Keynote Speakers

TEF: Past, Present and Future - Keynote Speaker - Professor Janice Kay, Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Exeter University

Professor Janice Kay will provide insights as Deputy Chair of the TEF and Chair of the Subject Level TEF on the objectives of TEF, how it’s evolved and what the future for TEF may be. Professor Kay will reflect throughout on the importance of student engagement and supporting enhancement to teaching and learning

Where our Education and Civic Missions Meet - Keynote Speaker - Professor Graham Galbraith, Vice-Chancellor University of Portsmouth

Universities over recent years have been facing unprecedented criticism. Among other things, there is a growing belief that we are becoming increasingly self-serving and defensive and have neglected our civic role. While most of this criticism is unfair, there is no doubt that changes to funding and new market pressures may have distracted us from our broader mission beyond research and education. While we did not create these pressures there is a need for us to reflect on our broader role as an anchor institution acting collaboratively with the other key institutions in our city. For example, we surely have a moral responsibility, as a world-leading education institution, to play a part in addressing the shockingly low levels of progression rates to HE in the city and region. Our sponsorship of Pompey is one example of a recent intervention but as we develop our next strategy we need to be creative in developing new ways in which our resources and expertise can be better deployed to improve our impact on our city and region. We need to have ambitious and measurable targets around what we can achieved, and consider how we can carry out our core activities in ways that involve active participation and support of the key institutions in our city. We must not forget that success for the University is only possible within a successful city and region and that as a recognised beacon of excellence we have a responsibility to use our success to benefit wherever possible our local population.

TUESDAY 11 JUNE

Abstracts for speakers

Parallel Session 1 STRAND A - A1 Teaching Best Practice (Brendan McCarthy & Sophie Butler (UPSU))

The session links to the Partnership and Co-Construction theme. The session will look at student feedback on teaching quality and style and work to share best practice and enhance the delegates own teaching styles. The session will look at examples from across the institution of good teaching practice. This information has been gathered by our Insights team. The presentation will outline our findings from 2018/19. The session will then ask delegates to break out into small groups and identify any other areas of good practice as well as identify how they can apply these examples in their teaching delivery. The conclusion and closing thoughts will ask delegates to come up with one commitment each that they will use over the next year. UPSU would be interested in keeping in touch with the delegates to track progress through the year. We would be keen to then work with some of those who attended the session to feedback at the 2020 L&T Conference about how implementing their commitments worked in practice.

Parallel Session 1 STRAND A - A2 Exploring Service users, students and educators experiences of the provision of student-led inter-professional health checks to homeless patients (Helena Herrera, Nicola Barnes (PHBM) and Kristina Wanyonyi (UPDA))

General and oral health are key indicators of well-being at every stage of life, and can be significantly compromised in hard-to-reach patients. The limited engagement of this group with conventional health services leads to poorer health outcomes, widening inequalities and raising social and economic costs. Student-led clinics have shown to be welcomed by hard-to-reach patients, and to facilitate their access to healthcare services. This paper highlights the results of an inter-professional initiative which involved the provision of pharmacy and dentistry student-led general and oral health checks to hard-to-reach patients, typically homeless people, through the provision of student-led clinics. Aim To investigate service users, students and educators’ experiences of the provision of student-led general and oral health checks to hard-to-reach patients. Methods A student-led clinic was set up based on an inter-professional approach by which dentistry and pharmacy students would deliver general and oral health checks. This clinic run at a variety of locations frequented by the target patient group across five dates within two months, when this study also took place. This investigated views and experiences through one-to-one interviews with service users and educators and focus groups with students. The discussions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and subject to thematic analysis. Results A total of 12 service users were interviewed as part of this study, alongside 4 pharmacy and 2 dentistry educators. A total of 5 pharmacy students and 7 dental students participated in 2 focus groups. All service users had positive views about the clinic and no negative feedback was shared. They appreciated supporting students in their learning and the fact that the clinic was free. Generally, students valued the fidelity of the experience and to be able to work on their own, with educators agreeing further provision of this type should be made available.

