From 1 February 2017, the Learning & Teaching Centre will be streamlined into staff-facing and student-facing teams, and reborn as the Learning Enhancement & Academic Development Service (LEADS).
The new structure and new name are the result of work over the last few months to identify how the University can best support, enhance and develop excellent teaching, learning and assessment practices across the institution.
New support teams and resources
The reconfigured service will include a single merged team to support academic development and learning technology. They will work with staff on all aspects of curriculum design and educational development for face to face, blended and fully online delivery.
- LEADS will develop a greater online presence, including a growing collection of ‘good practice’ resources, and there will be additional resource to support:
- students’ mathematical, statistical and writing development
the development of high-quality learning materials, including media production
more CPD workshops and seminars
“An important step”
The new structure came out of discussions with Professor Frank Coton, Vice Principal (Academic & Educational Innovation), the Deans for Learning and Teaching, the University’s Senior Management Group, Council of Senate and others.
Professor Coton said: “The formation of LEADS comes at an important time for the University. We have been reshaping career progression for staff on the Teaching, Learning and Scholarship track, expanding our online provision, building new classroom environments and making increased use of technology in the classroom. We are also moving forward with the construction of the new Learning and Teaching Hub.
“It is against this background that the new service will play a pivotal role in underpinning our evolving teaching environment, by integrating approaches to technology-enhanced and more traditional learning and teaching.
“In addition, LEADS will extend provision for student writing, mathematics, statistics and study skills, and will provide more seamless support for curriculum and assessment design, classroom and online teaching and student learning. The service is also expanding CPD opportunities in teaching, giving all academic staff a chance to gain new insight into ways of delivering teaching to enhance student learning. This is an important step in ensuring the future health of learning and teaching at the University.”
Transition period
There will be a gradual transition into the new Service, as activites planned for this academic year run through. The 2017/18 programme of activities will be launched towards the end of this semester.