ELESIG Scotland: 25 th April 2017 ‘Learning in the Open’, University of Abertay Room 3508, Kydd Building, Bell Street, Dundee, DD1 1HG

Programme

Time Activity Details/presenters 10.00-10.30 Registration Tea/coffee will be available 10.30-10.45 Welcome to the day • Introduction to ELESIG and the day’s programme – Peter Hartley & Vicki Dale 10.45-11.15 The view from Abertay • Summary of important digital developments at – Alastair Robertson and Carol Maxwell 11.15-12.15 Keynote • Learning Places (45 min presentation Diarmaid Lawlor, Director of Place, + 15 min discussion) Architecture and Design Scotland 12.15-13.30 World café and lunch T1: Collaborative learning suites: Carol Maxwell (Grab lunch from 12.15-12.30 T2: Engaging students with technology in the then find a table to start the classroom: Ron Johansen world café) T3: Personalised feedback: Emma Duke-Williams T4: Using apps: Gerry Roarty T5: Classrooms of the future: Peter Hartley 13.30-13.45 World café feedback Facilitators above to feed back (3 minutes each) 13.45-14.15 Invited Presentation • Open Educational Practice – opportunities for (20 minutes + 10 minutes for the HE sector discussion) Pete Cannell and Ronald Macintyre, Open Educational Practices in Scotland project 14.30-14.45 Tea/coffee break 14.45-15.15 Recent developments in • What are our institutions doing (or should be learning spaces doing) about ‘space’? – Prof Peter Hartley (Visiting Professor at Edge Hill University) and Prof. Keith Smyth (Professor of Pedagogy, UHI) 15.15-15.30 Where do we go from here? Brief discussion of future plans 15.30 Event ends Unless you join in the planning group … 15.30-16.00 Planning group meeting

Please feel free to tweet using the #ELESIG hashtag.

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Abstracts and biographies

Digital developments at Abertay University Alastair Robertson, Director of Teaching & Learning Enhancement Carol Maxwell, Team Leader for Technology Enhanced Learning, Abertay University

Abstract Abertay University has implemented Electronic Management of Assessment, and is developing the infrastructure to allow lecture capture and the creation of screencasts to support the “flipped classroom”. We are working with JISC on a Learning Analytics project; growing the use of e-portfolios to enhance employability and reflective practice and have just reviewed our practice relating to student questionnaires and how we hear the student voice including experimenting with BluePulse and BYOD clicker software. We are currently investing in our estate and have created a collaborative learning suite, re-designed our science labs and plan to re-develop the library over the next 2 years. Biographies Dr Alastair Robertson is the Director of Teaching and Learning Enhancement at Abertay University with responsibility for overseeing the development and successful implementation of the institution’s Teaching and Learning Enhancement strategy and related plans. Prior to joining Abertay in April 2013, Alastair worked for a number of years supporting QE at the national level through positions at the Higher Education Academy (2005-13) and QAA Scotland (2003-05). As well as QE more generally, he has particular interests in the areas of national HE policy development, strategic change and graduate employability. His background is in scientific research (solid state inorganic chemistry) and he previously held positions at the Universities of Aberdeen and St Andrews

Carol leads Abertay’s Technology Enhanced Learning Support team. The team help staff maximise the impact of their teaching through the use of learning technology. Carol is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has a PGDip in Blended and Online Education. Interests include e-Portfolios, Open Badges and Student Engagement.

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Keynote: Learning Places Diarmaid Lawlor, Director of Place, Architecture and Design Scotland

Abstract The focus on improving outcomes at locality level puts learning at the heart of joined up working. Taking a whole place view of community need, services and assets we can re-imagine where and how learning takes place; and use participation to drive more collaborative working for improved outcomes. This may drive new forms of clustering: early years, enterprise and community learning clusters, vocational learning clusters, lifelong learning clusters using spaces as we already have, area strengthening learning and employment partnerships and exploiting the opportunity of digital. Drawing on international examples, work on Scottish islands and small towns this session will look at making more of what we have to achieve transformational learning and community experiences. Biography Diarmaid is Director of Place with Architecture and Design Scotland. With a multidisciplinary background, he has almost 20 years’ experience of helping clients make well-informed decisions about complex, connected place based policy and investment challenges. He is an educator, communicator and collaborator who writes and speaks on creative approaches to making better places.

World café tables T1: Collaborative learning suites: Carol Maxwell, Abertay University T2: Engaging students with technology in the classroom: Ron Johansen, Abertay University T3: Personalised feedback: Emma Duke-Williams, T4: Using apps: Gerry Roarty, University of Dundee T5: Classrooms of the future: Peter Hartley, visiting Professor, Edge Hill University

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Invited presentations Open Educational Practice – opportunities for the HE sector Pete Cannell, Co-Director of Open Educational Practices in Scotland Ronald Macintyre, Research & Development Manager, Open Educational Practices in Scotland

Abstract Open Education Practices Scotland (OEPS) is funded by the and hosted by the in Scotland. As well as building capacity and raising awareness in open education practice OEPS is tasked with exploring why the use of free, openly licensed online courses is heavily skewed towards those who have had prior access to the higher education system; in other words to look at the affordances of open education through a social justice lens. Over the last three years OEPS has worked with more than 60 organisations across the formal and informal learning sectors in Scotland. These have allowed us to explore how open educational practices operates on a number of levels through work with a range of partners. In this presentation we plan to share our thoughts on new opportunities and challenges for the HE sector, in particular looking at models of course development, demands from the informal learning sector, transitions and professional development. Biographies Pete has been working on the OEPS project since autumn 2014. Prior to this, he was Depute Director (Learning, Teaching and Curriculum) at the Open University in Scotland. Over the course of his career, Pete has been a researcher in Applied Maths, a teacher at all levels of the education system, an academic counsellor and an educational developer. Most recently, his main focus has been adult education and the development of pedagogical approaches that support widening participation. These interests have been very relevant to the OEPS project.

