The LALT Brief January 2025

This publication features some of LALT's staff development and student engagement initiatives, shares best practice and celebrates teaching, learning and evaluation news from across the institution.

Advance HE - In Partnership newsletter

Members Showcase - LALT

In December 2024 the University of Lincoln was featured in the Member Showcase in Advance HE In Partnership newsletter. The publication was sent out to all members of Advance HE and it was great to shine a light on the University of Lincoln and the work of LALT on building belonging.

"I was pleased to be given the opportunity to highlight some of the good practice led by LALT and emphasise the importance of working collegiately and collaboratively. LALT is dedicated to promoting a sense of belonging through partnership initiatives and facilitate learning together at the University of Lincoln." Kate Strudwick, Dean of Teaching and Learning.

NEW: Belonging Community of Practice

Belonging Community of Practice

LALT launched a new Belonging Community of Practice (CoP), a collaborative network, for staff and students. It will provide a platform for members to share best practice, exchange ideas, and work together to continuously improve our community. Through this collective effort, we seek to build a stronger, more cohesive university experience for everyone.

We will host Belonging CoP webinars through-out the academic year, which will feature guest speakers sharing their practice and research into student belonging, followed by Q&A and discussion.

For more information visit and to join the Belonging Community of Practice visit the LALT website

Survey Updates

National Student Survey (NSS) 2025

The University of Lincoln will launch the NSS 2025 campaign on Monday 27th January 2025.

This year, we will build on the success of the 2024 NSS campaign by engaging students at a local school level. This approach ensures that the NSS is introduced by staff who students know, and who have insight into their student cohort identity, fostering connections and encouraging participation. This will also make the survey more relevant to students’ specific programmes.

An open briefing for University colleagues about the NSS will be held via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday 14th January, from 10am-11.30am. It will be hosted by Professor Abigail Moriarty, Pro Vice Chancellor for Education and Students; and Clare Cotton, Student Engagement Projects Manager. The briefing session is designed for the academic teams who will encourage students’ participation in the survey but this year it is also open to Professional Services colleagues from any area of the University, along with Students’ Union, who would like to know more about the NSS.

Please use the Microsoft Teams link below to join the meeting at 10am on 14th January:

If you have any questions about NSS 2025 please contact lalt@lincoln.ac.uk

Student Experience Survey (SES) 2025

The University of Lincoln will launch the Student Experience Survey (SES) 2025 on 31st March - 9th May.

The SES is a university-led survey for all students not participating in the NSS or PTES. It provides an opportunity for students to voice their opinions and shape the future of their programme and university experience.

SES promotion will follow a similar approach to the NSS, being led at a local level. Programme teams can decide the best time within the survey period to promote and engage students with the survey.

Anonymised data from the survey will be available to all staff on the Planning & Business Intelligence dashboards. This data will provide insights into the student feedback and help identify areas where action may be needed for future planning to enhance the student experience.

Student Engagement

UROS Showcase Exhibition 2024

On Wednesday 20th November 2024, LALT hosted the UROS Exhibition Showcase for all projects that took place in academic year 23/24.

This was a great opportunity for those students involved to talk about their project and share their experiences of taking part in UROS.

Colleagues and students who attended the exhibition had the chance to vote for the People's Choice Award , where they chose their favourite project and research poster. Congratulations to Naomi Cooke, Vina Mohamed, Jak Ramsdale and Ethan Staines whose project, ‘Optimisation for whole life cycle carbon emissions based on retrospective modelling of existing housing development(s)’ won this award.

Kate Strudwick (Dean of Teaching & Learning) chose the winner of the ‘Dean’s Award’ selecting Lucy Brewer’s project ‘The effects of menstrual cycle phase on muscular performance in healthy, active females’ as winner of this accolade.

Congratulations to all staff and students who worked on projects last academic year!

UROS is a competitive bursary program aimed at providing undergraduate students with the opportunity to gain research experience by collaborating with academic staff. This allows students to gain genuine insight into the research environment while developing valuable, transferable employability skills.

UROS projects typically involve approximately 30-60 hours of research work, and successful applicants will receive a £500 student bursary.

The first application window has now closed, with outcomes announced at the end of January. The second application window opens on 20th January 2025 and closes on 14th March 2025.

For more details about UROS, please email uros@lincoln.ac.uk with any queries, or use the link below to visit the UROS website.