Parallel Session 1 STRAND B - B1 Valuing Undergraduate Research: The British Conference of Undergraduate Research 2019 and Posters in Parliament (Julian Ingle, Simon Jones, Rubie Targema-Takema, Amanda Bali, Kelly-Anne Platt, Adam Akhtar, Emily Johnson and Bradley Austin (student body))

This presentation will be given by some of the University of Portsmouth undergraduates who took part in the British Conference of Undergraduate Research 2019 (BCUR) and Posters in Parliament. BCUR is an annual two day, multidisciplinary academic conference which this year took place at the University of South Wales on 15-16 April 2019. Over 600 undergraduates from the UK and the rest of the world gathered together to give presentations, performances and posters that communicated an aspect of their research to an audience of their peers (http://www.bcur.org/). As part of BCUR, Posters in Parliament is an event that provides an opportunity for over 50 undergraduate students, representing universities from across the UK, to exhibit their research in Westminster. The exhibition is inspired by the US Posters on the Hill event, where students are sent by their universities to present their work to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The presenters will discuss their experience of the conference and Posters in Parliament and highlight its value to them individually, to undergraduates and to the University as a whole. This year, 19 students presented their research at BCUR 2019, including one alumni; and two students took part in Posters in Parliament.

Parallel Session 1 STRAND B - B2 There Are More Things in Heaven and Earth, but let’s look at how to write a good module specification. An opportunity to think afresh (Dr Jenny Walden)

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your"… *module specification...but nevertheless let's make it a good one" This half hour "Gimme" session**is simply an opportunity to rehearse again how to produce an effective module specification in response to the changed requirements for the Curriculum Framework 2019. Whilst most of us are familiar with the requirements, the need to indicate how modules address hallmarks and to take a different approach to the number of learning outcomes, together with further considerations of types of assessment artefacts, may have posed new questions. Here is a chance to explore these.

Parallel Session 1 STRAND C - C1 Learning Partnership Agreement (Stuart Sims, Amy Barlow, Susan Noble and students)

The aim of the workshop is to allow colleagues to experience a process of negotiating equal responsibilities in partnership with a student cohort. The Learning Partnership Agreement is an initiative developed by the Department for Curriculum and Quality Enhancement (DCQE) with the University of Portsmouth Students Union (UPSU) and BA (hons) Fashion and Textile Design. It is an on-going project working specifically with the BA (hons) Fashion and Textile Design Level 5 cohort. The project started through discussions between the course team and the ADS, Simon Brookes, on ways to address concerns with the level of engagement this particular group were displaying across the University. As a result, there have been several very productive planning meetings and two key student intervention events which have led to the drawing up of a draft Learning Partnership Agreement. There will be continuing reviews and actions as an outcome of these discussions and support from Wellbeing services. The key crucial and fundamental issue to arise so far is communication or more significantly mis-communication and interpretation (misinterpretation) of information. This workshop will draw specifically on the experience of BA (hons) Fashion and Textile Design, but will identify practices which can be applied to a broad range of context.

Parallel Session 2 STRAND A - A1 There is a Me in Teamwork: An Integrated Strategy for First-Year Design Curriculum (Roberto Braglia, Tarek Teba, James Thompson (CCI))

Across disciplines, collaborative skills are now ubiquitously considered requisite for future practice. Previous studies on academic teamwork have examined its various dimensions, including impacts on student performance, engagement, satisfaction, professional development, and identity development. In this ongoing year-long study at the the University of Portsmouth‘s School of Architecture, we consider teamwork as a thread woven through a first-year curriculum, traversing course modules and project types. The primary aim of the study is to evaluate the collective impact of teamwork activities on the incoming cohort of 200+ undergraduate students and how the structuring and coordination of such activities might improve student experience and overall academic achievement. From questionnaires and focus group sessions, participants articulated the benefits of collaboration for learning, socialization, and professional development. Given the chance to reflect on the multidimensional nature of teamwork, many students adopted a productively nuanced perspective. The sense of community achieved by well-designed teamwork activities is intended to increase levels of engagement and retention, as well as teaching and evaluative strategies for future first-year programming. The results of this study should be relevant to all educators seeking to improve the implementation and effectiveness of team-based learning.

