Journal of Academic Development and Education JADE Issue 9 | Page 4

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4 | JADE
FOREWORD
W
elcome to JADE. Established in 2012, JADE serves as a way
for educators at Keele and more widely to share their pedagogic
research and contribute to the shared knowledge of the HE
teaching community on the scholarship of teaching and
learning. With the increasing emphasis on excellent teaching and evidence-
informed approaches to teaching and supporting learning, sharing what we
have investigated and what we have learned from that investigation has never
been more relevant or important.
The scholarship of teaching and learning demands of us to keep an
open and inquiring mind as to how we teach and support learners,
what works and to share our learning with others. In our approach
to scholarship, we are presented with the expectation to collate and
respond to evidence about when teaching is most effective and how
best to support students to learn. That evidence can come from
reflection on our own experiences and is improved when we explore
our views alongside those of our students and our peers.
Our students' views are collected formally through student
evaluations of teaching, through national polls such as the NSS and
PTES as well as informally by us during lectures and seminars as we
watch our students, gauge their involvement or understanding and
respond to that real-time data. We may also elect to undertake our
own research where we gather purposeful data on specific questions
about our students' experiences or educational outcomes. This work
can be either scholarly (reflection and change to our practices) or
scholarship defined by the expectation to share our learning with
others.
We may routinely share our scholarly learning with peers in our
local context. For example, in discussion with members of the same
programme team, as part of formal peer review processes or more
informally in conversation around team teaching. It is a further step to
make public our account of our work and make it available for wider
scrutiny, for example, through publication following peer review.
JADE offers the opportunity for us to engage publically in the making
and remaking of our understanding of good teaching and effective
support for student learning. The journal contributes to the tradition
of valued scholarship at Keele. Readers and writers are encouraged
to openly question what works and why and to work to continuously
improve their teaching practices and the outcomes for our students.
Thank you for your involvement with JADE and your contribution to
teaching scholarship.
Dr. Jackie Potter
Head of the Learning and Professional Development Centre