This question and answer guide attempts to explain the plethora of acronyms used to describe major learning and teaching initiatives in Higher Education in the UK (albeit that some have been focused only on England). After outlining the emergence of various funding initiatives, the guide summarises the main aims of, and key learning resources available from, several projects across our three discipline communities. So, if you are confused about FDTL, TLTP, TALESSI, HILP, TRIADS, SEED, GNU, IMAGE, CLUES, UKESCC, GDN, CTI, GEOCAL, TQEF, HEFCW, SHEFC, DENI and LTSN then read on! A more comprehensive guide to learning and teaching acronyms will soon be available at http://www.gees.ac.uk/resource.htm.
Sources of Funding
Q: What Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funding is available to support learning and teaching in Higher Education?
A: During 1999/2000, the HEFCE announced a funding mechanism to support the development and enhancement of learning and teaching in Higher Education.
A plan was drawn up to establish a single teaching quality enhancement fund (TQEF) that would reward high quality and encourage improvement through funding which covered three strands: the institution, the subject discipline, and the individual academic. The HEFCE agreed to allocate £24 million to the fund in 1999–2000, £29 million in 2000–01 and £30 million in 2001–02. The TQEF is an aggregated fund, and the long running Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL) (launched in 1995) and the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) (launched in 1992) have now been merged into this single programme.
The largest component of the TQEF is the financial and practical support available for institutions to develop and implement their learning and teaching strategies. Some of you may have been involved in helping to prepare your institution’s policy. If on the other hand you didn’t know you had one, then find out about it!
The subject strand of the TQEF aims to promote innovation and the sharing of good practice in the disciplines. It does this through the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL). The FDTL was established to support projects aimed at stimulating developments in learning and teaching and to encourage dissemination of good practice. Bids were invited from HE institutions that were able to demonstrate high quality in their educational provision, as judged by the Teaching Quality Assessment (TQA) exercise. FDTL was the first programme to link high quality teaching assessment results to the allocation of funds in the Higher Education sector.
The aim of the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) was to make teaching and learning more productive and efficient by harnessing modern technology. Universities were invited to bid for funding for projects to develop new methods of learning and teaching through the use of technology.
Finally, the individual strand of the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund aims to encourage Higher Education institutions to recognise and reward excellent learning and teaching support through institutional learning and teaching strategies. In addition, the HEFCE has given £1m to the newly established Institute for Learning and Teaching (ILT) to run the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) which rewards exemplars of good learning and teaching practice in Higher Education.
Over the last 12 months, the HEFCE, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) and the Department for Education in Northern Ireland (DENI) have also established a Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) consisting of 24 Subject Centres. More information of the National Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences is provided at the beginning of this publication.
Other HEFCE funded initiatives include widening participation and supporting students with disabilities.
The Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL)
Q: What specific projects has the HEFCE Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL) supported?
A: The FDTL has supported a wide spectrum of projects on developing teaching and learning in Higher Education and there is a natural link between many of the projects working in the same discipline. However, many projects have also come together because they are working on similar educational themes. Various institutions representing the three disciplines of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences were successful in securing FDTL funding. Although most of these projects have now come to an end, they have all produced valuable teaching and learning resources. The following is an annotated list of the ten funded projects across the three disciplines. The resources provided by these three projects are available to the entire UK Higher Education community.
’Disseminating Good Teaching, Learning and Assessment Practices in Geography’
Geography Discipline Network (GDN)
Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education
Subject Area: Geography
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To identify and disseminate good practice in the teaching, learning and assessment of Geography at undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels in Higher Education institutions in England and Northern Ireland.
Available resources: The Geography Discipline Network has published ten excellent Guides covering a range of methods of delivering and assessing teaching and learning. It is possible to purchase copies of the Guides directly from the Geography Discipline Network. The GDN has also developed a good practice database for learning and teaching. This is currently being enlarged to encompass the wider community of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. This valuable resource is being migrated to the Subject Centre and will become a searchable archive available from the http://www.gees.ac.uk and will be maintained by both staff at the Centre and Phil Gravestock of the GDN. (In addition, the GDN has also recently published a series of texts on key skills; these were produced as part of the Department for Education and Employment’s (DfEE) key skills project).
’Developing postgraduates’ teaching skills in the sciences: a training and development programme for teaching assistants’
University of East Anglia
Subject Area: Environmental Studies
http://www.uea.ac.uk/sdto/project/welcome.html
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To produce a training programme, designed to develop postgraduates’ teaching skills in the sciences, which will be capable of being delivered by academic staff, senior postgraduates or staff developers in a range of contexts.