Parallel Session 2 STRAND A - A2 Easy Options for Content Capture (Dr Stephen Webb, Shaun Searle (DCQE))

The staff-student consultation demonstrated that students appreciate the benefits of content capture for revision and for improving learning. You don't have to record an entire lecture series to realise these benefits. Some staff already make good use of various forms of existing content capture technology - in this session we look at 5 use cases.

Parallel Session 2 STRAND B - B1 Working with the Students Union: Taskforces and Data (Anna Clodfelter, Fiona Cook (UPSU))

The Students' Union has recently undergone a lot of changes to improve the way we listen to and act on the student voice. This session will be used to inform University staff about these changes, particularly around our new way of agile working and how this will develop our partnership with the University. We will share some of our successes and discuss with attendees how we can work together with the University to achieve our aim of having a positive impact with every University of Portsmouth student.

Parallel Session 2 STRAND B - B2 Experimenting with partnership-led, problem based learning (Carol Ekinsmyth (GEOG))

This interactive session will focus on an experiment I carried out this year within a Level 6 research-led module where the assignment was designed around a research/consultancy need of a local business (a theatre). Through a partnership between Lecturer, the theatre and the students, students were inducted into the issues facing the theatre and tasked to design a consultancy report that identified potential solutions. The resulting assignment was multi-faceted, requiring academic contextualisation and an understanding of theatre and its role in the urban creative economy, business, marketing and research methods. The work took place within a L6 Geography module entitled 'Creative Economy, People and Place'. Students received several presentations, tours and question and answer sessions with staff at the theatre. The theatre, in return, expected a report outlining students' findings and solutions. Students were able to define their own problems (and thus curricula) and research solutions based upon the brief. This session is designed to enable attendees to consider and discuss the issues raised with this kind of problem-based/research-led teaching/learning and think about best practice and practice-enhancement. As presenter, I hope to briefly outline the process, share my reflections on its successes and weaknesses and learn from the experience and ideas of others in the room. If available, a student who undertook the module will join us to give their perspectives. Student evaluations collected through a questionnaire will be considered. Staff/student partnership was central here as students helped construct the curriculum and had a great deal of scope with their assignments. A further partner was the theatre. Student success will be a key discussion point in the session. In what ways was this assignment better than a conventional one? What did students gain? These are the key questions of the session.

Parallel Session 2 STRAND C - C1 Community Psychology from the students perspective: participatory action research for curriculum development (Dr Jacqueline Priego, Dr Rachel Moss EDSOC)

The aim of this project is twofold. First, to determine, in dialogue with students pursuing combined honours with Psychology, the contents of ‘Psychology in the Community’, heeding the core competencies of Community Psychology (Serrano-García, Perez- Jiménez, & Rodríguez-Medina, 2017), local employability prospects and students’ interests. Second, to document and analyse the process of participatory curriculum development to inform best practice. In attaining this objective, the project will contribute to identifying the opportunities and challenges of including Community Psychology in undergraduate joint programmes. Drawing on critical and liberation approaches (Martín-Baró, 1996; Montero, 2011), the project will implement participatory action research for curriculum development. In terms of content, it will generate a syllabus for ‘Psychology in the Community’ that is relevant to students and promotes their active engagement with the curriculum. Process-wise, it will design and document participatory procedures to engage students in the discussion of Psychology for the Social Sciences, an underexplored topic in the scholarship of learning and teaching.

