Welcome to the LDC Newsletter for February 2013.
Included this month:
- Spring Research Development Day – Tuesday 16th April
- Learning At City Conference – Call for Abstracts open
- Educational Vignettes Relaunched
- Digital Researcher Workshop – Wednesday 27th February
- Preparing PhD students for teaching duties
- Dates for your Diary
Spring Research Development Day – Tuesday 16th April
RESEARCHERS’ DEVELOPMENT DAY
What to do with your data and findings
16th April 2013 – From 10.00am
The annual Researcher Development Programme has been designed in response to your feedback.
The programme aims to meet your needs at different stages in your research career. The programme has also been designed so that you will have the opportunity to interact with other research students across the university, with early career researchers who have completed their research degrees and with academic staff who are at the forefront of their disciplines.
The Sessions will offer you information and expert advice on the following:
- Preparing abstracts and presenting papers and posters at conferences.
- Networking
- Qualitative and quantitative data analysis
- How to get published in journals
- Managing a research team and project
- Viva’s – Preparation needed, the purpose and roles of those involved.
- The research – teaching relationship
The event also provides an open forum for you to share interests and explore research issues with other researchers and academic staff.
For more information visit:
www.city.ac.uk/about/education/ldc/events
Future events: Researchers’ Symposium – 26th June 2013
Learning At City Conference – Call for Proposal
On Thursday 6th June, City University hosts its fifth annual Learning at City Conference and Exhibition, with the theme of Innovation and Creativity in Higher Education.
The Learning Development Centre (LDC) is proud to announce the call for proposals for posters, exhibitions and papers /workshops.
The call is open to all academics, lecturers, Professional Services staff and research students who wish to share their practice, innovation and research that addresses this year’s theme.
This is an opportunity to share with others good practice and to explore interdisciplinary practices and transferability to different disciplines.
You will find information on the Learning at City Conference and Exhibition and on the process for submitting a proposal below.
Please submit your proposal using the eForm, by Tuesday 2nd April 2013.
Proposals are invited for posters, exhibitions and papers/workshops which relate to the overall theme: Innovation and Creativity in Higher Education.
The following sub-themes might help you focus your proposal but are not exhaustive:
• Innovation and creativity in curriculum design
• Being creative in assessment design
• Innovative approaches to giving feedback
• Creative teaching and learning
• An innovative and creative learning experience.
Discussion papers/workshops (these sessions are 50 minutes)
If you are providing a discussion paper you should plan to share your paper for no more than 25 minutes and then have 25 minutes for questions and discussions. You should have some questions prepared for discussion in case participants do not ask any.
If you are providing a workshop then try to keep your overview to 15 minutes and then have 30 minutes of activity including feedback and sharing. Please allow five minutes for questions at the end.
Exhibition (these sessions are 50 minutes)
If you are providing an exhibition you should plan to provide an overview of your activities/developments but ensure there is time for participants to ask questions and where possible gain some “hands on” experience.
Posters (the maximum size is A1)
Posters will be available for participants to view throughout the conference. However there will be two 15 minute slots in the timetable for you to present and discuss your poster with conference attendees. After the conference we will place photographs of the posters on the LDC website.
Submitting your proposal
Proposals should be submitted electronically using the proposal eForm, by Tuesday 2nd April 2013.
Criteria for acceptance of proposals
Each proposal will be reviewed for acceptance to the conference against the following criteria:
• Relevance to conference theme and sub-theme(s)
• Clarity and coherence of the proposal
• Evidence of relevance to others across the University
• Contribution to development, enhancement and scholarship related to the theme.
Feedback and Guidance
Once the proposals have been peer reviewed feedback will be sent to applicants and those who are accepted will receive further information on the presentation the week beginning Monday 22nd April 2013.
Educational Vignettes Relaunched
The Educational Vignettes has been relaunched. The LDC is proud to be working with so many of you to make the Educational Vignettes Blog a hub for education matters at City University London and beyond.
“The Educational Vignettes Blogs appeared to be a popular and well-maintained means of sharing good practice”
(QAA Institutional Review of City University London, 2013: p 21)
The Educational Vignettes is a success because of our authors and readers. With the new blog design and the fact that we are now hosted on City Blogs, we hope that the success of Educational Vignettes will continue.
The LDC is here to support City University London staff in becoming blog authors. We look forward to staff contacting us to contribute to Educational Vignettes. Just drop us a line at ldc@city.ac.uk and we will give you authorship rights.
If you are interested in setting up your own blog or using blogs with your students please look at the LSE’s 7 uses for blogs in Higher Education for some practical ideas about how to use blogs in Higher Education.
Digital Researcher Workshop – Wednesday 27th February
This introductory workshop aims to engage you with the uses of social media in supporting your research.
Date: Wednesday 27th February 2013
Time: 10:00am
Duration: 2 hours
Locations: The MILL at Goswell Place (See map)
The LDC in collaboration with Lawbore will be leading this workshop to support you in developing your digital researcher identity. Your facilitators for the day will be Neal Sumner, Emily Allbon and Ajmal Sultany.
This hands on session will give you the opportunity to learn more about the use of Twitter and blogging for your research; how to make use of social bookmarking and referencing tools to work more effectively; and the best practices for interacting in social networks such as Academia and Linkedin.
The workshop will provide an introduction and hands on support in using a range of digital tools to support the research process, and provides an opportunity to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of developing a digital presence for your research.
Bring your own device
We would like to request that you bring your own preferred digital device to the session, which can include (though is not limited to) smart phone, tablet, or laptop.
Register
Register your attendance by filling out the short registration form. You will be contacted with a confirmation and further details.
Suggestions
If there are particular aspects or questions you would like to cover in the workshop then please send them to our twitter account at @CityLDC. Alternatively, you can contact Ajmal at ajmal@city.ac.uk
Limited Spaces
Please note that places will be limited to 20, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
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Preparing PhD students for teaching duties
On Tuesday 29th January the Learning Development Centre provided a three hour seminar for over 20 PhD Students from the School of Informatics to help prepare them for teaching duties they are expected to undertake this term. The session covered planning and running tutorials, classroom management, dealing with disruptive behaviour, formative and summative feedback, feed forward, varieties of learning style and assessments.
The session was very well received and many students expressed a wish for longer sessions. Among the comments made by participants were the following:
by far, the best workshop (most useful) I attended so far
this tutorial was very useful and I managed to gain some important techniques for teaching
Dates for your Diary
Digital Researchers Workshop – Wednesday 27th February 2013
Teaching Excellence Workshop – Monday 4th March 2013
Learning at City Conference Proposal deadline – Tuesday 2nd April 2013
Spring Researchers’ Development Day – Tuesday 16th April 2013
Learning at City Conference – Thursday 6th June 2013
Research Symposium – Wednesday 26th June 2013