Quick Wins for Visiting Lecturers

1. Quick Wins for Visiting Lecturers Janet French, Paul Lawrence, Anjana Nathwani Philip Sayers and Richard Atfield With Lesley Glass

2. What is this all about ? • Involving Visiting Lecturers in paid research • Creating an output • Undertaking a research project to find out the value of the above

3. Inspired by this book

4. The project • Project objectives, to: • Create and distribute a booklet which contains 5 VL pieces on successful strategies for working smartly in order to engage WP students in lectures / seminars / assessments / dissertations in HBS. • Analyse the benefits to the VLs in creating their piece and being part of a research project • Project benefits and outcomes: • Students to benefit through the adoption by staff of teaching and learning methods which appeal to WP students. • Staff benefits are likely to include job fulfilment through being part of a research project, which may encourage VLs in their own teaching and learning research for the future. • Reputation benefits for HBS VLs by presenting the findings more widely to UH and to a national audience via CABS.

5. How it would work – the output • Could you write about a “ Quick Win” that has helped you better engage Widening Participation students in your teaching sessions recently ? This could be a sharing of a teaching tool which has helped you engage students in seminars or lectures; something that has helped you support your dissertation students more effectively; a technique that has helped you work with colleagues better, to the advantage of your students; or perhaps something you have learned from CPD and have successfully put into practice. You might be stimulated by ideas from the original book, which can be sent over for you to think about. • 500 words maximum • Structure as in original book

6. My research part • The second part of the project involves sending me three short emails, reflecting on the process of being involved in the project and what it means for you. • Before you start your 500 words on the “Quick Win” • In the middle, during your composition of the 500 words • At the end, after having written the “Quick Win” and submitted it to me.

7. Literature review ? • Beaton, F. Ed ( 2013) Developing effective part-time teachers in higher education. London, Routledge • Brown, D & Gold, M (2007) Academics on non standard contracts in UK universities: portfolio work, choice and compulsion in Higher Education Quarterly 61 (4) pp 439-460 • Byers, P & Tani, M. (2014) Engaging or training sessional staff in Australian Universities Review vol 56 no1 pp13-21 • Crimmins, G. (2017) Feedback from the coalface: how the lived experience of women casual academcis can inform human resources and academic policy and practice in International Journal for Academic Development 22 (1) pp 7-18 • Gottschalk, L. & McEeachern, S. (2010) The frustrated career: casual employment in higher education in Australian Universities Review vol 52 no 1 pp 37-50 • Rawlings. R & Howeson, A. (2009) Where do I stand? Visiting Lecturing at the RCA London, Royal College of Art, • Woodall, J.& Geissler, C (2009) Supporting part- time teacher staff in higher education: perspectives from business and health . HEA Academy

8. The Quick Wins • Educational Games • Rich Pictures • Making Connections at External Workshops • The Use of Examples in our careers • VLs and peer to peer conversations

9. The issue of insider research Academics studying other academics Floyd, A. & Arthur, L. (2012) Researching from within: external and internal ethical engagement in International Journal of Research and Method in Education 35 ( 2) pp171-180 Hanson, J. (2013) Educational developers as researchers: the contribution of insider research to enhancing understanding of role, identity and practice. Innovations in Education and Teaching International 50 ( 4) pp388-398 Sikes, P. & Potts, A. ( 2008) Researching Education from the Inside : Investigations from within. Routledge: Abingdon

10. Project Findings Exciting, Challenging, Interesting Engaging with people and finding out about their lives and experiences. About the creation and content of the Quick Win • Enjoyment of the technique • Easy to apply • Hope it will be useful to others • Needs to be pedagogically sound and benefit all students • The word count is difficult as there is so much to say • 500 words is nothing and should not take more than an hour to write but I’ve now written it twice and rejected both scripts • Found out more about WP – it confirmed my belief that it is complex and often misunderstood Good to undertake research and academic writing again. Made me realise how much I have missed the research process and the experience of writing conference papers I am in the midst of a book proposal and this process is helping my thinking,

11. Comments from Visiting Lecturers today • It was an exciting way to explore new ideas to engage learners whether it be in the classroom, dissertation supervision or on-line learning. • Considering the theme of Wider Participation enabled us to focus on techniques to reach out to non-traditional university students. • It was hard to stick to 500 words as we all found there was so much useful advice to impart. • It is hoped that similar initiatives will be made available to VLs in the future. • Remember …… it could be said that VLs also fall under the umbrella of Wider Participation as we are non-traditional university lecturers!

12. Unexpected findings • Raises the profile of the VL Team • Want to engage a wider population of VLs • A fantastic opportunity for VLs in the School of Business • Liked having the opportunity to be part of a project

13. Recommendations Above all – do it! VLs are a group of keen academics with often unexplored talent and appetite for research to improve the profile of their institution.