- Who is this programme for?
- What is the programme seeking to achieve?
- What does the programme involve?
- What prior experience and responsibilities must I have to enrol?
- Is this programme a requirement for probation or promotion?
- What support would I get whilst doing the programme?
- How do I go about applying?
- Timetable for 2013/14
This in-service programme supports and accredits the academic development of staff who teach at Lancaster. It is designed for a range of staff who teach and support student learning, including:
- lecturers and teaching fellows who are new to HE teaching and/or to Lancaster
- lecturers with considerable experience who are wishing to develop aspects of their teaching and curriculum, part-time teaching staff
- some research associates and postgraduates who have substantial teaching duties and prior professional accreditation
What is the programme seeking to achieve?
The programme fosters a dynamic, cross-disciplinary community of practitioners to share ideas and develop a discourse about academic practice. The programme helps you to situate yourself as an individual academic and teacher within the frames and concerns of your department, your discipline, Lancaster University and the wider academic context, to support the development of your professional aspirations and achievements. It seeks to enhance the students' learning experience and your confidence and skills as an HE teacher by working on your practical teaching skills, developing evaluation techniques, using peer review and observation of teaching, and by investigating teaching and learning resources. Integrating knowledge and understanding of pedagogical principles and values with your practical know-how is considered essential. This is developed on this programme by critically engaging with educational and subject-specific literature and research, having dialogues with peers and tutors, and writing critically and reflectively about your practice. The assessment is designed to emerge from your own work as a teacher and academic, and much of the experiential learning and reflection takes place 'on-the-job' in your department.
What does the programme involve?
The taught programme is divided into two linked modules, Developing Higher Education Practice (DHEP) and Curriculum Design and Development (CDD), both @ 30 level 7 credits. Participants successfully completing the programme are awarded a 60 credit Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, and gain Fellowship status with the Higher Education Academy and a Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) award in Learning, Teaching and Assessing.CAP Module 1 - ‘Developing Higher Education Practice’ (DHEP) - is for lecturing staff and teaching fellows with less than three years experience. The course will consist of a 3-day intensive in late September, followed by 90 minute fortnightly seminars during Michaelmas and Lent Terms, with submission of the assessment in early April 2013. Participants would then be able to undertake CAP 2 (see below) starting January 2014.
The taught sessions will consider small group teaching, lecturing, (working in labs), designing and evaluating assessment methods, marking and giving feedback to students, observing peers’ teaching, collecting and reviewing feedback from students, and exploring students’ and teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching. It will involve participants drawing upon literature and other sources, sharing practices and issues with peers, input from senior Lancaster colleagues, and reflections on prior and current experience. The assessment activities involve drawing upon current department-based teaching, peer observation and collecting of student feedback, and critically reviewing one’s own teaching and students’ learning.
Contact time = 30 hours
Staff and teaching fellows with 3 or more years (fte) experience may be eligible to take a new shortened version of CAP 1 (subject to an application process) . This is a ‘fast-track’ route to enable suitably experienced staff to undertake CAP 2 only (see below), and is not available as a stand-alone course. It is possible to complete the Certificate within one year by submitting the assessment for CAP 1 in January 2013, or could be completed over two years by undertaking CAP 2 in the following January.
This route comprises one day and 4 small-group meetings in Michaelmas Term 2012. The assessment will involve conducting a critical review of one’s own teaching and students’ learning drawing upon evidence from current and prior experience of teaching and professional development, peer observation, and student feedback and attainment.
Contact time = 11 hours
CAP Module 2 - Curriculum Design and Development (CDD) - is for lecturing staff and teaching fellows who have undertaken CAP 1 or CAP 1 fast-track. The module comprises an intensive course over 2 days before Lent Term in January 2013, followed by 4 x 90 minute sessions during Lent finishing with a 2-day intensive before Summer Term 2013.
This course explores key principles and good practice in module and programme design and delivery, and focuses upon participants’ own modules in their departmental and disciplinary context. The module considers good course design practice, drawing on research and literature, and examines the requirements for the approval of new modules and programmes at Lancaster, alongside other external and stakeholder influences. It also involves approaches to the review and evaluation of modules, drawing on a range of data such as student feedback, student attainment, external examiner reports, disciplinary requirements etc. The assessment for this module centres around the participant undertaking either a new module proposal or a close analysis and evaluation of an existing module – this will be submitted early in the Summer Term 2013.
Contact time = 30 hours
What prior experience and responsibilities must I have to enrol?
You may not have had much prior teaching experience. However, you will need to have the full range of teaching and related responsibilities commensurate with an academic contract during 2011-12, normally including a minimum of 150 hours teaching and teaching-related activities (i.e. not 150 hours of contact) per academic year (pro-rata for part-time staff) . You need to have responsibility for choosing and using a range of teaching methods with student groups on different modules, using a variety of assessment approaches, and undertaking administration of teaching and research related activities. It is assumed that you will have some degree of responsibility for the development of the curriculum within at least one module.
Is this programme a requirement for probation or promotion?
Many universities have now made an accredited teaching qualification a requirement for recruitment or probation. The current institutional policy at Lancaster is that academic staff with less than three years experience should undergo professional development in teaching, either through CAP or an appropriate equivalent. Most departments have now made the programme a requirement for completing the probationary period. Lancaster University has also made the Certificate in Academic Practice (CAP) part of the means by which academic staff can demonstrate appropriate levels of achievement in teaching to address the criteria for probation and promotion. The costs of the programme are met centrally - there is no charge for staff or departments.
What support would I get whilst doing the programme?
There are a number of support mechanisms:
- the CAP tutor team, who support your work through sessions, e-mail and tutorials
- your CAP peers with whom you will meet regularly to share ideas and discuss practice and emerging issues
- a subject mentor in your own department, who observes you teach, meets to discuss your teaching, and helps with the development of ideas and materials in your subject
- departmental colleagues who have responsibility for the courses on which you teach
- the CAP virtual learning environment, which is a source for discussion topics and materials
- the CAP Resources area for browsing relevant literature and providing a networked working space
- the Development Programmes Coordinator who administers the CAP programme and provides front line contact
You need to first agree with your Head of Department that you will apply for a place, in order to establish a workload allocation for undertaking the programme and an agreement that you have sufficient and appropriate teaching duties. You need also to discuss the allocation of a teaching mentor, who may be a CAP graduate in your department. You can then complete the 2013-14 application form which will be available in June 2013. Early expressions of interest can be addressed to:
Sarah Harris
Tel: 01524 5-10616
Email:OED
Timetable for 2013/14 - full timetable to follow in June 2013
Key dates for induction workshops are:
- Early Career: Tuesday 24th, Wednesday 25th and Friday 27th Sept.
- Experienced route: 1-day during w/c 30th Sept.
Last updated: 25.03.2013 (SA)