M01ODL UKPSF Practice – Jodie Calleja

May 25, 2018September 3, 2018

Professional Values

PROFESSIONAL VALUES		EVIDENCE
V1	Respect individual learners and diverse learning communities	This is extremely important at Coventry University London, with a diverse collection of students from over 100 countries currently studying with us. All enrolling students are enrolled onto the personal tutoring service and are given the same opportunities to access services. I am able to differentiate my lessons according to the needs of the students, whilst challenging and promoting inclusivity in the class. I strongly believe in equality, but also allowing the provision of extra support for those in need, which is why meeting with other departments to share best practice for differentiating at HE is important, such as the advice I receive from our Language Skills team.
V2	Promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity for learners	– Timetabling introduction sessions with embedded skills to promote further participation in personal tutoring services. – Stage 1 UG’s have a timetabled session in first two terms for extra support during transition period – Services are advertised by email, text, posters, and social media, as well as through timetabled module sessions via academics.
V3	Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development	Since starting MO10L I am more aware of my reflective practices, using Kolb’s reflective cycle more often when structuring reflection on my actions. I also actively research for further articles in order to provide support on my next steps. I have also used student feedback given verbally and through surveys, as well as student data to inform future teaching approaches, including the content we cover. This can be seen in my reflective assignment.
V4	Acknowledge the wider context in which higher education operates recognising the implications for professional practice	I am very well aware of matters which operate within Higher Education, such as: – GDPR when recording student details and learning development plans, used to track service provision and the implementation of support. – Inclusivity, diversity and equality as documented through several acts, including the Equality Act 2010. This covers the practices to promote inclusive learning no matter of sex, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. – Changes in membership with EU and the impact on European students, for example I am aware that it is currently proposed that EU students enrolling after Brexit to universities in England will only be expected to pay the same fees as British students.

May 25, 2018September 3, 2018

Core Knowledge

CORE KNOWLEDGE		EVIDENCE
K1	The subject material	Personal Tutoring services are centred on offering support for pastoral and study skills. My previous background is in teaching, qualifying in 11-18 PGCE Citizenship, where I trained in Citizenship, Sociology, Psychology, Careers Skills and PSHE Skills. I am consistently improving my knowledge through actively researching skills taught for recent and relevant articles.
K2	Appropriate methods for teaching, learning and assessing in the subject area and at the level of the academic programme	As I organise and develop sessions for each stage, I work closely with course directors and colleagues to ensure they are pitched at the right level and include information relevant to the course subject. Through research and involvement in social media sites, I am able to find and use multiple methods to differentiate learning for a mixture of groups.
K3	How students learn, both generally and within their subject/disciplinary area(s)	I am very aware that different subject groups will require certain skills, which personal tutors can support with. For this reason, I communicate regularly with course directors and academic staff.
K4	The use and value of appropriate learning technologies	Since beginning the PGCert, I have made a conscious effort to include some use of learning technology in class. This improves student engagement, varies activities and also saves on waste paper. As manager of personal tutoring, I have led my team to create online learning sessions, which include formative assessment. These are created using Moodle lessons, so engagement and completion data can be tracked and fed through to individual communications and support plans.
K5	Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching	Each session ends with a feedback survey, which rates different areas of each session, such as: – Have we reached expectations? – What was most helpful? – What was least helpful? – How well was the session delivered? – Were handouts or class resources useful? The use of formative assessments and other activities to evaluate teaching are used within service introduction group sessions and skill development workshops, in order to feed into how the session progresses. If students understanding is low, then the original plan is altered to class needs.
K6	The implications of quality assurance and quality enhancement for academic and professional practice with a particular focus on teaching	The feedback survey used at the end of each lesson is used to inform any immediate changes we need to make to the session plans, as well as long-term considerations to improve the service. The end of module surveys are also used to inform which levels (UG or PG) require more focus on development.

May 25, 2018September 3, 2018

Areas of Activity

AREAS OF ACTIVITY		EVIDENCE
A1	Design and plan learning activities and/or programmes of study	– I have designed personal tutoring service introductory sessions, including engaging activities, which are set according to study level. – I have designed induction skills week events, including online technology to engage greater groups of students. These will be taught by module leaders and academic teams, with the support of personal tutors. – I have designed a 3 hour training session for academics on how to effectively fulfil the personal tutoring position for postgraduate students. – I have planned, designed the provision of the service per term, allocating staff according to availability and timetables. Details of service provision is clearly communicated in the staff handbook I created, and the student handbook created with my direct team. – I have developed set forms for personal tutors to create learning plans for students, which are automatically saved to the data system I created. In addition, after saving the form is emailed to the student. – I have coordinated a team to offer workshops and support sessions to students surrounding pastoral and study skills.
A2	Teach and/or support learning	– I have taught 70+ Personal Tutoring sessions from October 2017 – June 2018, split across: o Service introduction sessions with embedded skills development o Catch-up sessions with embedded skills development o Induction sessions – I have organised and led on individual meetings, which are used to create and track individual learning plans. – I have taught sessions to train new staff on personal tutoring, as well as academics fulfilling the role for postgraduates.
A3	Assess and give feedback to learners	As the personal tutoring service is non-credit bearing, all assessment is formative, synoptic or dynamic. This takes place in all sessions, using activities and online technology. Furthermore, as an active personal tutor, it is part of my role to breakdown feedback given for students from summative assessments of modules in order to inform methods to progress.
A4	Develop effective learning environments and approaches to student support and guidance	When developing a programme for the personal tutoring service, with the aim of building a rapport to improve access rates, developing a safe and effective learning environment is extremely important. As the start of each session, aims and expectations are provided. Before an individual support meeting, expectations and support options are discussed. Furthermore, I have led on the creation of a student handbook to detail support and guidance available, trained personal tutors on referral processes for further support service and managed the provision of support and guidance documents.
A5	Engage in continuing professional development in subjects/disciplines and their pedagogy, incorporating research, scholarship and the evaluation of professional practices	– I completed my MA Sociology of Education in October 2017. The course allowed me to continue my love for learning in Sociology, but also improve my understanding of, and practice in, educational institutions. – Active involvement in FutureLearn Online – Active involvement in further readings and blogging my learning experience. – I have led and analysed regular service surveys to feed into the reflection and evaluation of the service and taught sessions. – I regularly engage in independent and group reflections to improve services and taught sessions.