Three of Scotland's most forward-looking universities have joined forces to enhance teaching and learning by jointly developing their approach to some of the most pertinent issues facing today's higher education institutions.
The Joint Learning and Teaching Forum involving the universities of Dundee, St Andrews and Abertay will see representatives from the three institutions meet regularly to discuss teaching and learner support strategies. Topics for discussion include the implications of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act, degree classification and assessment, plagiarism, virtual learning environments and staff development. The aim of the forum is to provide a focus for highlighting and sharing good practice and for generating further innovations in learning and teaching.
Alison Swanson of the University of Dundee's Centre for Learning and Teaching, which is spearheading the initiative, said, "Abertay, Dundee and St Andrews Universities differ in size, composition, character and teaching provision but all three share a deep commitment to the continuous improvement of learning and teaching."
In addition to face-to-face meetings the project will use the latest "bleeding edge" web technologies. A virtual learning environment has been created where staff from the three universities can view examples of good practice taking place and interact with each other on-line to discuss teaching related issues. Raymond Moir from SALTIRE at university of St Andrews said, "This is a golden opportunity for the three universities to make use of a Virtual Learning Environment. VLEs can be used as an efficient tool for disseminating information and encouraging staff to collaborate effectively."
The Quality Assurance Agency in Scotland, the body responsible for reviewing the quality and standards of higher education, have recently announced a new approach to institutional review which places firm emphasis on enhancing the student experience. Professor David Ross of Abertay's Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching said, "The joint forum is a timely and practical example of how the three Universities are working together to bring this about."
The three universities have a history of working well together. Examples are the Abertay and St Andrews Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning Conference (QUENTAL) and St Andrews and Dundee's Promoting Partnership Initiative (PPI) which has led to a variety of collaborations in teaching, research and central services. Karen Munro of the PPI said, "The PPI already has a strong commitment to enhancing teaching and learning at Dundee and St Andrews. We are confident that our past experience in working towards meeting this goal will be successfully incorporated into the approach of the new forum as a whole."
The forum is co-ordinated by each institution's established centre for promoting learning and teaching excellence: Abertay's centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT), Dundee's Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) and St Andrews's Learning and Teaching review and Enhancement (SALTIRE). The project is supported by funding from ESCalate, part of the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN)*.
One of the first issues to be discussed will be degree classification, led by Dr Colin Mason of SALTIRE. He said, "The aim of the forum is to provide participants with an opportunity to explore how honours degree classification procedures are used to provide a reliable indication of a student's achievement and capabilities. Further, there will be an opportunity and to examine how such current degree classification procedures are carried out and to seek ways in which they may be improved."
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk