Ruth Puhr, Head of Teaching and Learning Development, Les Roches Global Hospitality Education
Shared paths to faculty flourishing: The opportunities hidden among the challenges of HyFlex
A survey of faculty conducted in December 2020, with the purpose of identifying training needs, revealed surprising resilience, determination and pride despite the ongoing challenges of teaching during a global pandemic. An in-depth study of faculty lived experience using IPA was conducted one year later and demonstrated that, although all faculty struggled in various ways with the challenges of remote and HyFlex teaching in 2020 and 2021, the experience generally fuelled an individual and collective flourishing among the faculty studied. In this presentation Ruth will share some of the findings and implications.
Ruth has worked for Les Roches since 2006 initially teaching Arts and Humanities electives before becoming Faculty Development Advisor. She currently oversees Teaching and Learning Development. With a background in Arts Education in the UK, she managed Education & Outreach for the Theatre Royal in Newcastle devising and delivering collaborative projects with companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, Scottish Opera and English Heritage. Ruth holds an MA in Music and an MSc in Information Technology and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Education (EdD) at University College London. Her research interests include professional identity and innovation in higher education, particularly in the use of digital tools to enhance teaching, learning and assessment. Ruth is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) and serves on the Board of the Swiss Faculty Development Network (SFDN).
Dr. Louise Drumm, Associate Professor Edinburgh Napier University
Whybrid? And other questions.
This short talk will explore some of the underlying assumptions and pedagogies behind ‘hybrid’ and they might mean for roles, power and equity in education.
Dr Louise Drumm is an Associate Professor in the Department of Learning and Teaching Enhancement at Edinburgh Napier University. She leads the MSc in Blended and Online Education and has worked in a number of universities in the UK as a learning technologist, academic developer, lecturer and software developer. Her research interests include the relationship between digital education and theory, forum theatre, critical digital pedagogy, open education practices, feminist pedagogies, digital literacies and academic development.
Ben Watson, Head of Digital Accessibility, UCL
Accessibility and hybridity. Keep on keeping on
I will seek to highlight the accessibility benefits of retaining an online element to the delivery of learning – not least for the range of extra choices it gives staff and students to access learning in the way that suits them best.
I am the Head of Digital Accessibility at UCL. I have a passion for inclusive design that has led into researching and implementing approaches to inclusive information and technology delivery provision for education. I have experience of working across UK education sectors (primary, secondary, further and higher education) and many years’ experiences of working to improve both the physical and digital accessibility of education organisations. I initiated the OPERA (Opportunity, Productivity, Engagement, Reducing barriers, Achievement) project at the University of Kent which reconsidered approaches to learning and teaching, digital systems and assistive technologies and catalysed a shift towards anticipatory reasonable adjustments and inclusive practice by design and which was awarded a Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Support for Students. I am one of the founding chairs of the Further and Higher Education Digital Accessibility Working Group (FHEDAWG) which has worked directly with the Government Digital Service to develop guidance for the Higher and Further Education sectors to best meet obligations under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Nataša Perović, Programme Development Advisor, UCL
Hybrid meetings
Nataša Perović is Programme Development Advisor in UCL Programme Development Team (the Arena Centre, UCL Education and Student Experience), supporting the development of new programmes and modules, as well as the review and redesign of existing ones. She is also supporting the adoption of UCL’s learning and teaching strategies across the School of Life and Medical Sciences and implementation of ABC Learning Design method across UCL. She has a background in science, web development and teaching. Nataša is the co-developer of the ABC Learning Design method.
Dr Rebecca Lindner, Associate Professor (UCL Arena) and EDI Projects Lead (UCL Doctoral School)
PGR Research student supervision and examination opportunities
For 1-1 supervisory interactions it is the flexibility of medium that is key while with hybrid offering opportunities largely unrealised pre-pandemic. Likewise, organising group supervision meetings and examinations can be more inclusive if hybrid mode is considered as an option.
Rebecca works at UCL Arena Centre and UCL Doctoral School. At Arena, she teaches across the Centre’s professional development modules for research students, research supervisors and and early career academics. At the Doctoral School, she leads on EDI initiatives to support doctoral candidates and early career researchers. Prior to joining UCL, Rebecca was Associate Dean of the Honours College at the University of Oregon and she has taught broadly across the Arts & Humanities in the UK, US and The Netherlands.
archived post:
Monday June 6th 2022, 10am – 12 noon
- UCL staff– in person or online attendance – in person spaces limited
- We also welcome colleagues external to UCL to participate online (please note the booking form is UCL-centric so please enter ‘other’ and n/a if asked for UCL-specific details.)
Teaching students simultaneously online and in-person grew in prominence as Covid lockdowns morphed into a transition back to campus in 22-23. Whilst, ‘basic hybrid’, as we called it at UCL, represented a remarkable effort in both tech upgrading and technique upskilling and afforded access to students unable to attend in person, there appears to be muted (at best) enthusiasm for continuing this offer at any scale. The techniques do, however, feature prominently in accessibility discourses and seem to have woven their way into the everyday non-teaching activities and calls for ongoing hybridity in conferences are prominent, for example. This event, hosted by UCL Arena, will provide an opportunity to hear from speakers from other institutions, alongside colleagues from UCL, about their experiences and perspectives. There will then be space to explore opportunities, challenges and enablers, as well as potential hybrid futures for teaching in HE (and, by implication, our wider working practices).
UCL’s approach to “hybrid” teaching was to prioritise scale, and our ‘basic hybrid’ model represented a remarkable effort in both upgrading our tech and upskilling our staff and students. It afforded access to students unable to attend in person, and the techniques developed feature prominently in accessibility discourses. However, they also seem to have woven their way into the everyday non-teaching meetings/ activities and calls for ongoing hybridity are prominent.
Who should attend: Colleagues who teach or support learning and have experiences of hybrid teaching in their own practice and/or those who are interested in simultaneous in person and online wider working approaches and opportunities. Whatever your interest we actively welcome the sceptics and enthusiasts.
This event will be in ‘hybrid/ hyflex’ mode- i.e. in person (UCL Arena Room – 10th floor, 1-19 Torrington Place) and online (Zoom)
External Speakers (presenting remotely)
Ms Ruth Puhr, Head of Teaching and Learning Development, Les Roches Global Hospitality Education (on Les Roches’ endeavours at embracing hybridity)
Dr Louise Drumm, Associate Professor, Department of Learning and Teaching Enhancement at Edinburgh Napier University. (on practical and philosophical questions)
UCL Speakers
Fiona Strawbridge/ Martin Compton (on the UCL approach and position), Natasa Perovic (hybrid meetings and working), Rebecca Lindner (hybrid provision of research student supervision), Ben Watson (hybridity through accessibility and inclusivity lenses)
Speaker details here (under construction!)
Additional resources
Report on hybrid/ hyflex / ‘Fusion’ workshop via Dr James Lamb @ Edinburgh University
Lamb, J. & Hawksey, M (2021) Fusion Teaching in the EFI
The hybrid/ hyflex co-pilot: flying by the seat of your pants