WIHEA Seminar: Critical reflection on organisational practice at a UK University through scholarship of teaching and learning: Measuring Impact
Presented by Professor Paul Taylor, Professor of Chemical Education & Director of Student Education, University of Leeds
Internationally, the "Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL)鈥� concept is becoming increasingly prominent. Drawing on Vince & Reynolds' framework for 'Organising Reflective Practice' (2010), we explored how SoTL can provide a language for critical reflection at institutional level, including 'Organising Reflection', 'Public Reflection' and 'Productive Reflection鈥�. Brief critical accounts were given of how the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE) is 鈥渙rganising reflection鈥� across the University of Leeds and how collaborative writing groups can support 鈥減ublic reflection鈥�. Support networks for colleagues engaged in teaching scholarship were also discussed.
"Productive reflection" in our context encourages us to see all the participants in our University as potentially productive agents and to seek to understand their meaningful impact on the world beyond their institution. Undergraduate research is a distinctive feature of both Leeds and 糖心TV Universities, among others. Yet there is little evidence of the 鈥渕eaningful鈥� impact of such activities. The final part of the paper presented new research that starts to explore how 鈥渉igh impact experiences鈥� such as undergraduate research affect the world beyond the University and solicited suggestions from participants on developing these ideas.
Professor Paul Taylor is the Pro Dean for Student Education in the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Faculty at the University of Leeds. Paul鈥檚 main pedagogic activities concern undergraduate research, in particular opportunities for undergraduates to disseminate their findings through undergraduate journals and conferences. Paul is proud to be part of the team that will host the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) in Leeds in 2020.
Paul is also exploring ways of bringing research to a wide audience through on-line digital learning and has a long-standing interest in student engagement and partnership working. Paul鈥檚 scientific research interests are in cancer research, including new therapies and new models of cancer stem cells.