Day 1 Extras - not to be missed!

Swanton Sketches

Swanton Sketches (Katrina Swanton) will be present, pens in hand, to visually capture and record delegate ideas, thoughts and perspectives. She will be asking you to put your suggestions onto post-it notes and over the course of the day she will transform your ideas into a single large-scale drawing. Please feel free to come over and say hi and take a look at what she is doing! 

Repair.Ed Workshop

In 2022 the University of Edinburgh is operating in a changed environment, one in which efforts to secure a green recovery from COVID-19 and a just transition to a zero-carbon future, is reshaping priorities for higher education. Various initiatives and international partnerships across the University are seeking to expand the scope for teaching and learning around sustainability and sustainable development.

 

Within this context volunteers and contributors from across the University community have come together to establish Repair.Ed and to work toward the creation of a Repair Café – a space for staff, students and the wider community to come and learn how to fix their broken goods and breathe new life into items previously destined for landfill. We’re coming to the Learning and Teaching conference to put our vision to the test!

 

On day 1 of the conference, staff and volunteers will be on hand to help you learn how to repair your stuff and how such services can provide new opportunities for learning and teaching. In order to do so we need your help! If you have any items you have stored away in your cupboards, planned for a fix one day, now is the time to bring them along and we’ll be happy to take a look. Dr Bike will be coming along to support bike repairs too from 12 noon - 2pm on day 1, so feel free to bring along your old bike and a mechanic will be on hand to help get it back to peak condition.

 

In order to ensure we have the correct tools and expertise on hand (and ensure we have the best chance at fixing your broken goods) please drop us a line at ucreate@ed.ac.uk with some info on any items you are planning to bring along.

 

We’ll look forward to seeing you at the conference.

 

Best,

 

The Repair.Ed team

Multi Story Edinburgh Podcast in Reid Concert Hall

Who are we really?

Listening and reflecting with the Multi Story Edinburgh podcast

In 2020 we talked to our most recent graduates because there was a lot to talk about. We listened to 32 stories and published them as part of the Multi Story Edinburgh podcast. Each 10-minute episode is a snapshot in time, an experience explored. We weren’t going to do any more but then we did. Last year we talked to 21 graduates from the class of 2021. Life is still uncertain. Everyone is processing. We shared and amplified their experiences and their stories. We learnt that listening to a single voice can be a powerful way of developing a collective understanding. But where next? Can we take this understanding and start to ask more questions? Can we listen more? In season 3 of the podcast, we chat to graduates from all walks of life about going back. Why do we return? Is it about giving something back or rethinking our relationship with the past?

Take a moment away from the panels, the sessions and the crowds and join us in Reid Concert Hall and listen to the voices of our graduates. Who are we really? What do we share? How can we better understand each other?

 

The website for the Multi Story Edinburgh podcast project can be found here: www.ed.ac.uk/alumni/new-graduates/multi-story-podcast and here is a direct link to the podcast streaming site: https://multistoryedinburgh.buzzsprout.com/

Cello Performance - Natalie Poyser

As per our previous Learning & Teaching Conferences, light background cello music will be provided by Natalie Poyser. Natalie is a full-time administrator at the University’s Institute for Academic Development, and has a degree in music from the University of Manchester. A keen amateur cellist in Edinburgh and central Scotland, she has performed with ensembles including Scottish Sinfonia, Edinburgh Chamber Orchestra, the Edinburgh Light Orchestra, and Philomusica of Edinburgh. She also has played regularly for ad hoc bands that provide soundtracks for amateur dramatic productions and silent movie screenings.

Posters

Bayes Education - University-wide data skills teaching in practice. (Online only)

Title: Bayes Education - University-wide data skills teaching in practice (online only)

Author: Teresa Ironside

Theme: Teaching data skills, data ethics and AI

This poster outlines the interdisciplinary teaching data skills teaching across the Bayes Education portfolio including learning outcomes from the past 6 years of delivering the flexible online learning programme Data Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) which includes contributions from all three UoE Colleges (11 Schools/Deaneries participating). It outlines the growth over the years and barriers it has overcome to ensure a positive and enriching student experience.

It outlines the ways in which this has benefited students and enabled working professionals to upskill and put learning directly into practice in their workplace using case studies and testimonials from students (names to be confirmed) both within the UK and internationally.

