Edinburgh Napier University Review of Enhancement Theme Developing and Supporting the Curriculum Multimedia element: Edinburgh Napier University: End of the DSC Theme Review Edinburgh Napier University: Background During the years since the launch of the Developing and Supporting the Curriculum (DSC) enhancement theme, Edinburgh Napier has recognized and celebrated some important landmarks, most notably the appointment of Professor Andrea Nolan, OBE who joined the University in 2013 as Principal and Vice-Chancellor. 2014 marks the University s 50 th year of learning since its establishment in 1964 as Napier Technical College. Our student population is of particular relevance to the DSC theme and to one of the key questions Who are our students and for whom is the curriculum designed?. Edinburgh Napier University answers that it currently has a total of 17,835 students of whom 14,818 are undergraduate, and 3,017 are postgraduate with both categories split between students studying on campus and those studying at a distance in the UK and internationally. Features of our present student population that are of particular interest to our work for this theme: 31% are international students and 1,271 joined Edinburgh Napier directly from one of Scotland s colleges. The vibrant diversity of our student population is distributed across nine schools located in three faculties: Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Creative Industries (FECCI), Faculty of Health Life and Social Sciences (FHLSS) and the Business School. The DSC Enhancement theme institutional team, chaired initially by the Director of Academic Strategy and Practice and latterly by the Head of Academic Practice, has been responsible for promoting, shaping and enabling staff and student engagement with the theme across the faculties. Each of the Faculties along with Student and Academic Services, Information and Research Services and Academic Professional Development were represented by senior staff and other academic and professional service colleagues. Students were represented on the team by strong contributions from one of two Vice Presidents of the Napier Students Association. The Edinburgh Napier approach to the theme Phase 1 In the first scoping phase of the theme colleagues from Edinburgh Napier authored the QAA DSC briefing paper Curriculum: directions, decisions and debate (Fotheringham, Strickland and Aitchison, 2012) which was disseminated by the QAA Enhancement team. We wrote for a broad institutional audience in order to stimulate local discussions about some of the key issues which could then become the focus of institutional initiatives and local engagement with the theme. The authorship of the paper ensured that our institutional team made an early contribution to sectoral discussions about the scope and focus of the enhancement theme. Given the wealth of possibilities for what legitimately could be included in our local agenda to enhance curriculum development and support, the institutional team were concerned to ensure that work undertaken in previous themes should be taken forward and
developed as part of the current theme rather than being put to one side to make way for the latest enhancement agenda. The various representations of curriculum presented in the briefing paper (curriculum-asvehicle, and the analysis of factors affecting curriculum) allowed us quickly to establish that the scheduled portfolio review would provide an excellent starting point for establishing an overview of our current position in relation to curriculum, and identifying our priorities for the years ahead. The review opened important conversations with staff, employers and students about ways in which our future academic portfolio would be capable of meeting the needs of students, employers, the economy and society. Concurrently with these portfolio discussions, Edinburgh Napier hosted one of the Regional Roadshows (funded by DSC) which provided the first opportunity for the institutional team to engage with a broad constituency of colleagues amongst our own staff and in regional academic communities. The degree of consensus amongst the HEI community at this event reassured us that our plans and local initiatives could be usefully shared with others in the sector, with the DSC theme serving as a real catalyst for action at Edinburgh Napier. As we began to think about how to take forward approaches to developing and supporting the curriculum, it emerged that although portfolio review is a valuable strategic management tool and a potential vehicle for enhancement, we required a more fine-grained analysis than an institutional portfolio review could offer. The case studies produced in both Phase 1 and 2 provided such an analysis as well as an opportunity to open discussions with staff and to listen to students about their experience of developing and engaging with curriculum innovations. Phase 2 We framed our programme of work for phase 2 in the form of a spider diagram (Appendix 1) which represented key strands of institutional work that was either underway or being initiated, and that were being given momentum and coherence through our engagement with the DSC enhancement theme. Members of the institutional team reported that they found this graphic representation to be a useful tool for communicating to the staff in School and Support Services area the ways in which the various strands of institutional activity were being given coherence and impact under the auspices of the DSC theme. The diagram has proved to be useful during Academic Induction as a way of introducing new academic staff to the ongoing academic agenda and to the work of the DSC enhancement theme institutional team. Representation and contribution from across all three the Faculties at the QAA International Enhancement Themes conference in June 2013 enabled us to share with the sector some of the initiatives being implemented in line with this academic agenda. Some participants were supported to attend through DSC funding. The academic agenda for Phase 2 identifies six key strategic drivers and associated strands of activity which were making a direct contribution to the way in which Edinburgh Napier took the theme forward and have shaped our learning over the three years of the theme. The strands were: Graduate Employability, Digital Engagement Strategy, Flexibility in Curriculum Design and Delivery, External Policy Drivers, Listening to Students and Enhancing the Programme Focus. Each strand of activity was associated with strategic initiatives (listed below) elements of which were funded with DSC and associated project funding. Listening to Students A University wide internal student satisfaction survey was piloted in 2012/13. The questionnaire provides more detailed and actionable feedback at both programme and modular level on students experience of the curriculum. A shared partnership agreement with the Napier Students Association (NSA) is strengthening the ways in which we work with students and enabling students to make further contribution to the shape and quality of their learning