Parallel Session 2 STRAND C - C2 “Do we have a deal?” – Negotiate teaching and learning objectives (Ronel Beukman – (SoC))

The session will share practice: Value and effectiveness of negotiating a contract with students regarding the teaching and learning they will experience in a taught unit. It will also focus on the importance of facilitating and engaging students throughout the process, from contract to midpoint review to the final reflection.

Lightning Talks Session 1- Global Engagement

Jo Taylor/Dr. Marina Harris - Dental Academy - Global Study Buddies

In some courses, the opportunities for international exchange are limited due to professional registration requirements and curriculum constraints. The future of Erasmus funding is uncertain and in addition; some students may face barriers in engaging with international travel, due to personal circumstances, caring responsibilities or financial issues. In an attempt to address inequalities and to offer an accessible international experience inclusive and open to all, a new project “Global Study Buddies” will be developed and piloted at the University of Portsmouth Dental Academy. This initiative supports the University of Portsmouth Education, Global Engagement and University Strategies. It will offer undergraduates an International Experience without leaving the campus. It develops the hallmarks of a Portsmouth Graduate and will be recognised on the Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR)

Daniel Brown (DSES), Tom Langston (DCQE) - Using Podcasts to Support Student Learning of Sport & Exercise Psychology

Student engagement represents an ongoing challenge in higher education and is thought to impact significantly on student non-continuation rates. The purpose of this project was to offer a supplementary method of educational delivery in an attempt to stimulate greater engagement. A podcast series was created and trialled with second year sport and exercise science students, with interim student feedback informing the topics discussed and guests interviewed. The project was evaluated via a focus group discussion and brief survey responses. This presentation will discuss the results from the trial and offer lessons learnt.

Dr Marta Roldo PHBM, Dr Carina Johansson Jankaping University - Virtual exchanges for widening mobility opportunities

Globalisation requires open-minded graduates with good collaborative skills, these are only few of the employability characteristics that a student mobility programme can help enhance. With the uncertainty surrounding Erasmus exchanges and the need to make mobilities accessible to a wider range of students, we need to look at new types of exchanges. In this context the University of Portsmouth is partnering with Jönköping University to explore the value of virtual exchanges in enhancing inter professional learning in healthcare. This presentation will introduce the idea of virtual exchange and provide an update on the progress of our present collaborative project.

Rhiannon Thompson SLAL, Judith Martin BAL - “Because reading changes everything”; the why, what and how of the International Students Book Club

This session will briefly discuss the role that the International Students’ Book Club at the University of Portsmouth plays in promoting reading for pleasure and storytelling for empowerment, self-knowledge, well being, an understanding of other cultures, building community and for the achievement of learning and language goals. It will draw on reading for pleasure research and provide attendees with ideas for embedding both reading for pleasure and storying in their professional practice. Attendees will be encouraged to share their own ideas and experiences.

Parallel Session 3 STRAND A - A1 Using Immersive Virtual Reality to Enhance Learning and Teaching: Experiences and Applications (Alessandro Siani, Martina Navarro, Chad Witcher (SCI))

Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) has been increasingly recognised as a powerful pedagogical tool to promote engagement and enhance learning across a variety of disciplines and learners. Through IVR, situations that are extremely hard to reproduce in a classroom using traditional delivery methods (i.e., lecture), or difficult to access due to physical disabilities or geographical constraints (e.g., international field trips), can be vividly portrayed and experienced. This workshop has the following objectives: 1. Introduce and provide an overview of IVR. 2. Present examples of how IVR has been used to enhance teaching and learning. 3. Describe a recent partnership between members of Biological Sciences and Sport and Exercise Science in which IVR was used to enhance pedagogical practice and learning. 4. Showcase IVR by providing delegates an opportunity to experience and interact with the scenarios developed over the course of our funded-project. Anyone interested in implementing IVR in their teaching practice and experiencing it first-hand, or staff who may have their own experiences to share regarding this technology, are encouraged to attend.

