In September 2010, a group of academic staff from the ADC along with the Advice and Representation Manager from the university’s Student Union, visited two state universities in North Carolina: Appalachian State University (ASU) and University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC). The visit aimed to explore issues in number of areas including, staff development, student engagement in learning, teaching and assessment, e-learning, the final year experience, academic support for students (with particular emphasis on attainment for minority groups), and work with schools and colleges. It is envisaged that a sustained relationship will be developed with these two institutions for sharing experience which may inform institutional practice here at Kingston. The visit was funded through ADC income generating activities.

A wide range of informative and productive meetings and discussions were held at each institution. At UNCC for example we heard about some of the fascinating work with African-American and Hispanic students. Kingston University is currently involved in a number of initiatives aiming to address the gaps in degree performance amongst its students from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups when compared to their white counterparts.

A recent paper published by UNCC (Lynch and Engle 2010) describes some of the initiatives they have developed during the last two decades to address this issue. These have been led by the Department of Multicultural Academic Services. The University Transition Opportunities Program (UTOP), was designed to help prepare students for entry to university; the Student Advising for Freshman Excellence (SAFE) programme provides academic counselling and support for first year students. The PRODUCE programme is a mentoring scheme led by staff and students to assist minority students in STEM disciplines and Building Better Brothers (3B) is directed by black staff and students and focuses specifically on the needs of black male students.

Collectively the programmes have helped tackle problems such with student integration, attainment and retention. This has largely been enabled through the collaborative approach taken by existing students and staff to target specific groups and individuals at the point of need. UNCC also offers a range of support services to all students by developing learning communities aiming to enhance academic success. Perhaps one of the most significant achievements is the work with African-American males who may disproportionately participate in and benefit from these services.

Kingston University already has a number of similar programs co-ordinated by the ADC including Peer Assisted Learning (PAL), Student Ambassadors and the compact Scheme’s Fast Forward induction programme. Lorraine Allibone, the university’s Academic Skills Manager, co-ordinates the training of Academic Skills Advisors who provide peer support in the Academic Skills Centres, she is currently working with UNCC’s Office for Multi-Cultural Academic Services to explore how our schemes can be developed to attract more students from BME backgrounds.

A copy of the UNCC paper: Lynch, M and Engle, J (2010) ‘Big gaps, Small Gaps: some colleges and Universities Do Better Than Others in Graduating African American Students’ USA , The Education Trust, can be found on the ADC website:http://www.edtrust.org/dc/publication/big-gaps-small-gaps-in-serving-african-american-students

At Appalachian State University one example of our extensive discussions was in the area of technology enhanced learning where we exchanged our experiences in terms of infrastructure, research, learning technology reviews and staff development. Of great interest are trials that Appalachia State are planning with ePortfolios, the work that is being done with a range of virtual world environments, and way in which video conferencing is being developed to support learning and teaching. We hope to run some collaborative activities in the area of video conferencing over the next few months and will be inviting Kingston staff to participate.
Tim  Linsey
Academic Development

One Community is the name for a social networking site launched two years ago shared by students and staff at Kingston University, St George’s and Royal Holloway College as part of a HEFCE-funded initiative called the SouthWest London Academic Network (SWAN).

As of September 2010, we’ve upgraded One Community: the interface is both easier-to-use and more contemporary. More significantly, the tools for group work activity have been extended to include:

• shared bookmarks

• blog

• discussion board forums

• photo albums

• a wiki-like tool called ‘pages’ which enables the collaborative editing of small web site

• a micro-blogging tool like Twitter (ie 140 character posts)

We think that One Community’s improved interface and extended toolset makes it well suited to a range of learning, teaching and assessment practices. Potential uses might include:

• supporting students on placement – linking staff with students and placement supervisors

• group or collaborative work

• extra-curricular activities – volunteering, societies, interest groups

• personal development portfolios

We’re running workshops on One Community 2–3 times a month. Details can be found on our website: http://www.kingston.ac.uk/academic-development-centre/educational-technology/staff-development/#workshops

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, has the privilege of calling Kingston University one of its longest exchange partners. For nearly forty years, students, faculty and staff have visited the two campuses to gain new perspectives on life, education and professional development.

