Centre for Academic Practice
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/29
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Item Evidencing the value of educational development: Charting a course on the waves and winds of change(Michigan Publishing, 2023-12-18) Groen, Jovan; Hoessler, Carolyn; Ives, Carolyn; Bamber, VeronicaAcross higher education, educational developers and theirsupporting campus communities are being called upon to scale up evidence-informedpractices, to enhance student experiences, and to document the changes. Thisarticle builds on the work of scholars who have taken up this evaluativechallenge, by examining varied aspects of the evidencing process using anadaptation of Saunders’s (2000) RUFDATA framework for evidencing value.Reflections on emerging patterns and tensions in the evidencing of educationaldevelopment are subsequently discussed. We argue for making evidencing value apurposeful and intentional process, and we chart a path forward for creatingand implementing a vision for the age of evidence.Item Framing development: concepts, factors and challenges in CPD Frameworks for academics.(2009) Bamber, VeronicaThe National Pay Framework in UK universities has brought not only new pay arrangements, but the expectation that reward, recognition and appraisal systems will also be 'modernised', and that frameworks for staff development will connect in with these. This paper considers whether generic continuing professional development (CPD) frameworks are appropriate for academic activities, and contributes to the debate on reward and recognition for teaching. Finally, the paper offers recommendations on what CPD frameworks might look like in university cultures in which academics still expect autonomy and discretion over their own deveItem Postgraduate taught students and preparedness for Master's level study: polishing the facets of the Master's diamond(Taylor & Francis, 2017-08-09) Bamber, Veronica; Choudhary, Carolyn J.; Hislop, Jane; Lane, JudithTransitions are increasingly recognised as difficult, and less has been written about transitions to postgraduate taught programmes than about transitions into undergraduate or doctoral study. A Scotland-wide project found that new taught Post-graduate (PG), and staff teaching them, can be unclear about what is expected at Master's level, and proposed a framework of seven facets that indicate how students are expected to engage with Master's study. The facets and accompanying resources were designed to be discussion tools, to promote staff and student discussion of what is expected in their programme and subject. In a follow-up project at one university, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to postgraduate students asking them to rate their current level of ability against the skills and capabilities identified as facets for Master's level study. The project found students felt ill-prepared for particular aspects of Master's level study, with sub-group differences between disciplines. Master's courses are intensive and fast-moving, so this has implications for students' preparedness for successfully navigating through their programmes. Some suggestions on how students can be better briefed on what to expect are made.Item Principles and practices of good university governance(2012-05-29) Bamber, VeronicaThis presentation outlined some of the key characteristics of university governance in UK institutions, highlighting the four elements of university management, structures, staff participation in governance, and the student voiceItem Tribes, Territories and Tribal Reservations(2012-05-30) Bamber, VeronicaThis seminar discusses ideas explored in a recent (Jan 2012) book edited by Trowler, Saunders and Bamber entitled 'Tribes and territories in the 21st-century: Rethinking the significance of disciplines in higher education'. The book updates a subject initially dealt with by Tony Becher in 'Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual enquiry and the culture of disciplines' in 1989, and revisited by Becher and Trowler in 2001. The book's underpinning perspective of Social Practice Theory leads the authors to question the value of the 'tribes' metaphor, which seems to pin academic disciplines to relatively stable group epistemologies, and underplay the role of other complex, non-epistemological factors such as context. While the tribes metaphor still has merit, and doubtless emotional appeal, the assumption that tribal members share a relatively coherent set of practices, values and standard approaches to activities like teaching and research is now less convincing in times of interdisciplinary working, institutional and departmental accountability, and the intensification of academic labour - to mention just a few of the drivers and influences we are all too aware of. This seminar discusses some of these drivers, and looks at examples from a range of disciplines and countries.Item Taking up the challenge of evidencing value in educational development: from theory to practice(Taylor & Francis, 2015-11-19) Bamber, Veronica; Stefani, LorraineMeasurable targets, key performance indicators, value for money - whatever we may think of the 'impact agenda', it looks like it is here to stay. Are we trapped in a positivist, new managerialist spiral of demonstrating the value of our work, or can we take the lead in reframing the discourse on how educational development proves its worth? This paper suggests that how we gather and present evidence is currently not fit for the purpose of demonstrating the value of educational development to our institutions. The paper argues that reconceptualising 'impact' as 'evidencing value' could release us from inadequate or instrumental approaches to evaluation. Evidencing does involve measuring and evaluating, but it also acknowledges the role of judgement, experience, and contextual knowledge in determining what needs to be evaluated, and how. It allows us to reconfigure what can legitimately be included in our heterogeneous mix of evaluation data. Examples of frameworks which might support us in evidencing value are offered. 2015 Taylor & FrancisItem Mixing Decks: Frameworks for Master's Scholarship(John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2015-07) Bamber, VeronicaPostgraduate taught education in universities is under-researched compared to research on undergraduate learning and teaching. This results in two missed opportunities: making evidence-informed improvements to postgraduate taught education and integrating such improvements into thinking and practice. A commitment to evidence-informed improvement cycles at personal and local levels can generate knowledge, which can also inform practice in other settings. However, researchers who are new to learning and teaching research may not feel fully equipped, on the basis of their disciplinary knowledge, to undertake such inquiry. This paper considers and offers a case study of the use of frameworks that can support these practitioners in investigating students' understandings of what is expected in postgraduate study. With a flexible set of tools or frameworks on the mixing decks of postgraduate taught inquiry, such researchers are potentially better equipped to gain a good understanding of their students' learning.Item Evaluating learning and teaching: institutional needs and individual practices(Taylor & Francis, 2012-03) Bamber, Veronica; Anderson, SallyRather than a rational, technical activity, evaluation reflects the socio-political dynamics of the evaluative context. This presents a challenge for universities and the individuals within them, who may assume that plans or policies for evaluation will result in straightforward outcomes. This small-scale study in one institution looks at the tensions between institutional evaluative needs and individual evaluative practices. The results indicate that for staff in the institution, evaluative activity is largely autonomous and self-driven, rather than following institutional policy. A discretionary framework for the evaluation of learning and teaching was developed which may be a useful tool for educational developers in their analysis of evaluative practice.