Teaching and Learning Academy projects

The Assessment and Feedback Guidance project is a collaborative initiative involving the Teaching and Learning Academy (TLA), the university registry, and academic experts. The aim of the project is to develop a comprehensive framework and resources to support academics in enhancing their assessment and feedback practices. Drawing on the expertise and insights of various stakeholders, the project seeks to align these practices with the institutional assessment and feedback policy.

Through this project, best practices, case studies, and expert advice are compiled to provide a valuable resource for academic leaders, faculty members, and staff involved in assessment and feedback processes. The project embraces a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging academics to explore and implement effective strategies that promote student success and uphold academic quality.

In addition to the guidance materials, the project includes training sessions and other activities to foster professional development in assessment and feedback. By actively engaging academics and encouraging their contributions, the project aims to create a collaborative community dedicated to advancing assessment and feedback practices at the university.

Access the Assessment and Feedback Guidance

The degree awarding gap, sometimes called the attainment gap, is the difference between the percentage UK Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic and White students who are awarded a first or 2:1 degree. Find out more about Bridge the Gap.

Since 2014, LJMU has been funding Curriculum Enhancement Internship projects. Undertaken by staff working in partnership with student interns, projects are aimed at enhancing curriculum delivery or related aspects of the student experience of teaching and learning. A diverse range of outcomes has been achieved through the projects, including:

• Development of interactive learning resources to support course delivery
• Development of digital archives to enable greater access to and use of primary sources within the curriculum
• Enhanced academic skills support
• Enhanced induction and transition support
• Development of peer mentoring schemes
• Increased work-based and/or community engagement opportunities
• Approaches to teaching and learning related to internationalisation of the curriculum

Projects benefit from the input of a unique and authentic student perspective and student interns gain significant experience from working alongside academic staff in undertaking the project. For further detail on the scheme or any of the projects undertaken to date then please contact Liz Clifford.

2022/2023 Curriculum Enhancement Internships projects

2021/2022 Curriculum Enhancement Internships projects

2020/2021 Curriculum Enhancement Internships projects

The project was supported by Explorance 2020 Faculty Research Grant.

Project aims

The aim of the project was to make the student voice more prominent in the institutional module evaluation process by developing Student Question Bank.  The project was led by the Teaching and Learning Academy and the Faculty of Health and facilitated by four student-researchers in order to enable open, cross-level and cross-disciplinary student discussion, feeding into creation of the question bank.

The project was also aiming to:

• Raise academic staff awareness of student priorities and encourage module leaders/teams to include student- devised question in their evaluation questionnaires.
• Use the project and its output (student-led question bank) as a vehicle for student engagement in module evaluation.
• Explore different patterns of thoughts about module level experience and identify groups of students with similar opinions.

Methodology

Q Methodology, which is considered particularly suitable for researching diversity of subjective experiences, perspectives and beliefs, was utilised in this project.

Stage 1: Gathering opinion statements

Student-researchers facilitated a discussion with a representative and diverse group of student-volunteers (four groups, between 8 and 10 students in a group) to explore their module level experience and priorities in module evaluation.  Outcomes of discussion contributed to the creation of 60 survey items/opinion statements that students would want to include in module evaluation. 

Stage 2:  Sorting exercise

Student-volunteers (four groups, different from those who were involved in the first exercise) were invited to take part in the Q-sort exercise.  It involved sorting out statements on to   continuum from ‘most important for me’ to ‘least important question for me’.  Student-researchers facilitated the activity. All sorts were recorded and participants were interviewed about reasoning behind student choices.

Stage 3. Devising Student Question Bank

Questions that gained the most weight in the sorting process were included in the institutional module evaluation questionnaire as a student question bank.

Stage 4. Data analysis and interpretation

The Q-sort results were analysed using PQ Method software that used principal component analysis and varimax rotation, followed by classification of participants by the number of load factors.  Three factors and associated grouping of students with similar opinions were identified.

Project outputs

• Institutional Student Questions Bank developed as a result of the project (25 questions) 
• Staff engagement with the SQB and impact of student responses on their teaching practice (or changes planned) was evaluated via a survey and focus groups.
• Student opinion types based on the outcomes of the analysis were identified and categorised; implication for the module level teaching were considered.  