experience. A range of NSA and other student-led projects have been enabled through DSC funding. Graduate Employability there has been ongoing engagement with employers and Professional Standards and Regulatory Bodies (PSRB). Attendance at conferences in this regard has been enabled with DSC funding. Digital Engagement strategy in 2012, The Digital Futures university wide consultation was established to explore the use of current and emerging technologies in supporting the student and staff experience at Edinburgh Napier University. This work has informed, and has been informed by our focus upon how is the curriculum, in its broadest sense, shaped and delivered?. As we take the Digital Futures recommendations forward for implementation, there will be a particular focus on responses that have emerged from the consultations to the key question What support is required for Staff?. The Digital Futures Working Group comprised representatives from all three Faculties, Professional Services and the NSA. The group also included two external critical friends who added a range of valuable perspectives from across the HE sector. Papers about the consultation process and findings from the Digital Futures Working Group are already under development and conference presentations planned to share the work of this group. DSC funding has been used to develop multi-media resources (videos and podcasts) to enhance online learning. External Policy Drivers Faculties continue to develop and support new and existing articulation routes onto degree programmes locally and internationally. Participation at college partner events has been enabled by DSC funding. Internal meetings, attendance and presentation at conferences and networking amongst colleagues in schools, universities and colleges are supporting activities to ensure that our admissions processes and curriculum enhancement activities are well aligned with the Curriculum for Excellence. Staff have been funded to attend the QAA Enhancement theme workshops in this area and an internal Faculty miniconference is being planned for September 2014 as an opportunity to share our learning from these events and to inform staff of developments in the sector. Flexibility in Curriculum Design and Delivery this work has been supported by the Review of the Quality framework which recognizes that changes in the ways in which our curriculum is shaped and delivered will be enabled and supported by a responsive and robust regulatory framework. Staff in the Office of the Vice Principal are engaging with the Good Practice resource (QAA Enhancement Theme: Flexible Curricula) and the Good Assessment and Feedback resource during PG Cert Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (TLHE) workshops. Plans are underway to work with programme teams as Schools respond to institutional strategic drive towards viewing the programme as the basis of students engagement with curriculum and the enhancement of that experience. Enhancing the Programme Focus we discuss this strand of activity under the Phase 3 section which follows. Phase 3 Enhancing the Programme Focus Our work in relation to the Enhancing Programme focus strand of activity has seen a great deal of activity during Phase 3 of the theme. Two elements of activity have worked in parallel, one Working Group drawing up Programme Design Guidelines (for Programme Leaders) and the other Group progressing a draft template for a Programme Handbook which includes an Assessment Mapping schedule. These activities have synergies with other ongoing areas of progress in relation to the enhancement of learning and teaching, in particular the development of guidelines for induction activities, the revision of the module descriptor template and the development of the Quality Framework.
Sharing our learning from internal colleagues and across the sector The institutional team have noted the challenges of capturing and representing curriculum development and support activities from across the University in order to share our learning from internal colleagues and from across the sector. The Learning Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Resource Bank serves as a useful aggregator of good practice, and staff have been encouraged to produce and upload their own case studies of curriculum innovation and support (beyond those submitted in fulfilment of our DSC Programme of Work) in order to share their examples. A reminder of the relevance of the resource as a mechanism for sharing our learning will be highlighted at the Staff Conference in June 2014. Further enhancement to the search facility and to labelling of case studies is intended to add value to this resource. In the last year of the theme, enabled by activities in the preceding two years, we have placed particular emphasis on how we are working with our students to develop and shape the curriculum, how we are preparing for those who will have experienced Curriculum for Excellence, how we ensure the curriculum prepares our students to be global citizens and how research and research skills inform and infuse our taught programmes. The development of Edinburgh Napier University Academic Strategy 2014 2020 together with its associated LTA strategy, Research and Knowledge Exchange strategy and the Student Experience strategy, is currently taking centre stage as a driver for institutional activity in relation to the enhancement of learning and teaching. We see the academic agenda which was represented by the different strands of activity as a catalyst for the emerging LTA strategy which is currently being consulted upon across the University. Looking to the future Looking to the future, we will continually improve our activities to develop and support the curriculum, stretching our performance and encouraging best practice. As we start to plan the next enhancement theme, Student Transitions, our student community will remain at the heart of everything we do. Our new academic strategy aims to make Edinburgh Napier a home for an unrivalled student learning experience. We will achieve this by keeping and reenforcing our current focus on how our students learn and grow, by ensuring all of our teaching and assessment is student-focused and engaging and by continuing to develop a vibrant, challenging, applied and liberatory curriculum. Fotheringham, J., Strickland, K. & Aitchison, K (2012) Curriculum: Directions, Decisions and Debate. Available online at http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/docs/publications/curriculum-directionsdecisions-and-debate.pdf?sfvrsn=12 [last accessed 06/06/14].
Appendix 1