Category: Building Community

SALT’s highlights of 2022!

~ tamdigitalswansea ~ Leave a comment

How quickly time flies, we are already in 2023!

We would like to reflect on the past year at SALT with you. 2022 has been both challenging and exciting for us at the university. It has been the time where many of us have returned to campus to teach, reconnecting with colleagues and students. This has been difficult for some, as many of us have had to adapt to new ways of teaching, learning, collaborating and connecting. It is the year where various digital education trends have surged: virtual reality, gamification, online teaching and learning, online training sessions and much more. At SALT, we’d like to reflect on the year 2022, and outline some of our favourite moments.

International Women’s Day 2022

International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th March every year. It is a chance to celebrate women’s history, remember women’s struggles and to focus on women’s resistance across the world. This is important to us at SALT, so to show our passion for the event, we produced a podcast.

Effective Practice Seminars

Our CPD team in SALT organised a wide range of Effective Practice seminars online via Zoom. These sessions discussed various topics with academics and professional services staff. Don’t miss out and watch our recordings.

Explore Seminars

Bookable Canvas Clinic sessions service release

This year the Technology Enhanced Learning Development team released a new support service for academic staff, where you can book a session with one of the TEL team for support with anything Canvas related. This new support service continues in 2023.

Learn more

The SALT Conference 2022

We held the annual conference on July 13th 2022, filled with inspirational talks and discussions. For many, it was great to connect face-to-face again. Read about our conference below, and watch our session recordings.

SUSALT22

Student Nominated Award Winners 2022

Recognising and rewarding excellent teaching is a core part of our work and SALT is home to the Student Nominated Teaching Awards. This continues to be one of the highlights of our year. Congratulations to the winners.

Award Winners 2022

International Men’s Day

International Men’s Day is globally celebrated annually on 19th November to recognise and celebrate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of men. The broader aim of the event is also to promote awareness of men’s issues. This is important to us at SALT, so we created a podcast.

Questioning Assessment

One of SALT’s highlights include  ‘Questioning Assessment’, an online panel discussion programme, hosted by academic partners Dr Joanne Berry and Dr Patricia Xavier along with Rhian Ellis. This addressed some key questions and assumptions about assessment. Why assess? Does pressure in assessment lead to resilience?  Why do students fail? Do we trust our students?, followed by a pilot workshop at SUSALT22.  

Learn More

Promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Mandy Jack and Dr. Pamela Styles at SALT were pleased to deliver a workshop at the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Event, September 2022, hosted by the Faculties of Science and Engineering/ Medicine, Health and Life Sciences. It was great to share effective practice with colleagues from across the University and to talk about how we can work together to make students feel more included. 

Critical Pedagogy Community of Practice

~ Chris Hall ~ Leave a comment

[:en]The past year has brought discussions about equality, diversity and inclusion to the forefront in an abrupt and painful way. From discussions about student digital poverty in blended learning, to confronting structural racism in UK society as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement, these issues (always present) now seem closer to the surface than ever. How do we respond to these challenges in our teaching practice across all subjects? How can we move to educational practice with a driving philosophy of emancipation, rather than one that might be subtly perpetuating inequality? Inspired by the works of Paolo Freire and bell hooks, this group will meet to discuss critical pedagogies, share practice and support each other to broaden perspectives. All members of staff welcome!

What

A community of practice to share and discuss ideas, teaching strategies, and teaching resources in relation to critical pedagogy, critical thinking and associated radical pedagogies e.g. the work of Paulo Freire and bell hooks.

Who

Anyone interested in exploring power and privilege in education. Anyone who would like to develop these teaching strategies and pedagogy in their own teaching practice, and/ or are already doing so, and would like to discuss and meet with like-minded colleagues. Applicable to all disciplines.

Why

To build a learning and support network for colleagues interested in teaching as a way to develop critical consciousness in ourselves and our students, through sharing experiences, ideas, strategies and resources.

Where

Mainly through ‘TEAMs’ with opportunities to chat, share links and meet via video.

How

If you are interested in becoming part of this community of practice, please contact:

Darren Minister (Academic Developer, SALT) d.g.minister@swansea.ac.uk

OR

Dr Patricia Xavier (Associate Professor, Engineering) p.a.xavier@swansea.ac.uk[:]

Active Classrooms Enabling Regional, National and Global Collaboration

~ Matthew Allen

 

https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52813

An Active Learning classroom, A019, in Engineering Central, Swansea UniversityIn this work, the journey to Swansea University’s first reconfigurable computer lab and active learning studio is explored as an approach to solving both these issues and opening doors to innovation and new programmes. Feedback is presented from both staff and students to show the impact on student learning and the adoption of new pedagogies.

The introduction of the active learning studio has led to new initiatives, including funding to link a Swansea University collaborative space with further education colleges in the region. It has also led to the College of Engineering at Swansea being invited to join a globally delivered group design module with partners in the US, Brazil and France. This collaborative approach paves the way for consideration of new funding and educational models where students can study elective modules outside their home institutions while retaining the benefits of active methods.

(Swansea Resource)

 

How to create belonging and community in a virtual world

~ Matthew Allen

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLFODuxeGF0

Image of a small card with symbols for phone,email, cellphone, chat and other forms of communicationIn this CANVAS-hosted 45 video, a NameCoach representative offer suggestions of building a sense of belonging among students before, during and towards their end of studies.
Phone is the most preferred method of communication, followed by personalised text/emails. (Minutes 4.50 – 6.30). Using CANVAS email and the Calendar, you can offer opportunities to book Office hour appointments (phone/chat/video-conference (Minutes 14 – 16, see chat around minute 19). You can also build belonging using the Discussions or Conferences features in CANVAS for non-topic sharing amongst the cohort e.g. to develop a connection on a personal level within an academic course. (Minutes 17 – 19). They offered 10 strategies for doing so then discussed three approaches in more detail. Their three approaches focused more on non-academic situations, e.g. induction/Open Days/personal tutorials/connection with extra-mural opportunities and also graduation to strengthen their belonging and recognise their identity (minutes 29-42).

(External Resource)

 

Our Tips for Communicating and Building community

~ Matthew Allen

 

Using scrabble tiles, this image spells the words 'Tips and Tricks'We recommend the following basics:

  1. Communicate early and communicate frequently. The more advance notice you can give, the better.
  2. Set clear expectations on how you will communicate, how often you will communicate, how students can get in contact, office hours and the time scale for a reply. Doing this step will prevent many headaches !
  3. A bit of collaboration allows you to maintain a sense of community that can help motivate students to participate and learn, so try using some of the collaborative tools and suggestions below.
  4. Think about creating a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and making them available on your Canvas pages – remember to tell your students they are there and that they should check them before emailing.
  5. Remember that not all your students may be able to use whichever communication tool you choose (or may not want to), so any communication you put out, try to put it out in more than one format (e.g. via CANVAS and Email)