{"id":733,"date":"2020-04-21T14:31:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T13:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/?p=733"},"modified":"2020-04-21T14:31:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T13:31:25","slug":"beyond-bath-a-dutch-perspective-on-supporting-learning-and-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/2020\/04\/21\/beyond-bath-a-dutch-perspective-on-supporting-learning-and-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Bath - a Dutch perspective on supporting learning and teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

In November 2019,\u00a0I was fortunate\u00a0to spend four days\u00a0visiting\u00a0Utrecht University\u00a0in the Netherlands,\u00a0thanks to\u00a0the Erasmus+\u00a0funding\u00a0initiative<\/a>, administered here at Bath by the\u00a0International Relations Office.\u00a0The aim of my visit was to share experiences\u00a0and good practice, as well as explore common goals and strategy with\u00a0the Centre for Learning & Teaching\u2019s counterpart at Utrecht \u2013 the Centre for Academic Teaching.<\/p>\n

As a Project Officer in the Centre for Learning & Teaching (CLT),\u00a0I look after\u00a0the University\u2019s Teaching Awards, manage funding initiatives such as the Teaching Development Fund, and plan\u00a0and run\u00a0a busy events\u00a0and communications\u00a0programme.\u00a0I see keeping in touch with\u00a0developments in learning and teaching elsewhere\u00a0as an\u00a0essential\u00a0part of the job.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0remain forever\u00a0curious as to how other HE institutions go about supporting\u00a0teaching innovation.\u00a0How\u00a0are their initiatives\u00a0funded? How is teaching excellence\u00a0recognised and\u00a0rewarded elsewhere?\u00a0What are the most effective ways\u00a0to engage\u00a0with\u00a0time-starved\u00a0academics? After\u00a0I came across\u00a0a blog by Loretta Gibson<\/a>\u00a0about a visit she made to a Finnish university, facilitated by the International Relations Office (IRO), my curiosity got the better of me.<\/p>\n

I began my Erasmus+ application by focusing on my motivation: to explore professional practice in\u00a0supporting\u00a0learning and teaching in\u00a0a non-UK\u00a0context. I read around the educational systems of several European\u00a0countries, searching\u00a0for a research-intensive university faced\u00a0with\u00a0similar challenges to those\u00a0facing\u00a0us here at Bath.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0contacted\u00a0Dr Mirjam Bok, who heads up the\u00a0Centre\u00a0for Academic Teaching<\/a>\u00a0(CAT) at Utrecht University and the result was an invitation to job shadow\u00a0Rik Vangangelt and Sarah Gresnigt, who both work on project and educational development in CAT.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0mid-November\u00a02019, I stepped off the train at\u00a0Utrecht with just enough time to negotiate the public transport system to get to my first meeting\u00a0\u2013 one of the Special Interest Groups or SIGs organised by CAT. Utrecht has over a dozen covering a range of themes \u2013 this one was devoted to exploring interdisciplinarity.\u00a0The room was packed and the discussion lively; some SIGs can have up to 100 members.\u00a0So began my\u00a0exploration of\u00a0a world that seemed remarkably familiar in some ways and yet so very different in others.<\/p>\n

\"... whilst\u00a0the practicalities\u00a0and processes may differ,\u00a0many\u00a0of our activities\u00a0were based on a common purpose and vision.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During my time at Utrecht, I\u00a0was able\u00a0to have conversations with most of the CAT team,\u00a0thanks to the warm welcome and well-thought-through programme offered by my hosts.\u00a0During our meetings, we\u00a0explored\u00a0a\u00a0wide\u00a0range of learning and teaching issues\u00a0and activities,\u00a0discovering that,\u00a0whilst\u00a0the practicalities\u00a0and processes may differ,\u00a0many\u00a0of our activities\u00a0were based on a common purpose and vision.<\/p>\n

One of the most striking was\u00a0a shared\u00a0focus on\u00a0community\u00a0for\u00a0those engaged in learning and teaching.\u00a0\u00a0Building such a community\u00a0\u2013 whether as an online presence or\u00a0a\u00a0physical \u2018hub\u2019\u00a0\u2013\u00a0means that\u00a0staff can come together to meet, share experiences\u00a0and knowledge,\u00a0and be inspired to organise\u00a0joint\u00a0projects\u00a0and\u00a0innovate\u00a0together.\u00a0Community building\u00a0is about more than just collaboration \u2013 it\u00a0can also come through\u00a0recognising\u00a0and celebrating\u00a0educational excellence\u00a0and best practice\u00a0(for example, through annual Teaching Awards\u00a0and an annual\u00a0learning and teaching conference)\u00a0as well as\u00a0offering\u00a0incentives\u00a0to encourage sustainable\u00a0innovation\u00a0that has an impact\u00a0on the wider university community of students and academics.<\/p>\n

I returned to my office with\u00a0a full notebook,\u00a0a couple of\u00a0PowerPoint presentations delivered to the CAT team in Utrecht and the CLT,\u00a0a greater\u00a0understanding of the value of going beyond one\u2019s boundaries\u00a0\u2013 beyond Bath\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and a renewed sense of purpose.<\/p>\n

Sue Watts,\u00a0<\/em>Centre for Learning & Teaching<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In November 2019,\u00a0I was fortunate\u00a0to spend four days\u00a0visiting\u00a0Utrecht University\u00a0in the Netherlands,\u00a0thanks to\u00a0the Erasmus+\u00a0funding\u00a0initiative, administered here at Bath by the\u00a0International Relations Office.\u00a0The aim of my visit was to share experiences\u00a0and good practice, as well as explore common goals and strategy with\u00a0the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1003,"featured_media":736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[59,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-learning-and-teaching"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/135\/2020\/04\/Utrecht-pic_-foyer_sml.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd4Piw-bP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1003"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}