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Welcome from VP L&T and SRC VP Education
Presentations
10:30 | A collaborative approach to embedding transitions, academic literacies and skills development provision in an undergraduate programme PRESENTER: Gayle Pringle Barnes ABSTRACT. This presentation reflects on a collaboration to design and deliver comprehensive academic and skills development for an undergraduate (MA) teacher education programme. The project focuses on areas central to the aims of the University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Strategy (2021): - enhancing inclusivity and wellbeing by supporting transitions - facilitating learning and assessment through developing academic literacies - building skills and helping students reflect on the impact of their university experience on their broader personal and professional development. While a range of extra-curricular provision in these areas is available, embedding provision within students’ programmes allows tailoring to the specific needs of the cohort and encourages participation (Alexander et al, 2017; Wingate, 2019 ; Daubney, 2022). Our project, therefore, aimed to embed provision throughout the four-year MA programme. Our team includes the Subject Lead for Education, along with specialists in transitions, academic literacies and employability from the College of Social Sciences Student Experience Team, Student Learning Development and Careers, Employability and Opportunity. Two themes highlighted in the UoG Learning and Teaching Strategy were central to this initiative: - A collaborative approach which brought together academic and professional services colleagues in a multi-departmental team (Pillar 1). - A programmatic approach to learning (Pillar 2), with provision designed to build across the four years of the undergraduate degree. Our presentation reflects on the collaborative process we undertook. To enable a programmatic design, we conducted an extensive mapping exercise to determine where and when provision could best be included in the MA. We will share insights from this process and reflect on how it might be employed in other programmes. We will also explore how our collaboration enabled us to develop provision focused on academic literacies and skills relevant to the teaching profession. Academic writing was identified by the Education team as a priority, and inputs to address this were embedded at different levels. Other provision included support for the final year dissertation, specifically in relation to formulating research topics and writing a dissertation proposal in Year 3, and dissertation project management and research in Year 4. Key skills identified as highly relevant for student teachers included communication skills and confidence building in preparation for school placements, and how to work in groups in preparation for a micro-teaching assessment. We will reflect on the practicalities of collaborating across a range of teams to ensure an integrated approach that met the cohort’s learning, assessment and development needs. We will discuss our experiences so far of implementing the provision; while there have been many benefits, we have also encountered practical challenges and we will explore how we will address these in future years. We conclude by highlighting key tips and questions that others might consider when embarking on a similar collaborative and programmatic design. |
10:50 | A Collaborative Journey: Redesigning University of Glasgow Singapore's Programmes for Blended Delivery PRESENTER: Gareth Peevers ABSTRACT. The University of Glasgow Singapore (UGS) launched in 2011 as the first subsidiary outside of Scotland in the University's 560-year history. In partnership with Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), UGS provides five BEng and BSc Honours joint degree programmes delivered in-country. The Learning Innovation Support Unit (LISU) have cultivated a collaborative partnership with UGS to support them to redesign their joint degree programmes for blended delivery. In this presentation we will describe how LISU devised and implemented an 18-month support plan to work with UGS to redesign their programmes, infusing the UK pedagogy for local delivery in Singapore. We will share how we approached this project, its overall development, the needs and scope, the pedagogies that informed our design, and the details of our findings from each stage, and what we have learned and what we hope to do next. To share practice and experiences we will also expand upon the challenges that arose, focussing on issues that are transferable. We will describe how we analysed UGS/SIT’s applied learning approach, based on the flipped classroom (Brewer & Movahedazarhouligh, 2018) and active learning (Freeman et al, 2014) to compare it with UofG’s blended learning approach, so we could align both approaches. We aim to reflect critically on the challenges, such as ensuring a consistent course design for both partners that would meet regulations for both UofG and SIT and navigating the varied expectations of the partners involved. Other challenges covered include: • Using synchronous and asynchronous communication tools • Supporting a mindset shift to blended delivery using the UofG Course Content Mapping Framework • Establishing a buddy system at UGS for the second year of development We will describe how we delivered online and in person training workshops for UGS staff and share our practice and experiences with using synchronous & asynchronous delivery. We gathered feedback after each week of workshops and will share our findings to argue why face-to-face is still important for engagement and collaboration. Attendees of this presentation will gain a greater understanding of how Course Content Mapping and design sequencing can be used to have a positive impact on staff during co-creation of curricula. |
11:10 | Team approach to active learning development in Sport and Exercise Science & Medicine PRESENTER: Jenny Crow ABSTRACT. The Sport and Exercise Science and Medicine MSc programme has both on-campus and online versions however, these were treated as two different identities and the student cohorts did not interact with one another. Hybrid and hyflex learning approaches since the pandemic, have created a space for considering different approaches to learning and teaching (Adi Badiozaman et al., 2023, Baker et al., 2024, Thomson, 2022), along with the Learning and Teaching Strategy “requirement for Universities to adapt to new forms of, and routes through learning". Expanding student numbers on this programme and the need to keep evolving the content to include developments in the subject area, brought the idea of bringing the two cohorts together on one Moodle course. There was also the hoped benefit of increased student engagement in discussions for active learning and the opportunity for future alumni connections for career and research purposes, therefore additionally linking into Pillar 1 Learning and Teaching Strategy, "evolving our approach to learning and teaching: towards student-centred, active learning". The full-time on-campus programme predominantly attracts students straight from undergraduate, including international students, and the on online part-time tends to attract globally based mature students, working in practice and looking to develop their careers. This programme has the additional challenge of teaching and learning being provided by a significant amount of guest speakers from outside the University and some courses outsourced to external providers. The project is a collaboration with different teams; the academic teaching team, MVLS Digital Education and PGT administration, to ensure a smooth delivery of this new initiative (Thomson, 2022). Weekly online team meetings and monthly in person planning meetings have been one of the key factors for successful delivery. During these meetings, time is set aside to on-board staff with the vision of the development, share practice, discuss ideas, raise any issues and report on progress. Therefore “taking a team approach to course design and delivery, involving more diverse staff inputs” and “diverse range of voices”. (Learning & Teaching strategy). This presentation will explain how the courses have been going, for example, lively discussions on Teams, students sharing a significant amount of different global practices in the area, that has bought a richness to the student experience. Within the diverse teaching team there have been some challenges to get everyone to embrace the vision of the re-development and move to greater collaboration across the cohorts, added with tight timescales to deliver six 20 credit re-developed courses for semester one. This talk will include perspectives from the programme director, who is leading the re-development, including the background and progress. Then MVLS Digital Education will share details of their role in the learning and student experience. Then a student will share about their experience of being part of the wider cohort of students. Following that, one of the course leaders will outline their experience of running one of their courses in this manner and being involved in this development. Finally, some lessons learned and future developments from this experience will be shared. |
