common misconceptions in interpreting non-significant findings are within psychology learning and teaching, we will provide a tutorial on equivalence testing. This technique allows you to support there was no effect or relationship by creating boundaries of effects that you would find practically or theoretically meaningful. The workshop will include a demonstration of equivalence testing and provide self-directed learning material on how to perform equivalence testing using the statistics software R.

ABSTRACT. Cancelled due to ill health

ABSTRACT. The HE sector is exploring innovative assessment methods as substitutes for traditional exams and essays. Assessments must be effective in assessing ILOs, promote learning, and practically possible to administer. These are in line with the University of Glasgow’s Learning and Teaching Strategy. In the workshop that we are applying for, we will introduce two assessment methods we have tried and discuss their pedagogical merits and challenges. The first type of exam allows students to discuss with their peers in groups before writing their own answers while the second type of exam only allows students to refer to any reading materials (i.e. open book exam).

Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to explore how these two types of assessments can be applied in their courses in different settings (online vs. in-person) and discuss current practices, challenges and possible solutions. As a prompt for discussion, we will first share the design and findings of the two types of in-course exams in an undergraduate economics course in 2019 which aimed to encourage deeper learning and reduce stress during preparation and assessment. Exam questions were designed with emphasis on information synthesis and problem-solving rather than memorisation, which are more appropriate to assess student achievement of relevant intended learning outcomes and development of graduate attributes such as subject specialist, investigative, and independent and critical thinkers. (The learning outcomes and skill development possibilities are in line with UoG’s L&T strategy)

We evaluate the efficacy of these two exam types in terms of student performance, student preference, and the advantages and disadvantages of the two exams from students’ perspectives. Student feedback was collected through anonymous questionnaires immediately after each exam, and data was examined using quantitative method and thematic analysis. While there is no statistically significant difference in the grade distributions of the two exams, it is evident that students prefer these two exam formats to closed-book exam. The group discussion session has received mixed reviews. Group discussions help students to brainstorm ideas, clarify questions, and formulate arguments, but clearer instructions are required in terms of expectations and logistics. The practice and findings shared will be useful to the Learning and Teaching community, especially for colleagues who are interested in using discussion as a learning tool.

In the workshop, participants will be given the opportunity to think of the assessment they wish to carry out in these formats and design suitable questions. They will discuss in groups whether the design of the assessment will achieve the learning outcomes and possible challenges. We will be available to share our experience and thoughts. The discussion is based on our findings reported in https://doi.org/10.56230/osotl.5.