Postgraduate Teacher Digital Hub
Project Context
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This project was about the creation of a unique community of practice space for postgraduates who teach, for the sharing of pedagogy and practice, mentorship and a resource for teaching in the digital era
- Graduate Teaching Assistants occupy the liminal space between ‘staff’ and ‘student’ and as such, opportunities for development are limited to specific programmes (PTHE, APP PGR) which although successful in the short term do not enable long term membership of a community of practice which might sustain them through their teaching work
- In order to encourage long-term ongoing community of practice and provide more teaching resources, the project created the PGR Digital Hub
Project Aims
- Created an online hub with links to resources and support, particularly in relation to teaching in the digital age
- Developed of a small team of PGR teaching champions in digital pedagogies and mentorship/educational leadership
- Established an ongoing community of practice for PGR teachers
- Developed teaching, development materials and case studies in relation to pedagogy (particularly technology-enhanced learning) across the disciplines, created by the PGR teaching community, enhanced by their own work
The Project Team
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| Project Co-lead |
Project Co-lead |
PGR Teacher Champions
Pierre Botcherby (History), Liz Bishop (Engineering), Josh Patel (History), Sahar Shah (Law), Kate Lewis (Life Sciences), Matteo Mazzamurro (Computer Science), Joy Oti (Law), Matthew Harwood (Life Sciences)
Collaborators
Jim Judges (Academic Technology)
Project Impact
- Given the ongoing recruitment of several hundred PGR teachers per annum at Warwick, this project provided a space for these early careers researchers to connect specifically about their teaching on an ongoing basis
- The initial WIHEA funds allowed the project to establish itself and offered an initial resource and point of connection, but the legacy will be how this community of practice and digital space can go on to support PGR teachers in the future
- The project provided the desired initial architecture for the Warwick Postgraduate Teaching Community. This includes: a central web space for access to materials, news and information; an active Twitter account; a Moodle space resource repository; a buddy system to connect PGR teachers; a revised TfLO course for PGRs (with a pilot cohort); a call for papers for a PGR teacher journal and finally a survey of PGRs about the experience of teaching at Warwick
- Key Statistics:
- At least 200 PG Students reached directly
- 7 papers already peer reviewed through the established PGR Journal
- 150+ participants in the Moodle Course created to prepare PGR teachers
- 3 different networks established to disseminate the materials and maintain engagement
“It has helped me keep up to date with the pedagogic literature and teaching practices, learned a lot about others' teaching practice and the range of support that other PGRs would like to see.”
- PGR Student involved in the project
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