Presentations
10:30 | Picking Out the Seams: Collaborative Professional Education PRESENTER: Amy Johnstone ABSTRACT. This paper explores collaborative teaching between academic staff and museum professionals in professional education in museum studies, to present a model of ‘seam-ful’ (Fawns et al 2021; Vertesi 2014) teaching, where exploring the disconnect, or ‘seams’ between professional and academic practice become a central advantage and structuring feature of the collaborative teaching method. Within Museum Studies, we offer three modules for professional masters students that are co-taught with colleagues from the Hunterian Museum to prepare students for professional museum work. Using reflections gathered from a collaborative teaching team of five Hunterian Museum staff members, and three academic teachers, we present a discussion of the challenges and advantages of collaborative professional teaching. In particular we discuss the challenges that arise from tensions between academic aims of imagining what the sector ‘should’ be with professional perspectives that must work within the confines of budget and logistical pressures (Hager & Beckett 2019: 77). Rather than reconcile these differences the central feature of collaboration is allowing these seams to be visible. Using the example of ethics in professional and academic settings we discuss how presenting differing perspectives of a blended teaching team can help students to identify the seams in learning, and position themselves within complex professional ethical decision making, particularly around pressing issues for both sectors such as use of AI and integrity. Alongside sustainable assessment on their professional skills (Bould and Soler 2016) through outputs such as exhibitions, we ask students to reflect on identifying and understanding the seams in learning, thus embedding seams in assessment. We use staff reflections to suggest a model of co-teaching that supports students to draw out the differences between theoretical and practice-based approaches. In our paper we discuss the planning, development, and model of classroom organisation we found most useful in supporting seamful student learning, and offer suggestions for further development. While our focus is on professional learning, it is anticipated that a seamful approach to learning may offer opportunities for a range of academic teachers looking to support their students to transition into professional settings from a range of academic disciplines. |
10:50 | Development and delivery of a collaborative PGT programme: a reflection PRESENTER: Ana Da Silva Costa ABSTRACT. The development of collaborations is at the forefront of University of Glasgow’s International Strategy for 2025, as the institution empowers its people to seek out and sustain collaboration. The MSc Science Communications is a programme that invites professionals from different fields to deliver teaching and share career experiences. As the first year has been successfully delivered, we share our experience and reflections. The programme has seen different industrial partners (BBC, Ashfield and Allegro), internal collaborators (ARC Engage) and freelance communicators deliver specialist sessions/courses and opportunities throughout the year. These guests enable a student-centred, active learning experience (Learning and Teaching Strategy, 2021-25). Course provision by external partners: Due to science communications being a novel field, there is difficulty in delivering content within the university. The variety of communications available ask for experts who can talk from professional and personal experience. Ensuring the intended learning outcomes (ILOs) are taught is vital, as such, clear conversations were had with the external contributors, and the proposed course structure and content were agreed between staff and partners. A member of staff attended most sessions to observe. As an observer in the sessions, it was clear students engaged with the guest speakers more, and could pose questions with regards to real-life situations. Guests presented thought-provoking sessions, and incorporated problem-solving tasks based on real-life scenarios. It is unlikely academic staff would have been able to present with this much depth. Considerations: Guest speakers added great value, but not without issues. It was noticed that, in order to accommodate so many guest sessions, teaching content was superficial at times, so extra teaching hours had to be added to ensure courses met ILOs. Conclusions: Running a new, specialist programme which has over 10 guest speakers and course providers has been eye opening. We created sessions for networking with potential employers and for students to ask questions to help narrow down career paths. We now know to add extra slots for guest speakers to avoid diluting the content. Counter-intuitively, inviting external collaborators to deliver higher amounts of teaching has had incredibly positive responses from observing staff. In conclusion, external speakers are valuable to teaching as they can bring in experience academia does not have. It is recommended though that sessions are long enough and structured so that teaching content is delivered separately from career advice. |
11:10 | Reflecting on a Triple Helix Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Postgraduate Course Development PRESENTER: Susan Lindsay ABSTRACT. Skills provision within MSc programmes has historically been delivered by academic teaching staff with limited input from external partners. However, courses which foster knowledge exchange between university academics and industry professionals, are more relevant. Despite postgraduate student numbers increasing to record levels, here in the UK, there is a widely accepted “graduate skills gap”. Students that have obtained sought after transferable skills or have undertaken industry-relevant experience will likely be more valued by employers. Working and learning are no longer considered as two distinct entities and when real-world perspectives are brought into teaching, they enrich student learning. As educators, we need to support the employability of our students by including training from both within and outside academia. Partnering with third-space industry professionals to create authentic experiences and assessment, better support students in their future careers. In this paper, we reflect on our transdisciplinary triple helix approach which involves expert university academics, professional industrial partners, and training by an accredited government body. This model was used to create an optional post-graduate in vivo research skills course which was offered to students for the first time this year. This course embeds two authentic real-world assessments which have been developed with industry partners. Students can obtain an additional accredited qualification in the field of animal experimentation since the UK Home Office personal licence certification is part of the assessment. In addition, students take part in an experimental design assessment which was created by an industry expert and is highly applicable in animal research. Not only do these assessments reinforce the relevance of the work-based activities, but align education outcomes with employer expectations. Here, we reflect on our personal experience of using transdisciplinary collaboration to foster authentic work-related learning and assessment. We examine our perceived achievements and challenges, and our perception of transdisciplinary learning on the student experience. This critical self-examination allows us to exchange our knowledge and experience with other academics wishing to incorporate a similar triple helix collaborative approach. |
Presentations