It also explores the ways in which this programme enabled the Bayes Centre to once again work with colleagues across the University to develop and deliver the Data Skills Workforce Development programme offering short courses to the workforce and those unemployed looking to upskill or reskill in the area of data skills - addressing growing market demand in addition to ensuring we stay in line with government funding initiatives for skills training. It outlines the benefits of shared content across undergraduate, postgraduate, and continued professional development courses to maximise training for students in all areas in relation to data skills.
 
The changing face of our virtual learning environment: Making Learn more usable, accessible, and inclusive

Title: The changing face of our virtual learning environment: Making Learn more usable, accessible, and inclusive

Author: Stuart Nicol

Theme: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Please find below links to videos that are linked from the QR codes on the poster:

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_4xaffd1p

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_4ht3z06y

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_k5kk1pgw

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_xasoxgci

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_1gwjt5co

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_vbgokcwz

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_dwyfdtip 

A three-year, phased delivery project was recently launched to improve our virtual learning environment (VLE) by upgrading Blackboard Learn to the latest version, Learn Ultra. The upgrade will bring major improvements in usability and accessibility, giving us a modern VLE to underpin delivery of a transformed curriculum. This will be our first major upgrade of the Blackboard Learn platform in 10 years and will help us to think in new ways about our online teaching and learning interactions.

The poster focusses on improvements to the VLE that everyone in the institution will be able to take advantage of from summer 2022. This important change to the online teaching space will be relevant for all who attend the conference. The current landing page, 'MyLearn’ and its collection of tabs and channels will be replaced by Learn Ultra Base Navigation (UBN), a cleaner, friendlier, and more modern way to interact with course spaces and tools. The poster will highlight where UBN delivers new possibilities for teaching; for example a cross-course activity stream and calendar that enable students and staff to think outside of the confines of the individual course. UBN also includes new features to promote inclusivity, such as student and staff profiles that allow users to choose pronouns and help others understand how their names are pronounced correctly. The poster will be visual, providing a comparison between old and new, and include links to short videos about the various features. It will be a quick-start guide to important changes happening in the coming year - changes that we should all be aware of. It will also highlight the support that will be provided to help colleagues through this, and future, changes to the VLE.
Can Interreligious Education in the form of 'Study of Religions' Course Change the Perspective of IRE Study Programme Students to be more inclusive towards other religions? (Online only)

Title: Can Interreligious Education in the form of 'Study of Religions' Course Change the Perspective of IRE Study Programme Students to be more inclusive towards other religions? (Online only)

Author: Ahmad Hakam

Theme: Building Community; Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Religion is an important aspect in Indonesia. Based on Law No. 20/2003, all schools must provide religious subject for all students and should be taught by religious education teachers of the same faith. The teaching of religion at schools is mostly conducted in a confessional manner, i.e. to strengthen students' existing belief and internalise religious values. The minimum engagement with other religions in a learning process do not always lead to the best result, especially within the multi-religious society like Indonesia. Religious Education (RE) teachers are trained at universities that have RE study programmes. A massive survey carried out in 34 provinces in the country has indicated that IRE teachers at school had intolerant opinions about other faiths (Yunita et al., 2020). In a recent case which happened in a public high school in Jakarta, for example, a teacher was reported to have promoted secretly among Muslim students through Whatsapp group to vote only the Muslim candidates for the chair of intra-school students organisation or OSIS to 'protect' their creed from the threat of other faith, particularly Christians. The concern and the urgency of promoting interreligious understanding has been disseminated in many publications. Yet, empirical research has not been done in IRE teachers training institution. This study aims to explore to what extent interreligious education in the form of 'study of religions' course can change the perspective of current IRE study programme students  (as future IRE teachers) at two well-known universities in Jakarta area to be more inclusive towards other faiths? The course and learning activities will be examined, and the students of the 'study of religions' course will be interviewed. Preliminary 'semi-structured interview' via online forms (pre and post-test) has indicated that there are changes in their view towards other religions before and after taking the 'study of religions' course, implying a positive impact.
Using principles of Universal Design for Learning when introducing new learning opportunities, for a diverse and inclusive MSc programme.

Title: Using principles of Universal Design for Learning when introducing new learning opportunities, for a diverse and inclusive MSc programme.

