Build your Scholarship Practice 2024/25

The Build your Scholarship Practice programme (BYSP) returns for the 2024/25 academic year with tailored scholarship development workshops and community of practice meetings.

BYSP is a university-wide Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) development programme enabling staff to develop and share scholarly teaching practices and scholarship projects informed by Curriculum Redefined. Over the coming year, the practice and scholarship of developing co-created/partnerships-led approaches to assessment and feedback will be a key theme.

The programme consists of three strands:

1. BYSP Writing Community Group (runs in semesters one and two)
2. BYSP Reading Group (runs in semesters one and two)
3. Themed SoTL Development Workshops covering the lifecycle of SoTL project development from idea to impact (runs in semester two; dates to be confirmed)

This group will run during semester one and two. It provides protected time and a supportive interdisciplinary small-group context for developing and making progress on a focused piece of written pedagogic research. The group will meet weekly online for 10 weeks on Mondays  from 11- 12.30am.

Dates for semester one:

Mondays 11am – 12.30pm: 14 October, 21 October, 28 October, 4 November, 11 November, 18 November, 25 November, 2 December, 9 December, December 16.

Participants who have signed up for semester one will be offered the option to continue for weekly meetings on Mondays at 11-12.30 am in semester two (dates to be confirmed).

How to book:

The deadline to join the Writing Community Group in semester one is 5pm on 7 October 2024. To optimise the benefits of this group, it is open to a maximum of 10 participants who are asked to sign up for 10 weekly sessions. In registering, participants commit to attending at least 80% of the weekly meetings.

Sign up for Writing Community Group (Deadline 5pm on 7 October 2024)

 

This group will run in semester one and two, and will be themed around ‘Partnerships in Assessment and Feedback’.

The BYSP reading group will provide a cross-disciplinary forum for exploring the connections between the transformational vision of Curriculum Redefined, the University’s strategic pedagogic themes and the evidence base in the educational literature. The group aims to provide a reflective basis for a) the development of participants’ scholarly teaching practice in their disciplinary contexts and b) to support the development of SoTL projects.  Through readings of key SoTL studies, participants will have the opportunity to discuss with peers from across the University, themes such as:

• The ‘Why of CR Paperwork’: the case for aligning learning outcomes, assessment and feedback
• Assessment and Feedback as holistic learning for students
• Social justice/equity enhancing approaches to assessment and feedback
• Approaches to partnership in higher education
• Co-creating assessment and feedback with students
• Creating community-engaged assessments

Dates and booking links for semester one:

These reading groups will all take place online via MS Teams.

14 October 2024, 3-4pm - Sign up for 14 October Reading Group

The why of CR Paperwork: the case for aligning learning outcomes, assessment and feedback

For many of us, student-facing documents — from learning outcomes and assessment briefs to assessment rubrics — have been a prominent feature of Curriculum Redefined. What is the evidence base in the educational literature for this focus and how can we make the most impactful use of these documents in our classrooms?

Join a group of colleagues from across the University in reading and discussing two key SoTL studies which offer useful insights on these two key questions. 

14 November 2024, 3-4pm - Sign up for 14 November Reading Group

Guiding values of genuine staff-student partnerships and developing partnership-led approaches to assessment and feedback

Working with students as partners is a shared strategic commitment of the University’s Assessment and Feedback Framework and the Curriculum Redefined project. What are the key guiding values of genuine staff-student partnerships and how can they seed the conditions for developing partnership-led approaches to assessment and feedback with our students? Join a group of colleagues from across the University in discussing two SoTL articles which offer valuable insights on these questions.

This themed reading group discussion is a precursor event for the launch later this semester of the new CR-funded network, The Partnerships in Assessment and Feedback Network, which focuses on this area. Details to follow.

12 December 2024, 3-4pm - Sign up for 12 December Reading Group

Creating brave, safe and inclusive spaces through staff-student partnerships

Building on session two's discussion of genuine staff-student partnerships, this session will explore how staff-student partnerships can be instrumental in creating classroom spaces in which the lived realities of power differentials and disagreements can be addressed, and culturally inclusive learning cultures can be fostered. Join a group of colleagues from across the University as we discuss two articles which address these themes. 

These workshops will run in semester two (dates and sessions to be confirmed) and will cover the lifecycle of SoTL project development from idea to impact.

The workshops will feature insights from experienced SoTL researchers from across the University and its professional alumni.

“This was 15 hours that I would not have spent writing. It has really pushed the project I was working on forward. Also feel a bit mentally healthier about writing after hearing how everyone else can find it hard to do.”

“It has helped me to stop procrastinating and to make progress where previously I might not have been able to.”

“Being a part of this writing community has had a huge impact on achieving my goals. At the time of joining the group, I had 3 large goals to achieve with strict deadlines; to fine tune a paper and submit it to a journal, to write a literature review and present my findings for my doctorate assessment and to write an abstract and apply to disseminate the results of the review at an international dental conference. I achieved all 3 of these by the deadline and have received successful outcomes.”

“I have significantly reduced barriers to writing such as negative attitudes, procrastination, perfectionism, and the idea that one needs perfect conditions and lots of time to produce something meaningful. I now think that writing can simply be a result of a cumulative effort, and that it is achievable, rather than a product of special skills or talent (...). I feel excited and hopeful (...).”

“The writing group was instrumental in igniting my passion to write. In the past, taking time to write or start organising ideas or papers seemed like a daunting task, but with the support of Eva and hearing from my colleagues (...) I am thrilled to announce that since the completion of the writing support group, I have submitted the article and currently using the same principles to write another paper I will be presenting in September.”

Explore past years of our Building Your Scholarship Practice programme. Each archive highlights the sessions and topics that have supported staff in developing their SoTL skills. Review the materials to see how these programmes have evolved and get inspired for your own teaching and learning journey.

• Build your Scholarship Practice - 2022/23 Programme (Opens in Sway)
• Build your Scholarship Practice 2023/24 Programme (Opens in Sway)

Contact: Dr Eva Sansavior e.sansavior@leeds.ac.uk – Academic Development Consultant – Curriculum Redefined

Our SOTL at Leeds webpage has more information about what SoTL is, the activities of SoTL and the additional support and resources available to colleagues.