The story of UNC Charlotte is one of rapid growth, innovation and accessibility. Originally known as Charlotte Centre, it was one of several learning institutions founded in a metropolitan area after World War II to serve returning veterans. On September 23, 1946, Charlotte Center opened for 238 students. The Charlotte education and business communities acknowledged the need for higher education in the growing city and moved to create Charlotte College three years later. In the following years a campus would be established ten miles from the centre of Charlotte and the burgeoning locus of higher education in the region would become a member of the statewide university system.

Today, UNC Charlotte has seven colleges, over 25,000 students, a vibrant slate of activities and opportunities for the students, faculty and staff that make up the University’s environment and is the third-largest institution in the University of North Carolina (UNC) system. Red brick buildings and walkways are complemented by verdant trees and flowers. A sculpture of a man hammering himself out of rock, entitled “Self-made Man”, is located in a central courtyard as a reminder to students of their potential.

The academic environment at UNC Charlotte is fundamental in giving students every opportunity to create their future in the local community and the world. The seven colleges include: Belk College of Business, College of Arts + Architecture, College of Health and Human Services, Lee College of Engineering, College of Education, College of Computing and Informatics and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Furthermore, a new Student Union, academic support services, career services, athletics and student organizations enhance the atmosphere of innovation, learning and excellence.

Then, on the second floor of a building directly across from the ever-bustling Student Union, the Office of International Programs welcomes students from around the world to learn English, receive professional development or pursue their studies. UNC Charlotte students are likewise encouraged to spend time in another country to develop their intercultural competence. And when Kingston University visitors – students, faculty or staff – visit the campus they are enthusiastically welcomed by UNC Charlotte staff, faculty and students who have likewise spent time at Kingston University and fondly remember their visit. It is a dynamic relationship with new faces being welcomed to the extended family on a regular basis and long-time friends taking every opportunity to connect
Joel Gallegos
Assistant Provost for International Programmes,
University of North Carolina Charlotte

Since the first National Student Survey in 2005, which indicated that across the higher education sector student were less than satisfied with the feedback they were receiving on their progress, we have been looking carefully at the issue of feedback. At Kingston all the faculties have worked hard to understand what exactly the students require in terms of feedback and to put in place a range of strategies to meet these needs-focus groups, feedback days, revised feedback sheets and so on.

Accompanying this newsletter you will find an Assessment Framework which is an attempt to clarify the terminology of assessment and to explain the basic requirements when setting assignments for students.

The ADC is also planning a major review of assessment at Kingston. This will consider a number of aspects of assessment including:

• The Assessment Policy

• Fairness in Assessment Guidelines and issues around inclusivity and assessment for students with disabilities

• Issues around assessment for each year group including grade criteria

• Assessment practice in other sectors and the experience of students prior to admission to university

• The quantity and timing of assessment across disciplines

• Diversification of assessment practice

• The role of institutionally supported technologies in enhancing assessment and feedback

• The role of personal technologies and third party tools and environments in enhancing assessment and feedback

• The role of assessment for learning /feedback to students on assessment

The review will be led by Marion Webb and Prof Chris Rust of Oxford Brookes University. If you would like to contribute or to comment on assessment and feedback in any way please contact the ADC.
Marion Webb
Academic Development

The Kingston University Teaching Fellowship Scheme was developed in 2003–4 with the aim of rewarding excellence in teaching and supporting pedagogic development. It was designed to mirror the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) at the time with a reward for excellence in the form of an honorarium (initially funded by the Rewarding and Developing Staff budget) and the requirement to undertake a project in line with the Learning and Teaching Strategy. Since 2004 44 fellowships have been awarded.

