Contribute to event supporting others who teach and support learning at UCL

How do we support and develop individuals not on ‘traditional’ teaching contacts?

UCL’s Education Priorities paper explores questions about the ongoing support and development opportunities provided to teaching staff and will be the topic of an event hosted by UCL Arena Centre in March 2023. 

Identifying and supporting 'others who teach' 

These ‘others who teach’ include Teaching Assistants, Post-Graduates with teaching responsibilities, adjunct, associate and junior lecturers, guests and outside speakers.

Often, these individuals are often not as rigorously considered in formal training, despite clearly benefitting from a more direct ‘steer’ – perhaps to navigate the institution, the sector, the role or their career.

These staff may be early on their HE journey, or coming with less tacit knowledge about the practice of contemporary HE teaching and learning. Whilst some might be expected to fly solo and learn ‘on the job’, others have the benefit of being supported by colleagues in their departments.  

Bringing your UCL experiences to light 

Across UCL there are a great many individuals involved in such teaching support and development work – Module Leaders, Programme Directors, Professional Services teams and Educational Leaders - putting in place innovative practices and processes to help foster growth in the teaching staff with whom they work.  

It is these stories that we would like to bring to light, and we invite contributions along the lines of the topics listed out below - encouraging participants to focus in on one key element/story/learning point from their own practice that they think is particularly useful or that others could learn from and implement.

That is a deep dive rather than a broad sweep. We encourage submissions to be open and honestly reflective – discussing as much about successes and quick wins as complexities and challenges. 

Preparing for teaching

• What in-house ‘training’ opportunities are provided?
• How are new starters onboarded?
• What sort of feedback is provided to teaching staff throughout their time? 

Preparing for marking

• What tips and tricks do you have for increasing marking consistency amongst your staff?
• How are principles of good feedback understood, circulated and embedded?

Further support and development

• Outside of the cycle of modular teaching, what ‘extra’ support is provided for Teaching Staff?
• How are systems of tacit knowledge sharing utilised?

Process management and organisation

• Have changes been made to the efficiency and effectiveness of systems in place?
• How have amendments allowed for smoother relationships?

Wellbeing and pastoral care

How can we best prepare our teaching staff for supporting and caring for students outside of formal teaching environments? 

Performance management

In the case of any issues arising, what methods or practices have been developed to fairly and effectively manage the performance or conduct of certain staff? 

If you would like to submit a contribution and speak at the event, please email Neil Sutherland and Alex Standen by Friday 10 February, 4pm, with a title, and three key bullet points covering the key learning points and takeaways (max. 200 words). 

Presentations will be 15 minutes, plus discussion time.