Author: Sarah Greenwood

Theme: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework used to optimise teaching for accessibility for all learners. It applies the Universal Design framework that originally came out of design and architecture to the design of teaching resources, the aim being to remove barriers to learning by having a flexible approach built in. Using the guiding principles of UDL, we can design our resources to be flexible and inclusive. Here, I show how UDL can be applied when diversifying the range of learning opportunities on an online MSc programme in order to ensure that material is accessible to, and equally benefits all learners. I showcase examples where the approach has already been implemented and suggest new applications for future improvements.
Dissertation Buddies: Co-creation of a peer support system for PGT students to support academic development, social engagement and wellbeing during the dissertation phase

Title: Dissertation Buddies: Co-creation of a peer support system for PGT students to support academic development, social engagement and wellbeing during the dissertation phase

Author: Julie Smith

Theme: Building Community; Staff-student co-creation curriculum work


Our poster reports on the development and implementation of a peer-to-peer buddy system for PGT students during the dissertation phase of their Master’s degree.  The programme is designed to promote a continued sense of community at a time when students move away from the taught component of their studies, through co-creation of activities that will promote academic development, social engagement, and wellbeing.

Success at undergraduate does not guarantee success at post-graduate (Hussy & Smith 2010) and study at PGT level can be affected by difficulties in understanding expectations, and fewer opportunities (or time) for developing community and sense of belonging (McPherson, Punch & Graham, 2017).  A sense of belonging is vital for student wellbeing, as well as academic achievement (Student Minds MH Charter 2021). 

Peer support has been shown to alleviate many student challenges in relation to social integration (McPherson, Punch & Graham 2017), academic performance (Maher et al 2013), and wellbeing (Byrom 2018).  Peer-to-peer support systems are empowering because focus shifts from a helper who will solve a problem to two people learning together (Mead & Filson 2017).
  
Our project will develop, implement and evaluate an MHSES roll out of Dissertation Buddies, a peer-to-peer buddy system initially trialled, and successfully implemented with MSc Education students. Through buddy pairings, our main objectives are to:

• Co-create with students a calendar of activities (including those currently offered by SESO and IAD) for buddies to support social interaction, academic performance and wellbeing. 
• Promote the inclusion of the project to students across MHSES PGT community.
• Evaluate the extent to which students found this a useful approach to supporting their studies, social engagement, and wellbeing during the dissertation phase.
Student interactions in a fusion course: Negotiating Fusion-Pairs, Ghost Helper, and Micro-Interactions

Title: Student interactions in a fusion course: Negotiating Fusion-Pairs, Ghost Helper, and Micro-Interactions

Author: Pawel Orzechowski

Theme: Hybridity reimagined: Teaching experientially in outdoor, indoor and online places; Challenging accepted ways of thinking

We ran Edinburgh Future Institute's first fusion course: Text Mining for Social Research. Fusion courses involve both in-person and online students. This style of teaching requires at least two instructors - one that provides the content and one that looks after the interaction. Since there were four of us we had the bandwidth to play with interaction. Here are things we found that worked:

Negotiating Fusion-Pairs - We iterated assigning students in same-mode pairs (room-room or online-online) or mixed-mode pairs (room-online). It was important to do this as we wanted the whole class to feel like a single cohort. We changed the setup every hour, student pairs had to negotiate: how they work together, who leads, how they interact with instructors.

Ghost Helper - In an in-person class students can request help from the in-person teacher. In a fusion mode, an in-person pair can do the same. But if one or both of the students are online the helper must be online. For a student in the room, this can come as a surprise, when the person they have just interacted with appears in their ear, like a friendly ghost. This requires a cognitive shift and can divert attention. During mixed-mode pairwork we consciously switched to online helpers only, so students were initially spooked by the ghost but they found it friendly. Boo!

Micro-Interactions - Small moments of joy and frustration are when learning can happen. We used:
1) Relentless feedback: Asking for hourly snap feedback using a whiteboard to take the temperature of student learning.
2) Chat blast: asking all students to type something small, a micro contribution, into the chat at the same time.
3) Amplification learning: all student questions were repeated in front of the class during each debriefing session or students could disseminate their own solutions through the chat.
Interdisciplinary postgraduate student-led electronic Journal Club to develop key graduate attributes. (Online only)

Title: Interdisciplinary postgraduate student-led electronic Journal Club to develop key graduate attributes. (Online only)

Author: Richard Smith

Theme: Building community; Interdisciplinary teaching; Student-Staff co-creation curriculum work

