University of St Andrews

Role

Carol, as Director, is responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction for the newly-formed Centre for Academic, Professional and Organisational Development, CAPOD. She represents CAPOD at various fora within the University (such as the Service Directors Group), and reports to Professor Lorna Milne as Vice-Principal (Proctor).

As Learning and Teaching Quality Officer, Carol's responsibilities include:

• Management of the annual monitoring process
• Management of the rolling programme of Internal Reviews of Learning and Teaching
• Preparation for ELIR (a positive outcome was gained at the recent review in February/March 2011)
• Membership of TLAC
• Secretary to the Academic Monitoring Assurance Group
• Maintenance of the TLA Handbook.  

Projects

Currently, Carol is a member of:

• the Module Evaluation Working Group which aims to continue the development of the University's process for gathering student feedback
• the Institutional Team for the current enhancement theme, Developing and Supporting the Curriculum 

Additional Information

Outwith the University, Carol is:

• a member of the ELIR Coordinating Reviewer Pool for QAA Scotland
• a member of Universities Scotland Teaching Quality Forum
• an external member of the UHI Millennium Institute Quality Monitoring Group.

Background

Carol began work at the University in 1996 as Secretary to the Director of Academic Audit. In 2000 she was accepted onto the University's Evening Degree Programme as one of its first students, graduating with distinction in 2006. In 2007, she became Learning & Teaching Quality Officer and Deputy Director of SALTIRE in 2009.  She became Director of CAPOD when it was formed by merging SALTIRE, HR Staff Development and GRADskills in May 2011. 

Role

Description to follow

Role

Nicky is responsible for the smooth running of the Evening Degree programme, which offers entry to a degree programme (M A General or – now- B Sc General Science) for those in the local community who are returning to study later in life and who may well not have traditional – or indeed recent - entry qualifications. This involves:

• The recruitment, admission, induction (Study Essentials programme), advising and support of all Evening Degree students
• Liaison with academic schools offering modules on the programme,  with University units including Library, Student Services, Registry, Finance, and with external learning providers
• Marketing of the Evening Degree – both internal and external, including the production of advertising/information  materials.

Background

Her background includes HE lecturing, fundraising and research (within the voluntary sector) and a spell as a professional knitter.

Qualifications: B. A. (Hons) in French Language and Literature, Ph.D., membership of the Higher Education Academy, certification in personnel and training practice. 

Role

Teaching:

• ID0001 - Academic Skills: Effective Learning Tools and Techniques 1
• ID0002 - Academic Skills: Effective Learning Tools and Techniques 2
• MN5301 - Application Packages for Management Research.

Provision of:

• Academic Skills short courses - generic and tailored to meet schools' needs
• 1:1 consultations with students/staff covering academic skills
• Support for the Academic Misconduct procedures.

Background

Relevant Qualifications: PGDip (HE/FE); PGDip (IT /Psychology); M.Ed (Professional Development).

I am a qualified teacher for higher and further education, having taught various subjects and supported academic skills for 15 years in Colleges and Universities (in Scotland and England) before joining the University of St Andrews in 2001.

I was originally a computing lecturer and became interested in academic skills, through the observation of students who were good within their subject area, but had difficulty with written English and other academic skills. This had an adverse affect on their academic grades and progress which led me to develop and manage a very successful learning support centre, where students are enabled to improve their academic skills.

Role

My role is to support the development and enhancement of academic practice. My key responsibilities are to:

• manage and facilitate the University's academic staff development programme
• provide advice and guidance to academic staff regarding the University's mentoring and teaching observation schemes
• assist the Director of CAPOD with quality monitoring processes including the programme of Internal Reviews of Learning and Teaching and annual monitoring
• assist with the Unit's administration function.