11:45 | LEeWIS: co-designing & delivering an interdisciplinary residential course on linguistics, ecology and geography for final-year undergraduate students through experiential learning PRESENTER: Millie Bompard ABSTRACT. The ability to work in interdisciplinary teams is becoming increasing important, both in academic environments and the workplace. However few university programmes deliver course content in truly interdisciplinary formats, instead structuring coursework around traditional disciplinary boundaries. Project aims were: 1) include student partners in designing an interdisciplinary, experiential course where content was structured around a shared physical place rather than disciplinary boundaries, and 2) embed authentic interactions with external stakeholders to enhance learning through an enquiry-based approach. To achieve these aims, staff and students from across three Colleges within the University of Glasgow co-designed activities for a cross-disciplinary, final-year undergraduate field course, following the ‘three-faculty rule’ discussed in (Gibson et al. 2019). During May and June 2024, a team of 4 staff, 8 students and 1 GTA representing the Schools of Geography & Earth Science (CoSE), School of Biodiversity, One Health and Comparative Medicine (MVLS) and Celtic & Gaelic Studies (CoAH) worked together to structure and then deliver lecture- and practical-based course content centred on the cultural heritage, language, landscape and species conservation of the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides. Course design was structured through three stages: 1) a series of supervised 1-hr meetings where students reflected on prior coursework that they felt comfortable teaching to their peers, followed by 2) a one-week intensive set of lectures delivered primarily by the student partners, and 3) a 1-week residential visit to the Isle of Lewis. During this visit, student and staff met with a range of stakeholders and visited locations that provided a central focus for student enquiry. After the course, student partners authored draft ILOs, proposed assessment methods and provided feedback on the stakeholders, locations and sessions from the field course. On the final day of the residential course, all partners contributed to a Mindmap to explore their experience, from which the following themes were identified. First, the residential format allowed students to create an environment of shared experience and trust, facilitating open enquiry and informal interactions. Similar to Chan and Wheeler (2023)’s recommendations, the informal spaces created by this format facilitated learning and an awareness of the value of different disciplinary approaches to a shared problem. More importantly, it also deepened student appreciation of their own discipline. Second, allocating students into teams across disciplines was essential in ensuring mutual interdisciplinary interactions, and working in a novel physical space also forced everyone to move outside their comfort zones. This also demonstrated the importance of field-based learning for Humanities disciplines and emdedded perspectives of stakeholders in an authentic and engaging way, allowing students to sense the connection to place & pride in communities and deepening their understanding of different perspectives. Overall, this project demonstrated that interdisciplinary coursework at the final-year undergraduate level can be highly successful, providing a unique learning environment in which students gained an appreciation that a more holistic approach leads to more impactful research and increased confidence in their own disciplines. Hopefully these results will encourage other teams to incorporate such experiences into their own learning & teaching. |
12:05 | Collaboration in the wild: Three perspectives on co-creating ecopedagogy in leadership education. PRESENTER: Jacqueline McCutcheon ABSTRACT. Ecopedagogy is a planet-centric approach to education, originally devised by Paulo Freire and often used in an Environment Sustainability Development (ESD) context. We discuss the Futures in Leadership course. Over the last two years, the ‘futures’ course, an undergraduate final-year elective, has taken the principles of ecopedagogy and applied them to leadership education. In this presentation we will outline how ecopedagogy can be used to form a collaboration between academics, supporting professionals and the students themselves to co-create improvements to learning design. This project was conducted by Matt Offord, the course coordinator, Sebastien Marciak, a member of the professional staff and Jacquline McCutcheon, a student from last year’s ‘futures’ course. Indeed, co-creation is at the heart of ecopedagogy as it is based extensively on Freire’s critical pedagogy, an approach which highlights the problems of passive learning and the role of power in teaching. In the same way that critical pedagogy (the pedagogy of the oppressed) attempts to enfranchise learners, ecopedagogy attempts to enfranchise both learners and the environment as equal partners in the teaching mission. The futures course is a 4th year undergraduate elective, aimed at students who are about to enter the world of work. It aims to reframe students’ approach to leadership from ‘how do I become a leader?” to ‘what kind of leader will I be?’. The futures course uses outdoor environments to allow encounters with taken-for-granted aspects of the built environment and reframe them to consider: gender, social justice, the environment and responsible leadership. The approach re-wilds familiar landscapes by defamiliarizing them and causing students to see the hidden scars of irresponsible or thoughtless leadership. While this can seem radical, the course has been delivered within the familiar power hierarchy and relies on a power distance between academics and students. In this respect, it has failed to take on the true nature of ecopedagogy. In this academic year we sought to co-create the course by working with a student consultant. The student was on the course last year and participated in a focus group to explore how the course could be improved. This year she was consulted on changes made because of those suggestions. A professional services learning innovation officer also assisted with the changes, making the adaptions a three-way venture. While this is not direct co-creation, working with existing students, it does represent a significant shift in power from a single person designing the course in total. In this presentation, all three voices are heard, using a participatory research method to reflect on three different perspectives. This research demonstrates the bias and entrenched nature of power in traditional academic set ups and shows how diverse perspectives act as a powerful collaborative force to deliver change. It also demonstrates how co-creative approaches can be adopted in a traditional HE environment. |
12:25 | ‘True’ Collaboration? Navigating collective leadership, co-creation, and professional development of staff in an undergraduate team-taught honours course? PRESENTER: Felicity Cawley ABSTRACT. ‘True’ collaboration amongst colleagues on team-taught courses involves careful consideration of collective leadership and working within the boundaries of hierarchical responsibility at varying levels of professional development. In recent years, team-teaching has been implemented as a mechanism for managing increased student numbers, adapting to larger classes and diversity in international student cohort teaching (Minett-Smith and Davis, 2019). In effect, team-teaching has often been regarded as a reactive rather than proactive choice in approaches to learning and teaching. The dominant form of team-teaching follows a hierarchical model. Co-convenors – when implemented - often fulfil a supportive role to the lead convenor, and consequently face limited opportunities to demonstrate clear leadership in the decision-making process. This case study reflects upon a pedagogical approach to collaborative team-teaching within an honours course in the School of Social and Political Sciences. This approach intentionally facilitated a meaningful, research-led, and developmental partnership between 3 colleagues at different levels of seniority. This approach was strategically aligned to enhance teaching practice, embody collective leadership, and support the professional development of junior colleagues. ‘True’ collaboration within this team-taught teaching model required navigating several structural and administrative obstacles (that include having one named course convenor as the final decision maker) and perceptions of expertise, experience, and seniority. This case study presents the benefits and challenges of navigating collective leadership and collaboration through four key stages; the initial justification for team-teaching, the impact on course planning, the practicalities of team teaching, and the enhancement of professional and skills development that resulted from this collaboration. |
Presentations
