News

The Oculus, the University's new building dedicated to teaching, has been officially opened by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, who visited the campus on 30 March and unveiled a plaque in the building. During the event, HRH had a conversation with some of our team members and fellows.

This competition provides an opportunity to work in a role with Warwick's Institutes for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL) and Advanced Study (IAS) to develop interdisciplinary pedagogy (examples include, but are not limited to: open-space learning, the digital, medical or environmental humanities, education for sustainability and eco-pedagogy, undergraduate research).

Application deadline extended to: 12:00 noon, Monday 27 March 2017

Warwick has been honoured for developing the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) by the Institute of International Education (IIE) at the 2017 Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education.

Established through the award-winning Monash-Warwick Alliance, the ICUR - which receives an Honourable Mention in the ‘International Partnerships’ category - brings undergraduate researchers together from seven countries for online research panels and presentations.

Using the latest in video conferencing technology, ICUR draws students together from universities across the world to participate in a single international forum with close to 100 separate sessions conducted over 48 hours. Follow our link for more information.

The Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence (WATE) celebrate inspirational teaching and outstanding support of learning at Warwick. Students and staff from across the University nominate individuals who have excelled in enhancing and transforming the student learning experience. Some have recevied further recognition through the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme. Warwick is very privaleged to have been awarded three National Teaching Fellowships this year, the maximum any one institution can win. Warwick is the only institution this year to have achieved this. WIHEA would like to congratulate this years winners, comemedees and national teaching fellows, many of whom are WIHEA Fellows. Congratulations to:

WATE winners:

• Lorenzo Frigerio, Life Sciences (WIHEA Fellow)
• Yvette Hutchison, Theatre & Performance Studies
• Camilla MacLean, Warwick Business School
• Kate Mawson, Centre for Professional Education (WIHEA Foundation Fellow)
• Michael Scott, Classics & Ancient History (WIHEA Foundation Fellow)

WATE Commedees:

• Gay Fagan, Warwick Medical School
• Mark Johnson, Warwick Business School
• Nick Phillips, Warwick Manufacturing Group
• Mark Storey, English and Comparative Literary Studies
• Elke Thonnes, Statistics (WIHEA Foundation Fellow)

National Teaching Fellows:

• Peter Corvi, Warwick Business School (WIHEA Foundation Fellow)
• Rachel Dickinson, Warwick Business School (WIHEA Fellow)
• Margaret Low, Warwick Manufacturing Group

For more information on the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence please follow this link.

Warwick has won funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Catalyst Fund for a project to explore how students act as co-producers of learning, and how they might work beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries in Engineering, Economics and Politics.

Dr Georgia Kremmyda and Dr Volkan Degirmenci have been awarded the total value of £99,490, for the project which will take 18 months to complete. It will work with project partners Professor Gwen Van der Velden (Warwick International Higher Education Academy), Dr Nicholas Monk (Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning) and Professor Colin Eddie (UnPS Ltd).

Learn more about the project and humanitarian engineering at Warwick.

WIHEA & IATL were delighted to welcome Dr Chris Thompson, Associate Dean (Education) in Science & Senior Lecturer at Monash University who joined colleagues here at Warwick for a week under the Monash Warwick Alliance Visiting Educator Scheme.

Dr Jonathan Heron, IATL, co-ordinated the visit which took place at the start of the Spring Term (16 to 20 January 2017), with Prof Peter Sadler and Dr Isolda Romero-Canelon, Chemistry, to further develop the collaborative work with Monash which has enabled students to learn beyond the traditional boundaries of the arts and science.

Dr Chris Thompson is an education focused academic with an active research portfolio in education publications in chemistry and science pedagogy, and supervision of five PhD students in the field. As one of two Monash based leaders of the 'Performing Chemistry' project 2012-16, Chris has been involved in the design and implementation of the project since the begining, this visit enabled further exploration of the use of digital technology to make the practce sustainable.

Chris delivered a number of presentations within the Chemistry Department on innovation teaching and about sharing practices more widely through Unit Enhancement, Lecture Access and the roll-out of Peer Partnerships.

Also during his visit, Chris shared his insights and expertise with WIHEA Fellows and Staff from across the Univeristy during two interactive Masterclasses, where he facilitated discussions to explore the future of traditonal lectures and supported staff interested in pedagogical reserach.