Project resources

Presentation at the Bluenotes Global Conference 2020

For more information please contact Dr Elena Zaitseva and Dr Anna Law

In common with many institutions, LJMU is undertaking work aimed at addressing awarding gaps between groups of students. Much work has already been done in the sector around making curriculum more relevant to and representative of the experiences of all students, and this includes activities related to decolonising the curriculum. Less appears to be known about the contribution of professional services to support greater representation and engagement and, in particular, how the concept of decolonisation might be applied to the services offered by professional service teams and how they are provided. The purpose of this project was to identify research and practice related to how professional service teams demonstrate inclusive practice in the delivery of their services. The project was undertaken by the Teaching and Learning Academy with an LJMU student intern.

Read the report

Liverpool John Moores University has been accepted for the Pilot Model A ‘by exception’. Subjects in this model receive the same rating as the provider when the subject-level metrics perform similarly to the provider-level metrics. Subjects receive a fuller assessment (and potentially different ratings) when their metrics performance differs from the provider level. In addition to the exceptions to test if the rules for generating exceptions are appropriate, 15% of all other subjects have been selected for additional assessment in the pilot.

For more information visit Gov.uk website. 

Purpose of Subject-level TEF

The Government has introduced the TEF to:

Better inform students’ choices about what and where to study

Raise esteem for teaching

Recognise and reward excellent teaching

Better meet the needs of employers, business, industry and the professions

In the passing of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 moving ‘as rapidly as possible to subject rather than institutional comparators’ was emphasised. Subject-level TEF will ensure that both students and providers can look behind provider-level ratings and access more granular information about a provider’s teaching quality. This will allow students to compare providers using information most relevant to their likely experience, and encourage providers to drive up consistency in the quality of their provision [para 33].

Taking part in Subject-level TEF provides an institution with the opportunity to shape TEF 3 and identify the potential issues within the institution. Pilot institutions will also gain early insights into the process and application of outcomes.

The Harnessing Effective Engagement with Engagement Data (HEEED) project’s key aim was to understand how UK Engagement Survey (UKES) student engagement data could be used in curriculum development and enhancement.

As disciplinary differences and level of study directly influence student learning approaches, the HEEED project involved multi-level, multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective exploration and interpretation of the students engagement data.

The UKES data was triangulated with sector-standard programme data, including National Student Survey, student assessment performance and retention data. This helped us understand the nature of the complex relationships between student engagement, success and satisfaction.

CImap software developed at Liverpool John Moores University was used in this research.

Project resources

• Cashman, S. (2016) Graphical analysis of UKES survey data 
• Stacey, B. (2016) Navigating the discourses of unauthorised collusion and collaboration: a UKES narrative. Innovation in Practice, V 10 (1), p. 27-32 

For more information please contact Dr Elena Zaitseva.

In collaboration with the Faculty of Education, Health and Community, our Academy is involved in a three-year project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), focusing on the development of key critical thinking skills of students as they progress through their course.

Liverpool John Moores University has been accepted for the Pilot Model A ‘by exception’. Subjects in this model receive the same rating as the provider when the subject-level metrics perform similarly to the provider-level metrics. Subjects receive a fuller assessment (and potentially different ratings) when their metrics performance differs from the provider level. In addition to the exceptions to test if the rules for generating exceptions are appropriate, 15% of all other subjects have been selected for additional assessment in the pilot.

For more information visit Gov.uk website.

Purpose of Subject-level TEF

The Government has introduced the TEF to:

• Better inform students’ choices about what and where to study 
• Raise esteem for teaching 
• Recognise and reward excellent teaching 
• Better meet the needs of employers, business, industry and the professions

In the passing of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 moving ‘as rapidly as possible to subject rather than institutional comparators’ was emphasised. Subject-level TEF will ensure that both students and providers can look behind provider-level ratings and access more granular information about a provider’s teaching quality. This will allow students to compare providers using information most relevant to their likely experience, and encourage providers to drive up consistency in the quality of their provision [para 33].

Taking part in Subject-level TEF provides an institution with the opportunity to shape TEF 3 and identify the potential issues within the institution. Pilot institutions will also gain early insights into the process and application of outcomes.