Available resources: The programme offers the equivalent of 30 hours of workshops and seminars and includes guidance notes for tutors, a video, handouts, OHPs.
‘Teaching and Learning at the Environment-Science-Society Interface (TALESSI)’
University of Greenwich
Subject Area: Environmental Studies
http://www.greenwich.ac.uk/~bj61/talessi/
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: The project seeks to promote interdisciplinarity and values awareness and critical thinking in environmental Higher Education, especially in environmental science/studies and geography.
Available resources: Teaching and learning resources are available for free download, as html pages, on the above website.
’Hertfordshire Integrated Learning Project (HILP)’
University of Hertfordshire
Subject Areas: environmental studies, geology, chemistry, law, computer science, business and management studies, mechanical engineering, music, applied social work, history, english.
http://www.herts.ac.uk/envstrat/HILP/
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: HILP aims to enhance staff and student perceptions of skills development, and has as its focus the integration of skills development into the academic curriculum.
Available resources: Resources include a graduate skills menu, descriptors for graduate skills, skills support materials, tools for mapping and tracking graduate skills and transdisciplinary case studies for problem-based learning.
’TRIADS - Tripartite Assessment Delivery System’
University of Liverpool (collaborative with the University of Derby and the Open University)
Subject Areas: Geography, geology, medicine, veterinary science
http://www.pcweb.liv.ac.uk/apboyle/triads/index.html
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To improve the quality of students’ learning by promoting a ‘learning outcomes led’ approach to curriculum design and assessment.
Available resources: Free demonstration of question styles are available at: http://www.derby.ac.uk/assess/newdemo/newdemo.html
’Skills Development: The Management of Change’
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Subject Areas: Architecture, chemistry, computing, geography, history, tourism
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ADU/hefce/
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To identify strategies that can facilitate changes in the curriculum to promote the development of students’ skills.
Available resources: Web-site links to relevant resources, publications and case studies at the above address.
’SEED: Science Education Enhancement and Development’
University of Plymouth
Subject Areas: Geography, geology, environmental studies
http://www.science.plym.ac.uk/departments/seed/
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To develop, document and disseminate good practice in Science teaching and learning. The programme consists of a series of projects in areas such as lab-work, field-work, graduate teaching assistants and computer-aided learning.
Available resources: Learning and teaching handbooks on computer based assessment, developing employer links and fieldwork in the sciences, are among some of the resources available to download free, in pdf format, from the web-site above.
’Staff Development in the Earth Sciences’
University of Southampton
Subject Area: Earth Sciences
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~ukgec/
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To identify current best practice in teaching and learning and to promote its widest possible dissemination, take-up and implementation.
Available resources: A Staff Handbook to Support Earth Sciences Learning and Teaching in Higher Education available free from the above address or download, in pdf format, from http://www.gees.ac.uk/Resbook.pdf
‘GNU: Geography for the New Undergraduate’
Liverpool Hope University College
Subject Areas: Geography
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To develop a first year undergraduate seminar programme to teach personal, interpersonal and transferable skills within a geographical context, and to assist the successful transition to undergraduate studies, particularly for non-traditional-entry students.
Available resources: Tutor and student guides to a seminar programme on various skills themes. Tutor guides provide enough information for tutors to run seminars.
’IMAGE: Interactive Mathematics and Geoscience Education’
University College London
Subject Area: Geology
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/geolsci/edu/ugrads/image.htm
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: The project aims to develop essential skills applicable to geoscience education, primarily under the subdivisions of mathematics and fieldwork.
Available resources: web-based computer-aided learning resources available for use on the web-site above include geo-mathematics revision topics and fieldwork (tailored to UCL courses).
Summary of FDTL
As seen, there is a large corpus of teaching and learning resources that have been made available through the HEFCE Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL). Most material is available for downloading from the listed websites or by getting in touch with the named contact person. Most of the available resources are free of charge.
The Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP)
Q: What specific projects has the HEFCE Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) supported?
A: Not unlike the HEFCE Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning, the Fund for Teaching and Learning Technology has supported a whole host of projects. Within the disciplines of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences four projects were funded. An annotated list of these is provided below.
’UK Earth Sciences Courseware Consortium (UKESCC)’
University of Manchester
Subject Area: Earth Sciences
http://www.man.ac.uk/Geology/CAL/index.html
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: to develop, produce and distribute high quality interactive courseware for use in Earth Science teaching and learning.
Available resources: hybrid Macintosh/Windows demonstration CD-ROM containing examples of the 21 courseware modules available can be ordered from the web-site.
The UKESCC project has now become a commercial venture and the available learning resources are chargeable. However, the National Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences has all 21 courseware modules for use at the Centre’s library. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to visit and experiment with the software.