Parallel Session 3 STRAND B - B1 Planning, developing and delivering CPD/Short Courses for external audiences (Lisa Rhodes (RIS), Dr Lucy Akehurst (SCI))

Universities are increasingly focusing efforts on the development and growth of CPD as a means to increase and diversify income streams, enhance interactions with businesses and public sector organisations, support economic development and respond to regional, national and international skills gaps. Recognised benefits of delivering CPD are: • The generation of additional external income which contributes towards the annual HE-BCI and, in turn, the University’s HEIF income; • Links with industry that can generate research and impact, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), consultancy and inform curriculum development; • Build academics’ profiles both internally and externally; • Supporting outreach in the community; • Supporting academic career enhancement; • Brand building through referrals onto other courses.

More and more students are joining the university from diverse educational backgrounds.In planning our short courses, inclusive practice is a model which takes into account the different styles, backgrounds and needs of an external, non-traditional learners eg. balancing studying whilst working or coming back to training and development after a long period of time. The session will share resources and tools that include how to offer a diverse range of learning, assessment and feedback activities for diverse learners.

Parallel Session 4 STRAND A - A1 A host of unexpected experiences: the role of academics in supporting student mobility (Dr Claire Reid, Abigail Nobes (SLAL))

The University’s Global engagement strategy is committed to increasing student mobility and the Student Exchange Task and Finish Group recently published a report making recommendations on how to best meet those objectives. The Study Abroad and Exchange Team at the Global Office offers outstanding support to students who choose to study and work abroad, and there is also excellent support at Faculty level for those who choose to do internships abroad. However, we, as academics also need to be actively involved in the process of preparing and monitoring students for their outward mobility, as well as ensuring that their experience is valued on their return. At the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics, all students on language programmes must complete a year abroad as part of their course; this means that we have extensive experience of preparing students for their third year abroad, monitoring and assisting them during their mobility, and helping them utilise the skills gained abroad when they return to Portsmouth . It is however important to remember that a placement abroad is not only for languages students. Therefore it is essential that we make all students aware of the opportunities that are available abroad, particularly in this day and age, where we live in such a multi-cultural world, we need to create students that view the world as their oyster and are not limited by geographical barriers . I intend to present this workshop alongside Abi Nobes, a final year Applied Languages student who is an Erasmus ambassador and has published a book about her year abroad. In preparation for this workshop, Abi and I will work with focus groups of students who have previously worked or studied abroad. We will speak with students from several faculties, to gather information on what they feel they have gained both academically and personally, and how academic staff helped or could have helped them achieve the most of their period abroad. There is plenty of research and statistics showing the benefits of outward mobilities, yet the best resource to demonstrate the impact of a year abroad is to hear directly from students about their experience and how it has contributed to their personal and academic development. During this workshop, we will present the findings of the focus groups and Abi will talk about her own experience and what she has learnt from her year abroad. There will be opportunities for discussion on the contribution academics across all Faculties can make to promote outward mobilities, prepare students and capitalise on their experience.

Parallel Session 4 STRAND B - B1 Pre-Sessional English: Transitioning to Success (James Bullock, Nina Remmelgas)

This hands-on, interactive workshop will explore some of the linguistic and cultural challenges faced by pre-sessional English students as they transition onto their degree programmes. We will discuss the role of the pre-sessional in preparing students for theses challenges and equipping them for success on their degree programmes.

WEDNESDAY 12 JUNE

Abstracts for speakers

Lightning Talks Session 2- Inclusive Practice

Sarah Barber, Martyn Stahl - Dental Academy & DCQE Enhancing Learning through Technological Note Making Solutions – a student’s perspective

As the technological revolution continues to spread throughout the education sector, teachers in higher education, are obliged to provide opportunities for our students to embrace the digital era and utilise technology to enhance their experience and maximise their learning potential. In previous years, electronic note-takers, specifically Sonocent ©, have been recommended by ASDAC to students within the university requiring additional support and to those who have disabilities. The possibility of offering this software to all students is now a reality, reinforcing our inclusive approach to to our student experience. Offering software that can enable all students to engage proactively with note taking using technological applications encourages an equitable learning environment and promotes a culture that celebrates equality and diversity while supporting our students to reach their full potential.

