Curriculum development: good enough for KCL? Deesha Chadha King’s Learning Institute King’s College London

 Completed a PhD in engineering education and joined KCL in 2005  Took over as programme lead for GCAP (Graduate certificate in academic practice) programme in 2006  Modified programme  Sought and gained accreditation at associate level  Took over as programme lead for PGCAPHE (post graduate certificate in academic practice in higher education) programme in 2013  Evaluating programme  Preparing for re-accreditation Personal background

 The programme  Evaluation  Why?  How?  The changes Structure

 EAP (enhanced academic practice)  Grounding in academic practice (theories of learning, assessment, evaluation etc. )  30-credits at level 7  3 teaching observations  5000 word assignment – case study or proposal  PGCAPHE  Appreciation of wider context of higher education (for example employability, diversity, leadership & management)  Two 15-credit modules at level 7 and associated assessments The PGCAPHE

 The assignment was too difficult and took too much time to prepare  The marking criteria was not clear enough  There were too many readings  The programme was not practical enough  Participants had no ownership of the programme Concerns identified by PTES scores

 Meeting with predecessor  Evaluation of written assignments  Evaluation by tutors  Evaluation by participants registered on EAP  Focus group involving participants on EAP  Focus group involving participants on PGCAPHE Evaluation strategy

Making change happen

 Proposed changes to the EAP  Fewer readings (from 14 to 6)  Refreshments served during each seminar and participants gifted with book entitled ‘how learning works’  Introduction of ‘learning moment’ exercise  Proposed changes to the modules  More innovative forms of assessment What now?

 Re-accreditation of PGCAPHE – working with the HEA PSF  Five seminars of 3 hours each rather than seven of 2 hours each  Participants complete tasks following on from each seminar session so they can build up a portfolio  Micro-teaching sessions to be recorded, carried out in tutor groups and to become more of a focal point of the programme What next?

 Priority given to drivers for change  What is the order of importance?  Importance of understanding institutional context  Areas of total disagreement  Calls for professional judgement Food for thought…

Thank you for your attention