’Centre for Computer Based Learning in Land Use and Environmental Sciences’
University of Aberdeen
http://www.clues.abdn.ac.uk:8080/
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To enhance the quality of learning and increase the effectiveness of teaching in subjects relating to land use and environmental sciences within UK Higher Education through the application of computer-assisted learning (CAL) and other appropriate information technologies (IT).
Available resources: CLUES products include CAL courseware and selfteaching tutorials. The web-site also contains a useful, annotated Directory of Resources for Computer Based Learning in Land Use and Environmental Sciences
’Geotechnical Computer-aided Learning’
University of the West of England
http://geocal.uwe.ac.uk/ No longer running
Aims: GeotechniCAL’s objective is the appropriate use of information technology for the teaching and learning of geotechnics.
Available resources: the web-site contains an index of computer-assisted learning packages for geotechnical engineering. Some of the resources contain “live” online material developed using open Internet standards.
’GeographyCAL® UK Computer-assisted Learning Consortium in Geography’
University of Leicester
Subject Area: Geography
http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/cti/tltp/
Contact: [email protected]
Aims: To specify, develop, test and deliver a library of high-quality transportable resources in the form of computer-assisted learning (CAL) modules.
Available resources: CAL modules in human geography, physical geography and geographical techniques.
Q: What was the funding councils Computers in Teaching Initiative(CTI) about?
A: The Computers in Teaching Initiative spanned the ten years of the 1990s. The aim of the CTI was to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in Higher Education through the use of appropriate technologies. This has successfully been achieved in the disciplines of Land Use and Environmental Sciences, Geography, Geology and Meteorology through the CTI Centres for these subject areas. Up until January 2000, the CTI Centre for Geography, Geology and Meteorology was based at the University of Leicester and directed by Geoff Robinson (now the C & IT senior advisor to the Subject Centre for Geography, Ear th and Environmental Sciences). The Subject Centre for Biosciences has taken up the baton for CLUES, the CTI Centre for Land Use and Environmental Sciences, where the former director Simon Heath is now advising as a Subject Specialist.
Many excellent learning and teaching resources were produced as a result of the CTI. These include a web-site for the Geography, Geology and Meteorology CTI (http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/cti/) containing a catalogue of geographical software, providing information on over 100 software items.
Additionally, an information gateway provides an index of on-line Geo-Information resources for university staff and students: this will soon be subsumed into the Subject Centre’s own Information Gateway which spans a much wider community. The development of GeographyCal® courseware (see above) involved over 130 academics and has proved to be an immense help and resource for the teaching community. However, January 2000 potentially marked a turning point in the provision of support for learning and teaching in Higher Education, and the CTI centres came to an end. However, they left behind an important legacy of involvement, commitment and encouragement.
Q: If the CTI Centre for Geography, Geology and Meteorology is no longer in operation, who is serving the need to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in Higher Education through the use of appropriate technologies?
A: In January 2000, the HEFCE set-up a Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), consisting of 24 Subject Centres, a Generic Centre and a Technologies Centre (GEES). The Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences is committed to integrating C&IT into learning and teaching in Higher Education as part of a wider remit. For more information on the LTSN National Subject Centre for GEES refer to an earlier article in this edition of PLANET.
Q: Are there any projects across Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences that have been successful in securing funds to improve provision for disabled students?
A: Yes, the Geography Discipline Network (GDN) (see above) provides learning and teaching resources for the three disciplines of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences and is based at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education. The GDN has been awarded money to provide guidance on learning support for disabled students undertaking fieldwork. The project will run until June 2001. The main aim of the project is to identify, promote and transfer the principles and good practices of how to provide learning support for disabled students undertaking fieldwork and related activities. It is the intention of the project managers to produce a series of six guides for use by relevant depar tments. Contact: [email protected]. or visit http://www.chelt.ac.uk/gdn.
Q: How can I access and benefit from the above learning and teaching initiatives?
If one of the projects above covers your subject area and interests you, do contact the project leader and/or visit the website addresses listed above and obtain copies of the project resource outputs. If there is a learning and teaching topic that you are wrestling with, (such as the introduction of C&IT into your course or developing your students’ employability and skills training), then again you will probably find it useful to obtain the resource outputs from some of these projects. While many of the initiatives have now come to an end, there it is still a need to continue disseminating and deploying their resources. The Subject Centre is keen to assist with this process.
And a last word......if you are in need of help on any learning and teaching issue, then contact the LTSN National Subject Centre and use the register of expertise. We hope to hear from you!
This article has in part drawn on a feature first published in Educational Developments 1.1 (Jan 2000), published by the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA).