Scottish Higher Education Developers October 2018 | Page 25

BEYOND THE
POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE:
EXPANDING ACADEMIC
DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
AT ROBERT GORDON UNIVERSITY
Rachel McGregor and Amy Robertson, Robert Gordon University
Prior to 2017, the staff development offer for colleagues involved in learning and teaching
at Robert Gordon University (RGU) was largely limited to initial training through the
Postgraduate Certificate. As the majority of colleagues at RGU are longstanding, the
Department for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Assessment (DELTA) was
ambitious to expand the range of development opportunities for colleagues at different
stages of their careers.
We took a whole institution approach and developed a suite of opportunities, shaped
by findings from an all staff survey and RGU’s institutional priorities in learning and
teaching.
September 2017 saw our first brochure launched
across campus, with a variety of workshops,
sessions and events open to all staff supporting
learning. These were organised across three key
themes: Delivering Great Teaching; Enabling
Student Learning; and Enhancing Assessment
and Feedback. Sign up was via our virtual
learning environment CampusMoodle.
The programme was a resounding success encouraging over 500 colleagues across the
university to reflect upon and enhance their learning and teaching practice. Ninety-
five percent of attendees evaluated the programme as useful and the comments below
exemplify some of the positive feedback we received.
“This was a very understandable and enjoyable session, a good mixture of information and
activities and with good opportunity for interaction with other attendees.”
“There was a good balance of theory and practice throughout the session and the facilitator
was great at making us think differently about how to approach a variety of situations.”
(Anon Staff)
21
Celebrating 25 years of SHED