Dr Melita Lazell, George King (SASHPL) - The Making of the Model United Nations

The student-led UoP Model United Nations (MUN), now in its second year (with three events so far), is an educational simulation and conference. This flagship Politics and International Relations AEP one-day event is a student-staff partnership and is designed and organised each year by a student committee, with staff playing a supportive role. Students get to use and develop organisational, communication, public speaking, negotiation and conflict-resolution skills in a safe and engaging environment. Students can choose to partner with their more experienced peers who play a mentoring role, building the confidence of both. As well a building confidence, the event is a way for students to meet each other, work together and create a community across UG and PG levels. The skills that students have the opportunity to practise, along with the confidence and community building effects of the MUN, increase student’s engagement with their International Relations and Politics courses and increase student employability beyond university. We have developed the event over the course of the two years to encourage first year and female students to participate. Whilst, introducing the ‘partnering’ this year has increased the number of first years participating, we are still working on increasing female participation and are considering how best to increase the diversity of the students who participate in future events.

Denise Meyer (DCQE) - Speak UP Step UP

Students generally are perceived as more anxious and stressed than they used to be, and ever increasing numbers of students are declaring mental health conditions. Teaching staff can correspondingly feel under increasing pressure to understand these conditions and adapt their teaching practices to accommodate to them. The Universities UK #Stepchange framework (2017) sets out a vision for taking a whole-institution approach to addressing the challenges of student mental health. Key planks in this framework are prevention and early intervention, with a focus on supporting transition – including promotion of an ‘inclusive and compassionate culture’ and providing ‘learning and tools for self-care and positive mental health’. This workshop offers teaching staff an opportunity to address these aspects of the Stepchange recommendations and consider practical adaptations to their own teaching practice. The workshop is not about making every teacher an expert on mental health conditions, but instead introduces a simple model for understanding emotion regulation and its relevance to successful learning, offering opportunities to apply the model as a useful foundation for building skills for resilience into the curriculum.

Sukh Hamilton (EDSOC) - Beyond Stop Gaps: Creating a community of support for students and staff who have experienced bereavement.

This talk presents a current study that is working with students and staff and which seeks to explore participants’ lived experience of grief and support following bereavement. The study consists of three core elements: a 10 day online diary; a focus group exploring the current processes of bereavement support at the university; and a co-creation focus group which will used to design the framework for the workshops. It is hoped that participants and researchers working together can create a series of workshops, which will meet the needs of bereaved students and staff at the University of Portsmouth.

Parallel Session 5 STRAND A - A1 Inclusive practice – leadership, education and development within University of Portsmouth (Andrew Stewart, Bradley Austin (BAL)

This presentation will describe how and why how this final year optional unit for undergraduates has developed in 4 years from an initial intake of 20 students to 90 for the year 2019- 20. This presentation will include photographs and the awarded certificates from the Practical Leadership Tasks held each year in Ravelin Park which are supervised by military personnel who are themselves students of this University. First hand current feedback will then be given by a student. Student success and satisfaction can be illustrated by overall student satisfaction from their Unit Evaluation Report was rated for the year 2017 - 18 as 5.7 out of 6.

Parallel Session 5 STRAND A - A2 How to create more accessible course content (Dr Stephen Webb (DCQE))

Accessible content makes it easier for all students to read and make use of course materials, and it can help improve overall quality and usability. This session explores five low-effort adjustments that an author can make to start creating more accessible content. (Attendees who have an internet-connected device will be able to follow some links used in the session, but a device is not compulsory.)

