Welcome to the July update for the LDC Blog.
We use the blog to announce events and development opportunities that we run; to inform staff of initiatives, projects and changes, and to celebrate the successes of staff from across City University London. Bookmark this page and keep a look out for updates in the first week of each month.
In the blog this month:
Report from the 4th Annual Learning at City Conference – Wednesday 13th June 2012
The fourth Learning at City Conference took place on Wednesday 13th June 2012 with the topical theme of Assessment and Feedback. The day started with a student panel providing their positive and negative experiences of assessment and feedback and sharing some suggestions. There was then throughout the day a range of parallel sessions provided by staff and one provided by the Student Union focused on sharing developments and innovations in practice across the University.
Dr Pam Parker, Acting Director of the Learning Development Centre, said “this annual conference provides a good opportunity for staff to share good practice and there is always a sense of support, interest and enthusiaism”.
Professor Graham Gibbs gave a thought provoking key note just prior to lunch which was followed up in a plenary session at the end of the day by Patrick Baughan and Neal Sumner, Senior Lecturers in the Learning Development Centre. The day ended with the learning and teaching prize awards presented by the Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Curran. Prizes were awarded for Recognition of Excellence within Schools and by the students through the Student Voice awards. Additionally, certificates were given to those who have been undertaking learning development projects this year.
Winners were chosen for the Student Voice Awards from over 200 nominations, and one award for each School and the Professional Services were awarded, and in addition there were four Special Commendations awarded to others from any School or Department. The winners were as follows –
Professional Services –
Thalia Anagnostopoulou, Student Development and Outreach Team
School of Informatics –
Charles Watson, Department of Computer Science
School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences –
Cengiz Turkoglu, Senior Lecturer in Air Transport Engineering
City Law School –
Catherine Elliott
School of Arts –
Dr Christopher Wiley, Department of Music
School of Social Sciences–
Neil James Wilson, Department of International Politics
Cass Business School –
Dr Dirk Nitzsche, Faculty of Finance
School of Health Sciences –
Dr Rachael-Anne Knight, Division of Language and Communication Science
Special Commendations –
Professor Chris Atkin – School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics
Dr Olalla Castro-Alvaredo – School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Centre for Mathematical Science
Dave Goodfellow – School of Arts, Department of Journalism and Publishing
Charles O’Connor – Cass Business School, Undergraduate Programme
Many congratulations to the winners and to all nominees.
Additionally, this year the student panel, keynote, academic discussion and a selection of the sessions were recorded and are available to view on the LDC conference catch up website. A lively discussion on Twitter followed the conference; follow us here @CityLDC.
http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/ldc/events/learning-at-city/learning@citycatchup
https://twitter.com/#!/CityLDC
Following the Learning @City Conference we are having a special edition of the learning @City Journal around the topic of assessment and feedback. If you have any developments or research around this topic you would like to publish in this edition for October then follow the link for guidance on submission http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/ldc/resources .
To be included in the October edition and to allow for review please submit your article to Pam Parker via e-mail P.M.Parker@city.ac.uk by Friday 17th August 2012
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Report from the 2nd Annual Research Symposium – Tuesday 26th June 2012
On Tuesday 26th June the LDC held the last in this year’s series of research events, the 2nd Annual Research Symposium. This one day event saw over thirty PhD students representing every School at City University London presenting their research to their peers and colleagues. Over eighty people attended on the day and four prizes were awarded for outstanding presentations. Laurentiu Marian (SEMS) won the prize for best poster, while Luke Saunders (SHS) and Sham Rane (SEMS) won prizes for the best talks in their respective rooms. Robert Stocker (SHS) was awarded best presentation overall. The day was a wonderful celebration of the diverse and innovative research undertaken by PhD students at City and a great way to conclude the LDC’s annual research programme. We are in the final stages of compiling our research programme for next year, so keep an eye on the blog for further information.
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LDC’s Neal Sumner presents at two International Conferences
During the last month Neal Sumner, Senior Lecturer in Educational Development with the LDC, gave presentations at two international conferences.
EDEN Conference 6th – 9th June Porto
The European Distance and E Learning Network (EDEN) took as its theme this year ’Open Learning Generations: Closing the gap from Generation ” Y” to the Mature Lifelong Learners.’ This has always been a great conference for keeping up with the latest European -wide developments in E Learning and it attracts a global audience. As usual I presented a paper at the conference, this time a piece co-authored with Laurence Solkin, entitled ‘Generation Y – Myth or Reality? Reflections on Technology, Pedagogy and Academic Identity.’ This paper to some extent challenged the premise on which the conference was based, namely that there is a Generation Y defined by its technology use, and that their distinctive use produces a gap between lecturers and learners. Drawing on theory and evidence drawn from our Technology Enabled Academic Practice module on our MA in Academic Practice, the paper argued that social media and Web 2.0 tools are often used effectively in an educational context by our staff.
The professional community followed the webcasts of the keynote sessions, the referenced links by the keynotes at the Conference blog (over 1300 visitors in 3 days) and shared experiences via Twitter (over 1400 tweets on the conference topic), Facebook (with 473 members of the Group), and Linkedin. A Scoop.it rolling issue collected the links, presentations, shared content of the conference with circa 1000 visitors online.
The impact of the European wide recession on funding for technology innovation in education was a major theme in many of the conversations which enlivened the conference proceedings. However there is a growing sense that the transformative promise and potential of educational technology is not yet realised, something presaged in the title of a recent conference held in Oxford: Losing Momentum.
Vitae/ARMA event
ARMA (Association of Research Administrators)
Working in partnership: supporting and developing researchers: 20th June 2012
This one day event held in Birmingham brought together research managers, administrators and developers to identify new ways of working collaboratively to achieve excellence in research. It was the first such venture between Vitae and Arma and aimed to harness the skills of both communities to promote researcher development. Based on an Open Space technique (details of how great ideathis works available on request) for deciding on the day’s agenda the event consisted of a series of themed workshops on aspects of research administration and development.
Opportunities for inter-institutional collaboration were identified and discussed and the challenges of supporting researchers at all stages of the process were aired. All present agreed that this was an important inaugural meeting of these two organisations and that future meetings would help to develop concrete proposals for research support and development.
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Academic Practice Programme
So far this year we have awarded 20 qualifications, including three staff members who graduated with MA Distinctions. This programme is free of charge to City University staff and you can study whichever part of the Programme suits you, from individual modules to the full 3 year MA Programme.
Applications for the academic year 2012-13 are currently being considered, and you can download the form from our website. The deadline for applications is the 9th September 2012.
You can find out more information and ask any questions, by contacting us at MAAP@city.ac.uk, or you can view the website for more details.
Additionally, you are welcome to attend the MAAP Induction and Open Evening, Wednesday 5th September 2012, 4:00pm-6:00pm. Please contact us for further details of this.
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Dates for your Diary
MAAP Induction and Open Evening – Wednesday 5th September 2012
MAAP Application deadline – Sunday 9th September 2012