IMPact E-Journal

IMPact is the University of Lincoln’s peer-reviewed, open access and multi-disciplinary journal of Higher Education. Established in 2018, IMPact invites colleagues from across the university, including postgraduate and undergraduate students, to submit their work for publication in the form of research papers in the conventional sense, as well as shorter reviews, research notices, accounts of work in progress and other forms of output of interest to the journal and its readership, with the express intention of informing, challenging and influencing.

IMPact Journal Update

Since 2018, over 100 articles have been published on topics such as authentic assessment, digital practice and student engagement.

Last year, we published 4 editions including The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, UROS Student Edition, Student Future Manifesto and HeritageDot 2.0 Edition.

Many of our enhancement and innovation activities are formally published in IMPact, our online HE journal which promotes and share the scholarship of teaching and learning to our community, with both student and staff authorship and readership.

Student Editions

IMPact welcomes student authored papers too. It is a good opportunity for them to develop their research and academic writing skills.

Student-led editions evidence our Student as Producer principles, delivering a Student as Author role, and remains as part of SAP 2.0 which also aligned to successful bids for UROS students with publication of findings facilitated through the IMPact Journal.

Celebrating Responsible Management Education: BA (Hons) Business and Management

The Lincoln International Business School (LIBS) is committed to the Principles of Responsible Management Education. In this special issue (Volume 8: Issue 1) of the IMPact Journal we celebrate how students from the BA (Hons) Business and Management degree demonstrate innovative, creative and critical ways of engaging with their subjects as they become responsible leaders.

To view all the student articles in this edition, please click on the button below:

Call for IMPact Journal Papers

IMPact is the University of Lincoln’s peer-reviewed, open access and multi-disciplinary journal of Higher Education. The journal invites colleagues from across the university, including postgraduate and undergraduate students, to share their work with the express intention of informing, challenging and influencing.

We encourage colleagues to submit to the journal through conventional manuscripts (5000 words in length accompanied by an abstract of up to 250 words).

Submissions can also take the form of a scholarly research notices, which are more suited to submissions which are shorter, smaller scale written pieces of work, notably small interim reports, or evaluations of small scale projects. This format also allows authors to submit some focused reflective pedagogical discussions/narratives.

All submissions are peer reviewed and are required to follow the standardised journal template as indicated on the website.

If you are interested in discussing further please contact the IMPact email impact@lincoln.ac.uk.

Call for Research Reviewers

We are looking to extend our current pool of volunteers to support LALT with reviewing research for various projects. This includes the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Scheme (UROS) applications, and IMPact paper reviews and feedback.

Supporting LALT as a reviewer will provide you with a developmental opportunity, which can be used to evidence your contribution to scholarship, collaboration, and student engagement at an institutional level. This opportunity provides a flexible commitment level, and you can volunteer for as much or as little as your workload permits. Full guidance and support will be provided.

If you are interested in volunteering and would like to find out more, please contact lalt@lincoln.ac.uk.

Academic Development Update

Curriculum Development

PgCertHE Cohort Complete: Fifteen members of staff successfully completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education programme in 2024, with five of these achieving a Merit mark. The PgCertHE programme was designed by LALT for a wide range of staff that teach and/or support learning, welcoming staff in both academic and professional services roles. Supporting our staff to deliver innovative and excellent teaching and learning experiences that will engage and inspire students. The continued development of teaching staff is significantly important to the institution to reach strategic goals and further support our students to excel. The programme is ongoing with the latest cohort working through their first module and recruitment for new cohorts in the final stages.

Curriculum Development for the Royal Navy: Following consultation work earlier in the year, LALT designed and delivered a custom Curriculum Development course for the Royal Navy, specifically to enable those involved in curriculum development to embed a new model of pedagogy and create curricula that are learner-centric, active, technology-enhanced, and inclusive. Forty participants from a range of teams involved in Royal Navy training attended the course. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction and are immediately putting into practice their learning to design innovative training courses. This work forms part of the ongoing partnership contribution from LALT to Project Selborne, facilitating training transformation for the Royal Navy.

Educator Development

Project Selborne Update

November 2024 saw the completion of Cohort 1 for the Level 4 programme, with colleagues from the Royal Navy and Capita successfully completing Module 1. As the full Educator Development Team is now in place and, following the success of the first cohort, work continues on refining and developing further content in readiness for the three January 2025 cohort start dates.

As we look forward to the next phase of Project Selborne, the Team ran a focus group during their recent visit to HMS Collingwood in Gosport with the aim of identifying the ongoing training needs of Royal Navy Educators and Trainers. Work is now underway developing further programmes and content to meet those needs and we look forward to updating you about this work in the next newsletter.