Role

My primary responsibility is to support the enhancement of learning and teaching across the University through a variety of means. Specific examples include:

• Delivering the bi-annual mandatory training courses which all new postgraduate tutors and demonstrators are required to undertake
• Managing and delivering two 10-credit, taught postgraduate modules which are open to all staff (including postgraduate tutors and demonstrators) involved in teaching or supporting student learning
• Providing briefings to staff (and students) on the Academic Misconduct policy
• Organising and facilitating events with internal and external speakers on topics such as using personal response systems, virtual worlds in education, technology-enhanced learning in the classroom, etc. Please get in touch if you would like to suggest an event
• Facilitating learning communities and networks across the University (such as convening the Distance Learning Development Group)
• Managing CAPOD's two funds for innovation and enhancement of learning and teaching (FILTA and SELF) and our fund to attend external events.

Projects/Research

My main project at the moment is developing the new professional development modules ID5101 (Introduction to University Teaching 1: Supporting Student Learning) and ID5102 (Introduction to University Teaching 2: Curriculum Design and Assessment).

Additional Information

I represent CAPOD on the following internal committees/working groups:

• Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee
• Race Equality Working Group
• Research Staff/Teaching Fellows Skills Working Group
• Staff Development Skills Steering Group
• Graduates of the 21st Century Working Group
• Centre for Higher Education Research planning group.

I convene the following internal panels/working groups/networks:

• FILTA Judging Panel
• SELF Judging Panel
• Scholarship Skills Working Group
• Distance Learning Development Group.

I sit on the following external committees/organisations:

• Universities Scotland Educational Development Sub-Committee
• US Ed-Dev Sub-committee representative on the Academy Scotland Practitioners' Forum
• University representative on the Heads of Educational Development Group.

Background

I hail from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. I came to St Andrews in 1991 to do my Doctorate in Psychology, which I completed in 1995. There followed a series of series of fixed-term contracts in the School of Psychology, as Demonstrator, Research Fellow on a project to assess safety awareness training in the nuclear industry, and Teaching Fellow.

Following my contracts in the School of Psychology (Oct 1996 - May 2000) I worked with Dr Colin Mason as Research Fellow in Learning & Teaching on a SHEFC-funded project (May 2000 - Jan 2002). The MAPPING project developed a set of resources to help staff developers and lecturers create reflective portfolios to demonstrate their skills in and approach to teaching/training, research, administration and management in a variety of contexts.

After that I worked six months half-time at the University of Paisley as a Lecturer in Psychology, and concurrently half-time at SALTIRE as Web Development Consultant. I started full-time as Web and Educational Development Consultant in SALTIRE in Sept 2002.

Publications/Conference Papers

1. Mason, C., McKiggan-Fee, H. & Moir, R. (2006). Piloting a new survey instrument to compare first and final-year students' course experiences. Universities Scotland Higher Educational Developers Conference, Stirling
2. McKiggan-Fee, H., and Mason, C. (2001). Evaluation of prototype resources for the MAPPING project. Workshop given at the 6th annual SEDA Conference for Staff and Educational Developers (Nov. 20-21), Manchester.
3. McKiggan-Fee, H. and Mason, C. (2001). From "Pride and Prejudice" to "Warts and All" - the Uses of Portfolios in Higher Education. Informal discussion group at the 13th annual HESDA conference (Nov. 7-9), Manchester.
4. McKiggan-Fee, H. Mason, C. and Matthew, B. (2001). MAPPING - Multimedia Approach to Profiles and Portfolios: INteractive Guidance. Two workshops given at the NetCulture Showcase Event for ScotCIT Staff Development Projects (Nov. 5-6), St Andrews.
5. McKiggan-Fee, H., and Mason, C. (2001). Multimedia Approach to Profiles and Portfolios: INteractive Guidance. Two workshops on portfolio development given at North Highland College (Nov. 1), Thurso.
6. Matthew, B. and McKiggan-Fee, H. (2001). Portfolio Development - "Never mind the weight, feel the quality". Keynote address at the ILT/LTSN Conference on Enhancing Continuing Professional Development (May 15), Glasgow.
7. McKiggan-Fee, H., Mason, C. and Matthew, B. (2001). MAPPING - Multimedia Approach to Profiles and Portfolios: INteractive Guidance. Workshop given at the SEDA and SEDA Scotland Spring 2001 Conference (Apr. 2-3), Glasgow.
8. McKiggan-Fee, H. and Mason, C. (2001). MAPPING - Multimedia Approach to Profiles and Portfolios: INteractive Guidance. Workshop given at the NetCulture Showcase Event for ScotCIT Staff Development Projects (Feb. 26-27), Edinburgh.
9. McKiggan-Fee, H., Mason, C. and Matthew, B. (2000). MAPPING - Multimedia Approach to Profiles and Portfolios: INteractive Guidance. Seminar given at the 5th annual SEDA Conference for Staff and Educational Developers (Nov. 20-22), Manchester.

Role

My role is to implement the University's e-learning strategy while supporting the campus wide management and use of the Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle). This involves working with academic staff to develop Moodle courses to support individual taught modules. I provide educational and technical guidance on how to enhance face-to-face teaching with Moodle, this is achieved through individual consultations and training; and 'just-in-time' support.

• Work with academic staff and support them in the development of online course material, namely the University's selected virtual learning environment (VLE) Moodle
• Support the VP Learning & Teaching by developing and delivering strategies for e-learning
• Liaise with stakeholders such as The Library, IT Services, Business Improvements and other stakeholders to progress WebCT into a fully integrated Managed Learning Environment
• Support Moodle with regard to pedagogical and technical issues
• Deliver advanced Moodle training
• Promote the use of Moodle
• Manage the Turnitin UK service.

Projects/Research

I have a special research interest in Web 2.0 technologies, social & collaborative learning, social media tool, blogs, wikis, podcasting for education and on-line learning systems.

Current projects

1. Home and Away: the Year Abroad Online Community

Past Projects

1. The Scottish Higher Education Developers Learning Objects and Distributed Services (SHEDLOADS) project provided a unique opportunity to explore institutional collaboration through the sharing of existing and co-development of future resources and procedures for flexibly delivering education and training for learning and teaching or academic practice in higher education (HE). SHEDLOADS was funded by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) through the Flexible Delivery Enhancement Theme. Role - Consultant
2. A multi-institutional learning and teaching forum for: promoting good practice and innovations in learning and teaching. Funded by ESCalate (the Higher Education Academy - Education Subject Centre). Role - Project Partner

Additional Information

• University representative on the Scottish Blackboard Users' Group and member of the steering committee
• University representative for ALT
• University representative on the Universities Scotland Educational Development Sub-Committee and a member of the management group
• Member of the judging panel for the European education award, MEDEA 2008 & MEDEA 2009 "Encouraging the use of digital images and sound in education".

Background

I have over 18 years experience in education and ICT within the commercial companies and higher education sectors. Previously, I was Software Manager at tNinewells Hospital & Medical School at the University of Dundee:

• Collaborated with academic staff to develop CAL and online course materials, plus develop staff and students on their use of computers and software for teaching & learning
• Developed a TLTP Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) package, Studying Populations for Public Health Medicine (endorsed by the Council of the International Epidemiological Association and recommended by the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom).

My commercial experience includes positions at Rediffussion Simulation, where as a Software Engineer, I designed and developed radio navigation training aids for full flight simulators e.g. 737, 747 and Nimrod; and at GEC Marconi Avionics as a Professional Engineer, I designed radar training software systems. I am a past member of the British Computer Society (10 years) and held the title of Chartered Information Systems Practitioner (MBCS).