11:45 | A scalable and sustainable model for co-creating laboratory classes and improving employability skills in the Life Sciences sector. PRESENTER: Peter Moult ABSTRACT. Co-creation of the curriculum with student partners fosters a greater sense of ownership and belonging to a course and has been widely linked to positive outcomes in terms of professional development and employability skills (1,2). With expanding student numbers across the sector and a demand for modern laboratory skills and techniques from employers, it’s important that we are able to keep pace with developing authentic, contemporary lab classes, which provide up to date skills required by employers. To be effective, these classes need to evolve year on year, placing increasing demands on staff. With expanding numbers of students, it is also becoming harder to provide enough wet, final year projects due to limitations of lab capacity and available staff supervisors. Unchecked this perfect storm could create a skills shortage in the sector. We present a scalable solution which incorporates co-creation of the curriculum with final year student partners as part of our final year project provision. We have piloted a new style of Hons project which involves the final year student spending a semester in the laboratory setting, under supervision, researching and designing new third year undergraduate lab classes. The brief for the lab class is that it needs to be contemporary, student led, flexible and inclusive. The lab class must incorporate data collection, analysis and employ essential laboratory skills which feed into our Royal Society of Biology accreditation skills tracker; also meeting the requirements of the Hons project. We will present the results of the first pilot study which has successfully designed and embedded a new laboratory class into level 3 of the neuroscience degree here at Glasgow. The contemporary lab is then linked to a summative assessment, which also evolves with the lab provision year on year, providing a connectedness to real world challenges and employer demands. We have two cohorts’ worth of feedback and grades from the Level 3 students who took part in the designed lab as well as feedback from the students who undertook the Hons project (one of whom is the co-author of this abstract and proposed presentation). The feedback demonstrates the effectiveness of the process in delivering a meaningful student enabled co-creation experience. It demonstrates an increased sense of engagement and appreciation of relevance and increased confidence in essential skills. We will further present plans to scale the approach to meet the increased capacity and supervision demands for final year wet projects. We will show how we can offer multiple group projects, co-creating multiple different laboratory classes or part thereof, with no increased demand on supervisory requirements because they can be supervised together in a large teaching lab style setting. This approach systematically works through the three pillars of the University of Glasgow learning and teaching strategy addressing key issues facing the Life Sciences HE sector, successfully improving employability skills provision and crucially evolving that provision year on year to meet demand. The above approach involves student centred active learning, which transforms the curriculum and assessment, developing professional skills and enhancing graduate attributes. |
12:05 | Transforming Histology Education: The Impact of Staff-Student Partnerships with Student Interns PRESENTER: Laura Nightingale ABSTRACT. Within the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences (MVLS) at the University of Glasgow, many students learn histology which is the study of the cells and tissues of the body. This can be challenging with students struggling to understand the 3D nature of the subject and what they are looking at down the microscope. This can be difficult to teach as two people cannot look down the microscope simultaneously and therefore staff cannot easily show students what they are looking for. Furthermore, once students leave the laboratory, without a microscope it is difficult for them to continue their learning interactively and rely then on static images. The OMERO Project was devised to improve student engagement within histology through production of interactive Moodle-based histology resources using Virtual Microscopy Environment (VME) software called OMERO. Staff-student collaboration was central to the production of these resources as student interns, funded by the College, provided firsthand recent experience of the taught histology curriculum within MVLS, allowing brainstorming of creative solutions to student priorities in histology teaching. For instance, student interns highlighted particularly challenging areas of the existing histology curriculum and worked on solutions. With consultation of teaching staff from across MVLS, student interns were supported to create a comprehensive Moodle resource which simulated the process of visualising and interpreting the contents of a histology slide through the use of the OMERO VME. Student interns also led on the design of the resource, incorporating quizzes and interactivity that they would find useful for their learning. This brought a new perspective to histology teaching approaches and drove much needed change in how this will be delivered. Staff supported the student interns through regular discussions and brainstorming and supervised the creation of OMERO-based Moodle histology lessons which were then reviewed by Postgraduate Research staff in MVLS. Staff input was essential for overseeing the content, quality and knowledge base required in the OMERO-based histology resources, in addition to providing guidance to student interns on the practicalities of using OMERO and Moodle software. The student intern involved in the project reflected the valuable not only to develop their understanding of histopathology, but also to improve their skills in communicating difficult topics to others. They also gained experience in design and execution of academic research, supported closely by academic staff. Collectively these skills will aid them in their future career but also as they continue their studies. Furthermore, the experience of creating a tangible difference to the student experience in MVLS from the student perspective gave the intern a new appreciation for the level of consideration and teamwork which informs every curriculum within the College. The OMERO Project exemplifies how a supportive partnership between students and staff can be utilised to create engaging educational resources which are optimised to suit both staff and student needs. Student interns bring new ideas and approaches which have re-shaped the teaching delivery which is being very well received by students this year. |
12:25 | Student Staff Partnerships in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow PRESENTER: Frances Docherty ABSTRACT. This presentation describes three very different student-staff partnerships in the School of Chemistry, all funded by the University of Glasgow Student-Staff Partnership Scheme (SSPS). The projects were designed to engage with the student voice to improve learning, teaching and assessment, and the project topics ranged from improving assessment and feedback in the lab, co-creation of an active learning activity, and peer assisted learning, as follows: Project 1. Peer mentoring to build community and develop self-efficacy in 2nd year undergraduate chemistry students Project 2. Redeveloping an interactive teaching unit Project 3. A new authentic assessment in undergraduate labs The partnership approach, where students have equal autonomy to staff, compared to the intern style of appointment where academics are student managers, allows greater opportunity for student input. At a time when the majority of students need to work alongside their studies, working on-campus in such a partnership provides an opportunity regardless of students’ financial background to spend time working closely with academics and improve not only their own skills but also the curriculum, assessment and culture. The student-partners’ high level of motivation and enthusiasm is infectious to staff, and the proximity of their academic level to other students enables the production of relevant material rather than an academic’s gut feeling. An indirect benefit of some of these partnerships which had not been anticipated was that undergraduate student year groups responded particularly well to engaging with student partners and this provided an unexpected route into engaging with the voice of the larger undergraduate body. Students and staff involved in the partnerships will briefly describe the aims and outputs of the projects. In addition, we will discuss the benefits to both students and staff of such partnerships, as well as beyond that to the wider body of students and the beginnings of a change in culture at our institution. We hope that this presentation encourages colleagues to enter staff-student partnerships with more confidence regarding the success and benefits, and that policymakers increasingly consider making funding for such partnerships available. |
Presentations
