DoLT Forum 23 March

Curriculum enhancement project

Agenda

• Project update• Options for change to the structure of the academic

year• Models for broadening the curriculum• Your views on:

- some key broadening questions- the proposed academic year structure

Project update:Principles

Within all UG programmes:

• Integration of research with learning and teaching

• Core threads will be incorporated and demonstrated in the context of the discipline

• Deeper learning and less ‘pocketed knowledge’

• Opportunity to broaden within or beyond the discipline

• Opportunity for placement learning/study abroad

Project update:What’s been agreed

• Employability, ethics and responsibility and global and cultural insight - the core threads within Leeds curriculum

• Threads to be demonstrated in all programmes from 2012 onwards

• Electives to be structured within coherent strands

• New structure for electives to be in place for 2012

Project update:Under development

• A commonly agreed definition of Research and L&T integration

• Definitions for each of the threads and exemplars

• Broadening: Characteristics/criteria of an elective strand

• Principles and drivers which will inform structure of the academic year

• Model for new academic year structure

Structure of the academic year

Simon Biggs: Pro Dean L&T Engineering

The Academic Year

Main issues highlighted:

• Second Semester is less than ideal

• Need for 2 formal examination periods?

• Need to reassert primacy of programmes over modules

• Need for more imaginative and well thought out assessment maps

The Academic Year

Principles & drivers

• A fundamental principle is that any change, or changes, made to the academic calendar must improve the student experience at Leeds.

• Similarly, any change or changes made to the academic calendar must not impact in a negative way on the staff experience; balancing the imperative of protecting research time with the impact of increased fees on students’ expectations.

• The needs of the curriculum should drive the support process.

• The requirements of the different disciplines must be accommodated; prescription or restriction should only be introduced in order to fulfil:

equality and equity of the student experience across all programmes

essential practical considerations; the feasibility of running such a complex set of curricula across a range of subject areas in a large institution.

• We must be clear of the attributes of the graduates that we wish to produce and then provide a flexible space that will suit the teaching, learning and assessment needs of all of our programmes.

• Given the change in fee structures after 2012 the impact on perceptions of students, and other external stakeholders including parents, of the length of the teaching / contact periods must be taken into account.

The Academic Year

• Teaching in a compressed and intensive way excludes opportunities for students to assimilate concepts and knowledge and for them to develop intellectually, technically and reflectively to their full potential.

• The current academic year structure, with two periods of University-organised assessment, militates against the possibility of synoptic learning and assessment; synoptic assessment would require students to synthesise their learning across modules as well as within modules.

• The heart of course design should be at programme rather than module level. An unhealthy focus on the module can result in fragmented student learning and ‘pocketed’ knowledge; achievement of programme level outcomes should be the arbiter of success.

• The integration of research with teaching is a given for study at Leeds.

• Students need to be prepared for any significant, summative piece of assessment; development of skills and attributes through the course should focus on this end.

• The review of the curriculum gives an opportunity to address aspects of our variable NSS, and other programme evaluation, particularly the scores for assessment and feedback.

• The moveable Easter holiday causes problems with the current model; it disrupts the continuity of the teaching & learning period in the spring & summer terms.

• The length of holiday periods at Christmas and Easter can be adjusted to suit the needs of the curriculum.

• Whatever is decided, programme teams should be having a conversation about their curricula; the more open and flexible the academic calendar, the more creative and ambitious these discussions can be.

Options

Broadening

Martin Purvis: Pro Dean L&T Environment

Broadening – Aims and Rationale

•To allow students to adapt/apply knowledge from main discipline in different ways/contexts

•To give students the opportunity to undertake subjects, develop skills and explore topics beyond main discipline

•To meet employer demand for individuals with broad academic horizons and the confidence/ flexibility to question received wisdom – not just specialist knowledge of a single subject area (Graduate Talent Conference 2010)

Broadening at Leeds – Flexible Opportunity

• Enhance/render explicit broadening elements within primary disciplinary content

• Facilitate/enhance co-curricular broadening opportunities, external/research placements etc.

• Coordinate/enhance broadening electives as component of most programmes

Broadening: Elective Strands

• Reformat electives as coherent strands of related modules – both as organisational device and to clarify rationale for broadening

• Ensure strands offer students the opportunity to pursue an interest across more than one level of study

• Ensure more equal opportunities for students to pursue broadening strands within their degree programme

• Broadening beyond main discipline at the student’s discretion

• Timing of broadening opportunities within specific programmes may reflect particular disciplinary/ professional contexts

An Elective Strand is:

A co-ordinated and structured series of related elective modules allowing sustained exploration of a specific subject, issue or skill which lies beyond the primary disciplinary content of a student’s programme.

Elective Strands should:

• Have a clear focus, but include range of alternative modules – allowing choice for students and some flexibility in timetabling around study for home degree

• Offer modules over at least 2 levels (and ideally 3 levels) to allow for progression

• Be constructed to ensure that a student who exits after study at only one level also has satisfactory and stimulating experience

• Be sufficiently flexible to accommodate unorthodox progression paths – e.g. a student who starts strand at L1, exits for a year and then re-enters

Types/functions of Elective Strands

• A structured exploration of key aspects of an academic subject beyond the home degree discipline

• A suite of modules which develop additional skills and competences – with academic and/or vocational relevance

• A suite of modules which enhance understanding of external commercial/institutional environments and/or enterprise

• A co-ordinated exploration of an important issue or debate from a complementary range of different disciplinary perspectives

Possible inter-disciplinary strands

• Knowledge, communication and technology

• Sustainability or apocalypse?

• Languages, translation and global scholarship

• Public engagement and understanding

• The future of the university

• Work placement and professional awareness

Steps towards a Broader Curriculum

Step 1: Provide clearer information about rationale for/benefits from ‘broadening’ to students and Schools/Faculties.

Step 2: Develop defined structure of Broadening Strands, as a series of related elective modules, to add significant value to current elective system.

Step 3: Work with Schools/Faculties to ensure ‘broadening’ traits evident in core disciplinary programmes.

Step 4: Explore scope for innovative forms of timetabling and/or module delivery so that choice in theory translates into choice in practice.

Your Input

Consultation document will ask you to …

a) review existing elective provision in the light of strand model – may entail more selectivity about which modules offered as electives

b) consider scope for innovative strands – taught within School/Faculty or through new inter-disciplinary partnerships

c) consider strands that you and your students would like to see developed to generate new broadening opportunities

Questions and Discussion

Academic Year

• What do you think about the principles and drivers that should inform any change to the structure of the academic year?

• What are your views on getting rid of the formal examination period at the end of semester 1?

• What do you think about the suggestions for incorporating revision time or work placement/experience opportunities within option 3?

Key broadening questions

• How can we best encourage/co-ordinate the development of an imaginative range of broadening strands?

• Should be wary of offering too many strands/too much choice? And how much is too much?

• Can we accommodate student choice to migrate between strands – plus opting out (and back in)?

• Can all programmes accommodate ‘flexible opportunity’?

• Does it matter where, and at what level(s), broadening opportunities are located within specific programmes?