Student-staff co-creation of learning activities which involves shared decision-making has gained both popularity and traction within higher education over the last decade as academics have become increasingly aware of the benefits of bringing students’ perspectives into discussions and decisions about learning.
Our Electronic Journal Club (eJC) is a collaborative education activity involving staff and postgraduate students from a range of online programmes, set in an interdisciplinary virtual learning environment. Students select a paper to be discussed, publicise the event, present to peers, and evaluate the session, supported by staff. Primarily designed to hone critical appraisal skills of our students, this initiative also fosters organisation, planning, teamwork and leadership skills and most importantly creates a joint community of learning for all programmes.
Co-creation challenges the prevailing paradigm in Higher Education by shifting learning and teaching from something we do to students towards something we do with students. Evidence suggests that such a shift augments motivation and engagement; metacognitive understanding of learning; sense of identity; academic performance; positive relationships and trust; sense of responsibility for learning and teaching (1).
Now in its second year, we present findings from the eJC relating to development of graduate attributes and community building from student and staff perspectives. Initial student quotes: “I got to interact with enthusiastic students from other courses and we learned to plan and execute as a team.” ”The eJC will help critically analyse any research paper in future and help with designing an MSc/PhD project”. “It made me realise there are multiple perspectives to presenting a paper; the focus should be on the right questions rather than the right answers”.
(1) Bovill, C. Co-creating Learning and Teaching: Towards relational pedagogy in higher education. (2020). Jarvis, J. & Smith K. eds.

 
Multidisciplinary English for Academic Purposes (EAP) (Online only)

Title: Multidisciplinary English for Academic Purposes (EAP) (Online only)

Author: Meg Maclean

Theme: Interdisciplinary teaching; Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Conceptualisations and provision of EAP have continued to evolve and there is now a general consensus emerging that opportunities to develop academic language are most effective when embedded within disciplines, recognising that language and genre are employed in differing ways within disciplines. ELE has embraced this and now has Academic Language and Literacies (ALL) embedded within 16 Schools.

Nevertheless, a proportion of ELE’s work still lies in generic in-sessional course provision. These courses are currently housed under the course collection entitled ELSIS – English Language Support for International Students.

In addition, the name ELSIS itself is problematic and misaligned to EAP and UoE values. It marginalises international students, suggesting diversity is not valued; instead that international students are in deficit and require support.

However, we argue that there remains a space for multi-disciplinary classes (and classes remain oversubscribed) alongside the expansion of our embedded academic language and literacies provision. They are a safe community of practice where student disciplinary consciousness is raised through facilitating comparison and discussion of methodologies and epistemologies in language terms. An example classroom activity is for students to analyse a text from their discipline through the lens discussed in the particular course unit, followed by analysis of a sample of their own writing which they can then develop. They are encouraged to arrive at conclusions about language in their field, and compare this to a partner's.

The course collection will be rebranded and relaunched as ALLIS: Academic Language and Literacies for In-sessional Study from next academic year, to better reflect UoE values of inclusion and diversity. In ALLIS, essential multidisciplinary communication is practised. Students build skills of criticality and reflection, shaping their academic futures and graduate attributes of communication, flexibility and employability, and because courses are multidisciplinary, they are relevant to students in all Schools.

This poster shares our practices for multi-disciplinary language teaching, proposing the benefits of multidisciplinary EAP and invites the audience to reflect on how multidisciplinary learning might have value in their own contexts.

 
STEM and Sustainability (STEMS) Project for Students Aged 15 – 18. (Online only)

Title: STEM and Sustainability (STEMS) Project for Students Aged 15 – 18 (Online only)

Author: Hui-Chuan Li

Theme: Sustainability,Interdisciplinary teaching

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing demand to integrate sustainability across all subjects in the school curricula. However, recent research shows that lessons integrated sustainability have yet to make a significant presence in the classroom. The slow rollout is not surprising given the complexities of sustainability and the challenges faced by school teachers when working across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Therefore, we took a step towards addressing this practice gap by conducting a STEM and Sustainability (STEMS) programme for S5 and S6 learners (ages 15 – 18) in Scotland.

Reported here is a small scale preliminary study of exploring the effects of a STEMS programme on learners’ understanding of sustainability. This STEMS programme implemented at the University of Edinburgh was designed by the authors and implemented by the workshop instructors. A total of 18 learners (10 girls and 8 boys) from different high schools in Edinburgh and Glasgow voluntarily participated this preliminary study. In this talk, we aim to describe the design and implementation of the programme and assess learners’ opinions of its usefulness.