HEAR Scheme Update

All staff who teach and/or support learning at Lincoln can achieve formal recognition of their practice through the University’s internal Higher Education Academy Recognition (HEAR) scheme, which is accredited by Advance HE.

Around 57% of academic staff at the University currently hold Fellowship (D1-4), which is above the sector average of 50% and has risen from 51% of staff in 2022-23.

In the last academic year (2023-24) there has been an 85% increase in applications compared to 2022-23. We would like to extend special thanks to our dedicated team of volunteer reviewers who assess applications for the scheme.

The University successfully transitioned to the new Professional Standards Framework (PSF) and phased out use of the old UKPSF in January 2024. This transition has been carefully managed through delivery of updated reviewer training, refreshed guidance materials, and improvements to quality assurance processes.

The next submission deadline is 20 January 2025. Applicants are advised to attend a support workshop before applying; these are bookable via the HEAR web pages. Key dates and information can be found on the HEAR web pages. Guidance for referees who are authenticating a colleague’s claim is also available on the HEAR web pages.

Queries can be directed to HEAR@lincoln.ac.uk.

Studiosity Update

FAQs

What is Studiosity? Studiosity is an online writing feedback service available 24/7 which provides feedback on academic writing submitted by students. Personalised feedback is provided within 24 hours, and usually within 12 hours. The service uses academic literacy experts to review student work and provide comments on their academic writing. The reviewers provide feedback that engages the student in their own work, and which prompts thought on areas that require additional attention without providing proofreading, editing, or other subject-based direction - no changes are made to student work. Students are also directed via links to existing University support services, and those students at risk of needing early interventions are identified to the University.

Who has access? Foundation Year students, including Apprentices (Level 3), 1st year Undergraduates (Level 4), Apprentices studying at UG L4, and Postgraduate Taught Students (Level 7).

Why is Studiosity access limited to certain student Groups? The university has decided to target support at those student cohorts either starting higher education for the first time or entering from a different educational context. For these students, Studiosity will help to scaffold academic writing at the start of their programme - with students then able to draw on this learning in their subsequent years.

What can students submit? Students can select the type of writing they are submitting (e.g. essay, speech, report, reflection etc), the areas they’d like the most help with (e.g. referencing, spelling and grammar, structure, etc). They also have a free-text field to write comments about their draft.

How is it accessed? The Studiosity Portal can be accessed via a banner on students’ BlackBoard sites.

Who provides support? Students encountering any issues with accessing or using Studiosity should direct queries to their module or programme leader in the first instance. Colleagues needing further information or support are welcome to contact:

  • Claire Randerson - Dean of International & PG leads (academic enquiries)
  • Ian Snowley - Dean of Learning Skills and University Librarian (contract and DT liaison)
  • College representatives for CoASSH - Artem Khudenko and Alison Smith
  • College representative for CoHS for CoHS - Andre Soares.

Libraries and Learning Skills

New Learning Skills Toolkit

Take a look at the updated Study Skills pages on the library website! We’ve added a new Learning Skills Toolkit section, with resources on research, study and digital skills, academic writing, math & stats and tips for academic success.

Writing Development

The Writing Development team ran several new webinars this term including ‘Introduction to Academic Writing with the Copilot AI’ and ‘Writing with ADHD at University’ which were well-received. Daren Mansfield has recently undertaken courses in Understanding Specific Learning Difficulties Level 2 and a Certificate in Special Education Needs and Disabilities: Level 2 at his local further education college.

The team worked with schools across the university to deliver writing advice and support for new and returning students including an academic writing drop-in afternoon for Law students, a lecture for the Lincoln School of Creative Arts core module, and presentation workshops for Arts Foundation students. We also ran an on-campus Research and Writing event in conjunction with the Doctoral School and Academic Subject Librarians which was well-attended and provided a good networking opportunity for postgraduate researchers. We are running the event again on 14th January 2025.

Please contact the team if you would like to arrange a Writing Development lecture or seminar for your students. Either fill out the form on our website or email: writingdev@lincoln.ac.uk.

Digital Education

New Lunch & Learn Series

Digital Services are excited to announce the Lunch & Learn Series, a fortnightly online practice-sharing event that provides staff across the university the opportunity to share and celebrate innovative practice and learn from each other. Sessions will take place on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 13:00-13:30.

