How was it for you? 'Assessing the impact and colleagues’ perceptions of the value of engaging with faculty UKPSF leads in preparation for HEA fellowship

Title‘How was it for you?’ Assessing the impact and colleagues’ perceptions of value of their engagements with Faculty UKPSF Leads; as part of their application preparation for HEA Fellowship.Author Isobel Hawthorne-Steele, Brian McGowan, Louise O’Boyle This presentation will discuss a pilot study which has been undertaken to assess the impact and perceived value of colleagues engagements with UKPSF Leads in three of the university’s Faculties. It will outline emerging themes, commonalities and differences from staff experiences and will propose recommendations for future routes of engagement with colleagues to enhance professional practices, encourage sharing of good practice and promote discourses in learning and teaching.Outline (200 words)The role of the UKPSF Leads within each of the Faculty’s was to support colleagues attaining HEA Fellowship and in doing so raise the profile of learning and teaching within their faculty. This paper will present the results of a pilot study undertaken with staff in three of the university’s faculties: Art, Design and the Built Environment; Life and Health Sciences; and Social Sciences. An invitation to complete an online questionnaire was sent to staff that have engaged with their Faculty UKPSF Lead in preparing an application for HEA Fellowship. Staff completed the questionnaire anonymously and this paper will present the emerging themes from the data collected. The Faculty UKPSF Lead role is temporary and this paper will propose recommendations for future routes of engagement with colleagues that will; enhance professional activities in learning and teaching; promote the sharing of good practice; and encourage wider discourses around learning and teaching.Context Nationally it has been communicated that the collection of academic staff teaching qualifications by HESA will be published at institutional level in 2015. Within the current Organisational Development Strategy, Council has agreed targets for the proportion of academic staff holding a category of fellowship of the HEA: which professionally recognises staff against the appropriate dimensions of the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). In February 2014, UKPSF Leads where appointed in each Faculty to support the achievement of these targets. The activities of each of the UKPSF Lead aimed to enhance understanding of the framework across their Faculty, encourage discourse towards pedagogic practices, and encourage staff to seek recognition for their Learning and Teaching activities through application for HEA Fellowship.Design MethodologyThe purpose of this project is to disseminate effective routes of engagement with colleagues; the collected evidence will examine colleagues’ perceptions to the value and impact of the activities with Faculty UKPSF Leads. Data will be collected through an online questionnaire and the qualitative and quantitative data will be analysed for emerging themes.ImpactThis project is currently a work in progress and a discussion on impact will be included as part of the presentation.Reflective CommentaryThis project is currently a work in progress and a reflective commentary will be provided as part of the presentation.TransferabilityThe tools and methodology used to assess impact and value are transferable for use with any number of groups where evaluation of activities and engagements are required.