The content of the STEMS programme was specifically organised in four major topics in order to integrate sustainability into STEM subjects. The four topics were: (1) The volume of life on Earth – Biodiversity, (2) A renewable, biodegradable fuel – Biodiesel, (3) A clean source of renewable energy – Wind Power, and (4) Mathematics and climate changes – What the Mathematics is telling us. Results of the learners’ responses to pre- and post-questionnaires indicated that there were statistically significant differences in their confidence in understanding sustainability on the post-questionnaire. Recommendations for future research on out‐of‐school programmes to integrate sustainability into STEM education will also be discussed.
Studying a Masters during the pandemic: PGT international students' experiences working in groups. (In-person only)

Title: Studying a Masters during the pandemic: PGT international students' experiences working in groups

Author: Giulia Pinton

Theme: Hybridity reimagined: Teaching experientially in outdoor, indoor and online places; Equality, Diversity & Inclusion; Challenging accepted ways of thinking

Studying a Masters abroad poses many challenges for international Masters students who find themselves having to adjust, in a short time, to a new academic and sociocultural environment. Although international students make up more than half of the PGT student population in UK universities, their voice on many aspects of their learning experiences has been given comparatively little attention.
Using a combination of online observations of group work, semi-structured online interviews, and participants’ reflections, this qualitative longitudinal study aims to give voice to those students by exploring their experience as they participate in collaborative learning (group work) in online settings. Previous studies found that this popular student-centred teaching practice enhances independent and deep learning as well as the development of intercultural competencies and transferable skills. However, it was also found to present many challenges, for example negative feelings due to improper implementation. Moreover, the study’s participants were in Masters programmes which weren’t originally designed to be online but had to adapt to the unprecedented circumstances caused by the pandemic. Certainly, moving teaching and learning into digital spaces brought about new opportunities but more challenges as well.
From the initial data analysis, valuable insights emerge. While working online seemed to allow for more flexibility in time and space, it also appeared to make communication and relationship-building more challenging. Students reported a decrease in motivation and a negative impact on participation in group activities. However, consistently with previous studies and despite distance learning during the pandemic, an increased familiarity with the new academic context was observed during the second semester. Becoming more familiar with the target academic and social environment positively affected the students’ self-confidence and encouraged a more favourable attitude towards group work and the learning setting.
From data skills to digital images: Imagining interdisciplinary student dissertation research skills in LibSmart II

Title: From data skills to digital images: Imagining interdisciplinary student dissertation research skills in LibSmart II

Author: Christine Love-Rodgers

Theme: Teaching data skills, data ethics and AI; Interdisciplinary teaching

Launched in September 2021, LibSmart II (a self-enrol online course on the University of Edinburgh’s VLE) builds on our foundation information literacy course LibSmart I to help students make the transition into Honours level study and undertake dissertation, thesis or project research. This modular and interdisciplinary course allows students to select from courses including health, legal, data and Special Collections literacies, learn specialised or advanced digital search techniques and develop the skills to manage research literature and data effectively. To ensure equity of access, the course is designed to be used by any student, regardless of discipline. Our poster describes the development of LibSmart II, gives an overview of student engagement and explores the feedback we’ve received from students and staff about the impact on student learning.
http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/LibSmart
Recognising learning and increasing employability with Digital Badges

Title: Recognising learning and increasing employability with Digital Badges

Author: Nikki Stuart

Theme: Challenging accepted ways of thinking; Engaging employers, community, and alumni

Digital badges are increasingly expected by learners and are being recognised by employers as a way to reward and evidence achievements. Sharable electronically, including on social media and electronic CVs, digital credentials contain verifiable metadata linked to both the learner and the issuer and detailing the award criteria. Badges could be awarded for the completion of a course or they could be designed to a stackable framework to recognise skill complexity or like a micro-credential.  They are also portable allowing Edinburgh Graduates to curate their digital CVs by attaching the appropriate badges earned from different issuers to advance their careers.

In summer 2022 the University plans to launch a central digital badges service. A project is currently underway to identify and establish a badge issuing platform. Through consultation and engagement, standards, guidance and training will be developed to provide a flexible framework that can be utilised for courses across the University. 