13:45 | From Learners to Creators: co-creation of e-learning resources for digital dentistry PRESENTER: Adam Wyroslawski ABSTRACT. In the evolving field of dentistry, integrating digital technologies into dental education is crucial for preparing students to meet the demands of contemporary clinical practice. In response to this need, we embarked on a co-creation project with five final-year dental students as part of their Special Study Modules (SSM), collaborating closely with two academic staff members and an E-Learning Systems Developer. Together, our team designed an innovative e-learning package that introduces peers to essential intra-oral scanning and Computer-aided Design and Computer-aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technologies before they engage in hands-on Digital Dentistry sessions. This project embraces the theme of "Co-creation and Collaboration" by positioning students at the centre of curricular design, ensuring that the resources created reflect their experiences as learners. Students are empowered to assume dual roles: first, as learners engaging with and evaluating new digital tools, and then as creators who convert these insights into instructional materials for their peers. By positioning students as co-designers, we create a dynamic, feedback-driven process that not only enhances their learning but also produces resources that are more closely aligned with the needs and perspectives of future users. This approach aligns with Bovill et al. (2016), who highlight the value of involving students as co-creators in curriculum development, recognising the benefits of their active participation in shaping educational experiences. The project is structured around several phases. First, the students are trained on the use of intra-oral scanners and CAD/CAM software under guided instruction, giving them firsthand experience with the technology and fostering a critical understanding of its utility in pre-clinical and educational settings. Next, students evaluate the learning curve, usability, and potential clinical applications of these tools, sharing their insights with academic staff to ensure that their experiences guide the content development process. This reflection is essential to the co-creation approach, as it allows students to identify potential challenges and misconceptions that future students might encounter (Godbold et al. 2021). With guidance from an E-Learning Systems Developer, students translate their experiences into e-learning resources aimed at bridging the gap between theory and practice. These resources include interactive tutorials, annotated video demonstrations, and virtual scenarios that provide incoming students with an overview of Digital Dentistry tools before practical sessions. The peer-led nature of these resources enhances engagement and relatability for future cohorts. This strategy is supported by McKerlie et al. (2018), who demonstrated the effectiveness of student-staff collaborations in developing an e-learning package through an SSM, underscoring the value of peer-created content. Our project offers a sustainable model for the co-creation of digital curricula in dental education, demonstrating the effectiveness of student-led approaches in designing resources for technical skill development. By integrating intra-oral scanning and CAD/CAM technologies into our teaching approach, we aim to foster a digitally proficient generation of dental graduates. Our presentation will share key insights from the development process, highlighting the ways in which co-creation fosters a collaborative learning environment that prepares students to meet the evolving challenges of dental practice. |
14:05 | Co-creation to Integrate the Digital Workflow into a Professional Degree Programme: enhancing the curriculum through collaborative innovation PRESENTER: Stephen Dunn ABSTRACT. The integration of advanced technologies into dental education has become imperative to prepare students for modern clinical practice. University of Glasgow Dental School is a little behind the curve in adopting Computer-aided Design and Computer-aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM), despite the growing interest from students. This is in part due to the high costs associated with incorporating these technologies into the curriculum. Students have repeatedly expressed their desire to engage with CAD/CAM to align their skills with evolving industry standards. However, the financial implications are a barrier to immediate implementation into the curriculum. In a transformative development, the Dental School received advanced digital workflow equipment on loan from Zirkonzahn, a leading company in digital dentistry, in January 2024. This marked the first time such cutting-edge technology had been available at the school, providing an unprecedented opportunity for both staff and students to explore CAD/CAM. Recognising the importance of co-creating curricula that reflect student interests, staff members invited students to collaborate on a project aimed at incorporating these tools into the existing dental education programme. During the summer of 2024, four third-year dental students undertook an elective project that focused on applying the digital workflow. These students, acting as early adopters of the technology, worked in close partnership with academic staff to navigate the entire process, from scanning to designing and milling dental restorations. This unique co-creation experience allowed staff and students to build upon each other’s strengths, exploring innovative teaching methods while engaging in active problem-solving and iterative learning. The collaboration led to the successful development of a new digital workflow component that will form an integral part of the existing year three dental curriculum, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Reflecting on this collaborative process highlights the importance of co-creating curricula that resonate with students’ educational interests and prepare them for future professional challenges. This experience also exemplifies the powerful impact of partnerships between industry, staff, and students. This approach is supported by McKerlie et al. (2018) and Bovill et al. (2016) who both reveal the institutional benefits by overcoming challenges to establish inclusive co-creation and meaningful collaboration. Therefore, the literature identifies that students can have a positive impact on curriculum design within higher education (Ollis & Gravett, 2020). By co-designing, we created a new component that not only meets student demands but also ensures that our graduates are well-positioned to thrive in an increasingly digital healthcare environment. This presentation will share our experiences of co-design, offering valuable insights into how staff and student collaboration can drive innovation and foster a sense of ownership over the learning experience. We will reflect on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned during the development of the curricula, providing inspiration for other educators considering similar collaborative approaches. This pilot study underscores the potential of co-creation as a tool for enhancing curricula and delivering excellent educational experiences that are both relevant and forward-thinking. |
14:25 | Decolonising the curricula as a student-staff partnership PRESENTER: Shaun Bremner-Hart ABSTRACT. The sciences are often viewed as impartial and solely concerned with delivering objective facts. However, historical biases, particularly those rooted in Eurocentrism, have shaped the way research is funded, conducted, and shared. This has led to a cascading effect where these imbalances are reflected in educational content, influencing the development of future scientists. Consequently, higher education institutions, including the University of Glasgow, have made decolonising the curriculum a priority. This student-led partnership created a framework to evaluate taught content for geographical, historical, and colonial biases. An analysis of course materials from the School of Molecular Biosciences revealed a bias, with most scientists referenced in lectures originating from North America or Europe. Author affiliations from references used in lectures and further reading were assessed and found to lack diversity and focus on the global North. To quantify this further, Citation Score Indexes (CSIs) were calculated, this matrix combined the author's country of affiliation with that country’s gross national income (GNI). This quantitative will allow changes in diversity to be measured over time and examine the impact of different interventions. Furthermore, the curricula review revealed that case studies were limited in scope and focused on Western populations highlighting the need for decolonisation efforts. Therefore, student partners identified opportunities to broaden the perspective of these case studies by incorporating a more global approach. This included integrating Indigenous knowledge on plant-derived medicines and including global contributions to biomolecular sciences, moving beyond the current focus on discoveries from the Global North. Next, we developed a workshop for undergraduate biomolecular science students, designed to encourage critical reflection on the sources of knowledge and expose the influence of colonialism in the field. The workshop received positive feedback, with students particularly enjoying the interactive elements, including quizzes hosted on Mentimeter. Notably, around 75% of participants agreed with the statement, "I enjoyed this being a student-led activity," underscoring the success of the partnership. This work represents early efforts to decolonise molecular bioscience curricula at the University of Glasgow. While the focus of the curricula review and workshop was on the life sciences, the frameworks developed here could be adaptable for other courses regardless of the subject. These initiatives are crucial first steps in creating a more inclusive and accurate representation of scientific contributions. |
Presentations