There will be a brief introduction, a 15-minute demonstration and explanation of the benefits, followed by a 10-minute Q&A/discussion.

The first session is taking place on Wednesday 15th January 2025 (13:00-13:30) and we will be hearing from Lesley Bradley about her experience of using Copilot to help prepare new lecture material and create PowerPoint Slides.

To register for the first session, visit the Lunch & Learn #1 - Registration Page

Digital Training Week: 20th-27th January 2025

We are excited to announce that the programme for Digital Training Week January 2025, is now available!

This week-long training series offers a variety of sessions designed to enhance your digital skills and knowledge ahead of the start of the semester, with many interactive activities and opportunities for hands-on support.

You can make your booking and view a full description of each session via the MyView system. There are a number of in-person sessions, in addition to online, therefore we encourage you to book as soon as possible for sessions where room capacity may be limited.

The following weblink contains guidance for making bookings: https://lncn.ac/DSTWJAN25

The below table provides an overview of the sessions available during training week:

Careers and Employability

Lincoln Connect Mentoring Opportunities

Careers & Employability are looking for academic and professional service staff to offer mentoring to current students and recent graduates via our online mentoring platform, Lincoln Connect. Lincoln Connect is an informal mentoring platform where students from across the university can connect with mentors who are encouraged to share their insights, experiences, and industry knowledge to help guide the next generation of professionals.

Why Join?

  • Give Back: Support students by sharing your career journey.
  • Network: Connect with fellow alumni and expand your professional circle.
  • Develop: Enhance your mentoring skills and boost your professional development.

Ready to inspire and be inspired? Sign up now at Lincoln Connect. For any assistance, reach out to careers@lincoln.ac.uk.

Lincoln Award Employer Projects

Our semester B 2025 Lincoln Award Employer Projects are now open for applications from students from all courses and stages of study.

In semester B, we are running 22 projects from a great range of employers and industries such as charities, food manufacturing, management consultancy, local council, police, aerospace, printing, business support services, sales, marketing, global packaging, training, technology providers, architecture & construction.

The Employer Projects are a fantastic opportunity for students to work on a real project brief for a real client; all project tasks are ones which businesses genuinely want help with and are a chance for students to make a real and positive impact, a great thing to include on their CV and in graduate recruitment activities!

Whilst working on these projects, students are able to develop key transferrable skills that are highly valued by all employers: communication, problem-solving, organisation & planning, critical thinking, working in a diverse team and resilience, along with business report writing and professional presentation skills.

The Employer Projects enable students to develop skills outside of those gained on their degree course in a real business environment and offers a great networking opportunity. Students have been offered work experience and even a graduate role from their work on the projects as the employers involved often use the projects as a way of talent-spotting!

We would really appreciate it if you could promote this opportunity to students and share with academics in your Schools.

Students can find out more about the projects and what is involved HERE and can apply HERE

The closing date for applications is midnight on Thursday 16th January.

Students' Union Update

Refreshers Week

The Students’ Union will be hosting Refreshers Week from Monday, 27th January to Friday, 31st January! The event will kick off at 10am in The Engine Shed where students will have the opportunity to reconnect with their peers or meet the new cohort of students. For more details of what will be on offer, please click on the button below:

Students' Union Elections

The Students' Union Elections are back!

The Students' Union Elections allow students to decide who will lead their Students' Union. Nominations for the next Student Leader team (2025/26) will open on Monday, 17th February 2025, and close on Friday, 28th February 2025. We also have 15 part-time paid Student Experience Officer positions available.

3 Full-Time Paid Student Leader Positions:

  • Student Communities Officer (Lead Officer)
  • Student Representation Officer
  • Student Support & Development Officer

15 Part-Time Paid Student Experience Officer Positions:

  • One for each of the 13 academic schools
  • International Experience Officer
  • Postgraduate Experience Officer

Staff Achievements

LALT are pleased to share staff announcements which celebrate recognition of their work within the sector. In this edition this include:

The shortlisting of Dr Erkan Demirbas for the 2024 QS Reimagine Awards in the Blended & Prescence Learning category: Creating Stories and Cartoons to Effectively Teach Economics and Statistics with Students.

These awards celebrate pedagogical approaches that boost learning outcomes and employability, as well as effective methods of teaching sustainability. The Blended & Prescence Learning Award recognises an outstanding educational programme that has innovated in-person learning or skilfully combined traditional in-person learning with online learning to create a dynamic and effective learning experience. In a highly competitive process receiving over 1,300 submissions across the 18 categories this is a great achievement to secure a spot on the 2024 shortlist.