In the spring of 2010 the ADC commissioned a consultant to undertake a review of the scheme. She conducted two focus groups and interviewed a number of key staff including the DVC, David Mackintosh and the Head of HR and representatives of UCU.

We are now making some recommendations with a view to updating the scheme. These include:

• Teaching fellowships should be awarded on the basis of individual teaching excellence only. The award of a fellowship will have a stipulated role with an allocation of time to undertake new responsibilities. Part of this might be to conduct a piece of research but not necessarily. Faculties will have significant input into the focus of the role and they will comprise a mix of strategic cross university and local developments/initiatives

• A minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 awards should be presented annually

• Teaching fellowships should carry an increment for a period of three to five years.

These recommendations are being taken to the appropriate committees and it is envisaged that there will be no new fellowships during 2010/11 but there will be an advertisement in the summer for fellowships which will begin in September 2011.

It’s been a busy time over the last few months and a great deal has been achieved. In July, I and Jayne Clanfield presented our findings of our recent Compact Scheme Review at this year’s FACE conference. The attendance was good with keen interest from other institutions considering developing similar schemes.

At the beginning of September, Jenni Woods, Steve May and I presented a paper at the EAIR conference which this year was held in Valencia. Once again we discussed the Compact Review with more focus on how the scheme supports Kingston University’s civic responsibilities and involvement in the local community. We were also able to discuss in more details some of the emerging developments planned for this academic year in response to the reviews recommendations, in particular the Fast Forward induction event.

Finally, the Widening Participation team had an Away Day. This year the event was hosted by the University of Brighton Widening Participation unit. The event included contributions from our host at Brighton, Aimhigher South London and South London Life Long Learning Extension. The afternoon focussed on new project ideas with all of the team, bar me, presenting new projects they have devised. To add some drama and fun to the event it was presented in a Dragon’s Den style, with Aimhigher, Brighton WP team and I acting as the judges. Needless to say the team surpassed all expectation presenting some very thoughtful and innovative ideas. I was so impressed we plan to develop all the ideas presented and hopefully integrate them into the schools, colleges and university work that we do.
David Taylor
Widening Participation

2009/2010 has been another busy year for the Education Liaison Team delivering events for school and college pupils. We have continued to expand our programme of activities both in schools and colleges and at the University.

Here a few highlights from the year: Our 2 day Your Future Conference took place in January and provided year 9 pupils, from 8 local schools with a real insight into university life. Workshops took place throughout the day on topics such as mind mapping for success, progression routes into HE and an insight into student life.

One teacher from Chessington Community College commented that ‘it made the students think. It was a really good introduction to uni and the huge breadth of subjects’.

Early April began with our 3 day non residential Aimhigher Sports Summer School for year 10 pupils. This event was run in collaboration with Aimhigher London South and gave pupils from local schools the opportunity to find out what it’s like to study sport at FE and HE, and discover what courses are available in this field. Activities included a sports science workshop, a behind the scenes tour of Twickenham ruby stadium, trips to St Marys University College and Kingston College to look at the different sports courses and facilities on offer. The event was rounded off with a talk by Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell. The talk left pupils feeling inspired to go and reach their potential and put in the hard work once back at school.

Our Maths and English revision project KU+MEtook place at the beginning of June and proved to be another success. We had record Participation

numbers with 160 year 11 pupils attending. The day focussed on some of the toughest parts of the Maths and English GCSE curriculum, in a fun and interactive way.

An e-mail from an attendee’s parent received after the event read: ‘Rhianna has never been so animated about Maths before so I was truly surprised and delighted. She seems more confident about the forthcoming GCSE and has been revising hard since Wednesday… thanks for making the day such a success and inspiring her in a subject which she has often found difficult and boring.’

