This semester saw us launch Stirling Foundations; a new module developed by Learning and Teaching Enhancement aimed at teaching staff who have recently joined the institution.
What is Stirling Foundations?
Stirling Foundations is a module led by Learning and Teaching Enhancement to ease the process for those joining the institution in a teaching capacity. It ensures new staff feel equipped and supported when teaching at Stirling regardless of prior experiences, and provides valuable University context for those going on to start the newly accredited PGCAP in the New Year.
Co-led by Dr Beth Cairns and Brendan Owers, the first run of the module ran during the Autumn semester and comprised of five core sessions, informal coffee mornings together with online guidance and resources. It began with a hybrid welcome session that introduced the Stirling context, including speakers from a variety of areas involved in developing and supporting learning and teaching and the student experience at Stirling.
This was followed by sessions that further explored approaches to teaching at Stirling, available technologies and physical teaching spaces, alongside sharing expectations and policy guidance regarding assessment and feedback practices. The module came to an end with a session on belonging and accreditation and CPD opportunities, before a space for celebrating everyone’s participation over the semester.
Why it matters
One of the main drivers of Stirling Foundations was an emphasis on creating space for community building; giving staff opportunities to network and share practices and challenges as they navigate their early days at the institution. Activities in all the sessions were designed to encourage participants to connect with colleagues across disciplines.
Feedback from participants has reinforced the value of creating this space to build confidence, share experiences, and develop local networks.
The video belows gives a summary of what Stirling Foundations is all about and includes reflections from participants who joined us this semester.
Looking ahead
With this being the first time running such a module, we have been keen to gather feedback from participants at each stage of the module. In doing this we have items to build on and some additions to look to include in future iterations, including creating space for some hands-on activities in our physical teaching spaces.
Many of the emojis and icons Beth discovered in O365 this semester will also remain in some of the slides!
We would also like to use this story as an opportunity to thank all the participants who joined the first run of Stirling Foundations, for without their engagement it would not have been possible. Thank you also to our guest speakers for taking the time to introduce the work they are involved in at the institution, and how staff can reach out to them and their respective areas.