Erkan plans to launch a Cartoon Creation Centre that focuses on developing cartoons and analogy-based stories to enhance the teaching of economics, finance, and statistics. This initiative aims to bring together colleagues and students in a collaborative effort where several external stakeholders from both the UK and international backgrounds have already joined this project. Please contact EDemirbas@lincoln.ac.uk if you would like further information on this, or to find out how to promote to students.

Case Studies

LALT continue to curate and host case studies submitted by academic and professional service colleagues across the University, which can be found here.

While individual topics are increasingly diverse, these are categorised into sub-sections to support navigation of core delivery areas including: access and participation, academic experience, student engagement, digital literacy and AI, international students, learning gain and employability.

These case studies showcase new ideas and successful teaching and learning practices representing the diverse experiences and approaches being adopted to support student engagement and experience, across the student lifecycle.

Recent additions to this repository include:

  • A trial of Kahoot to Improve Student Engagement led by David Anderson in LIBSWorking with colleagues within Languages, Economics, Innovation, Finance, HRM, Tourism and Marketing programmes this project enabled over 150 Kahoots to be created, enabling more than 1,500 students to experience online quizzes as part of their learning experience.
  • Building Dance led by Tessa Palfrey in the Lincoln School of Creative Arts saw delivery of a project which enabled students to practically investigate how human movement interacts with designed spaces to encourage students to create a theoretical proposal and design a performance space, responsive to that movement. This was delivered in collaboration with staff and students from the Interior Architecture degree at Nottingham Trent University – designing a set inspirated by the artist Antony Gormley.
  • Dealing with Hard Topics: Digital Storytelling with Analogy-based cartoons as a teaching tool to enhance student learning in Economics. Led by Erkan Demirbas, working with students and staff from the Lincoln Business School, this project saw the development of stories to help students understand complex ideas which were brought to life by two students studying BA (Hons) Animation and Visual Effects. For those interested in this project a Teams site (StoryCraft Hub: Creating Stories) can be accessed by staff using the code vjaa9d

Guidance and submissions for case studies can be made via the Teaching & Learning Case Study MS Forms below:

We would love to hear about events and successful teaching and learning practice from across the university.

If you are interested in having content included in the next edition, please contact Nguyen Grace on ngrace@lincoln.ac.uk.

Please disseminate this within your teams to those who may be interested.

Credits:

Created with images by Tida - "Conversation and Communication Illustration - Colorful illustration of four people communicating, symbolizing conversation and interaction. Bright colors and abstract design create a dynamic and energ" • takasu - "ニュースのロゴ" • adam121 - "Cloud from gears inside lightbulb." • BillionPhotos.com - "Survey." • leszekglasner - "E-journal on ebook, tablet concept" • Fantasista - "Scientific paper structure." • Supatman - "Document review process and quality control concept. Hand holding magnifying glass over a document icon with checklist, Document review and approval. Certificate management, Audit, Standardization," • Zerbor - "A man holding a megaphone - We need your help" • Parradee - "Human resource training and development concept.Business, personal development improving and enhancing competency, performance..Putting wooden cubes training with brainstorm, coaching, learning icons." • Fauzi - "certification. qualifications, certificates and graduate icons. the concept of academic qualifications. the concept of required skills." • Miha Creative - "Person who attends online lessons on a digital screen.E-learning education, internet lessons and online webinar. Education internet Technology." • Ingenious Buddy - "A stack of books with glasses and pencils on top set in front of chalkboard filled with equations, academic tools, literacy day, education" • NicoElNino - "E-learning technology, webinar, online education and training to develop new skills and knowledge. AI-enhanced learning with personalized courses. Remote learning on internet. Virtual screen." • olyphotostories - "Person standing on the road to future life with many direction sign point in different ways and only yellow one. Decision making is very hard, but you have a choice and right way" • EtiAmmos - "Light Bulbs with Personal Development Concept" • newroadboy - "Abstract narrow art background. " • Vlad - "Service Award Ceremony: Recognizing Employees for Years of Appreciation" • ipuwadol - "A businessman reviews the steps using a virtual online document and paperwork. Company articles of association Terms and Conditions, Concepts of practices and policies" • Tida - "Conversation and Communication Illustration - Colorful illustration of four people communicating, symbolizing conversation and interaction. Bright colors and abstract design create a dynamic and energ"