Build your Scholarship Practice

The Build your Scholarship Practice programme (BYSP) provides 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 the University's strategic priorities for Student Education.

The programme consists of three strands:

1. BYSP Writing Community Group (running across semesters one and two)
2. BYSP Reading Group (running in semester one)
3. Themed SoTL-informed Praxis Development Workshops (running in semester two)

The Build your Scholarship Practice programme partnered with the ‘Partnerships in Assessment and Feedback Network’ (funded by Curriculum Redefined) to host a series of 90-minute praxis workshops on the theme of partnerships in assessment and feedback. These workshops aimed to support academic colleagues with the practical implementation of partnership-led approaches to assessment and feedback. Blending SoTL and concrete examples drawn from lived practice, these workshops featured sector-leading experts in this area who have translated their in-curriculum and classroom practice into published SoTL articles.

Session overview:

1. Speaker-led discussion of themed SoTL articles selected by the author and circulated in advance for (optional) preparation;
2. Practical exercises and themed resources together with discussion with academic colleagues from across the University to support the implementation of specific areas of partnership-led assessment and feedback such as co-designing assessment rubrics and assessment questions with students and supporting students’ assessment and feedback literacies.

Workshops:

1. 'Implementing socially just assessment and feedback in partnership with students', with Professor Jan McArthur, Lancaster University
2. ‘Co-creating Assessment Rubrics with Students’, with Dr Chahna Gonsalves, King’s College London
3. ‘Co-creating assessment questions with students’, with Professor Amanda Millmore, University of Reading
4. Integrative Peer-led Praxis Workshop, with Dr Alice Borchi, Dr Ben Dunn, Amy Feather, and Dr Anna Grimaldi, University of Leeds
5. ‘Developing reflective feedback literacy: Student-teacher partnerships to synchronize feedback practices’, with Professor David Carless, University of Hong Kong
6. ‘Working with quality assurance processes and student data to support partnership-led assessment and feedback’, with Emily Hooper and Carla Douglas, University of Leeds

“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 [email protected] – 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.