Good news from OCSLD

Here is the latest news from OCSLD reported to the VCs ‘good news’ meeting on Monday.

Three of OCSLD’s flagship programmes are doing really well

It looks like PCTHE will have around 70 enrollments this year, up from our usual 35-40. We have a spent a lot of time renewing this course in recent years with two open online modules, and the introductory module run in flipped mode. This flexibility seems to be popular with new and established staff. We also welcome 9 colleagues from other higher education institutions on the PCTHE this year.

OCSLD’s Coaching and Mentoring course, accredited by ILM has run twice now with a mixture of internal and external participants. We heard over the summer that Oxford University’s IT Services Department have selected OCSLD as their preferred supplier for coaching courses. We will be running a cohort for their staff in the new year.

The Professional Standards Framework (PSF) pathway, which leads to Senior and Principal Fellowships of the Higher Education Academy is proving to be popular. At the September Board we awarded 14 Senior Fellows and 3 Principal Fellows. Staff have the option to receive their awards at Graduation Ceremonies, so look out for them there.

OCSLD staff have been been out and about talking about their work, for example:
– Mary Deane and Ian Scott were invited to present their work on active citizenship as a measure of learning gain at the Society for Research in Higher Education conference in June. This is based on a Higher Education Academy Strategic Excellence project Mary led last year.
– Neil Currant presented his research on experiences of BME students in a predominantly white university, titled “Every time I walk in, my stomach churns”: How the concept of ‘environmental press’ can be used to analyse belonging for students at a multi-campus university,” at the HE Race Action Group 3rd Think Tank in June.

COMING UP
Rhona will be giving the opening keynote at the SEDA conference on 2 November 2016. See http://www.seda.ac.uk/events/info/459/keynote_speakers
Mark Child’s new book on online learning in STEM subjects is available to pre-order https://www.amazon.co.uk/Online-Learning-STEM-Subjects-International/dp/1138934445Watch out for two new MOOCs we plan to launch in 2017:
– Researching learners’ experiences of technology, in collaboration with the EMMA EU funded project. https://platform.europeanmoocs.eu/course_researching_learners_experienc
– One on Digital Leadership, using resources we created as part of a project funded by Education and Training Foundation next year.