This poster; 
Explains why you may want to consider badges for your courses
The benefits students have seen from publishing badges
What the University’s badge framework and standards may include
What the University’s badge service will provide and when it will be available.
Experiential learning in the online space: the virtual sport science lab

Title: Experiential learning in the online space: the virtual sport science lab

Author: Martine Verheul

Theme: Teaching data skills, data ethics and AI; Hybridity reimagined: Teaching experientially in outdoor, indoor and online places

In 2021 Moray House School of Education and Sport invested in an innovative online learning platform (Lt, ADinstruments) to support the teaching of laboratory and data skills in the Applied Sport Science programme when Covid-19 restrictions prohibited in-person laboratory sessions, and to provide students with a revision tool with instant feedback to help consolidate their learning.

Staff posted weekly asynchronous lessons that were based on pedagogical principles of active learning and teaching-by-questioning, promoting engagement and higher order thinking. Lessons consisted of text interspersed with questions, multimedia content and links to external resources. In most lessons, students worked their way through a simulated practical session with provided data.
 
Student engagement was high (87% at pre-honours level, 100% at honours level) and students evaluated the lessons positively, praising their practical focus and the instant feedback. They valued the lessons as a virtual laboratory experience while laboratory access was restricted, but also expressed the wish to keep using the software when on-campus teaching would resume. Only one student did not feel it was a suitable replacement. No technical issues were reported.

Staff evaluated the learning platform as intuitive and visually attractive. Staff used ready-made lessons in physiology and neuroscience, edited content to fit the course, and authored new lessons. The Technical Services Team provided video material and participant data that were used to generate hypothetical data sets. The wide range of question types and ways to work with data in graphs and spreadsheets enabled staff to create a library of virtual laboratory sessions in line with the learning outcomes.

In sum, the new online learning platform was perceived by students and staff to provide relevant experiential learning in an online environment. The use of the learning platform is currently integrated with on-campus laboratory sessions.

 

Teaching data in a University Transition Project to Final Year secondary school students. (Online only)

Title: Teaching data in a University Transition Project to Final Year secondary school students. (Online only)

Author: Kay Douglas, Alice Smith & Peter Tormey

Theme: Teaching data skills, data ethics and AI

This poster explores and expands on the challenges experienced by the team teaching data in the school-university transition and may be of interest to a wider audience. One challenge is students’ self-perception of confidence, or lack of, with data literacy and how this was expressed in class and in assessments. Another challenge is the disparity between the experience that Scottish school students actually have of data and the expectations of data literacy by the university community. What is a fair expectation considering the school curriculum? Additionally, operating in an online environment necessitated a stripping back of material and there were fewer opportunities for in-person one-to-one discussions with students. What did we lose or gain in this environment? The speakers will also demonstrate their pragmatic approach to teaching the content on this transition course: how content of common interest and elements of student choice and personalisation were employed to enhance student engagement. As the Transition Course expands and covid measures recede, how will we continue to teach these data sessions in the future? Do we continue to be generalist in approach, or offer more specialist sessions? Do we separate STEM and non-STEM students? Do we continue to offer ‘data-confident’ and ‘data-less confident’ splits in class? How do we encourage student self-perceptions of competence in data literacy? How do we assess data skills on the transition course? Do we measure the use of data in assessment as evidence of student self-confidence? Finally, as the course expands, the course team will accrue more data themselves on how best to approach the teaching of data literacy!

 

Exhibitors

Digital Skills and Training Team – Information Services Group

The Digital Skills and Training team provides University level support to develop the digital and information literacy, desktop and IT productivity skills of University staff and students. Stop by our stall to find out how we can support you to work, research and study more effectively, and take the opportunity to help yourself to some of our delightful digital skills goodies. 

Digital Skills and Training

Enhancement Themes

The Enhancement Themes are a way for students and staff in universities across Scotland to work together on a theme to improve the student experience. The current Enhancement Theme is resilient learning communities (2020-2023), which focuses on meeting the changing needs and values of an increasingly diverse student community in a rapidly changing external environment. The University’s Enhancement Themes work is focused on building community, which is also one of the conference themes. Come along to our exhibitor stand to learn more about the Enhancement Themes, the University’s work on building community and to share your thoughts and practice. 

