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Learning and Teaching Framework

Our vision is to be a world leader in learning and teaching. In achieving this we will be a learner-focused, dynamic and responsive provider of learning and teaching, offering our students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) a high quality education that is inextricably linked to our research environment, and which is underpinned, at all levels, by our Model of the Effective Learner (MoL¹).

We will provide an excellent and sustainable learning environment and continually enhance our provision by responding to identified learners' needs, developments in the fields of knowledge, and wider community interests, including those of employers and ensure a deliberate, enhancement-led process of reflection, planning, implementation and evaluation.

To enable us to achieve our vision, we will provide:

1. A learner-focused curriculum
2. Proactive, comprehensive, effective support for students and staff
3. An attractive, high quality and up-to-date learning, teaching and social environment
4. Quality Enhancement

A. A learner-focused curriculum which enables all our students to realise their full potential and become graduates who are sought after by employers. To achieve this we will provide an attractive and relevant curriculum that:

1. is learner-focused and sets clear academic expectations and standards – We will continually monitor and address the needs of individual students throughout their undergraduate and postgraduate study, focusing on the key transitions and stages of development; we will ensure that programmes provide a range of assessments designed to give full opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills and which generate prompt, useful feedback which guides future learning; we will challenge and motivate our students to be autonomous learners and to achieve individual potential and promote lifelong learning. We will provide students with clear details of objectives, skills outcomes and assessment criteria; we will structure our courses so students can plan their learning effectively and we will communicate our expectations and administrative details in a timely and accessible manner.
2. is delivered in a global context – Our curriculum will incorporate diverse cultural and international perspectives as appropriate, exposing students to a wide range of views and encouraging students to seek opportunities to widen horizons.
3. is flexible and accessible – Our programmes will consist of flexible and diverse learning and assessment opportunities, designed to develop skills and knowledge and take students to research and/or professional frontiers; different learning styles and talents will be recognised; we will offer a full range of awards that allow students to enter and exit at different points in different ways; by working closely with the Centre for Learning & Teaching, Colleges and Senior Disability Adviser, we will ensure awareness of diversity and the need for curriculum access for all.
4. is research-led – Our programmes will incorporate our research expertise, inspire curiosity and stimulate progression to, or within, postgraduate study; we will ensure teaching, learning and assessment activities emphasise research-relevant skills and engage students in intellectual enquiry; we will encourage our staff to use pedagogic scholarship to enhance learning and teaching and to encourage creativity. We will further ensure that our research expertise informs the development and delivery of our learning and teaching activities.
5. embeds employability at its core – Employability will be embedded in our programmes, emphasising the complementary nature of high academic and personal achievement and enhanced employability; we will develop employability characteristics within the curriculum and ensure employability is firmly embedded within the generic and subject specific elements of the University’s Personal Development Planning (PDP) tool.

B. Proactive, comprehensive, effective support for students and staff. To facilitate this we must ensure explicit concern and support for both students and staff. For students this will include:

1. pre-entry and continuing induction – We will proactively support students’ transition to university and their progression during their studies by co-ordinating pre-entry and initial induction extending into on-going academic induction.
2. a welcoming environment - Recognising the importance to student development and retention of an appropriate social and academic context, we shall help our students to develop a sense of belonging and identification with the university by fostering the development of learning communities and ensuring opportunities for collaborative work and peer supported learning.
3. advising and registration – Our students will be supported to make informed academic choices throughout their time at university.
4. pastoral and academic student support –We will support all students in making informed academic choices and provide flexible and proactive academic and pastoral support services for students, facilitated by multi-disciplinary staff working with Student Support Services, the Centre for Learning & Teaching, the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Students’ Association and the Careers Service; students’ need for support and assistance will be monitored closely, and we will identify and respond to new concerns.
5. personal development planning – We will develop and continually refine an effective personal development planning (PDP) system that supports the MoL and development of graduate and postgraduate attributes, and that helps students make transitions to (and within) Higher Education, recognise their strengths, address their development needs and plan for their future study or career.
6. support for learning - Liaising closely with the Centre for Learning & Teaching and Centre for Lifelong Learning we will ensure that appropriate support is accessible at all times; we will provide opportunities for students to participate in schemes such as the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) and enable students to access a range of study skills support tools, workshops and online help guides and one to one sessions.

For staff this will include ensuring that staff:

1. have the necessary skills for teaching and access to tailored staff development programmes – We are committed to encouraging staff to continually enhance their teaching for effective learning; a range of continuing professional development activities (CPD) will be offered for staff to participate in as appropriate to their portfolio of duties and all staff will participate in regular appraisal of their activities.
2. share good practice - All staff will be supported to enable them to deliver effective teaching, including research led teaching, and generic and employability skills; staff will be encouraged to involve themselves with relevant disciplines and professional communities to share new developments and good practice.
3. Efforts are appropriately recognised – Teaching, learning support and research achievements will be fully recognised and be rewarded.

C. An attractive, high quality and up-to-date learning, teaching and social environment².
To ensure an excellent learning environment for all we will provide an appropriate:

1. Physical environment – we will keep the current provision under constant review and we will invest in flexible, multi-functional and accessible learning and social spaces and other learning resources that enable a learner centred model of higher education.
2. Technological environment – By developing and implementing a C&IT strategy for learning and teaching that further develops our use of e-learning technologies we will improve the quality and flexibility of our provision; the University will use the opportunities provided by C&IT to enhance the quality and range of provision for students, furthering the University’s widening access objectives.

D. A Quality Enhancement Strategy which takes ‘deliberate steps to bring about continual improvement in the effectiveness of the learning experience of students³’. We will ensure a deliberate, enhancement-led process of reflection, planning, implementation and evaluation. To do this we will:

1. Use agents and procedures to support the review and enhancement process – this includes:
   1. procedures for the regular review of courses and programmes; student progression rates; feedback from external examiners, and action in response to these; validation of proposals to introduce, amend or withdraw courses and programmes; Internal Teaching Reviews; and enhancement-led institutional review
   2. internal agentssuch as the Academic Standards Committees,School and College Teaching & Learning Committees; College Postgraduate Committees; Staff-Student Consultative Committees, the University Committee on Teaching and Learning, Student Support Services and the Students’ Association
   3. external agents including our Employer Forum , PSBs, Research Councils, HEA Subject Centres and the QAA
2. Ensure these agents and procedures are - robust and comprehensive; maximise effort; focus on systems of internal reflection, peer review and feedback and provide ample opportunity for staff and students to engage in and contribute to quality-related activities
3. Use specific actions to bring about continual improvement in the learning and teaching opportunities and education support services provided by us – the University will develop further a culture of critical reflection on all aspects of learning and teaching and ensure that all feedbacks loops are closed; we will ensure joined-up approaches, linking the work of the various quality agents and improving the flow of quality-related information into, and within, the University; we will ensure effective dissemination and use of good practice.

1. The MoL provides a framework to guide all aspects of the University's educational provision: induction, teaching, learning, assessment, student support, quality assurance, quality enhancement and strategic management of change – see Annex 1. The MOL is under constant review to ensure its continued relevance to all levels of students.

2. Note: this part of the LTF must be tied to Section 7 of the University's Strategic Plan (Infrastructure and Environment).

3. Quality Enhancement, as defined by the QAA's Handbook for enhancement-led institutional review: Scotland (April 2003)