We look forward to expanding on the work that we already do in the coming year
Education Liaison Team

The Compact Scheme continues to ease the transition of local students from further to higher education and 500 new Compact students will be enrolled by the end of September 2010. A comprehensive review of Compact was completed in the Spring and one of the first key recommendations to be implemented was an enhanced induction experience for Compact students which we named Fast Forward. The aim of Fast Forward is to help prepare Compact students for university life through a range of talks and interactive sessions as well as provide them with opportunities to meet other new starters and make some friends before they enrol. The event was a great success with 80 students attending over the two days. Feedback has been excellent with the majority of attendees stating that they are feeling more prepared and confident about starting university. One attendee commented, “It has been a great help boosting my confidence, meeting new people outside of my course and in similar situations to myself.”

The Education Liaison Team look forward to expanding the work we do over the coming year with some new developments including work with parents, a mentoring project and conferences focusing on employability and attainment raising.

We have just successfully completed the second year of running the Student Associates Scheme. In 2009/10 we placed 56 students in 22 different schools across the Aimhigher South region.

As a result of their participation in the Student Associates Scheme, 70% reported that their interest in teaching had increased as a result of taking part in the scheme.

The schools who have taken part this year are also very positive about the scheme.

Here are some quotes from students who took part in the scheme this year

‘It was a great experience and I believe I made the most of the time I had at the school. I have formed some great relationships with staff and pupils and I have been invited back to the school if I get on a PGCE course.’

‘I think it was a great experience and I will recommend it to anyone who is interested in teaching.’

‘I enjoyed my experience of being part of the scheme, as it gave me more interest and knowledge to go into teaching.’

The ADC has been both promoting and supporting the use of Electronic Voting Systems for a number of years, including participation in the HE Academy’s Pathfinder programme with the ‘Rapid Reaction and Response’ project (see: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/ourwork/learningandtech/completed/pathfinder/Journey_Reports/Kingston.pdf, or http://bit.ly/cTSHJO). The primary aim of the technology has been to enhance interaction and feedback in the classroom.

Over the last 2 years I have been supporting these classroom technologies and have seen how the market has become increasingly competitive and the devices more sophisticated. The earliest system that we supported was based on infrared technology with the output (eg graphs) provided through its own standalone software. Students (and staff – used in staff meetings etc) could respond to binary and multiple choice type questions. Although relatively unsophisticated, these devices were effective though they did need a line of sight between the handheld unit and the receiver. These devices were superseded at KU by wireless (radio communication replacing infrared) devices with the ability to integrate real-time responses within Microsoft PowerPoint without the need for a direct line of sight between handheld units and the receiver. They are considerably smaller and lighter than the previous generation of devices. The University is currently supporting two types of wireless devices with the latest being from the Turning Point company.

Turning Point, is simple to use, integrates with PowerPoint, flexible in terms of installation and additional software allows usage with Learning

internet-enabled devices such as mobile phones. Web enabled voting could potentially provide an additional channel of interaction in video delivered lectures across multiple sites, eg SWan modules. Two faculties (CISM and Engineering) have purchased their own sets and sets are available for loan from the ADC.

Turning Point overcomes some of the limitations of previous systems, especially in terms of software distribution. The Turning Point software is freely downloadable from the company’s website, which allows installation at home and provides Mac compatible software. Another potentially useful feature is integration with Studyspace, which enables participants’ lists to be created, based on module registrations in Blackboard and also supports the export of results back to the Blackboard Grade Centre. Online tutorials and manuals add to its flexibility although, the ADC will continue to offer workshops on the use of this technology.

Please contact Hendrik van der Sluis to borrow the equipment or to request further information and to find out more about staff development events.

To download the software http://www.turningtechnologies.com/responsesystemsupport/downloads/, or http://bit.ly/doiU52

Select TurningPoint 4.2.2

Tutorials can be found at http://www.turningtechnologies.com/responsesystemsupport/producttraining/onlinetutorials/, or

http://bit.ly/a4KipN