Enhancement Themes

Institute for Academic Development (IAD)

We provide University level support for teaching, learning and researcher development; through leadership, innovation, collaboration and direct provision that benefits students and staff. This remit includes a mixture of direct support for students and staff (e.g. workshops, online resources, networks and advice), much of it delivered in partnership with Schools and other Services, alongside support for curriculum development and enhancement. In particular we offer the Edinburgh Teaching Award (EdTA) - a recognised route you can follow to work toward the different categories of Fellowship awarded by the Higher Education Academy (HEA). Come and speak with us to find out more.  

Institute for Academic Development

Learn Ultra Base Navigation: the changing face of our virtual learning environment

Learn Ultra Base Navigation (UBN) will be available from 29th June 2022 and provides a more focussed entry point to the Learn virtual learning environment, designed with accessibility and mobility in mind. Pop along and have a chat with the team and find out more about this exciting upgrade. 

Learn Ultra Upgrade

Library

The Library supports teaching and learning for all of our students and staff by providing access to library resources on campus and enabling access to library digital resources. As well as providing access to key reading materials for teaching, we work in partnership with academic colleagues to develop the digital information skills that students need to be able to use the Library successfully for their studies and to become critical digital thinkers. 

Library

Social responsibility and sustainability/ Community Engagement

The Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability is working in partnership with staff and students from across the University to embed climate and sustainability in learning and teaching. Visit our stall to learn more about current initiatives and examples of good practice. We also want to hear from you about what support you would like to see from the University to help embed climate and sustainability into your learning and teaching.  

Social responsibility and sustainability

Edinburgh Local

 

A new student support model for the University of Edinburgh

Meet members of the project team implementing a new support model for our students' academic, pastoral and wellbeing support. We’re transforming the support students can access at the University, with enhanced teams providing those studying with us with academic and wellbeing guidance, where and when they need it. Joined-up teams of specialist staff will work alongside academics, University services and fellow students to give students clear, actionable advice whenever they need support with practical matters, their wellbeing or their studies.   

 

Please come over and say hello - we'd love to speak with you!  

A new model for student support services 

Times Higher Education (THE) Campus

THE Campus is a knowledge sharing platform providing resources on key areas of higher education from academics around the world that are curated and edited by THE’s editorial team; a global community of experts where people working in universities can comment on and rate resources, bookmark and share articles and build their networks; and a champion for teaching talent and other communities of practice providing universities and individuals alike with a space where they can celebrate and showcase their innovative work.  

THE Campus 

The University of Edinburgh Conference Alliance

The Conference Alliance is a membership community supporting academics to bid for and deliver events in Edinburgh.  Conferences are a vital part of academic life allowing for critical review of research findings by a broad collective of peers. They also provide opportunity to raise the profile of individuals, their research and their school.  By hosting a conference in Edinburgh these benefits are amplified, however the bidding and organising of such an event can be very daunting.    The UOE Conference Alliance champions the value of hosting conferences, offers peer to peer support and draws on the wealth of experience of the Conference & Events team to bid for events. 

  

Conference Alliance | University of Edinburgh Hospitality and Events Collection (uoecollection.com) 

Careers Service

The Careers Service provides career and personal development to all students, from undergraduates to postgraduate researchers, drawing on our knowledge and expertise in professional careers guidance, labour market knowledge and the wider employability landscape. We work in partnership with academics and professional service colleagues to support and promote students’ employability, delivering within and beyond the curriculum, encouraging self-agency and ongoing reflection. With extensive external networks, and strong collaborative relationships with local, national and global recruiters, we are committed to helping students realise their potential. 

Careers Service | The University of Edinburgh 

Centre for Research Collections

The UoE Centre for Research Collections (CRC) is a research laboratory for the humanities and preserves, provides access to and interprets the cultural heritage of the University. The CRC works collaboratively on research, teaching and civic engagement and provides a diverse public programme, of events and exhibitions at key sites across campus.  

Cultural & Heritage Collections | The University of Edinburgh 

Curriculum Transformation

The Curriculum Transformation Programme is a major and long-term initiative for the University of Edinburgh, closely aligned to Strategy 2030. Curriculum Transformation will work to review the shape, design, and delivery of our current curriculum to ensure it develops with the needs of our future students in mind. At its heart is collaboration and dialogue with staff, students and other stakeholders internally and externally to construct a curriculum that continues to challenge and support all students to thrive and fulfil their potential. It should be a joy to deliver and reflect an ambition to be the best and most progressive we can, as a place to study and as a place of work. 

Curriculum Transformation Hub 

https://edin.ac/curriculum-transformation 

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