13:45 | Collaborating with Employers to Shape Assessment Practice on GA and FT modules PRESENTER: Ursula Canton ABSTRACT. Offering their students opportunities to develop professional skills that facilitate their smooth and successful transition into the labour market is an important aim for universities (see the pillars of UofG’s Learning and Teaching Strategy; for a critical discussion of graduate attributes, see Tight. 2023). The development of Graduate Apprenticeships (GA) offers Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) new ways of integrating academic studies more directly into existing employment for those students enrolled on GA programmes. Indirectly the new connections forged with employers also offer new opportunities for collaboration that can foster the developing of graduate skills among students on traditional full-time (FT) programmes of study. This presentation reports on a project conducted at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) that invited employers in the engineering sector to engage with researchers from the university to shape assessment practice on the GA programme and beyond. The specific focus of this project were professional communication skills. Such skills are valued highly by employers, including those in STEM industries (UK Government. 2019) and professional bodies (Engineering Council. 2020). Their importance is recognised in the curriculum of the GA in Engineering: Design and Manufacture at GCU, which embeds opportunities to develop written communication skills for academic and professional purposes at every level of study. Similarly, assignments on FT programmes also tried to emulate professional genres to foster the development of professional literacies. Yet, feedback from the employers involved in the GA programme reflected findings on a national level (Ulster University. 2021): despite the importance of written communication skills, these GAs, just as graduates in the wider sector, often struggled to develop these skills to a level the employers needed. This contribution presents the research project that was conducted to explore the perception of written reports among engineers in academic and industry contexts. It presents important differences that are rarely mentioned in the literature that were revealed and outlines how these have been used to inform the first stages of changing assessment practice on a GA course and a FT course to improve the development of professional writing skills. While these changes have the potential to greatly improve students’ understanding of their academic and professional readers’ requirements, their implementation is possible within many existing parameters for written assessments, which means individual colleagues can use these ideas within their own teaching practice within existing courses. Engineering Council. 20204. UK-SPEC. [online] Available from: https://www.engc.org.uk/media/3877/uk-spec-v12-web.pdf Accessed 18th February 2022 Tight, Malcolm. 2023. Employability: a core role of higher education? Research in Post-Compulsory Education. 28(4):, 551-571, DOI: 10.1080/13596748.2023.2253649 UK Government. 2019. Employer Skills Survey. [online] Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/925744/Employer_Skills_Survey_2019_research_report.pdf Accessed 7th February 2022 Ulster University. 2021. Graduate Employer Survey Report. [online] Available from: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/984647/UU_GraduateEmployerSurveyReport-web.pdf . Accessed 7th February 2022 |
14:05 | Staff/student co-creation in assessment: A practical toolkit PRESENTER: Danielle Durham ABSTRACT. The UofG’s Learning Through Assessment Framework (2023) outlines the importance of assessment as learning where students become active contributors in assessment and feedback processes, with staff/student co-creation cited as one way to develop meaningful and inclusive assessments. But what kind of impact do these activities have, and what support do staff need to practically introduce such an approach? This presentation will provide an overview of an LTDF-funded, multi-disciplinary project which aimed to provide practical guidance on how staff/student co-creation can be used and implemented to develop student centered, meaningful, and inclusive assessments. It will demonstrate how academic developers, academics, and students worked together to design and deliver a co-creative approach into courses, using the EAT (Equity, Agency, Transparency in Assessment) Framework (Evans, 2022) and the ‘Ladder of participation in curriculum design’ (Bovill & Bulley, 2011) as a basis. It will show how we used data from this project, feedback from staff, and relevant literature, to create a toolkit of resources to support others interested in this approach. A total of 318 students had the opportunity to take part in various co-creative activities (including optionality in assessment, co-creation of formative quiz bank, and co-creation of rubric), and feedback was gathered through survey responses (n=185). Staff experiences (n=3) were gathered via interview and analysed using a thematic approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The responses showed the biggest positive impacts were on assessment literacy, engagement, and inclusion, while challenges surfaced in students applying this learning to other assessments and understanding the benefits. Staff and students were positive, and somewhat hesitant, in their attitudes towards the change in the student/teacher relationship and we also identified some common support needs for staff including preparation (of both staff and students), examples/ideas, and peer support. We will also share reflections from the student interns on the project. |
14:25 | Co-designing assessment in honours Physics and Astronomy courses PRESENTER: Nicolas Labrosse ABSTRACT. This talk will describe the work enabled by two successive student-staff partnerships funded by the University of Glasgow’s Learning and Teaching Development Fund. The partnerships are aiming to co-design new assessment activities in lecture courses in the School of Physics and Astronomy. Specifically, we aim to introduce meaningful and inclusive assessment activities which can benefit all students on Physics or Astronomy degree programmes, recognising the diversity of our student body. Diversifying the range of assessment and feedback opportunities has a positive impact on inclusivity and equality. The presentation will focus on the outcomes of the second partnership which started in June 2024 and where new formative assessment has been introduced in two honours courses. The student partners have made significant contributions to the project in partnership with the staff members of the team, particularly around assessment design, and evaluation of the project. They will also be involved in preparing and delivering the presentation. In this presentation, we will describe how the assessment activities and supporting resources have been co-designed. In one course, 4 online quizzes of 4-6 questions each were created for revision/exercise purposes. Each of the quizzes corresponds to one or two topics, aimed to take at most 1 hour of the students’ time once every 2 weeks. In the other course, a JupyterHub interactive notebook has been created to aid students in visualising and conceptually understanding mathematical concepts that are widely applicable to other advanced quantitative courses. A H5P quiz has been designed to allow students to test their own understanding of these concepts. We will also describe how we have evaluated the benefits of these new activities to support student learning using student surveys and focus groups, as well as interviews of the course lecturers. We intend to make these new assessment activities count as summative assessments to reduce the weight of the final degree examination. The work is informed by the Inclusive Assessment in Quantitative Disciplines project and by the Learning Through Assessment framework. This student-staff partnership endorses the values of the University’s Learning and Teaching Strategy (inclusive policy and practice; integrity and respect; collaboration) and is connected to its “transforming curricula and assessment” pillar. |
Presentations