More information on the topics covered in Chris's Masterclasses are below:

Is there a Future for the Lecture? An interactive workshop for Warwick staff around the theme of lectures, debating whether the 'lecture' is ready to be abolished or whether we are looking at a paradigm shift for the role of expert lectures. Presentation slides and video to follow shortly.

Getting Started in Pedagogical Research; this workshop was specifically for staff who were new to the field of pedagogical research. Presentation slides and and video to follow shortly.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Performing Chemistry Project or Dr Chris Thompson's visit please contact Dr Jonathan Heron, IATL by email: Jonathan.Heron@warwick.ac.uk

For more information on Dr Chris Thompson, please follow this link.

WIHEA seeks to recognise, develop and embed outstanding academic practices that enhance student opportunities to ‘learn beyond boundaries’. Cross boundary learning, key to a Warwick education, enables students to challenge knowledge and engage with the world critically both during and beyond their studies.

WIHEA currently has three strands of funding:

• Learning & Teaching Project Funding: to enable collaborative partnerships between staff and students to directly improve the learning experience
• Peer Consultancy; aimed at embedding outstanding academic practices across the institution
• International Visiting Schemes; to develop and embed internationally recognised outstanding practice, whilst at the same time providing students the opportunity to challenge and engage in an international context

To ensure activities funded through WIHEA align closely to Warwick’s strategic, policy and emerging institutional considerations, we expect our WIHEA Fellows to take on the project/visit leadership and consultancy roles. However, colleagues from across the university are welcome to join or initiate bidding with a WIHEA Fellow. To help you find a WIHEA Fellow please refer to our list of WIHEA Fellows on our website.

The Autumn Funding Call for Projects and Consultancy has now closed, outcomes will be communicated shortly after 27 January 2017. Further funding for Projects and Consultancy may be available and we remain open for applications for our visiting schemes. For further information on each of the strands, please visit the links provided above. If you have any questions, please email WIHEA@warwick.ac.uk

Prof Ray Land, Director of The Centre for Academic Practice, Durham University visited Warwick on 29 November 2016 to present to Fellows and staff from across the university. Prof Land provided an outline of the thresholds approach followed by an exploration of its implications for curriculum design and academic practice both in a research-led context and in an environment where, with the TEF looming, issues of learning gain and student satisfaction with their learning experience are increasingly prevalent. A recording of the presentation will be available here shortly, but further information on the theory is also available at: http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/thresholds.html 

After a hive of sharing and networking activity at the recent WIHEA project funding event, staff and students now display the outcomes and learning from their projects through a selection of posters.

During 2015/16, WIHEA awarded 18 project teams with funding through the Student Engagement Programme to enable staff and student project teams to develop collaborative partnership models across departments, to optimise the student experience and enhance learning outcomes. The funding covered staff and student time to plan; deliver and evaluate a range of assessment & feedback, research linked teaching and technology enhanced practice (Digichamps) projects.

The event that took place on 16 November 2016 in the Chancellors Suite, enabled those involved to share the learning amongst other project teams and with the wider University. Following a welcome by Prof Chris Hughes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education), the display of project posters provided an opportunity to meet and learn more, creating a buzz of information sharing over a buffet lunch. An electronic version of the posters remain available to view from the 18 project links on our Project web page along with contact details of the Project Leads, should you wish to find out further information.

Details of our next learning and teaching project funding call will be made available very soon.

The Fellows of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy take on institutional or Faculty roles that help embed good practice in learning and teaching across the university. This can take many forms. Fellows (staff and students) can bid for specific projects that become available throughout the year (with given themes) that aim to embed agreed practice, or review and redesign existing practices. Fellows may also represent the academic ‘teaching’ voice at Warwick by taking part in the formal governance of the University of Warwick, for instance by joining committees, sub committees and working groups and also have the opportunity to inform our strategic and practical thinking on learning and teaching at Warwick, as and when new challenges or ambitions arise. Fellows are able to develop expertise in areas of interest to them and seek to develop influence within the institution to enhance practice and policy.

Further to the completion of the Autumn 2016 selection process for this year's new Fellows, we are delighted to welcome 22 new Fellows. For further information on the role of our Fellows, please visit our Fellows web page and the full list of our current WIHEA Fellows is available here.