Learning Circles

What is a Learning Circle?

The WIE Learning Circles enable Members and Fellows of WIE to meet regularly to learn from each other, and others, about a self-identified topic and in a format the group has decided upon and which fit in with the WIE Strategy. Learning Circles are flexible, peer-directed learning experiences whose learning can lead to collaborative action, but does not always have to.

Aims:

To engage Members and Fellows in the life and mission of WIE
To spotlight good practice and ideas through practitioner sharing and case studies
To generate new resources
To create space for shared learning and discussion around Public Engagement related topics through guest speaker visits, journal clubs, etc.

We'll contact all our members regularly with information about Learning Circle events and activities coming up they can get involved with.

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Our Current Learning Circles

The purpose of each of our Learning Circles is set by the Fellows who make up it's Steering Group. You can read more about them below.

Co-production and Communities

Steering Group:

Helen Wheatley, Negar Riazifar, Eric Holub, Martin Price, Ninna Makrinov, Paul Barlow, Zhiqiong Chen, Sophie Staniszewska, Gemma Wright (Mat Leave).

Purpose

In the ‘Co-Production and Communities' Learning Circle we seek to understand, innovate, mentor, co-fund, showcase, and promote various forms of collaborative, co-produced, and co-designed work. We support Warwick colleagues working with off-campus and ‘community’ partners of all kinds, whether they are small/new community groups or more established organisations or businesses, or from the arts and heritage industries, local government, or education sectors. Fellows of this Learning Circle hail from research, teaching, postgraduate, outreach and academic services backgrounds across the university as well as Regional Fellows drawn from the communities around the University; the projects they engage in are accordingly diverse in nature. Read more below to find out more about what we have achieved since our inception, and what we are aiming to do in future. If you wish to contact us for advice or support, or with suggestions and enquiries, then please email Helen Wheatley.

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Evaluation

Steering Group:

Mark Scott, Vishalakshi Roy, Kerry Dobbins

This Steering Group is currently recruiting additional members. If you are a WIE Fellow and you'd like to find out more please contact us at .

Purpose:

This Learning Circle focuses on the development of strategies for the robust and useful evaluation of Public Engagement activities and projects. It will in turn produce recommendations, support, and contribute to training (e.g. a moodle course) and templates to aid effective evaluation and assessment of public engagement projects by Warwick Staff.

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Inclusive Engagement

Steering Group:

Lils Dobber and Shahnaz Akhter

This Steering Group is currently recruiting additional members. If you are a WIE Fellow and you'd like to find out more please contact us at

Purpose:

The Inclusive Engagement Learning Circle is considering ways in which Warwick Engagement activities can be more inclusive, in line with the University’s Inclusion Strategy. We have previously developed an Inclusive Engagement Statement for WIE which highlights our commitment to embedding inclusive practice into every event that we run. Currently we are developing a toolkit and repository of resources for all members of the Warwick community to use as a starting point and reflection tool to ensure that the events they develop are as inclusive as possible.

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International Engagement

Steering Group

Shirley Sturzaker

This Steering Group is currently recruiting additional members. If you are a WIE Fellow and you'd like to find out more please contact us at

Purpose

This Learning Circle has focused on shared learnings from our international partners on how they deliver inclusive engagement, and how this works in their locations. We prepared a report and presentation with case studies (completed by Learning Circle members) to showcase best practise examples of how this worked in different locations, what partners they work with, how they fund their projects, and how we can learn from them or share our own learnings. We invited guest speakers to our meetings, and our future plans are to expand on this, and deliver a series of talks and events to share this information and strengthen our international partnerships to develop the scope of our projects. We would like to work more closely with the international engagement team and understand more about their remit to ensure we are aligned to their strategic objectives.

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Public and Community Engagement Pedagogies

Steering Group

Jonathan Heron, Laura Gelhaus, Rachel Turner-King, Bo Kelestyn, Alex Baker and Naomi Kay.

Purpose

We are committed to developing recommendations and guidance as well as sharing experiences and good practices in the field of the Pedagogy of Public and Community Engagement across departments at Warwick. We value the integration of public engagement in both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PGT) curricula to encourage students to apply their knowledge beyond the classroom, alongside PGR development activities.

Our activities focus on supporting colleagues interested in developing teaching materials, creating new or revised modules, and initiating teaching approaches that incorporate public and community engagement. We are also interested in the (inter)disciplinary nature of some of the work on public engagement pedagogies and reflect on the overlaps that may exist between different areas

This is a joint Learning Circle run in collaboration with Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA)

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Promotion and Reward

Steering Group:

Jane Bryan and Nicholas Jackson

This Steering Group is currently recruiting additional members. If you are a WIE Fellow and you'd like to find out more please contact us at

Purpose:

This Learning Circle seeks to support the reward, recognition and promotion of staff for their PE to ensure the value of this work, and those who undertake this work, is recognised institutionally and beyond. Each year, the Learning Circle works with their close partner in WIHEA, the Teaching Reward and Recognition Learning Circle, to deliver university-wide Academic Staff Promotion workshops which include stories from staff who have recently been promoted and a Q&A session with the Promotion team. The Circle also offers mentors to support those applying for promotion. In addition, each year the Learning Circle decides on a focus for additional strategic work to enhance the institutional reward and recognition of PE and impact, outreach and engagement (IOE) activity.

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Skills of Engagement

Steering Group:

Anthony Avery, Saskia Bakker, Raquel Nunes, Evelin Sanderson-Nichols, Helena Verrill

Purpose:

The Skills of Engagement Learning Circle is focused on raising the standard of engagement practice both within the University of Warwick and with external partners. By providing facilities, peer-to-peer training, and opportunities to share expertise, the circle aims to empower individuals to engage with content in a meaningful and sustainable way, building long-term capacity rather than short-term activity.

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Suggest a new Learning Circle

If you're a Fellow and you've got an idea for a new Learning Circle you can suggest it using the link below. You will need at least 5 Fellows to form a Steering Group to run the Learning Circle (although we're happy to help you with recruitment for this). By default each Learning Circle runs from when it's approved until the end of the following academic year, however there is scope for groups to continue if they have ideas they want to continue.

Suggest a Learning Circle