Ronald has been working with the OEPS project since autumn 2014. Previously a Learning and Teaching Co-ordinator with the OU in Scotland, Ronald’s background is in community development and participatory action research with a particular interest in rural areas and sustainability. More recently he has applied this to questions of online learning, digital participation and widening participation more generally.

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What are our institutions doing (or should be doing) about ‘space’? Professor Peter Hartley, Educational Consultant and Visiting Professor at Edge Hill University Professor Keith Smyth, University of the Highlands and Islands The various literatures about flexibility and outreach, open education, teaching excellence and learning gain (e.g. Arum et al, 2016) often seem to assume that lecturers can readily employ the most effective pedagogy, with little or no mention of physical constraints on teaching innovation. For example, the growing literature on the impact of physical space on learning and teaching (e.g. Brooks, 2012; Scott-Webber et al., 2013; Harrison and Hutton, 2014) tends to focus on institutional initiatives such as ‘flexible learning centres’. Within these developments, the status of the ‘standard teaching room’ (seminar/workshop activities for groups of 20-40 students) is often neglected, apart from updating the data projection. And what of the ‘Third Space’ (Smyth, 2014) – a concept which has become central to current thinking and a burgeoning movement of direct action in providing more inclusive alternatives to tertiary and adult education out with the confines of the systems, structures, policies and expectations of the higher education institution, and the systems, structures and policies under which higher education institutions are themselves governed. This session will contrast recent and current developments in the physical space of the teaching room with the developments in this ‘third space’ – are they separate universes or an opportunity not to be missed? The main focus of the teaching room analysis will be a major initiative at University of Westminster which has tried to develop different room types to support innovation in teaching excellence, alongside comments on major initiatives elsewhere, including: new-build developments such as Northampton; teaching room designs for new pedagogies such as Team- Based Learning (e.g. Bradford and Anglia Ruskin) or Scale-Up (e.g. Nottingham Trent); and other detailed room changes (e.g. plectrum tables). Discussion will include the following questions: • What are the most effective innovations in the use of space which can have a significant impact on staff and student behaviour? • How can we foster and encourage innovation in an age of austerity and cutbacks? • What forms of research and evaluation could help us do this better?

References Arum, R., Roksa, J., & Cook, A. (2016) Improving Quality in American Higher Education: Learning outcomes and assessment for the 21 st Century . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brooks, D.C. (2012) “Space and consequences: The impact of different formal learning spaces on instructor and student behaviour.” Journal of Learning Spaces , Vol, 1, (2) http://www.partnershipsjournal.org/index.php/jls/article/viewArticle/285 (accessed 14/11/16) Harrison, A. & Hutton, L. (2014) Design for the Changing Educational Landscape: Space, place and the future of learning. London: Routledge. Scott-Webber, L., Strickland, A., & Kapitula, L. (2013). “Built environments impact behaviors: results of an active learning post-occupancy evaluation.” Planning for Higher Education , Vol, 41(5) https://www.k12blueprint.com/sites/default/files/Built-Environments.pdf (accessed 14/11/16) Smyth, K. (2014) “The University as a third space?” https://3eeducation.org/2014/07/28/the- university-as-a-third-space/

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Biographies Peter Hartley is now Higher Education Consultant, and Visiting Professor at Edge Hill University, following previous roles as Professor of Education Development at the and Professor of Communication at Sheffield Hallam University. As National Teaching Fellow since 2000, he has promoted new technology in education and developed software applications, including ‘The Interviewer’ simulations (now moving online at Edge Hill) and ‘Making Groupwork Work’ (with the LearnHigher CETL). His recent and current work also includes assessment strategies (e.g. from the PASS project at Bradford), concept mapping and visual thinking, teaching room design, project evaluation (e.g. the CyberGaTE project at Edge Hill), and developments in human communication (e.g. second edition of Business Communication, Routledge, 2015 ). His most recent educational publications are two co-authored chapters in Baume, D. and Popovic, C. (eds.) (2016) Advancing Practice in Academic Development .

Keith Smyth is Professor of Pedagogy at the University of the Highlands and Islands. Keith leads UHI's Learning and Teaching Academy, and works across the UHI partnership on strategic learning and teaching developments, funded projects, and supporting staff to engage in educational scholarship and research. In a previous role Keith was programme leader a professionally accredited, award winning Masters in Blended and Online Education. Keith has been involved in a range of projects and initiatives focused on harnessing technology to support co-creative pedagogies and curriculum models, open educational practice, and online academic development. He also developed the 3E Framework for technology-enhanced learning and teaching, which has been implemented by over 40 educational institutions across and beyond the UK. Keith is on Twitter as @smythkrs and he blogs at http://3eeducation.org/ .

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