Welcome The Phoenix Course Development Programme Andrew Turner and Louise Wilson Learning and Development

The workshop is an opportunity.. 1.For the extended course team to collaboratively define the course experience 2.To think differently 3.To shape the course design process

The student experience? How much to attend a workshop on an MBA programme? The £135 university lecture – but is it worth it? As universities hike their fees, will students be left questioning the quality – and quantity – of teaching? (Mortarboard 3 May)

University priorities in teaching and learning 1.Student satisfaction 2.Student success and completion 3.Graduate level jobs and careers

7 Course experience Student satisfaction Success and completion Graduate level jobs and employment International experience Excellent student experience Value for money The focus is now on the course experience

The idea of the journey 8 From student to...

The course designers job 9 The student experience ‘Classroom Experience’ Careers and employment An international experience Academic and personal tutoring TechnologyAssessment Work experience Professional accreditation?

Faculty themes and requirements The development of a teaching and learning strategy which is based on inquiry-led learning, encompasses research-teaching linkages and actively engages with technology enhanced learning The development of communities of learning based on student-student interaction Enhancing the employability of students by Enhancing the International experience of the students through Assessment Strategy 10

Some questions to consider What will constitute excellence in teaching, learning and assessment in your course? What is the role of technology ? How will you incorporate the international experience How will students experience the course? How will you use assessment to drive learning? What is the role of the academic and personal tutor?

Plan for today Review of existing provision to identify strengths and areas to develop. Developing a course vision Developing the student journey Developing the course structure Building examplars.

Tomorrow Pitch ideas and exemplars to the student group for feedback. Finalise action plan and timeline.

Activity: SWOT Analysis Using your knowledge of the existing provision: –What are the opportunities for development? –What would you keep and develop – strengths. –What are the weaknesses and what would you ditch –What are the threats?

Developing a collective rationale for your course In your groups develop a rationale for your course which reflects the student experience and your vision for the graduates from it –Consider teaching and learning experience –International experience –Employment – employability –Unique selling point of the course / distinctiveness –Why would a student choose your course over a competitor.

Developing and mapping the student journey From student to...

Course outcomes What is the body of knowledge that participants will gain and what are the personal capabilities they gain –Knowledge and understanding –Cognitive skills –Practical / professional skills –Key skills

Developing the journey What does the student journey look like? –Teaching and learning experience –Assessment experience –International experience –Seminal points –Threshold concepts –Transformative experiences.

Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge Addresses the concern to teachers of why certain students ‘get stuck’ at particular points in the curriculum whilst others grasp concepts with comparative ease. Certain concepts appear to be particularly ‘troublesome’ to students

“Within all subject areas there seem to be particular concepts that can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. A threshold concept represents a transformed way of understanding or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress.” Mayer and Land (2003) Threshold concepts

Threshold concepts can be considered akin to a portal…

Some examples Economics – ‘opportunity cost, price, elasticity’ Transport design – ‘spatiality’ Mathematics – ‘complex numbers’ Law - ‘precedence’ Biology, Psychology - ‘evolution’ Politics – ‘the state, civil society’ Medical studies – ‘pain’ Threshold concepts tend to be… transformative irreversible integrative

Implications for teaching Identification of the thresholds within a subject: staff and student perspectives. Creating learning activities designed to “scaffold” or support students to acquire concepts. Whilst students may have feeling of exhilaration brought about by acquiring a concept, they might equality experience a sense of loss or stress.

Developing the student journey Using the mind map for prompts – map out the student journey over the course of the MBA: –Start with defining the outcomes and work back.. –Could use mind maps and post it notes to indicate significant points of learning –Where are the learning thresholds –How will you develop learning communities –How are developing intercultural capabilities –How are you developing graduate attributes 24

Developing an assessment strategy In groups outline an assessment strategy for a year of the course –Each group to focus on a particular year or course 25

Activity – developing the strategic themes Take a strategic theme of the teaching and learning strategy and start to develop the theme as would be experienced by the students. –Develop and exemplar of a student activity of this theme.

1.The development of a teaching and learning strategy which is based on inquiry-led learning 2.The development of communities of learning 3.Enhancing the employability of students 4.Enhancing the International experience of the students Activity – developing the strategic themes