15:00 | Student-led development of an interactive online course in AI ethics and inclusion, as part of the University’s Student Learning Development (SLD) service Digital Skills suite PRESENTER: Ciorsdaidh Watts ABSTRACT. Universities play a key role in preparing students for leadership in the evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI). Our initiative aligns with the university's Learning and Teaching Strategy (LTS) to equip students with digital literacy and practical skills through accessible, student-centred learning. This project extends the work of Student Learning Development (SLD) in AI literacy and academic integrity, focusing on ethical, inclusive, and equitable AI development, use, and communication. The focus of our initiative is an online, interactive AI ethics course co-created by students, designed to foster critical dialogue on AI's impact on vulnerable and minority groups. Inspired by discussions from the recent Lovelace-Hodgkin Symposium on AI Ethics (October 2024), the course highlights examples of AI bias and discrimination, equipping students with the tools to advocate for inclusive AI practices both within the university and beyond. This reflects LTS priorities on inclusivity and societal well-being in curriculum transformation. Our student-led approach emphasises professional growth, project management, and career-relevant skills, nurturing a sense of ownership and accountability. This approach aligns with LTS objectives for developing student professional skills. Launching in Spring 2025, the AI ethics course will be integrated into the Student Learning Development Digital Skills suite, accessible across disciplines and academic years. This initiative ensures robust student support within a broader digital literacy framework. Strategic support, including from Learning Innovation Support has facilitated the course's integration into SLD's digital landscape and academic integrity offerings. The course will also be dynamically updated to respond to developments in AI. This collaborative, strategic approach seeks to promote the course's broader adoption across the College of Science and Engineering, with aspirations for university-wide integration. Consultation with Student Representative Council (SRC) confirmed the project’s relevance and potential to benefit students significantly. Greg Burgess, CoSE, Student Success and Retention Officer, remarked, “Without a doubt, this is coming at a critical time and would be helpful for students during and beyond their degrees.” The project is student-centred and driven by student interns working collaboratively with academic partners. To prepare for the course's design and development, student co-creators took leading roles in chairing discussions and designing workshops for the Lovelace-Hodgkin Symposium on AI Ethics. Through engagements with academics, literature reviews, and personal experiences with AI in education, these students have gained a valuable foundation in AI ethics, inclusion, and equity. Their contributions will also be pivotal to presenting this project at the conference. In summary, this AI ethics course initiative represents a commitment to fostering ethical AI literacy and advocacy within the university community, and beyond. By emphasising an inclusive, student-led approach, it aims to empower students to engage critically with AI ethics, ensuring they are well-prepared to lead in an AI-augmented world. |
15:20 | A sum-a-day keeps the anxiety away. Co-creation of an active-learning resource to support numeracy skills PRESENTER: Kirsten Knox ABSTRACT. Collaborative action between staff and students in the creation of resources to enhance the curriculum, really begins long before an official partnership or project is established. Students on our 2nd year Life Sciences course, Genes, Molecules & Cells identified a need for a resource to help support their development of basic lab numeracy. We report here on a student-staff partnership which resulted in the creation of a numeracy resource called “A-sum-a-day” Students display varying abilities to perform the functional maths required in most Life Science degrees, for example numerical analysis of data or simple lab calculations. Gaps in fundamental mathematical literacy amongst students not only impacts their grades but also potentially impacts self-esteem, progression and retention and even future employment options (Croft, Harrison & Robinson, 2009; Daker et al., 2021). Development of mathematical literacy is of course multi-factorial but evidence suggests that for many students the inability to perform basic lab calculations is strongly influenced by a lack of confidence rather than ability (Daker et al., 2021). This frequently takes the form of an “I can’t do maths” mantra which is applied no matter how simple the calculation. This can culminate in some students not even attempting questions they see as maths-based in exams and struggling in lab-experiences requiring calculations. Following informal discussions with students on the course, identifying that confidence was indeed one of the issues preventing fluent numeracy in many students, we recruited two undergraduate interns in the 4th year of their degree to assist in the design, creation and delivery of an online resource focussed on building numeracy confidence using active-learning principles. Incorporating representatives of the student body as direct partners in this project, students who had themselves experienced the same types of calculations throughout their degree, meant authentic development of features of the resource which would become key to its success. The resource was structured to allow students to take part at their own pace, in a low stress, no-risk environment. Our student co-creators were clear that this would be crucial to getting students to use the resource, whilst receiving instant positively-framed feedback on their attempt would help in the quest to build confidence. Having direct student involvement, gave the whole team confidence that the resource would be both used and useful. We will present survey data which shows a clear increase in student confidence in numeracy following utilisation of the resource. The co-creation with students who would have found such a resource useful themselves, made this an authentic resource which is readily translatable, with several other Life Sciences courses now deploying the resource for their students. |
15:40 | A student-staff partnership to co-create and run a Climate Change & Sustainability course PRESENTER: Elizabeth Petrie ABSTRACT. As part of the discussions around a Green New Deal at the University of Glasgow, one of the points raised by the student activists was the need for a course available to students across the University to introduce them to the interdisciplinary issues around climate change. The University agreed and a partnership between two undergraduate student activists and staff from the Centre for Sustainable Solutions and School of Geographical and Earth Sciences was set up to develop a 10-credit module. The resulting course ‘Introduction to Climate Change and Sustainability’ has now run for several years, with undergraduate students taking a leading role in course organisation. It benefits from large number of both internal and external speakers resulting in a highly interdisciplinary teaching team. There is then time assigned for small group discussion of issues raised by the speakers. As the students are from a wide range of degree programmes, they all bring their different disciplinary understanding to the group discussions, which also facilitate the formation of peer-peer connections. The course was a case study of good practice by the UK Universities Climate Network around the time of COP26 (https://uucn.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Media_814598_smxx.pdf) and the team also gave a talk about it at the European Geosciences Union conference in 2023, with one of the student leaders presenting. This contribution will discuss the course, focussing primarily on the co-creation and student-staff partnership aspects and how these have evolved over the years the course has run. |
Presentations
15:00 | Co-Creation and Collaboration in Patient Involvement in Clinical Research: Evaluation of student experiences of attending workshops with experts-by-experience PRESENTER: Tracy Ibbotson ABSTRACT. Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) means all the ways in which the research community works together with people including patients, carers, advocates, service users, and members of the community (MRC, 2024). Excellent public involvement is inclusive, values all contributions, ensures people have a meaningful say in what happens and influences outcomes, as set out in the ”UK Standards for Public Involvement”. PPIE consultations are a required element of securing UKRI research funding. Many of our undergraduate and postgraduate students hold grand ambitions to be the next generation of world-leading researchers; therefore, it is essential that UofG equips these learners appropriately for entering graduate employment. Since 2020, the project team have successfully delivered introductory PPIE training for over 150 MVLS postgraduate students via the postgraduate MVLS Graduate Skills Award (GSA) programme. In 2023, this was expended out to 25 UG students as one of the initial courses offered in the new UG GSA initiative. We argue this initiative exemplifies the core values of collaboration, embedded within UofG’s (2021) Learning and Teaching strategy. Our project emphasises the importance of co-creation in fostering inclusive approaches to teaching and learning in the realities of clinical research. The training for students is a partnership between professional services staff, academics, and experts-by-experience from PPIE groups who advise large, research project teams within UofG. By involving “third-space” participants as stakeholders, rather than subjects, we argue teaching encounters centred on co-designed learning materials help achieve our aim of encouraging inclusivity in clinical research. Students engage with self-directed, pre-session learning (approx. 1hr), followed by two interactive workshops - designed to foreground collaborative, experiential, and active learning that supports the development of graduate skills, including communication, and reflective learning (UofG, n.d.). The first workshop involves collaborative, problem-based learning, addressing key concerns faced when working with PPIE groups. The scenarios – designed by PPIE members – tackle issues around equality, diversity, and inclusion, and relationships between researchers and participants. Students are invited to consider their own identities as researchers; for most, this is the first time they will have encountered reflexivity. The second workshop invites students to share how they could hypothetically embed working with PPIE groups in relation to their UG or PGT student project. This is a rare and unique opportunity to obtain feedback on their ideas from PPIE experts and can enhance transferable learning. This presentation has two objectives: first, to share multi-year, evaluative feedback from students about their experience undertaking this workshop. Second, to provide guidance for other university staff considering collaborative work in this space. We conclude our presentation by outlining our hopes for extending our collaborative practice during future iterations. In summary, our project represents a successful model of co-creation and collaboration in clinical research education, promoting a patient-centred approach that values the lived experiences of patients as essential contributions to clinical education and research. By integrating diverse voices, the project addresses challenges and opportunities in collaborative teaching while advancing strategic goals in evolving learning methods and transforming curriculum design |
15:20 | 'We are here to learn': An exploration of the meaning of the lived experiences of clinical nurse educators facilitating interprofessional simulation-based education ABSTRACT. Background: Interprofessional simulation-based education (IPSBE) is a collaborative educational methodology that enhances communication and teamwork that promotes safer, more efficient working whilst providing complex care in a healthcare organisation (1). Underpinned by educational theory such as Kolb’s experiential learning theory (1984) (2) and Bandura’s social learning theory (1977) (3), participation in IPSBE involves engagement in an active learning process where shared learning can occur through collaboration, social interactions, observation of behaviours and role modelling. Aim: To illuminate the lived experiences of CNE’s facilitating IPSBE to gain deeper insight on how this approach can influence their future clinical and teaching practices. This provided a unique perspective of the richness of shared learning from this collaborative teaching strategy, processes of knowledge acquisition and transferability of learning. Methods: An Interpretative phenomenology analysis (IPA) was chosen as the qualitative research approach for this study as it sought to illuminate the experiences of clinical nurse educators through the interpretation and validation of their unique ‘first hand’ experiences. A small purposive sample of clinical nurse educators that facilitated IPSBE was recruited to take part in semi-structured interviews. Data was inductively analysed using a systematic, step-by-step approach, generating meaningful themes and concepts that can be applied to the context of practice (4). Results: Three master concepts were derived from the interpretative analysis of the interviews: ‘energy, synergy & collaboration’, ‘the power of the debrief for shared learning’ and ‘personal and professional growth’. It was evident from the interviews that the CNE’s learned from the participants and fellow interprofessional faculty members when facilitating IPSBE, cultivating a shared understanding of professional roles and responsibilities, including their respective characteristics, knowledge, skills and behaviours. There was a recognition of the significance and importance of working, learning and teaching together. Specific strategies such as co-facilitation and co-debriefing create a learning environment and safe ‘space’ to foster the development of connections and relationships amongst the faculty and participants, strengthening value and respect in the IP team. In addition, the CNE’s expressed that their experiences had enabled them to develop a deeper insight, understanding and respect for educational theory that underpins adult learning which has been transformational to their teaching practices. The facilitation of IPSBE was found to enrich the CNE’s professional identity whilst working collaboratively within the interprofessional team, empowering them with the knowledge, skills and values to transform their clinical and educational practices. Conclusion: IPSBE creates a safe space for learning that promotes an opportunity for shared learning amongst faculty to occur which can positively influence interprofessional relationships and practices. The findings advance on the extant literature as it provides insight into collaborative learning experiences from a differing perspective, reinforcing the concept of shared and reciprocal learning which strengthens professional practices within the interprofessional team. This links to core values in the University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Strategy, highlighting the importance of creating a teaching and learning environment that is shaped by a diversity of contributions from an interprofessional team to provide a collaborative and active approach to student centred learning. |
15:40 | News Day at The Hunterian: A collaborative approach to ethical journalism methods training PRESENTER: Catriona Forrest ABSTRACT. In this prototype ‘News Day at The Hunterian’ event, academics, third-space professionals, and students collaborate to design, and deliver, and evaluate a one-day simulated news event at the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow. This active learning event takes place in February 2025, and the presentation will discuss the challenges and successes, and share experiences from participating staff and students. ‘News Day at The Hunterian’ is designed to provide hands-on newsgathering experience for postgraduate students MSc Media, Communications and International Journalism (MCIJ), offering them a chance to develop by experimenting and reflecting on their work in a supportive environment. MCIJ academic staff collaborate with the Hunterian Museum team to design an event that is reflective of real-world news industry principles, challenges, and ethics. Drawing on the core practical journalism courses of the MCIJ programme (Writing News and Producing News) with which the event is also aligned, it also speaks to the Intended Learning Objectives of the MCIJ programme. A world-class venue in the heart of the University of Glasgow campus, The Hunterian Museum is the oldest public museum in Scotland. The Museum allows filming, within a set of boundaries which will be navigated by each ‘news crew’ as students work in groups to form creative solutions to the complexities of filming in a sensitive environment. With 104 students from 16 nationalities, needs and aspirations within the cohort vary, and this presentation will discuss the diversity of students’ contributions and needs, and how these are addressed during the event. On the News Day, students have a unique opportunity to practise filming interviews with related contributors in an environment where visual appeal is directly related to ethical considerations. Hunterian Museum staff and teaching staff are present to offer guidance and feedback, challenging students to work towards industry standards. Other students from various disciplines will also share their perspectives and experience of working or studying with The Hunterian. In turn, student and staff interviewees gain an opportunity to improve their communications skills through the media of film, discussing their area of study or personal interest, and to explore how current ethical issues and challenges in the museums and galleries sector have impacted on their varied activities. Bringing together students and staff from the Media, Culture and Society (MCS) subject group, cross-disciplinary networks that regularly engage with the museum, and Communications and Audience Engagement professionals at The Hunterian, the event is collaborative in its nature. Highlighting the Graduate Attributes Framework and solidifying the connections between theory, practice, groupwork, feedback and reflection, we follow a transdisciplinary and polyvocal approach. The presentation will also address broader critical discussions around cultural appropriation and politics of space within museums. By situating a cohort of diverse and international students within The Hunterian, the event challenges perceptions of who ‘belongs’ in cultural spaces and whose stories these spaces represent. The presentation will also offer a glimpse into how journalistic-creative methodologies can be utilised as part of active pedagogies, exploring complex intersections between museums as cultural spaces, journalism, and media. |