Education Excellence: Term 2 update on strategic projects

This academic year we are continuing to progress a range of key projects as we work to deliver Education Excellence, part of UCL’s Strategic Plan 2022-27. These priorities have been shaped by you as colleagues and what students have told us matters to them, through their feedback and involvement in staff-student partnership projects.

Improving feedback and assessment

Updates so far this year include: 

• Launching a feedback tracker in Moodle, where students can see the status of their Moodle assessment submissions and feedback, including turnaround times, on a single page. A similar feedback tracker for staff is currently being developed to support the marking process. 

• These tracker developments are part of the Feedback and Assessment Programme, which also includes other work strands on areas such as updated data on assessment patterns, assessment load, additional guidance on academic integrity for staff and students, and a review of current and potential assessment platforms. 

• Running and evaluating the Delayed Assessment Scheme, which entitles taught students to access up to three Delayed Assessment Permits (DAPs) each academic year. These grant a guaranteed pre-determined mitigation for certain eligible assessments and reduce the staff time previously spent on considering extenuation requests. Read more in this update from Education Services. 

• Making Student Statement of Reasonable Adjustments (SoRA) and extenuating circumstances accessible within Moodle – to make sure students fully benefit from the assessment mitigations they are entitled to. 

• Continuing the Beyond the SoRA programme, which, in collaboration with colleagues across UCL, seeks to find new technical solutions, create new policies and establish new processes around reasonable adjustments. The ongoing review aims to make reasonable adjustments more inclusive and accessible for students, enabling them to fulfil their academic potential. 

• Sharing resources on Generative AI (GenAI) to help students understand GenAI in an educational context. 

We are also continuing to develop Peer Dialogue, to help teaching staff to identify and share best practice, support fellow colleagues, reflect on experience and gather evidence about the quality of their own teaching. The Higher Education Development and Support Institute (HEDS) has created a rich resource to advise teaching staff on how to conduct and report on Peer Dialogue, as well as to answer frequently asked questions and share useful resources, including the Constructive Conversations to Improve Teaching Toolkit.

Upgrading digital platforms to support your teaching and students’ learning experience

Changes we are working on include: 

• Developing the new and more accessible Beta version of the Online Timetable. We are collecting student feedback to inform updates for the live version. 

• Preparing for Panopto, the new lecture capture platform planned to launch for the 2025/26 academic year. The switch aims to improve staff and student experiences of interacting with captured content (including greater digital accessibility), reduce staff workloads with fewer manual tasks, and enable better coverage across teaching spaces. 

You can read more about new developments from ISD’s Digital portfolio teams.

Progressing the Programme Excellence Project

PEP1: Portfolio Review has now been completed, with final submissions taking place in January 2025, and approval by the new Programme Amendment & Review Committee confirmed in February. 

PEP2: Curriculum Review launched in January 2025. This process is providing programme leaders, departments and faculties with the opportunity to review and amend curricula, testing their alignment with UCL’s new Curriculum Principles, which will support practical implementation of UCL’s Statement of Excellence in Education and Student Experience. Part A of PEP2 will conclude in March 2025, and Part B, comprising the curriculum review proper, will launch in April 2025. Find more information and resources on the PEP SharePoint site (UCL login required).

Running Extended Learning Opportunities in Term 3

With thanks to all colleagues involved, we recently opened bookings for ExtendED Learning. This programme aims to help students push their thinking, grow their networks and develop their skills through hands-on opportunities in Term 3. 

This collaboration between UCL and Students’ Union UCL gives undergraduate and taught postgraduate students the chance, whatever subject they study, to step outside of assessments or dissertation planning and try something new. Students can book now for activities including one-off workshops, conferences, in-depth consultancy challenges and innovation labs.

Working in partnership with students

We are continuing to collaborate with the Students’ Union across areas of work relating to education and the student experience, including: 

• Next steps for our shared Student Life Strategy – creating accessible, inclusive and impactful opportunities for thousands more students to take part in sport, the arts and volunteering. See this update to read more and hear from Ana Boikova, Activities and Engagement Officer at Students' Union UCL. 

• Student Partnership Committees – as part of our ongoing commitment at UCL to increase the importance of the student voice in education, we have re-launched Student Partnership Committees (SPCs), previously known as Staff Student Consultative Committees. The new SPCs all report into a central Student Partnership Committee made up of senior UCL staff members, Academic Reps, and representatives from the Students’ Union. This approach encourages even stronger partnership between departments and your student representatives. 

In 2025 we are also celebrating 10 years of our ChangeMakers programme, through which students and staff work in partnership on projects to enhance the learning experience at UCL. You can look out for co-created activities coming up and explore case studies across various themes.

Professor Kathy Armour, Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) says: “I am really pleased with the positive progress we are collectively making across priority areas for education and student life. We are continuing to work with colleagues across UCL, the Students’ Union and students themselves to expand on this good work and plan further improvements as we look ahead to Term 3.” 

Shaban Chaudhury, Education Officer for Students’ Union UCL, says: “I am thrilled with the progress we've made in partnership to enhance education and the student experience. This academic year, we’ve achieved significant advancements across a range of initiatives, all thanks to your invaluable feedback, contributions, and the active involvement of Academic Reps in our collaborative projects with UCL staff. Together, we’ve made meaningful strides, and we look forward to building on these successes and continuing our momentum into Term 3.”