Parallel Session 5 STRAND B - B1 Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL): A departure from traditional lectures (Claire Rhodes, Jemma Tyson, Claudia Cox (ICJS))

This session will outline the development of the TEAL project undertaken within the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth. The project focuses on two large L4 modules involving over 400 students, combining the flipped classroom approach with the development of interactive digital resources delivered through small seminar classes; resulting in the removal of lectures from the student’s programme of learning. The session will explore the project in more detail; including staff and student reflections on their experiences and the barriers encountered when transforming the curriculum on a large scale. The future direction of the project and how it can facilitate a community approach to learning in HE across both campus and online students will be explored. This session therefore fits within the theme of 'Student/Staff partnership' as the flipped classroom approach requires participation from both parties in order to be effective.

Parallel Session 5 STRAND B - B2 Inclusive Feedback Practices for Apprentices (Annabelle Harrison)

Parallel Session 5 STRAND C - C1 The Value of HEA Fellowship (Dr Harriet Dunbar-Morris, Dean of Learning & Teaching, Nick Skeet Advance HE)

Our Education Strategy sets out our commitment to develop, deliver and enhance pedagogic practice and innovation through engaged and passionate staff who are recognised and rewarded for their achievement and creativity. This includes enabling staff who teach or otherwise facilitate student learning to engage in an effective and inspiring professional development programme that supports excellence and innovation in the leadership, management and delivery of education. We also want the staff who teach or support student learning to achieve formal recognition for their teaching skills, notably through meeting the descriptors in the UK Professional Standards Framework underpinning high-quality teaching, scholarship and research. HEA Fellowship demonstrates a personal and institutional commitment to professionalism in learning and teaching in higher education. Across four categories, from Associate to Principal, Fellowship provides individuals with recognition of their practice, impact and leadership of teaching and learning. These four categories reflect the wide range of professional practice carried out by individuals who teach and/or support learning in higher education; from those who have a partial role in teaching/supporting learning through to senior professionals with strategic impact on teaching and learning in an organisational, national and/or international setting. In this workshop we will highlight the value of HEA Fellowship for a range of university staff drawing on case studies of Fellows. We will present the Fellowship Category Tool to help staff consider their current practice and to use the self-analysis tool to inform which category of Fellowship is most appropriate for them. This is relevant to the conference theme as good teaching and good teachers and supporters of student learning, undertaking inclusive practice, support student learning and thereby enable student success.

Parallel Session 6 STRAND B - B1 A Recipe for TEF Success (Neil Weston, Jason Oakley, Karen Musk (SCI))

The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) is now established within Higher Education, providing an opportunity for us to work with our students to continue to improve the student experience. The pilot Subject TEF emphasised the need to understand, not just the high level metrics, but also the split level metrics, so we can provide a high quality experience for all our students. This workshop will explain what we know about the way that the TEF is currently calculated, the importance of coherent strategies and will explore the split metrics which include: Year; Age; Participation of Local Areas (POLAR); National Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD); Ethnicity; Disabled students; Sex. Using anonymised data, the workshop will allow the participants to work in small groups to explore the split metrics, identify trends and consider strategies that are, or could be, put in place to improve areas of weakness and secure areas of strength. The session will end with time to discuss the outcomes of these discussions.

Parallel Session 6 STRAND C - C1 Blending for inclusivity: top tips on using simple, free classroom technology to enhance teaching and learning (Andy Taggart DCQE, Aron Truss BAL, Charles Barker BAL)

Building on institutional findings from the JISC Digital Insights survey, this session will demonstrate the pedagogic underpinnings of using a blended approach to enhancing classroom activities, with a view to engaging hard-to-reach learners (touching on the concept of gamification in the context of engaging with specific widening participation student groups). The benefits of utilising specific blended learning tools in a classroom context, in order to better enable teaching staff to establish whether and how learning has taken place during their sessions, will also be explored.

