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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)
  3. Themed SoTL-informed Praxis Development Workshops delivered in collaboration with the Partnerships in Assessment and Feedback Network (runs in semester 2)

SoTL-informed Praxis Workshops

New for semester 2: SoTL-informed praxis workshops featuring sector-leading invited speakers on partnerships in assessment and feedback

The Build your Scholarship Practice programme will be partnering with the CR-funded ‘Partnerships in Assessment and Feedback Network’ to host a series of 90-minute praxis workshops on the theme of partnerships in assessment and feedback. These workshops aim 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 will feature sector-leading experts in this area who have translated their in-curriculum and classroom practice into published SoTL articles.

What to expect:

  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:

Workshop 1: 30 January 2025, 2–3.30pm (In-person)

'Implementing socially just assessment and feedback in partnership with students', Professor Jan McArthur, Lancaster University

How can we translate our social justice aspirations for partnership-led assessment and feedback into actionable decisions that benefit our students? The first workshop of the PiAF Network's development programme for academic colleagues will feature leading researcher on socially just assessment and feedback practices Jan McArthur, Professor in Higher Education and Social Justice and Head of Department in the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University.

Sign up for Workshop 1 on 30 January

Workshop 2: 10 February 2025, 2–3.30 pm (In-person)

‘Co-creating Assessment Rubrics with Students’, Dr Chahna Gonsalves, King’s College London

How can we use co-created assessment rubrics to support meaningful student collaboration? This interactive workshop explores the practical development and implementation of co-created assessment rubrics, emphasizing their role in fostering transparency, student engagement, and assessment literacy. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies and resources to apply in their own disciplines.

The workshop will feature Dr. Chahna Gonsalves, Senior Lecturer in Marketing (Education) at King’s College London and Department Education Lead. Dr Gonsalves’ innovative research and practice centre around rubrics, the language of assessment, and inclusive assessment practices.

Sign up for Workshop 2 on 10 February

Workshop 3: 25 February 2025, 2–3.30 pm (In-person)

‘Co-creating assessment questions with students’, Professor Amanda Millmore, University of Reading

How do we empower students to co-create assessment questions in ways that move beyond consultation into meaningful co-creation? This practical session will focus on sharing the concrete aspects of supporting students to co-create assessment questions.  Areas for discussion include:

  • Approaches to empowering students to lead on the development of assessments
  • The design, weighting and timing of assessments
  • Dealing with challenges and student resistance
  • Benefits for student learning and student experience
  • Connecting co-created assessments to students’ employability

The workshop features Amanda Millmore, Professor of Law at the University of Reading, a National Teaching Fellow (2022) and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Professor Millmore’s model of partnership-working has been adopted by colleagues in their work within the University of Reading and shared sector-wide.

Sign up for Workshop 3 on 25 February

Workshop 4: 25 March 2025, 12noon–2.30pm (In-person, lunch served)

Praxis Workshop 4: Integrative Peer-led Praxis Workshop: The Partnerships in Assessment and Feedback Network

How are colleagues at the University of Leeds implementing partnership-led approaches to assessment and feedback in the context of CR-led transformations to assessment and feedback processes? Building on the first three praxis workshops of the semester, this integrative peer-led workshop offers opportunities to share and develop practice in co-creating assessment and feedback in the key areas covered to date: social justice and inclusion and working with students to co-create key curricular practices in assessment and feedback such as assessment briefs and assessment questions.

Speakers and themes:

  • Dr Alice Borchi and Dr Ben Dunn, School of Performance and Cultural Industries (PCI), ‘Using participatory approaches’
  • Amy Feather, Leeds Institute of Medical Education (LIME), ‘Collaborating with students to develop assessment briefs’
  • Dr Anna Grimaldi, School of Politics and International Studies, ‘Co-creating assessment questions’
Sign up for Workshop 4 on 25 March

Workshop 5: 8 April 2025, 10am-12noon (Online)

Praxis Workshop 5: Developing reflective feedback literacy: Student-teacher partnerships to synchronize feedback practices’ - Professor David Carless, University of Hong Kong

Dedicated to the theme of literacies for partnerships, this fifth praxis workshop of the Partnerships in Assessment and Feedback Network’s development programme for academic year 2024/25 features world-renowned researcher on feedback literacy, Professor David Carless.

Abstract
Promising feedback processes rely on shared responsibilities between students and teachers. Each party needs to appreciate the perspectives and struggles of the other, even if there are some points of disjuncture. When teachers and students interact purposefully around feedback issues, they are primed for the mutual development of feedback literacy. Considered reflection is a key aspect of these processes. Reflective feedback literacy denotes a critical engagement with previous feedback practices, and willingness to make strategic adjustments in the light of experience. Reflection and the development of feedback literacy have the potential to synchronize feedback practices and reduce some of the dilemmas typically experienced by students and teachers.

Speaker bio
David Carless works as a Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, and is Head of the Academic Unit SCAPE (Social Contexts and Policies in Education). He is one of the pioneers of feedback literacy research and is listed as a top 0.1% cited researcher in the Stanford top 2% list for social sciences. His books include Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A learning-focused approach, by Winstone and Carless, 2019 published by Routledge. He was the winner of a University Outstanding Teaching Award in 2016. You can read the latest details of David's work on his website.

Sign up for Workshop 5 on 8 April

Workshop 6: 9 May 2025, 10am-12noon (Online)

Praxis Workshop 6: ‘Working with quality assurance processes and student data to support partnership-led assessment and feedback’,

Are you interested in working in partnership with students for assessment and feedback on your modules in the coming academic year? Would you like to make the most effective use of QA systems and student data?

This final workshop of the Partnerships in Assessment and Feedback Network’s development programme for academic year 2024/25 introduces key information and actionable strategies for:

  1. Identifying concrete possibilities for working in partnership with students across the assessment and feedback life cycle;
  2. Planning partnership-led assessment and feedback in alignment with institutional quality assurance processes and timelines;
  3. Using student data to identify priorities for partnership-led assessment and feedback.

Speakers include: Emily Hooper, Quality Manager, Quality Assurance and Enhancement Team and Carla Douglas, Quality Manager (Student Voices)

Unable to make the workshop? You can share your questions here

Sign up for Workshop 6 on 9 May

BYSP Writing Community Group

Semester 2 of the BYSP Writing Community Group is now available to book. The deadline to book is 5pm on 3 February 2025.

This group 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 11am-12.30pm.

Dates for semester 2:

Mondays 11am – 12.30pm: 10 February, 17 February, 24 February, 3 March, 10 March, 17 March, 24 March, 31 March, 7 April, 14 April.

How to book:

The deadline to join the Writing Community Group in semester 2 is 5pm on 3 February 2025. 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 semester two of the Writing Community Group (Deadline 5 pm 3 February)

BYSP Reading Group

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:

Reading group: 14 October 2024, 3-4pm (Online)

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. 

Sign up for 14 October Reading Group

Reading group: 14 November 2024, 3-4pm (Online)

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.

Sign up for 14 November Reading Group

Reading group: 12 December 2024, 3-4pm (Online)

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. 

Sign up for 12 December Reading Group

Feedback for Build your Scholarship Practice

“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.”

Past programmes

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.

Further information

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.