Publications

1. Young, CPL & Moir. R (2008). YouTube - YouMustBeJoking! (Enabling Modern Technology in an "Ancient" University). DIVERSE - Developing Innovative Video Resources for Students Everywhere Conference (Amsterdam, 2008).
2. Moir, R. (2007). Can Blog technology be used for the Scottish Higher Educational Development Community? Universities Scotland Higher Educational Developers Conference (Skye, 2007).
3. Mason, C. & Moir, R. (2006). What can be achieved with small-scale teaching initiative funding? FILTA and SELF projects. Universities Scotland Higher Educational Developers Conference (Stirling, 2006).
4. Mason, C., McKiggan-Fee, H. & Moir, R. (2006). Piloting a new survey instrument to compare first and final-year students course experiences. Universities Scotland Higher Educational Developers Conference (Stirling, 2006)
5. Moir, R. & Mason, C. (2005). Developing a strategy for integrating on-line learning in a traditional, ancient, Scottish, Research-led University . 4th Annual WebCT European User Conference (Barcelona, 2005).
6. Mason, C. & Moir, R. (2004). Implementing a VLE within an ancient, research-led University. e-Learning Conference 2004 - "To Interactivity and Beyond", Heriot Watt University (Edinburgh, 2004).
7. Baty, D. & Moir, R. (2000). Networked Software Support of Staff Development. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference (San Diego, 2000), Conference proceedings document, p500-501.
8. Moir, R. & Baty, D. (1997). Helping Teachers to Produce Effective Computer Assisted Learning Material. Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education - Ed-Media Conference (Calgary, 1997). ISBN 1-88094-26-6, p1320-1321.
9. Moir, R., Baty, D., Florey, C. (1997). Interactive User Configurable CAL - A Working Example in Epidemiology. Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education - Ed-Media Conference (Calgary, 1997). ISBN 1-88094-26-6, p1460.

Role

Katharine Preedy runs the University's Mathematics Support Centre. Duties and responsibilities include:

• Providing one-to-one tuition on any mathematics- or statistics-based problem to students from all Schools and across all levels
• Providing feedback on Maths Support Centre usage to Heads of Schools, Directors of Teaching, the Deans, and the Vice Principal (Learning and Teaching)
• Monitoring and responding to day-to-day attendance patterns
• Liaising with Schools to find efficient and effective solutions in cases where large numbers of students seek help with similar concerns
• Liaising with Students Support Services and other University units to ensure that students most at need are utilising the services of the Mathematics Support Centre
• Actively engaging with others concerned with issues related to Mathematics Support both in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Role

• Provide senior admin support to the CAPOD team
• Diary management
• Course organisation and management
• Management of induction event for new Academic staff
• Finance.

Background

Prior to joining CAPOD, Sandra worked in Human Resources and front line administrative positions in both the public and private sectors. Sandra holds her CIPP in Human Resources and continues as an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She is a current student of the Evening Degree programme and is also a qualified Complimentary Therapist.

Role

Ros supports and encourages the development and enhancement of academic practice. Her key responsibilities are to:

• manage and facilitate the University's academic staff development programme
• provide advice and guidance to academic staff regarding the University's mentoring and teaching observation schemes
• assist the Deputy Director with quality monitoring processes including the programme of Internal Reviews of Learning and Teaching and annual monitoring
• maintain and develop the SALTIRE website and the Scottish Mathematics & Statistics Support Network website
• oversee the Unit's administration function.

Projects/Research

• Reviewing and refreshing the University's mentoring scheme for academic probationers
• Working with Staff Development to develop an online toolkit for incoming Heads of Schools
• Helping to review and revise the University's module evaluation process and related software
• Assisting with preparations for Enhancement-Led Institutional Review (ELIR) in 2011.

Additional Information

Ros is a member of the ELIR Working Group.

Background

Prior to joining SALTIRE, Ros worked as a Human Resources Advisor in the private sector and as a Human Resources Assistant in Staff Development at the University of St Andrews. Ros holds an Undergraduate Degree in Psychology & Business Management, a Postgraduate Diploma in IT and is currently studying towards a Masters in Human Resource Management. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.