Parallel Session 6 STRAND C - C2 Using VLE’s, formative assessment feedback and self-regulated learning to influence student engagement: Tackling the wide distribution of student ability and motivation (Adam Cox, Pavlin Shipkov (ECFIN))

Our project investigates an approach to addressing a widening of the distribution of student ability and willingness to engage with Higher Education Economics courses. The widening distribution issue is overviewed in the context of a mixed-ability principles unit (Level 4 core microeconomics unit) and particular attention is given to combating disengagement from participating in learning activities of both the highest and the lowest ability students. Our work is underpinned by the seven principles of good feedback practice identified by Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick (2006) and focuses on developing three key elements to add to the student experience for those on an undergraduate Economics course – 1) a blended learning environment that encourages participation; 2) capacity for staff to identify students’ ability and willingness to engage early on as well as capacity for students’ to effectively reflect on their learning and self-regulate; and 3) timely interventions for students at the top and bottom of the distribution which promote engagement. A combination of Virtual Learning Environments and in-class activities are used to assess both initial student ability and willingness to engage as well as to give and receive frequent feedback on what strategies are most effective in maintaining engagement. Realised results in the unit are observed once students complete their first year of undergraduate studies and the link between attainment and engagement is investigated. The initial expectations are that a higher level of engagement will correlate positively with attainment and thus promote student success (while acknowledging the potential impact of external and pre-existing factors).

Parallel Session 7 STRAND A - A1 Using Action Learning Sets to Promote Well being (Dr Jane Creaton, Dr Rachel Moss, PGR Students)

Portsmouth Action Learning Sets (PALS) are a new initiative developed as part of the Office for Students funded postgraduate researcher (PGR) Wellbeing Project aimed at promoting PGR wellbeing, social support and student success. The PALS framework was co-constructed through a participatory action research approach with a small group of PGRs that formed part of the project steering group. This workshop will introduce the nature and purpose of the PALS, before engaging participants in the process of selecting topics to be included in a future Vitae Researcher Development Framework mental health and wellbeing lens. Thereafter, members of the PALS pilot group will demonstrate key aspects of a PAL in action with audience participation. The presenters will then take the audience through the online resources that have been developed to support PALS. The workshop will conclude with a discussion of how participatory action research and action learning could be used in other contexts.

Parallel Session 7 STRAND B - B1 Emotion Regulation for Learning – a model for supporting student well being (Denise Meyer)

Parallel Session 7 STRAND C - C1 Bullet Journaling for Beginners and the Curious (Timothy Collinson, Emily White (Library)

Bullet Journalling is a quick and easy journalling method which can help manage workloads, lifestyle and can contribute to physical and mental wellbeing with habit trackers and reflection opportunities. It can be used by staff directly, or by staff directing students to better time management, goal setting, habit tracking and reflective practice.

Parallel Session 7 STRAND C - C2 Monitoring Attendance (a year on) – its impact on student well being and attainment (Dr Giles Tewkesbury)

Attendance information is currently collected by an electronic card reading system. The trial data shows that there is a correlation between the practice of monitoring attendance and an increase in performance of students with the potential to perform well. However, the study could not find any correlation between the introduction of attendance monitoring and increase in student progression/retention for the engineering students involved in the study. To reduce withdrawal rates and increase progression requires staff/student partnership, inclusive practice and an understanding of the mental health and wellbeing issues facing a large number of our students. Personal tutors and course leaders are often unable to detect issues early enough in the academic year to be able to put appropriate support in place to allow students to succeed in that current academic year. However, Parents, carers and sponsors can have valuable insight into a student’s history and attendance patterns and are likely to spot issues at an earlier stage than academics can. The proposal presented here is to trial the voluntary sharing of student attendance and coursework submission data with students’ parents, sponsors or carers and to provide a point of contact for them to raise concerns. It is anticipated that this work will lead to increased student success through better attendance and timely support leading to higher progression and lower withdrawal rates.